harvested hogs and deer with superb results. 204 ruger

[Bayou City Boy]

I'm curious.....

What's funny about what I wrote..?

-BCB

[Jim White]

I'm curious.....

What's funny about what I wrote..?

-BCB

I guess it was just the way I was reading it while reminiscing back about the wild boar hunting with bows & arrows.

[Bayou City Boy]

I'm curious.....

What's funny about what I wrote..?

-BCB

I guess it was just the way I was reading it while reminiscing back about the wild boar hunting with bows & arrows.

If there's something out of line about what I wrote, I'd like to know your thoughts...

-BCB

[Rick in Oregon]

BCB/Mr. Texas, my entire time hog hunting was in central and northern California, in very heavy cover in steep terrain, with dogs, usually in dim light or near dark, and between running after baying hounds, trying not to fall in the muck, rain, slippery slopes, carrying a rifle would be a fool's errand, as only heavy caliber handguns in sturdy belt or shoulder rigs seemed to work, as both hands were always needed to negotiate the terrain.....and hounds. By the time we reached our hogs, the mud, blood, and hair was flying, a rifle would have been of little use.

I realize your hog hunting is in Texas and you just had to make an appearence here again and offer your opinion. There are other places with hogs much different than Texas. On occasion I've even been known to use my Marlin 1894 .44 Mag, but we truly disdained hunting hogs with rifles, feeling handguns were much more sporting for our purposes. (emphisis added, as we don't care about yours).

No, I don't use the 204 for hogs either, never will.
BZ BT

[Bayou City Boy]

BCB/Mr. Texas, my entire time hog hunting was in central and northern California, in very heavy cover in steep terrain, with dogs, usually in dim light or near dark, and between running after baying hounds, trying not to fall in the muck, rain, slippery slopes, carrying a rifle would be a fool's errand, as only heavy caliber handguns in sturdy belt or shoulder rigs seemed to work, as both hands were always needed to negotiate the terrain.....and hounds. By the time we reached our hogs, the mud, blood, and hair was flying, a rifle would have been of little use.

I realize your hog hunting is in Texas and you just had to make an appearence here again and offer your opinion. There are other places with hogs much different than Texas. On occasion I've even been known to use my Marlin 1894 .44 Mag, but we truly disdained hunting hogs with rifles, feeling handguns were much more sporting for our purposes. (emphisis added, as we don't care about yours).

No, I don't use the 204 for hogs either, never will.
BZ BT

Rick:

I'm truly sorry if your day's not going well. I really didn't mean to upset your biorythms.. I merely posted my experience with large feral hogs in Texas; simply saying not all hog hunting is like shooting penned game when a rifle is used as you were alluding to.

My guess is you'd be surprised if I listed other places I have hunted hogs... I also didn't realize this was your forum and I had to ask to post... My bad. Please forgive me...

Since you want to spar about techniques, I'll borrow some of your words and modify them slightly if that's OK:

As for hunting large feral hogs in Texas, "we (most folks) truly disdained hunting hogs with dogs, feeling rifles in open country which present shots much greater than a pistol will allow were much more sporting for our purposes. (emphisis added, as we don't care about yours)." That applies to Texas only in the open areas. Again, in heavy cover, a large bore revolver works great. I myself prefer a 41 Mag or a 45 Colt.

I do care about other techniques also, as I have hunted hogs in other locations than just Texas as you seem to want to limit my experience to. And as an FYI, hog hunting in West Texas is far different from hunting them in south Texas, and both are different in ways from hunting them in the east Texas piney woods where hogs are found..

I have actually hunted hogs in other places where dogs were the rule and the very large hogs would just as soon take on a person as a dog. The "Dogos" as they were/are called are a specially bred and trained breed of dogs bred to hunt hogs. Most of the dogs weigh in the 100 pound range and are especially bred for hog hunting only from various breeds of large dogs to get the right combination of tenacity and fight. The preferred weapon of the "natives" of the area is a two-sided long bladed knife that they use to kill hogs that the dogs have literally locked onto with their jaws. Letting go might mean sudden death for one or several of the dogs, or the hunter, until commanded to do so. The dogs actually were trained to follow a local dialect for hunting commands/purposes so as not to be confused by Latino and other voices when a hog was cornered and locked onto. Confusion on the part of the dogs by hearing numerous voices could get someone hurt badly - both man and dog. Hogs were killed only after the dogs were commanded to release unless the unplanned happened... And the "unplanned" did happen occasionally.

Me being a "rookie" to this kind of hog hunting, I was given a knife and I was also allowed to use a short barreled shotgun for close range encounters. The closest encounter "allowed" me to use the knife in self defense one time. I much preferred the shotgun at 10-20 feet however after my one and only knife encounter while crawling through heavy thorn brush... A hog got loose from two dogs and chose me as its next victim. There was no time to raise the shotgun, so I used the knife in my other hand as I barely dodged the hog and avoided getting speared by the hogs' tusks on his way by and through me. I'll mention again that these hogs were not like the average American hog... And they are not Mexican hogs...

I'm too old to hunt hogs like that now, but maybe some day I'll go to California and try it... It all sounds totally exciting... Almost like puma or coon hunting at night...

In the future, I'll try to remember that you are the only voice of reason in an other wise insane world, and thus you are entitled to the only opinions worth posting here. If you ever are forced to make it to Texas, you might try hog hunting while you're here. You'll find it fun and challenging and not just a canned high fence hunt. Leave your dogs at home... For the most part, we're not into that kind of hunting down here... It's not necessary like in other parts of the world... Our hogs generally run the other direction when located rather than preferring to look for a victim to spike with their tusks. It has happened, however...

As for your part of the world, I actually have plans to be there later this year for a little bit of hunting and hopefully shooting. I had thought about looking you up and meeting you, but maybe that's not the best idea, huh..?

I'm not in to using the 204 Ruger for anything bigger than PD's either, so we can at least agree on that... Maybe..?? As a matter of fact, I doubt I'll even take a 204 Ruger with me PD shooting this year... But that's just silly old me...

Lastly, have some pride about where you live.... It's not a bad thing... And don't let folks who kill dinosaurs with their 204 Rugers bother ya'. It's silly...

Sheeshhh....

-BCB

[Rick in Oregon]

BCB: After reading that, I realize that we have more in common than either of us know. If/when you're in these parts, by all means zip me a PM and we'll hook up for coffee or perhaps something more soothing. Symantics aside, I'll try to fully wake up and have my morning coffee prior to posting next time.

Gotta go....need to grab my Beeman R10; there's a T-Rex in the garden again.....

[Jim White]

I'm curious.....

What's funny about what I wrote..?

-BCB

I guess it was just the way I was reading it while reminiscing back about the wild boar hunting with bows & arrows.

If there's something out of line about what I wrote, I'd like to know your thoughts...

-BCB

No sir, nothin' tat' all was said out of line. In fact I agree with what you wrote. Personally, I wouldn't hunt a hog with a 204 any more than I would hunt one with a sling-shot.

Jim

[Mike]

Group hug...

[Bayou City Boy]

No sir, nothin' tat' all was said out of line. In fact I agree with what you wrote. Personally, I wouldn't hunt a hog with a 204 any more than I would hunt one with a sling-shot.

Jim

And I wasn't trying to incite the natives with what I wrote, either... I just saw you used the word funny and I thought I had maybe said something I couldn't see when reading it again.

Have a good one...

-BCB

[chicoredneck]

strange how the math that helps support my point of view and the articles i have referanced along with my own and others proven success with small bore calibers on medium game has been convienently ignored. all you guys can say is esentialy you think it's no good because someone told you it is or you were brought up to think that way. nobody has any evidence to disprove what i have put forward. small caliber firearms, particularly 204 and 223 calibers have been 100% effective in MY hands. maybe they don't work for YOU. They have worked for ME every time. A 300 grain bullet from say a 375 H&H is only 0.0024% the body weight of a 1500lb cape buffalo. How could such a small bullet with a relatively small energy when compared to body size of the cape buffalo be a commonly used and effective round? bullet construction of course is made to penetrate deeply for this particular caliber. so is the 45gr in a 204 for medium penetration.

[Glen]

Maybe it's the fact that this topic has been hashed out on here a couple times before & the folks here don't agree with the original post & decided to say their peace & move on.



Well that & IT IS turkey season just about everywhere right now!!

[chicoredneck]

lanenebraska
when you get back from the hog trip i would be interested in hearing how your success went with the 204 and rem. 17. any pics would be awsome. unfortunatly, when i'm hunting, the last thing on my mind is a camera so a rearely get pictures of anything untill i get back home.

[Jim White]

strange how the math that helps support my point of view and the articles i have referanced along with my own and others proven success with small bore calibers on medium game has been convienently ignored. all you guys can say is esentialy you think it's no good because someone told you it is or you were brought up to think that way. nobody has any evidence to disprove what i have put forward. small caliber firearms, particularly 204 and 223 calibers have been 100% effective in MY hands. maybe they don't work for YOU. They have worked for ME every time. A 300 grain bullet from say a 375 H&H is only 0.0024% the body weight of a 1500lb cape buffalo. How could such a small bullet with a relatively small energy when compared to body size of the cape buffalo be a commonly used and effective round? bullet construction of course is made to penetrate deeply for this particular caliber. so is the 45gr in a 204 for medium penetration.

I'm speaking for myself;

never said it didn't work for you and wouldn't work for me. I just said wouldn't do it. I'm fortunate enough to have other tools more suitable to the task of wild boar hunting and certainly for elk hunting than a 204. Would using a 204 for elk hunting work? Sure. But the odds aren't in the hunters favor for a humane kill. But yes, in theory it's possible. Native Americans were killing grizzly bears with bow & arrows and speers long before they had center-fire cartridges available to them.

Cheers,

[TD-Max]

BCB:
Gotta go....need to grab my Beeman R10; there's a T-Rex in the garden again.....

My weapon of choice was the Peter and the Wolf cork gun for hogs around here until there was a scare of pseudo-rabies just down the road. Rather than risk pissing one with a less than perfect shot I started to carry my trusty Red Ryder and now feel much more secure.

[chicoredneck]

you guys crack me up. the same sarcasm and you continue to ignore the valid points of my argument. yes a 204 is perfectly adaquete for an elk if you plan on making only head or neck shots under 200yards or so. actually a 17hmr is perfectly adaquate if you plan on keeping your shots uner 150yrds and shoot for the brain. if that is whare you shoot your game and don't ever shoot at distances greater than that then a 17hmr is perfectly resonalble. it's all relative to your hunting style. biger calibers to a brain just make a biger hole in the brain. many ranchers used to harvest their pigs with 22lr to the skull. if you want to shoot 800yrds then a 30-06 or better yet 7mm minimum is a far more effective choice. you have no substaniate evidense to disprove what i have put forward.