Like the wild hog population count, the world of hog hunting has exploded over the last few years. Once the exclusive domain of the traditional hunter, this phenomenon is now catching the attention of tactical professionals and enthusiasts. I have seen some very interesting and exciting angles on hog hunting recently, ranging from helicopter based hunting to night hunts with night vision equipment.
If you are interested in doing more than just blasting away, but are not quite ready to hop in a helo, there’s something else you can do to add excitement to your hunt. There is a whole set of competencies that can add adrenaline to the challenge of hog hunting, not to mention significantly adding to the number of targeted pigs successfully put down. Especially for civilians, I believe that hog hunting offers one of the best opportunities to practice tactical skills with a firearm. I mentioned in an earlier article here at Special Hog Weapons and Tactics™ that a full grown hog will provide a safe testing ground for your accuracy as well as tactics. In this article I will expand on that thought a bit more and discuss a technique for dealing with multiple hogs in quick succession.
As experienced hog hunters love to reiterate, many times we come across hogs in groups and have a hard wired desire to get as many as we can. We also know that feral pigs can be very skittish and tend to disappear into the brush when spooked. Hogs are very alert creatures, and can be spooked when alerted to your presence, and especially by the report of your rifle. With this in mind we can apply a tactical shooting technique to help us with this challenge. The tools for this task are more than the average 30-30. In this case, we will be looking at the use of a suppressed 7.62 semi automatic rifle. I choose 7.62 because it provides excellent penetration with good stopping power. I choose suppressed because stealth will be the name of the game in this hunt. And I choose semi auto because my shots will need to come in fairly quick succession.
As with most hunts, I would pick a solid well traveled spot. If you are allowed to bait in your location, then do so at the two ends of your hunting area. This helps us get the best chance of a group of hogs moving like a convoy perpendicular to us as they head to food. Once the hogs break cover and move into your fire zone, we must take great care to be choosey about which one we shoot and when we fire. In this tactical application we will be eliminating the hogs from rear to front. If we take the hogs in the rear first, the hogs in front of it are much less likely to bolt. This is another reason for the 7.62 round. I stand a better chance of dropping them with a single well placed shot. It takes patience and a strong will to force yourself to slow down and take meticulous shots. If done correctly you can drop a large group of hogs in one single engagement. You can drop four of five hogs before the lead hog even knows what is going on. If you are fortunate enough to have a partner with you equipped in the same fashion, they can be a follow up shooter. Communication between hunters is a key to sound tactics. You call your shot and your partner will put a second round into the target as you are already transitioning to the next hog. It will be the fastest most exciting 20 seconds you could have in a hunt!
In the image below I point out how I would engage a group of seven hogs if they came across my path in this scenario. It is my firm belief that hog hunting can be one of the most enjoyable hunts you can take part in. Being more tactically sound can only make the hunt more memorable. I wish you the very best in your hunts, my friends. Until we meet, be safe and stay in the fight!
