22lr ok for putting down a 300lb boar pig?

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777funk

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I would think with a shot to the recommended place (slightly offset of the 'X between the eyes and ears' with the pig's head down in a feeding position), it should in theory work fine. But I've not killed many large pigs (only medium sized ones). Bone can be pretty hard with big pigs.

Has anyone had trouble with a 22LR with the standard shot placement mentioned above?
 
When I was a kid my Dad and his buddy killed a big hog.
They shot it in the head several times with a .22 rifle and it just oinked and stood there.
They cut it's throat from ear to ear and it just stood there with blood pouring every where.
Finally they got an 06 and finished it off. It was not their first time butchering a pig.
Mom and the buddies wife were yelling at them and the kids were all crying. It was a disaster.
On the other side the livestock kill guy dropped 2 big bulls for the neighbor with one shot each from a .22. It might have been a .22 mag.
They weighed over 1500 pounds and they hit the ground and never moved.
 
When I was a kid my Dad and his buddy killed a big hog.
They shot it in the head several times with a .22 rifle and it just oinked and stood there.
They cut it's throat from ear to ear and it just stood there with blood pouring every where.
Finally they got an 06 and finished it off. It was not their first time butchering a pig.
Mom and the buddies wife were yelling at them and the kids were all crying. It was a disaster.
On the other side the livestock kill guy dropped 2 big bulls for the neighbor with one shot each from a .22. It might have been a .22 mag.
They weighed over 1500 pounds and they hit the ground and never moved.
I agree. Precise shot placement is key. If the boar moves his head the slightest bit, you have a fight on your hands:oops:.
We used a .22 to dispatch adult cows, back in the day. You needed someone with nose-pinches to hold the head perfectly still first.
We switched to a 20-gauge with a slug after a few years and could do them standing.
Being 'close' to the mark was good enough to work fine.:thumbs:
 
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The neighbor just used a long knife.
He just just calmly walk up to the pig and stab it in the heart. It will squeal when you do it but they stop quickly then walk around until they bleed out.
He said they don't have many guns in Mexico so they just use a knife.
The pig he killed here was dead in just a few minutes.
The place he worked at in Mexico killed over 200 hogs every day so he had a lot of practice.
 
We shot ours point plank in a chute with a 22 Magnum right above an eye socket. I would NOT recommend it for hunting, even though it has been done! Lots of the half wild/boar hogs have a thick skull, but around the eyes is soft. putting one through an eye will likely drop him. only those guys from up on the junction eat the eyes anyway.

Now then, having said all that, if you're not going to make souse out of the head, a 357 point plank works wonders! scrambles the brain something fierce though.

Granny just used a 5 pound Ax.
 
Why would anyone WANT to shoot a hog with a .22LR? Unless they were unethical, uncaring, and into animal cruelty. Just because you CAN (in some limited and lucky circumstances) doesn't mean you SHOULD. Things might be different if you were in a survival situation, had nothing more appropriate than a .22LR available, and a starving family you needed to feed. But it doesn't sound like the O.P. is in that situation.
 
Shot placement is everything… look at the 1st pic. The hogs nose is up, he’s moving or alerted. Shot between the eyes the bullet might clip the bottom of the brain. The correct spot would be about an inch above the eyes.

In the photo, if the nose was pointing down and you shot it between the eyes on a flat trajectory you’d miss the brain. The bullet would be low.

In the second pic with the nose very high... a shot between the eyes might go above the brain.

Meaning, look at the hogs nose, where it’s pointed will dictate the shot placement and angle.

As a kid we slaughtered cattle and hogs every year. We only used a 22lr, if done right a big hog will drop. These days... I use a hand gun, a 38 or 9mm. A cows brain sits even higher above the eyes than a hogs.

brainshota.jpg
hog braina .jpg
 
Shot placement is everything… look at the 1st pic. The hogs nose is up, he’s moving or alerted. Shot between the eyes the bullet might clip the bottom of the brain. The correct spot would be about an inch above the eyes.

In the photo, if the nose was pointing down and you shot it between the eyes on a flat trajectory you’d miss the brain. The bullet would be low.

In the second pic with the nose very high... a shot between the eyes might go above the brain.

Meaning, look at the hogs nose, where it’s pointed will dictate the shot placement and angle.

As a kid we slaughtered cattle and hogs every year. We only used a 22lr, if done right a big hog will drop. These days... I use a hand gun, a 38 or 9mm. A cows brain sits even higher above the eyes than a hogs.

View attachment 90813View attachment 90814
Yep, where the brain is, is very important. After you disassemble a few you can see.
On a hog, it's between the ear and eye.
If you shoot a cow between the eyes, it only gets a nosebleed.
Cut full-grown horns off a few and you can see the brain thru the hole.:oops: It's up high.
(Yeah I know, that's gross:()
 
As a cattle farmer I have killed quite a lot of large animals.

While stories of people using 22 rimfire to kill large animals are interesting and fun, novices should stick to the principal that "there is no such thing as too dead".

Use the biggest, most powerful gun you have. It is more humane that way and the cost of one round of any cartridge is peanuts in the overall scheme of things.

At close range, a 12 gauge slug (that is reasonably well placed) will humanely kill an elephant.

A botched killing can have a lasting psychological effect on normal people - so use more than enough gun.
 
I would think with a shot to the recommended place (slightly offset of the 'X between the eyes and ears' with the pig's head down in a feeding position), it should in theory work fine. But I've not killed many large pigs (only medium sized ones). Bone can be pretty hard with big pigs.

Has anyone had trouble with a 22LR with the standard shot placement mentioned above?
itll work but id grab a bigger tool from the cabinet if you have one. dont forget to cut the jugular before the heart stops.
 
As a cattle farmer I have killed quite a lot of large animals.
...
A botched killing can have a lasting psychological effect on normal people - so use more than enough gun.
Fortunately for my brothers and I, we were not normal:oops:.
All we could think about was Newyork-strip, T-bones, Sirloins, Ribeyes, Burgers!!!
66939-24fec87730b9bde82f7a3c8fba039e1e.data

+1 on being humane. We no longer live in the 'dark ages' today.
You don't have to be us anymore.:(
 
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At first blush this may seem off subject but it isn't.

When I was in Spain I decided to see a bull fight. There were six bulls and three matadors. I had heard that bull fighting was cruel gross. I had also heard that bull fighting was beautiful art and humane. Both evaluations were correct. Two matadors were less skilled and their kills were brutal. One matador was quite skilled and his bulls died quickly. His fights were works of art. Make your kills quick. Don't mess around with puny rounds, especially if you are not experienced.
 
I guess I figured the earlier (smaller) pigs I'd processed dropped easily enough with the 22 that why not keep using it. I saw where I hit this 300# boar. He was turned sideways so I didn't use my usual "x between ears and eyes slightly offset left or right" shot and tried for right behind the ear. I didn't make a good shot and he got one to the neck. It barely phased him. Probably a 30-06 or something with more energy would have still dropped him.

There's not really too big a caliber with something this big. He didn't fight back but he could have and regardless, I do agree... no reason for him to have anything but a quick lights out. I don't see farm animals as anything more than property and food, but at the same time, no good reason for suffering.
 
All this talk of head shots makes me think of the time I took a new-be out deer hunting with a 12 gauge slug gun. He kept making noises and a group of deer ran up on us, I laid down and could see their feet, one poked his head around a tree to look at the new-be and I shot him between the eyes (just a little low) and it plowed through like a big U cut from ear to ear. The new-be never saw what happened, as I was field dressing the deer he kept saying,"look at the head.." over and over... I told him that I didn't eat the head, but finally I had to put a plastic bag over the deer's head to get the new-be to focus on the job at hand.

I can see not wanting to startle everything on the farm by using something too big to put down an animal, I imagine that a 22 mag or 38 special would be sufficient for most cases.
 
Pigs are among the most difficult animals to shoot. There are two reasons for this: first, the target area is very small and this problem can be exacerbated by the ‘dish’ (concave) face shape of certain breeds and in aged pigs; second, the brain lies quite deep in the head, relative to other species, with a mass of sinuses lying between the frontal bone and the brain cavity. The ideal site for shooting pigs is one finger’s width above eye level, on the mid-line of the forehead, aiming towards the tail (Figures 11 and 12).

fig11
fig12
Figure 11 Pig shot position Figure 12 Bacon pig (6 months)
Older pigs and exotic breeds, such as the Vietnamese Pot Bellied Pig, often have foreheads of thick bone and this can cause problems when using free-bullet humane killers, especially older .22 or .310 models. The bullet may become lodged in the sinuses and fail to penetrate the brain (Figures 13 and 14). Some older pigs, especially boars, may have a bony ridge running down the centre of the forehead; in such cases the muzzle of the humane killer should be placed slightly to one side of the ridge, aiming into the centre of the head. Because of the problems which might arise with adult pigs and exotics, it is recommended that where possible, they are destroyed by use of a shotgun (12, 16 or 20 bore). If a shotgun is used, the target area is the same as that for the humane killer; alternatively the animal can be shot through an eye, or from behind an ear, aiming toward the middle of the head. When using a shotgun, the muzzle should always be held from 5-25cm away from the animal’s head.

fig13
fig14
Figure 13 Adult sow (5 years) Figure 14 Vietnamese Pot Bellied (3 years)







.
 
Why would anyone WANT to shoot a hog with a .22LR? Unless they were unethical, uncaring, and into animal cruelty. Just because you CAN (in some limited and lucky circumstances) doesn't mean you SHOULD. Things might be different if you were in a survival situation, had nothing more appropriate than a .22LR available, and a starving family you needed to feed. But it doesn't sound like the O.P. is in that situation.
I was presuming they were shooting it in the cattle shoot to be processed into meat. its more humane than an axe. Actual HUNTING of wild hogs is best done with a heavy caliber rifle as they are known to swarm attack if they can see you. NOPE, do not condone hunting piggies with a 22 unless you have a death wish.

Odd thing, some guys hunt boar with just some dogs and a knife, Texas claims they started it, but they were doing it in Tennessee since before Texas was a state. I've made boar hunting knives, they're useless for anything else.
 
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Hunting a wild boar with dogs and a knife? I've seen wild boar while hiking in West Texas, and some of those critters are BIG! If some hand wants to tackle 'em with a knife, well... better him than me, lol. Moi, if one of those big boars turned my way and charged, I'd be shamelessly legging it for the nearest tree, knife or no knife... :dancing:
 
This is a typical knife made for hog hunting, it is made for deep penetration and outward slashes.
It might be a fair fighting knife, but pretty useless for anything else. I dislike them and I dislike making them, in fact I still have the last one I made. you might say I got "stuck" with it. the customer kept wanting me to change things until I got sick of him.
 

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