Wild Boar Hunting

While I do own two firearms, I have never hunted in my life.
It’s on my bucket list to hunt wild boar in Texas or some other southern state.
Would appreciate recommendations as to what rifle caliber would be effective on wild hogs and is easy to handle.
Semi-automatic rifles seem to be the popular style for this type of hunting.
Thanks!

Pigs aren’t really that hard to kill with well-placed shots. I think any .223 or 5.56 cartridge rifle would get the job done if you’re keeping shots inside of 75 yards or so. When I kill pigs to butcher I use a .22 short right between the peekers and an inch high. One shot. DOA. So you don’t need a ton of fire power but you do need to put shots where they count. With any gun, even with hollow points, I would refrain from shots to the chest unless the critter was standing stark still and there is plenty of clear room for it to run so you don’t lose it.
The wild variety of pigs have a n enormous amount of staima if they are not dropped on the spot or near to it and is why I suggest head shots.

Find an anatomical schematic of a pig and learn where the cranical cavity runs inside the head and learn to put shots wherever the brain is. Knowing where the heart lies is also important as its a bit different than a deer. A heart shot will get at least one lung if not both, but a pig can still go 100 yards in a blink even with a great heart shot.

Its not so much gun caliber as it is bullet placement.

I’ve shot 4 pigs in 3 trips to Oklahoma. They were all shot with a 300 WSM. Our group has also downed several with a .270, a .308 and 30-06s. Both ranches we hunted recommended shooting high on the neck a couple inches behind the ears. All of my hogs were shot there and dropped without taking a step. They advised against shooting them in the chest because their hide is so tough that the bullet may not penetrate deep enough to take out a lung or the heart.

A chat with an outfitter down there would be your best bet, and I think most of them rent weapons for the hunt as well. Which may be the most economical option. Far be it from me (and unofficial IDO rules) to discourage a firearm purchase tho!

Flamethrower. Cook and kill same time.

Or a center mass shot from a bazooka, quartered out instantly.

I’m a 2 birds one stone kinda guy

Im far from an expert on shooting one, heck I havent even seen one in person, but from what I heard their vitals are not where you expect and you have to aim farther back for better results. I dont think a large caliber is required. My buddy down there uses a 243 and that drops them stone cold dead in their tracks.

Appreciate the mention of hunting in Oklahoma – certainly closer to me than Texas! Would you share with me the ranch you went to?

Here’s their website

https://www.penningtoncreekhuntingclub.com/hog-hunting-1

We had our best luck in early April before the Turkey season.

I have never hunted them with a rifle but shot plenty with a bow.
Some of the guys I hunted with shot rifles and they all had AR’s in .223 caliber. They shot plenty as well.
Texas in the summer is hot but I have hunted them then. The ranch we hunted at by Tyler had green lights on the feeders. So we would hunt till around midnight.
The biggest we ever shot was 220 lbs with the average around 130 lbs.

When I went to Texas the outfitter we used would not let you hunt if you had a .223 or 5.56.
Depending on the type of hunting you are going to be doing will make a difference on what you want for a rifle. The place we hunted it was all sitting over feeders or driving up to feeders. With the brush in the area we were you could only get one shot off before they were out of sight.

I went through an outfitter in Naples, Florida. I believe it was honey hole. Brought AR through TSA, which was a hassle in itself, but they do have rifles and other weapons for rent. Great experience, and our guide Eric was super knowledgeable. We even got to feed his alligators our hog parts we didn’t send to processing