| I would love to see feral hogs in my area, however my farmer neighbors hold a completely different view on the topic. They are known to be VERY destructive to crops and can literally destroy a field if their population is only modest in size. I know people in other states who would love to get rid of their feral hogs.
Again, I'm looking at this from the 'sport' standpoint, but there is no good reason to allow them to remain in any area where farming occurs. They escape from farms, breed and become wild. Hogs are smart animals, adapt easily to living in the wild.
Not sure that I'd use a 45acp, 357 on up should be good. They have a reputation for being pretty tough, but the reputation is often overblown. A good buddy of mine is a hog hunter and uses handguns to take them. The problem is that many people take body shots and hogs can easily weigh hundreds of pounds so handguns can be ineffective if shot placement is not perfect. My buddy waits for them to drop their heads and shoot them from above, breaking the spine where it meets the skull. He hunts with a 44 magnum. A slight miss results in a bullet the runs into the thorasic (sp?) cavity (lungs/heart area).
If they do come north in any quantities I'd think the 458 Socom would become very popular in Indiana. It is legal for deer hunting and would do a great job on wild hogs!!! |