Hog calls and slug guns?

[Chadster]

Two questions... (sorry of this should've been 2 posts)

1. I just got a hog call, are they worth using or a waste of time?

2. I'm in the market for and currently researching slug guns. For those of you who hunt in "non-rifle areas" with slug guns, what do you use and what would you recommend. My current research is showing me that on one end you have inexpensive H&R Slughunters, and then there are Benelli's with a slug barrel in the $500 dollar range. With Mossbergs, Remingtons and Winchesters in between!
I want to be able to make shots accurate enough to kill a hog out to 100 to 125 yards. Looks like current sabot technology should afford a hunter that opportunity today!

Thanks in advance for the info!!!

P.S.
Any recent Vandenberg updates? Barka Slough opened up July 1st!

 

[Rancho Loco]

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1. I just got a hog call, are they worth using or a waste of time?[/b]

I've really seen no need for them...But I haven't tried them out, either.


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2. I'm in the market for and currently researching slug guns.[/b]

Those shotgun only areas are pretty tight spots offering close fast shots from what I've seen...Pie plate accuracy from my 870 loaded with rifled slugs and with a smooth bore 20 inch with rifle sights is plenty for me or the biggest hogs. I have shot a hog close in with a rifled slug, and it sure does a number on them.

But, if you feel the need to explore better accuracy with the sabot rounds, by all means go for it. Both Hastings and Mossberg make some pretty useful rifled slug barrels for Remington shotguns, in both rifle sights and cantilever scope mount.



.

 

[Speckmisser]

Use the hog call, and let us know how it worked. This topic has come up a time or two, and a couple of folks say they work... everyone else hasn't had much luck.

As to the slug gun, like Rancho said, there are a ton of options. If you already have a scattergun, get a rifled barrel and take it to the range. With the new sabots, 100 yards shouldn't be too much of a stretch. Beyond that, I don't care what anyone says, you're pushing your luck... especially with hogs.

If you don't have one, the single-shot slug guns from H&R and Rossi are a good call. Even cooler, is that they allow you to interchange barrels and get a Muzzleloader and centerfire rifle barrel as well.

 

[hunt hard]

about the hog calls ive ask the same question do they work

. I bout a video of team fitzgerald and they use a call for hogs and it worked on the video. about slugs its pretty awsome I shot a hog at camp roberts with slugs and it left some big holes in it. make sure if you buy a shotgun that you practice before you hunt because my shotgun makes a difference than my cousins. I think that we have different shokes in are shotguns though. Good luck




p.s. I buy my ammoe at wallmart and the slugs i shoot with my shotgun I was hitting a target easy at 140 yards

 

[easymoney]

Don't know that a call will do anything but alert the pigs to you and if you don't sound "just right", it's good bye piggies...
Spend the money and buy a good reputable brand name that is a dedicated slug gun(Whinchester and Mossberg make some very good ones). I have tried to use my shotguns with smooth barrels and isabots. It's more spray and pray than accurate shooting.

 

[inchr48]

I'm with Rancho, smooth bores and rifled slugs can be plenty accurate. My Ithaca will print 3, 1 1/8 Oz. Brenneke rifled slugs on a playing card at 80 yards. The rifled slugs hit a lot harder than the smaller sabot rounds. The caveat is you have to put it in the boiler room, so what ever gun you buy, find some fodder it likes. Then practice with the round you'll hunt with.

 

[Speckmisser]

Easymoney,

Don't use sabots in your smoothbore. They're made for rifled barrels. Try some Brenneke type rifled slugs. Makes a huge difference... although I don't know that many of us will get three hits on a playing card at 80 yards. That's a long shot and good accuracy if you're only aiming with a bead.

Of course, I knew a fella back in NC who could bust fence posts all day with his H&R single shot and old-fashioned "punkin' ball" slugs. Never say never...

 

[inchr48]

Speck, agree about the open sights. I cut my groups in half with a B-Square mount and 1.5 - 4.5X scope. On the target I posted, the right hand side is after reinstalling my barrel after a good cleaning when I was done trying different slugs. Scope adjustments were made and shot the two on the left to verify before last deer season. Just lucky my Deer Slayer barrel likes the Brenneke load. Now if I only had some pigs to poke holes into........

 

[easymoney]

Speck,
Thanks for the Brenneke tip...

 

[Bowrange]

If a hog is about to bolt because it heard you step on that twig, or saw something (you) peer around a bush, but hasn't smelled you yet, a quick grunt call may buy you enough extra time to make a shot. Other than that I haven't had much use for hog calls.

 

[gastj]

Don't know about the hog call since we don't have hogs here in my part of OHIO, but the slug guns we have.
I've used 20,12,even 10 gauge in smooth and rifled combos with or without scopes.
Recommendation is that you choose a gun that fits you. Then decide how much you want invest. If you go with rifled barrel I recommend a heavy barreled slug gun. We have an old cantilever Rem. rifled 1100 in a heavy barrel and with Hornady sabots it will destroy deer, targets, etc. and it is tack driver. I have a 20 with a hastings open sights and sabots I can't hold have the the group at fifty that the 12 hold at 100yds it has a pretty thin barrel. I think the H&R makes a single shot 12ga. with a ten gauge out side dimentions. The weight is cumbersum, but the weight helps stablize the slug and reduces flex. This leads to better shot groups.
Smooth bore is alright at reasonable distances and with the Brenneke's they do the job.
If you want total destroying power find you a 10ga. I use it for Turkey and Waterfowl, but last yr I picked up three boxes of Fed. slugs for $5 a box. The things are 1 3/4oz or ~765grains or just under 1/8lb of lead. The old fosters at fifty yds flipped my doe over to the point she almost made it back on her feet.
Good luck in your choices

 

[dirtpoor]

The most accurate slug gun I've ever owned was a rem 1100 with the short non rifled barrel, 2nd most accurate was my Rem 870/short barrel/smoothbore. If I remember correctly some states don't allow rifled slug barrels during shotgun deer season ! Least accurate was my Charles Daley short barrel/smoothbore.

 

[Batch61]

I use a Marlin 512 Slugmaster. It's a bolt action topped with a 1.5-5 power Simmons shotgun scope. Highly accurate at 100 yds. Fun to shoot. Found it at Gunbroker.com.

 

[larrysogla]

Those 12 gauge slugs will lift a 100 lb. boar off its feet when whacked by the tremendous impact force. It is awesome. Try different brands until the tight group appears, then stick with that brand & if you can, same production lot number. God Bless & go get 'em Tiger.

 

[boarhunter67]

I've used a hog call many times. It won't make them come to you. It will usually make them answer a grunt. The videos I've seen show people using the squeal to make some pigs charge in to defend. This doesn't work in my experience. Where I've been most successful with it is when the pigs are in thick brush and you think they are in there, but haven't seen them. A grunt will get you an answer so you can somewhat locate them. They might investigate, or might not. It's not really like a deer call or preditor call.

 

[Ted_Bell]

My experience is that the calls have some use when you are relatively close to some hogs. If you are stalking through brush and noisy ground cover, you can use the call to make the pigs think you are another pig. I've done this twice. Once with a sow with piglets, and she became very defensive and charged a few times. She was very close (less than 75 yds) and in plain view but was across a creek which she decided not to cross. The other time was a lone boar that I had to go through a bunch of noisy cover to reach. I kept grunting with the call, and he kept responding. Finally I was right on him (less than 25 yds), and he was inside thick brush thrashing around like he wanted to kick my a$$ while I grunted away on the call. Eventually he made a run out the other side and was gone. Both of these instances took place on Tejon.

 

[BlackMax]

I have several of the hog grunter calls and several of the squealer calls. The local zoo has three wild pigs in an enclosure. The dominate hog is a large sow. One time I was a distance from their enclosure, and I blew the grunter call. Just as I did this, a guy walked in front of their pen and the large sow charged the fence in front of him. The squealer calls consistently cause the hogs to become alerted and run to the furthest part of the enclosure.

 

[Dundee]

The only time I tried a hog call was saturday the 16th. On a private ranch. And it worked great . My partner and I had his son along and he shot three hogs within 30 minutes of each other and I shot one within the same time.We were bow hunting into the wind ofcourse and the first hogs busted out of the brush in front of us but didnt really know what scared them. Then we gave a few suttle grunts on the call ( haydels boar grunt call) and one of the sows came out of the brush at 30 yards which my partners son thumped . The same thing on the next three hogs pretty much. But like I said it was on a private ranch with no pressure and thick with hogs.