Not saying I support or intend to, but was in a discussion over a few beers about the viability and legality of shooting hogs with a .22LR (head/ear shots).

Any comments?

My thoughts is that is possible to kill small to medium hogs just fine with an accurate head shot, but not an ethical method. On the other hand, a lot of folk shoot hogs without worrying about ethical methods.

only at very close range for any size , .22 mag works for longer shots even in vitals with the right angles and theres no ethics with hogs

Sure there are ethics with hogs. those of us who meat hunt them sure as heck want them to go down quickly and cleanly. like stated a 22 mag would do the job on head shots at a reasonable distance. the smallest I use is .223 while hog/varmint hunting though.

John IMO a 22 will work and has done the trick with well placed shots im sure numerous times, Now with that being said we shoot all the pigs we see with a 17HMR at my personal ranch in Buffalo and have shot them behind the shoulder (not me) and they havent made it 30 yards. I think most things are all about how well of a shot you are and the placement of the shot, heck im sure you could kill a cape buffalo with a 270 or something simular but I wouldnt try that. Id rather be over gunned anyday.

like BBD84 I kill hogs with my .17hmr all the time with lung heart shots, in the trap my .22 gets it done all the time.

Shot several under 100 lbs with a 22 mag.

.22 worked great for me. Pig was quartered away. Hit it behind the ear. Pig down instantly. Bullet turned and went down the skull almost taking the snout off. Only a small piece of hide holding it on. Bad thing about a .22 is the bullet can hit a bone and turn. Bullet placement is important with any rifle.

How about these two. Remy 38grn subsonic 100yrds one was DRT the other ran 5-10yrds into the brush. The gun is a CZ 455 16.5" barrel w/ a Yankee Hill Suppressor.


Oh course, combined weight of the pigs was about 40lbs.....

22 will drop them like a rock between the eyes behind the ear , i have killed them with head shots heart shots , i would use 22 mag though if you dont think you can hit right where you wanna

guess it all depends on how good a shot a person is!!

I use it for when a big sow comes in with babys! when you shoot the sow the small pigs just run around! killed 10 babys in one day! Plus one big sow!!

My pops has killed several with a .22 from close and far true story

Have seen a hog shot from 22 drop but like others mention, I would not recommend it. I like something a little bigger because they don't stick around long and want to get a couple instead of just one...

I have shot them with a 22 in the head and it kills them

Not a fan of the .22 for hogs...

Spooked a 250lbs boar while we were riding around in a polaris ranger one night coon hunting; all I had was a .22 bolt action. At 40yds I was aiming for the base of his ear while he was at a slow trot and hit him about 2"low.

He turned and went the other way and I was able to hit him again in the same location; and just like before he turned the opposite direction like some sort of shooting gallery target.

A third shot stopped him but didnt put him down, we road up to him and you could tell he was really only "punch drunk" and none of the wounds were fatal dispite taking 3 to the head.

Put the rifle to his hear and finally he dropped; alls well that ends well but like the man said "bring enough gun" especially when hog hunting.

Aim small miss small.

Typical .22 story...

This is all well and good but I'd rather:

"Speak softly and carry a big stick."

A .22 is a twig...

Ive killed hogs with one, I have had them get away. Precision placement is important and it isnt my first choice.

LOL, I prefer to aim small and hit small. A miss is a miss.

In a one-on-one fight, a 22 can get you a hog but don't plan on doing a lot of damage when you come up on a dozen or so. Instead of something that goes ping, ping, ping as they run off, you need something that goes drop hog, drop hog, drop hog....

Yeah, thanks guys - that is pretty much in line with what I was thinking.

Here is the context of how this question came up.

A couple of us were sitting around BS'ing over some cold brews and one of our group complained about the hogs have started coming to his feeders during prime deer time. He was going to take his .22 with him deer hunting and use it to shoot the pigs rather than 300wsm because he felt that the .22 would make less noise and shooting a pig while sitting for deer would be less likely to spook deer off, or that they would return sooner.

My comment to him was I thought that a 100yard shot at a pig under a feeder would probably just wound him and the pigs would run off - but he insisted that a .22 ear shot would kill a pig easily at 100yrds.

My suggestion was to get one of the newer air rifles. Doubtful if it would kill (my same doubt as .22), but it would chase the pigs off and would make a LOT less noise that even a .22LR

No Ethics with hogs? Dude...

I don't like hogs, but luv'em in the pit, BBQ pit that is. No need to have any animal suffer longer than necessary. Shoot what you can afford, but only shoot when you can get the job done. Use a knife, spear, or bow & arrow. But do it when you can get the job done. I have seen deer with arrow sticking out of skull running around. This is due to dumba$$ that can't get the job done. Bad karma !!! 22 will kill hog but I wouldn't want to get that close to a big one.