It's something I've always wanted to do & finally got the go ahead from mama bear. Now I just gotta find who to go with & approx how much it's gonna cost me. Price isn't a huge concern since this is a bucket list item of mine but I don't wanna get ripped off. Also, I have an AR in 5.56. Is that enough or do I definitely need a 7.62? It has iron sights right now but I'll be putting a holographic on it, as well as a foregrip. Willing to go anywhere in the lower 48 as long as it's worth it. Oh, & one last thing. How the heck do you practice shorting a moving target out of a heli?!

Years ago I went www.cedarridgeaviation.com out of Knox City.
The rate then was $500 per hour. Lodging was extra.
I think you will want atleast 2 hours of flying time.
A 5.56 AR will be fine. Put a good red dot on it.
You will be shooting at pretty short ranges, less than 50yds on most shots.
It will take you about 10 shots to figure out how to hit them. No practice required.

By no means are they the cheapest but weWe hunted all winter long with these folks and they get you on hogs. We had multiple days of 100+. Was out with others and you get what you pay for.

Dave

We did it, and was a bucket list item as well. I HIGHLY recommend it! Way too much fun. We paid $500/pp per hour about 2 years ago and money well spent! ha. Went w/a guy that was just trying to cover the cost of the helicopter. We only did the one hour, but if you can swing it, I'd do at least a 2 hour ride. I used an AR in 5.56 and spent a butt load of ammo, and hubby used a 12ga w/00. He had a higher kill rate w/the 12ga, but I think I had more fun w/the AR. The pilot would get you down on the critter pretty good. The pigs were easy, but the dashing/darting yotes were a different story. I'd also recommend taking sea sick med before going up.

Check out our program, www.heligunner.com

We are based out of Temple Texas and operate an MD-500E helicopter on close to 150,000 acres of property, most of which is corn fields and other crops that hogs think are being grown as their personal buffet!

We are using an MD-500E turbine powered 4 person aircraft, with 2 shooters at a time (one left one right), we have a pilot and co-pilot/safety officer in the front seat at all times. If you do some research about the helicopter hog hunting companies in Texas you'll find that pretty much everyone else uses a Robinson 22 or Robinson 44 piston driven helicopter. The Robinson aircraft can definitely get the job done, since all helicopters are designed to hover, what becomes a factor is stability and power when you want to get somewhere quicker (we cruise 150+mph typically) and we don't have to keep the nose of our aircraft pointed into the wind. Basically the MD-500 was designed for the military as a stable observation and shooting platform at about $2,000,000, the Robinson was designed to be the most economical helicopter ever produced, at $250,000(R22) and $750,000(R44).

With that said, our prices are $650 per person, per hour, we strongly recommend a 2-3 hour hunt. We provide the free use of our short barreled, suppressed AR's chambered in 300 blackout or 308. We even provide the ammo for free.

When it comes down to it, you show up with two people, $2,600 and a smile, we'll provide an orientation/safety brief,(which some outfits charge extra for, like safety is an option!), a run down our gunnery run from the air to confirm zero and shoot some targets on the way out to the hogs, 2+ hours of flight, we'll even land on a volleyball court behind a restaurant and buy you lunch in the middle of it.

I won't even suggest how many hogs YOU will get on your hunt, we've had a few hunts where we only got 10, then we've had a few where we run out of fingers and toes to count on, most of them fall somewhere in the middle. 10-50 hogs is a fairly accurate number to expect.

Feel free to message, pm, email, call or send smoke signals if you want any more information.

Jeremy Stillman
512-538-8512
Jeremy@heligunner.com
www.heligunner.com

Heligunner, I've seen you guys flying out on a "eradication mission" a few times. I work on Temple Airport in one of the hangers with the Apaches in them. While I haven't been out shooting hogs in a helicopter I have been shooting targets out of a Huey while in the Army. It's a ton of fun. Flying NOE and shooting at stuff is worth the price even if you don't kill a pig. I highly recommend it.

Mr. Stillman, thanks for your reply! I was leaning towards helihunters but they make you use their 12 ga ar with buckshot. I'd much rather try it with an ar. If you ask me, $2000 for 3 full hours in a bird shooting at hogs & yotes with someone else's rifle & ammo seems like a pretty solid deal to me. Are you pretty full for this winter or do you have some slots open?