I was out checking traps and doing some odds and ends yesterday and found a big bugger in one trap. I normally just pop them between the eyes with a 9mm or whatever handgun I have handy, but this time I did something different. The big guy was really worked up and wanting a piece of me. Everytime I tried to get close to the trap, he was sticking his nose through the panels and lifting the door up 6-8 inches each time. I decided to not stand out in front of him at that point, and grabbed a .45 colt lever action I had in the truck and popped him from a little more distance through the neck.....he dropped like a rock.
The next trap had a smaller one about 180 lbs. in it, so I let him taste the .45 as well. It sure did a quick job on both of them. I have a habit of grabbing whatever rifle is handy when out in the woods during the day, and they normally all work just fine.

Nice work! I tend to shoot the trapped piggies with whatever I'm armed with at the time, but I do prefer the larger calibers placed carefully in their ears so they don't do anything but drop right down and eat some dirt (or sand, as it appears from your pics!). My Taurus Judge with its cylinder full of 45 Colts is a top choice. I want 'em Dead Right There!

Did you have a John Wayne line after shooting them?

“You're short on ears and long on mouth.”

Looks like it did the job on a coon as well.

I have a fairly large "bone pile" where I dump hogs and coons on a fairly regular basis. It started as a smaller area, but the buzzards and critters can sure separate the bones and drag them all around the area. Some days the air around that area is almost too ripe to wander into. Those two make a total of 644 hogs I've taken off of this place since I got serious about it.

Very well done. But...that's one depressing, but nevertheless impressive, statement. I just bought a place that I'm pretty sure is overrun with 'em. I will not be able to make an impact on them alone.

I don't think we will make a actual dent in the populations...no matter how much we trap and hunt them. We can move them around some, but they just keep reproducing in great numbers. All a guy can do is hunt and trap and have some fun doing it....it is a challenge.

Nice pig gun.
We had killed about 400 pigs from the lease we were on over about 5 years. We actually got ahead of them to the point that trapping and sightings had gotten thin.
We have been off the lease for a year now and the owner is already complaining that the pig population is coming back.
Sounds like you have more than we had, stay after them.

Creek, you just let me know when you need some help sir!

Creekrunner, you'll never be able to "shoot them out," so building a few traps is the only solution if you want to get serious about reducing the population. I'm up in Mason County but will be glad to lend you a hand in trap building or gunning the sounders down. If you need help, PM me and we'll see what we can work out.

I appreciate the offer by you and others on here. I will definitely need something bigger than my little box trap. The pasture by the road looks like a bomber training area.

These round traps are pretty easy to set up and not too expensive. I keep this one set up on a different property than I hunt (and keep track of total hogs on). I did manage to put a Grendel into a 200 pounder this morning (#645) at 1:00 on the other property, but I've been rummy all day from lack of sleep.

Keep up the good work

That big long faced hog looks mean for sure. Well, he DID...

644 hogs!!! Wow!

It's always good to have multiple choices.....

I actually had a Lyman .54 cal. muzzleloader pistol in the truck with me this morning. I bought it a while back and had to do a lot of cleanup and stuff to get it into shooting condition. I figured this morning if I had a hog in a trap, it would be interesting to see how it penetrated....but alas no hogs.

What loads are you shooting in your 45? I got a great deal on some cowboy action loads a while back and they are perfect, light recoil and low noise combined with good penetration. In fact my Rossi 16 inch barreled lever gun spends more time in my truck than any other. For real hunting I use a 250 gr. cast bullet on top of a Ruger/Contender level charge of IMR 4227. So far no bullet has stayed in a hog or deer.

Right now I'm using a 250 gr. Hornady XTP bullet with 14.5 gr. 2400. By no means a hot load, but the rifle shoots it good, and I just happened to find a box of the bullets on a shelf in my shop. When they are gone, I'll probably move on to some cast bullets or...who knows what? By then, the rifle will probably be in the back of one of my safes and something else will be riding in the truck with me. I am in the woods every day and just throw whatever rifle happens to be handy in the truck. They all seem to take care of the hogs without any problems. I do agree with your use of cast bullets for penetration, good choice !

#636.....Just happened to catch me with a different pistol in my truck. I picked up this old beater a while back and worked on it a little last week to make a shooter out of it. It's a .54 Lyman and while not pretty, it looks like it will do it's job.

That is the hog kill of the week

Got up early and went to checking traps. I grabbed up a Winchester '73 SRC I had propped up in a corner and took it with me. It's only about 130 yrs. old, so should have a lot of life left in it. I snuck up one one trap as I could hear noise coming from it, and there were 3 small hogs in the trap, and one larger one hanging around outside it snacking on the corn the others had shoved outside I guess. I managed to pop the larger one with the 44/40 in the ear, and he went straight down. The others of course waited their turn in the trap.

whacking and stacking