Hi all,

This is my first post on the forum. Me and a buddy live in AZ and are looking to javelina/hog hunt in west Texas. We just want to drive over and stay a few nights. Only problem is, neither of us have done it before. We both have AR15 5.56 that we would hunt with. Ideally we would like to just park the car somewhere for a few nights and hike in somewhere and set up some tents to stay in for the duration of our time there. Is this a possibility? We'd prefer to just do our own thing and not pay for a guided hunt although I realize for our first time that might be the best option. Where are the best spots in west Texas to hog/javelina hunt? Are there any public lands like this where this makes sense and where there is plenty of hog/javelina traffic? Any reply would be awesome.

Thanks!

ta HF...
no clue about the javelin hunts....

I'm an East TX boy so I can't answer your question but rather pose 2. Do you have TX hunting license? Have you looked for public land on the interweb?

PM sent

you'll need night vision
majority of hogs here come out at night

and I would bring AR-10 or .30 cal something

Not much public land in west Texas
Not much public land in Texas ... period

Haskell, Thockmorton , Shackleford Co and areas near the river
have big hogs ( they grow wheat around there )


You can shoot hogs with 5.56 if you don't care about eating them,
or harvesting them.
Seen too many run off to die somewhere

I run hog hunts on my place and March - May would be
best time

If you can't find anything, contact me later

I have a group of hog hunters from Wyoming coming in March
I don't know exact dates yet. They have been hunting hogs
with me since 2015. They eat everything they shoot and they
bring big calibers to make sure they drop on the spot.
The old man (75 yrs old) would shoot one , drag it off,
gut it, come back shoot again. He killed 4 in one night.
The best hunter and group of hunters I've met.

Those Wyoming hunters can hunt and clean animals

@garyrapp55

Thanks for your reply! We don't have the licenses yet, but that is only because we want to have everything else figured out and in place first. Don't want to get a license and never actually use it. And yes I've looked for Bureau of Land Management land in West Texas but couldn't find any reliable maps. The search continues!

@cabosandinh

Thanks for the reply! 5.56 is the biggest rifle I have so I guess it'll just have to do. Definitely going to need to get some night vision. I've watched a ton of YouTube videos and looking back on it, seems like they were all hunting at night. And if it is private land all you need is a general hunting license, right? I'll keep in touch with you.

No hunting license needed for hogs on private land. I agree about the 556-223 calibers. I have seen way too many hogs wounded with small calibers. Unless they head shoot them, and not many of my hunters are good at that.

If you can earhole your shot and use a larger say, 75gr BTHP round, then you should be able to drop a hog at closer ranges (100 yds or less). But, as mentioned above, many hogs get wounded with 5.56/.223 and certain places where you pay to hunt won’t let you use that caliber.