OK, first off this is my first post here. We live on some land that has about 15 acres of mixed pine and hardwood. (As with most of east Texas, the woods continue for ever!) We have owned this for 3 years, lived here for 1 year. No sign of hog activity until about 6 months ago.
If I can keep them away from my house and my wife's garden then I am happy. If that involves shooting them, then I am fine with that.
We own a 12 ga shotgun and I have shot at them a couple of times with 00 buckshot when I have spotted them without success.

Question #1 - Is 15 acres too small of an area to 'hunt'? Not really interested in carrying the hog hunt beyond my own property.

I have been advised that my 12ga is not the best thing to use for this. (We don't currently own other long guns.) We don't currently do any other hunting and don't see ourselves doing any - either on our property or elsewhere. Which leads me to my next question -

Question #2 - should I consider buying a more suitable rifle just for the hog hunting? I have looked at some and have been drawn to the Ruger American Ranch in 450 Bushmaster. (Looks like a good gun to carry thru the brush with a load that will be very unfriendly to the hogs.) Comments?

Thanks in advance

MNA

Stick with a shotgun, your only on 15 acres. Practice more.

get you some 3/4 or 5/8 oz 12 gauge sluggers.. they will put them down... maybe get a bag or two of corn and dump a few pounds out when you have time to hunt, give them something to focus on... I've sat 30 yards away from my feeder and have had the pigs come in.

15 acres of typical East Texas property is not too small to hunt. With respect to taking the hunt beyond your own property lines, without landowner permission it would be illegal anyway. Likewise shooting across a property line.

However on your own property you may hunt hogs by any legal means day or night and are not required (as the land owner or any agents assigned by you) to have a hunting license.

A shotgun with 00 buckshot (depending on the choke of the barrel) might be effective out to 35-40 yds.

Personally, I'd be more inclined to use a pen type trap set in area where the hogs travel. It will do the hunting for you....24 hrs a day. Then you can use your shotgun to dispatch the pigs as you wish. No need to invest in another firearm unless you just want one.

Fence around the areas you don't want pig problems, use 16' hog panels or field fencing designed to exclude pigs.
Keep trying with the shotgun.

Check with the county for any acreage minimum or subdivision hunting restrictions.
I doubt Cass co has any.

Either fence out where you don’t want to hogs. Or I would suggest buying an inexpensive rifle like a Ruger American in 308 or something similar. Put an economy scope 2-7 or 3-9 on top and you will always have a Capable rifle with you. And even though you say you don’t have any interest in hunting, you never know when a backs trap might sound good in the freezer and you’d be well suited for that.

Trapping is also a good idea being that you live on the property, but eventually hogs will get wise and weary of the trap.

Poison is also an option, granted that’s illegal

shotgun with slugs is more than fine out to 20-30 yards. As others have said fence off what you don't want them to get into. hog panels at tractor supply are 16 feet by 40 inches.
you will need three T-post per panel, however you will most likely overlap the panels so you will not need three for ever panel.
TIP, run the panels on the outside of the T-posts, otherwise the hogs will just push it over.

Because you are living there and your main concern is around the house and garden consider a 5 foot pipe fence with no-climb horse wire. My wife and I are building now on 17 acres in Grayson county. We have the hogs and deer. We did the pipe fence on the road side where you enter the property. We will do the no-climb 4 foot rolled wire with a strand of barbed on top for the outside boundary of the rest of the property. Around the house and yard/garden we are going to do the pipe fence with the no-climb rolled wire with some gates. You can paint it and it looks pretty good and doesn't really block your view of the trees and wildlife. It won't keep the deer out but it will keep out the hogs, armadillos and rabbits.

Get some slugs for your shotgun. Keep at it, and use hog panels to build a fence around the garden.

Just to clarify for the original poster, as of a couple years ago, no hunting license is required at all for hogs, regardless of where you hunt them. Just need permission from land owner or their agent.

1. Too small to hunt? In a traditional sense, yes, it's a little small to hunt...but, I've hunted on that small. For nuisance animal control, it's definitely not too small.

2. You're 12 guage with 00 buck is plenty to get the job done. Get a cheap ladder stand, put corn out 25 -30 yards upwind for a few days so they can find it, then sit and wait. When they show, give em hell with everything you've got until you can't see them anymore.

3. Pattern your gun before you go.

Trusty Remington 12ga. VersaMax with Slugs and 00.



Charlie

The question is what is the law concerning firearm discharges in your town or area and how isolated is your 15 acres????
Do you have neighbors near and or around you????

Know your target and beyond!!!!

You must be 100 yds from an occupied dwelling how ever if you are surrounded with woods and the nearest neighbor a safe distance away (1000 ft) you can probably shoot rifle

Something to remember about pigs is they cam reproduce multiple times per year. To maintain a steady population you have to kill roughly 80% of the herd annually. That means if your property currently has 10 pigs, if you kill 8 there will only be 10 next year. But if you only kill 4, then next year you will have 14+ babies and will start seeing the exponential growth of the herd.

And pigs will eat everything your wife plants in her garden. And then when they've eaten it they will root the whole thing up so it will have to be leveled before she can replant, and then they will root up all the grass around your house too.

Point of all this is that you need to seriously consider how to become a very efficient pig killer. The trap is a great idea, but I'd also recommend investing in a rifle and a spotlight. Thermal scopes are really awesome too if you money is not your primary concern.

If I was you and only interested in the keeping them out I’d fence my property with good horse wire on bottom. I’ve seen plenty farmers and ranchers do this. You’re fence has to built correctly and will not be cheap. But you will not be able to keep hogs out by shooting one or two here and there.

BTW if you do end up buying the Ruger american, .308 or 30.06 is plenty. I have one and they are inexpensive as far as rifles go but are dang accurate. I have killed quite a few deer and hogs with mine. In the fire arms section here you can often find Savage or Ruger rifles with scopes already on them for less than $500. Also while pigs are destructive, they are great fun to hunt and delicious cooked low and slow!

Where do you find the law about 100 yds from an occupied bldg?

I do not think he will find anything

Go to the Dolla Sto. Buy four sheets of poster board. Starting at 20 yards shoot the poster board with your buck shot. Back up ten yards and repeat. Do this out to 50 yards on separate sheets of poster board. Look at the poster board to determine your effective range. Get within whatever that range is before you light them up. Either that or put up a hog wire fence around your wife’s garden with a gate for her to come and go. The hog wire fence will take some work but will be the most effective.

the 12ga buckshot should be fine. only depends will be how far you are shooting. the buckshot will be most effective probably at 50yds or less. I would think at that distance you will kill them reliably. farther than that....the pattern will spread out more...you might put a ball or two thru them in less desireable spots but probably not enough to reliably knock them down. they'll run off and probably still die if you hit them center mast at all.

i htink a 00 buck ball is .30cal???? in the head or spine this will drop them. in the shoulder or in the gut they'll run but they'll die. less direct hits they may survive.

if all you're wanting to do is just keep them at bay and not really get into hunting then i'd just stick with what you've got. If you're really interested in actually hunting and not just nuisance controlling...then i'd look at getting a rifle. Is the property fenced? If the place is fenced you can usually go look and see the trails and such where the animals are coming thru the fence. wire hog snares are pretty effective and cheap for trapping them. you'd still have to shoot them after...but that's easy enough. just do not tie snares to the fence. best to tie them to trees if there are any around.

Shotgun with slugs if you can handle the recoil. 762x39 or 300 BO is enough. 308 or 06 are good for long range, not particularly 15 acre place or a walking around rifle. A 9mm 'camp' isn't quite enough for general purpose.