Hey all,

I picked up a Yugo M48 not too long ago that someone had already drilled and tapped. It's got a Barska scope on it that seems to help the rifle perform pretty well. It's accurate to within a foot or so even at 400 yards.

I live in California and am thinking about checking the rifle as luggage, getting on an airplane, and flying to visit a friend who lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I'm into wild hogs and have heard bits and pieces suggesting that the hogs are just out of control down there. I have not had much luck hunting them here in California and have heard they're easier to find and kill in the Deep South.

My friend hasn't lived in that area all that long and likely doesn't know any local landowners down in Louisiana. So, here's what I need to do - find someone near Baton Rouge who has access to private land - or some public land that allows hunting, I guess - and let me into the place / show me around.

Since I'm relatively new at this and have not yet killed a hog, I'd also appreciate some tips on what hunting behaviors yield success. I am a bit green just yet to just buy access to a ranch and have the landowner just say, "The hogs are over yonder. Good luck." No, I need someone who can say, "Follow me, I'll SHOW you where they are and where you should stand to get a good shot at one." I need a guide, not just permission to hunt.

And if it's not asking too much, I'd like the guide to talk me through the process of gutting and skinning one. I'd really like to do that part myself so that I can learn hands-on, but I need supervision from someone who's done it before and is willing to be patient with a first-timer.

As to what I do with the meat after-the-fact I really hadn't thought that far ahead. Maybe my friend will want it, maybe there's a way to ship it back to California at a reasonable price, maybe some local charity near Baton Rouge would accept it. That part isn't as important to me as is the act of killing and gutting the pig.

Here's the thing - I need someone who's reputable and honest. Last thing I need is to get out in the boondocks with some yokel who doesn't know what the hell he's doing, or worse...get out there, then turn around and find him pointing his rifle at me, because he's decided he'd rather rob me than do what I hired him to do.

Oh, one last thing...as I said I'd be an out-of-state resident, so I don't even know how this works, legally speaking, or how I get a Louisiana hunting license or hog tag, or if I even need one.

Speaking of my wallet, I AM willing to pay someone a fee for all this - it just depends on how much he's asking. I'd rather pay a bit more and get a friendly, seasoned professional with a proven track record.

If I can find a hunt within a few hours' drive of Baton Rouge, I won't need lodging near the hunt site - I can make it a day trip and just stay with my friend.

I tried looking around on Google, but it seems like all the searches turned up hunts in other nearby states when I'm specifically interested in southern Louisiana, or found websites that were designed so poorly that I couldn't even navigate the page. It seems like what I'm looking for should be relatively easy to find.

Can anyone help me out? I haven't yet decided when I'm going - so that's another thing: is one time of year better than another for this?

Thanks.....

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No taxation without representation. Taxation WITH representation, ain't so hot either.

I have thought about doing the same I just don't have any friends in the southern states with access to land. Sounds like you just need the experience one time and you will be good to go out on your own. I'm out of missouri and looked into shooting some wild hogs here but no land and little time made me look at going to a "resort" of sorts but the closest one is a little too plush and expensive for myself

http://www.trophywildboarhunt.com/rifle-hunting.asp

Maybe you should consider a resort for the first time to get an idea of whats going on that way you can go out yourself when you go visit sorry I don't know any places near Baton Rogue.

8mm is a good round to bring down a wild hog I was planning on taking my M1 that way I get 8 bullets. Not to suggest anything illegal but in Missouri wild hogs are such a nuisance they say shoot on sight so I can't imagine they are very strict in La about licenses and shooting hogs. Without going to a resort type place to hunt I imagine you will have a difficult time finding a butcher to cut your hog up lot of places don't like to do wild animals or can't by law. Shipping your goods back to California will also be expensive so best bet is to bury the beast where you shoot it.

Thanks for the reply. I did come across that website you referenced while searching last night, but didn't look at it much then since I was primarily interested in Louisiana. The place DOES seem like more what I've got in mind...it's just a shame it's got to be in MO.

I should probably mention that there ARE certain areas of California where hogs are easier to find than in the places I've been looking - Monterey County, for instance...where the coastal hills are thick with wild pigs, having gotten their start there a couple centuries ago thanks to some Spanish landowner.

Trouble is, the guys who do guided hunts down there want like $600 for 48 hours of hunting...and the hunt's over once the hunter bags a hog, regardless of how long it took. That's only a few hours from my place and I could haul the meat home in an ice chest in my trunk, but the whole thing would cost me the better part of a grand once I include gas, food, and lodging.

It seems like for that money I could fly to Baton Rouge and hunt there instead. I keep seeing these shows on Discovery Channel and whatnot that talk about how pigs are just completely overrunning the southern states and doing all these tens of thousands of dollars in damages to crops, and even chasing landowners up trees. I watch this stuff on TV and think, "I need to get down there and offer myself as the solution...assuming I can find someone to show me the ropes."

I do have access to some private land in California not far from where I live, but the terrain is dry and hot for most of the year. The hunting there is sparse at best and after over a dozen trips w/o even seeing much game, I am getting discouraged. (I've seen wild pigs there on only three occasions in my entire life, and none of those times found me ready to shoot.)

I need to bust one of those pigs, if only to reassure myself that I haven't gotten anything just because I'm a rotten hunter. And so I got to thinking - why am I dragging my rifle around these hot, dry hills, looking at pig turds on the ground that are a month old and ruttings that were probably made last year...while in Southern states they literally can't kill the feral hogs faster than they reproduce? And so when my friend moved to Baton Rouge, that got the wheels in my head turning.

Thanks again for weighing-in. I'd probably just move to a Southern state myself if it were practical right now.

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No taxation without representation. Taxation WITH representation, ain't so hot either.

Get a temp out of state license and find out where the public land is, get out there and look for hog sign. That would be freshly rooted up ground, wallows, and prints.

Set up and wait till it gets dark, or get out at crack of Posterior and wait in a good spot 'till noon.

They're everywhere down here. I'm in Florida, but LA is about the same.

Your 8mm Mauser round will make mince meat out of one.

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"Hurray, boys! We've got them. We'll finish them up and then go home to our station."
-- General George Custer, before battle with Indians at Little Big Horn.

I can honestly say 8mm definitely brings home the bacon.

Use full-power European spec loads and not the downloaded wimpy US loads. 8mm performs the same as .30-06 when loaded properly.

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Milsurps are Classic! Not Plastic!

Nations do not survive by setting examples for others.
Nations survive by making examples of others.

You don't win a war because you said so.
You win a war when your enemy says so.

I forgot to add, cover up your smell and set up down wind of where ever you suspect they might show up. They can smell your pocket change and tell you how many dimes you have from a half mile away. That's how good their noses are. I like to use pop-up ground blind and hunt in the cold weather. The cold keeps your stink down, and if you stay inside the blind they won't see or smell you.

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"Hurray, boys! We've got them. We'll finish them up and then go home to our station."
-- General George Custer, before battle with Indians at Little Big Horn.