Sharpen Your AR-15 Skills on Feral Hogs

By Jay Grazio / Shooting Illustrated

When it comes to practicing with your defensive carbine, one way to truly test your skill and gear is to face off against the elusive feral hog. It’s an adversary that can smell you up close, hear you walking toward it and can run faster than you can. To have a successful hog hunt, you need to have utmost confidence in your gear, complete knowledge of how to run everything and both patience and nerve. In short, it’s a great way to put your skill with a rifle to the test, all while helping rid areas of an invasive pest. And, one that provides tasty morsels, too.

I recently had the opportunity to rid the south/central Texas area of a few feral hogs with Fusion Thermal thermal scopes and Sons of Liberty Gun Works AR-15-style rifles. Two nights in a row saw our group of editors and gunwriters chasing our elusive prey, with some long-range work in between. Carbines in 5.56 NATO were provided on the first night, with targets ranging from 50 to 150 yards, while bolt-action rifles in the new 6 mm Max round were available for longer distances on the second night. And, oh, what learning experiences both nights would prove to be! CLICK TO KEEP ON READING