Can You Hunt Hogs with an AR 15 in Florida?

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Hunting Florida wild hog is among the most exciting experiences I have in Florida.  The Sunshine State has many places where you can hunt for these wild animals.

Can you hunt hogs with an AR 15 in Florida?  I believe you can use an AR 15 for your wild hog hunting.

Your adrenaline will pump up when your dog catches a huge wild boar, and you rush to take the hog alive before stabbing it to death.

Every hunter will love to have the experience of shooting, stabbing, or spearing a huge hog. It is no longer news that North Florida is home to the biggest hogs in America.

Can you hunt hogs with an AR 15 in Florida?

Yes, you can hunt for wild hogs with your AR 15 in Florida.

The law of Florida allows the use of any caliber like the AR-15 style sporting rifles to hunt hogs in the state.

Can You Hunt Hogs with an AR 15 in Florida?
Can You Hunt Hogs with an AR 15 in Florida?

The FWC regulations defined wild hogs as free-roaming hongs which cannot be legally said to be privately owned domestic hogs. There are wild hogs in all 67 counties of Florida, and they can be hunted freely.

Wild hogs live in different kinds of places, but their most preferred habitat is oak-cabbage palm hammocks, freshwater marshes and sloughs, and pine Flatwoods. An adult hog can weigh as much as 150 pounds and can be as long as 5 to 6 feet.

Sometimes they move alone, but sometimes they move in small family groups called sounders.

Wild hogs take different kinds of plants and animals for food. To eat, they root with their broad snouts. This habit defaces the soil and ground, and the area will look like plowed farmland.

Hunting

You are free to hunt wild hogs at any time of the year, all you require is the landowner’s permission. You do not require a hunting license to hunt them even at the night, with a gun, and even with light as long as you have the landowner’s permission.

Hunters are free to use dogs,  and any of the authorized rifles, shotguns, crossbows, bows, pistols or air guns, and even hairbows to hunt wild hogs.

You are free to hunt all sizes of the wild animal, you are free to use any size of the bag, and you are free to hunt both sexes of the animal.

You can use live traps like box traps, cage traps, and corral traps to trap wild hogs. You may not release trapped wild hogs on public lands.

You can only release it on private property, but you must have the landowner’s permission. You have to get a permit from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) to transport or hold a live wild hog.

Use of Dogs

Your dog must wear a collar or tag that boldly displays your name and address if you must take it for wild hog hunting. You must obtain permission in writing from the landowner or the land lessee before you go wild hog hunting on private property.

You have written permission so that you can present it for inspection on demand by the wildlife officer or other law enforcement officers.

Furthermore, all hunting dogs that are not under physical restraint must be equipped with devices that will help in their remote-tracking if they should get lost.

Hog bait is one of the most effective things you can use to draw out the wild hog to the open when you go hunting them.

Use the Veil of Darkness

Wild Hogs have learned the trick of staying out of the way of the hunters during the day. As a result of this new trick, it is advised you go hunting them during the night, during their feeding time.

Most times, even with the moonlight you need extra light to be able to hunt them in the night. This requires you to know what the law of the state says about using physical lights to hunt wild hogs during the nighttime.

Use Hog Tracking Tricks to Get Them

You can employ different kinds of tracking tricks for effective hog hunting.

  • Play a recorded sound of predators to bring them out of their place of hiding to an open space where you will effectively catch or kill them. This is because they always escape from predators not minding their security.
  • Search for dug-up holes that are near creeks. These holes are usually dug by hogs themselves as their relaxation spot. Wherever you see these holes know that they are very much around there, and it will be easy for you to hunt them down.
  • Wild hogs always leave footprints behind as they walk. Their footprints are similar to that of deer, but their shape is rounder and wider.
  • Get a recorded cry of piglets in pain, play it for them and they will rush out to save the pained piglets. Every parent, including wild hogs, will love to save its young one in danger, even
  • Search where you will see uprooted soils because they uproot soils and vegetative as they go searching for food.

You can use this rules to stay away from trouble in Florida. I recommend that you join a hunting group to help you stay away form problems.

FAQs

What guns can you use for hog hunting in Florida?

The law allows the use of all calibers as well as Ar-15 sporting rifles.

What do I need to hunt hogs in Florida?

You are free to hunt or trap wild hogs at all times of the year, just with the landowner’s permission. You do not need a hunting license or a permit to hunt wild hogs at night with a gun and light as long as you have the landowner’s permission.

As a Hunter you are free to use dogs, all kinds of legal rifles, shotguns, crossbows, bows, pistols or air guns, and hairbow to hunt wild hogs in Florida.

What rifles are legal to hunt with in Florida?

The law of Florida permits Rifles, shotguns, pistols, air guns, longbows, compound bows, recurve bows, crossbows, and birds of prey such as falcons, hawks and great horned owls to be used in hunting hogs in the state.

 


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I’m Jeff – I’m like a human GPS, but instead of giving you directions, I give you the inside scoop on how to have the time of your life on your next holiday.

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