There is a chance I will be hunting hogs from a helicopter soon as a guest on a friends place. What can I expect? How many magazines should I take? Ammo amount? Do you lead a running hog? Aim dead on? What caliber do you recommend? Red dot or LPVO? Any tips or pointers or advice is welcomed. Thanks

I've done it twice. One time we used the pilot's supplied .223s with red dot scope. Between the poor shooting and small rounds, this wasn't highly effective. The next time (different pilot and location) we used shotguns with buckshot and definitely registered more kills with fewer overall shots. Really depends on your pilot and how close he can get you. I do remember the AR's were custom made to eject out of the left side of the gun. We were shooting out the left side of a 4 seater.

Im left handed and shooting from left side was difficult with AR. Pilot won't let you stand on runner. Shotgun much more effective for me.

Remember to keep the barrel of the gun pointed toward the ground while reloading.

I know a local helicopter pilot who took an inexperienced hunter up to shoot with an AR-15. The hunter somehow managed to fire a round into the dead center of the rotor blade while reloading in flight. Very expensive mistake…….but no one was hurt.

Right handed and shooting from the left side of the chopper, a left handed tactical type shotgun works best for me. Prefer #4 buckshot or BB. FN has the best left handed shotgun for this hog hunting imo. I think it has a 24 inch barrel and takes 8/9 shells. Unfortunately, they don't make it anymore but a friend who is left handed has one that is very well used every year.
I've shot numerous left handed ars in different configurations over the years but much prefer a shotgun. The standard hunting shotguns are fine, but a tactical type with a mid length barrel is more maneuverable and my pick.

Ive done this 4 times. A .223 with a 0 magnification red dot or iron sights is what I found to be the most fun. Don't use a magnified optic. Shotgun with buckshot also works well for pure knockdown power and makes up for the lack of accuracy brought on by all the movement but you're gonna spend a lot more time reloading if you use a shotgun. Your pilot will probably require you to have a brass catcher bag on your AR.

As far as leading a running animal, that's tricky. You will likely be coming at them from different angles. Most of the time the pilot will have you so close that you don't need to lead at all.

One trip we had lots of single file groups in big fields. The pilot would get relatively high above them and come in from behind. He taught us to "reverse lead" in this situation since we were coming in at a much faster speed than the hogs. That meant we had to aim slightly behind them. It didn't sound logical at all but it worked.

All of the above is correct in my estimation. Buckshot works best but is less fun in my opinion and more expensive. Definitely do not want to have a scope as it makes it difficult to locate a moving target on a moving platform. Red dot is the way to go. You'll get a rhythm after the first few shots regarding leading the target. Depending on the terrain you will probably see your missed shots and correct from there. The guy I went with had a large drum magazine that kept jamming so I got some extra shots in at the end because I was using magazines. A brass catcher is a must but our pilot let us unzip the end so we didn't have to stop and empty the pouch. He just didn't want brass flying around the helicopter.

Get one of these.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/708388234374409?mibextid=xO1PvT&s=yWDuG2&fs=e

So, an AR-style shotgun, amirite?

Rooster Hat

Agreed on weight and coil.

Helps if you have wire for support.

Thank y'all for the helpful information and advice. I'll let you know how the hunt goes.

I'll try to add a couple that I haven't seen posted.

Make sure your mic is flipped to the opposite side as you shoot. For example I am right handed so I want the mic on my left side so that it doesn't get between my cheek and the stock.

It takes some getting used to while shooting with the headset on but you'll get used to it quickly.

TAKE A SPARE GUN!!! Annually we do aerial surveys for a client that concludes with killing any pigs we can find on the ~1400 high fenced property. I cleaned my AR real good in anticipation of the hunt thinking I was doing the right thing. I was doing the right thing of course but for some reason my gas key decided to get loose and when we got in the air I had to manually cycle every 2nd or 3rd round. The cleaning probably had little to nothing to do with it but I carry my gun with me every where and shoot vermin regularly. Never had an issue until I cleaned it and relied on it for one the most fun activities there is! Of course I still went through about 175 rounds and killed all 60 pigs we found. Total hunting time was about 1.5 hours. Lost two finger nails and had blood all over the gun and the back seat of the chopper from grabbing the charging handle constantly to cycle a new round. Fingers were pretty cut up and sore but it was worth every ounce of pain.

Fast forward a year and we went up to do surveys for the same client and I switched spots with my business partner so he could shoot pigs after the surveys were complete. Some how the day before he unknowingly got a round jammed in the chamber and no one knew it. He didn't even get to pull the trigger because my gun was a 30min one-way flight back to the trucks.

I shot the first time with a 3x9x50 vortex scope but wouldn't recommend that at all. I have a lot of practice shooting with that optic both on the run and stationary targets and actually did pretty well but if I hadn't done so much shooting it would've been super hard to find the targets.

I now have a EOTech that I really really enjoy.

A good pilot will probably scare you a little bit but they will get you right on top of the pigs. It's an easier shot than I ever thought it would be but it isn't always easy. Hitting those small pigs at full steam is one hell of a challenge!

Enjoy!!

Deerdude said:

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Im left handed and shooting from left side was difficult with AR. Pilot won't let you stand on runner. Shotgun much more effective for me.

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I'm left handed and found shooting from the right side was difficult.

If your helo pilot is any good, he will start circling and getting the pigs to start running in a circle. Then you can get darn near all of them.

Mr Dubi shooting targets from a Little Bird; it was a blast!

CrossTimbersW advised I take a second firearm in the event of a malfunction. In the helicopter is there a way or place to strap a second rifle? Do I need to bring some Velcro straps or rubber coated cable ties to affix the second rifle.

Lastly, How do you store all your full and empty magazines while in flight?

Gym bag or backpack.

Saw a helo from afar at CCC this morning and they had the machine gun going. Looked fun. Is this the HeliBacon one?