Pork Police: Hog Hunting and Suppressors
Pork Police Hog Hunting and Suppressors
In This Article
Who We Are and What We Do
Author
Shon Rolfe
Co-Owner
Pork Police
Pork Police was founded by Todd Olson and Shon Rolfe, longtime hunters and partners in field and crop protection across North Texas. For more than seven years, we’ve worked with farmers and landowners to help control destructive feral hog populations and protect valuable crops across six North Texas counties.
Over that time, we’ve successfully guided more than 850 hunts for clients ranging from retired Special Forces operators and lifelong hunters to individuals who had never fired a gun before stepping into the field with us. Through a disciplined but practical safety program, high-end equipment, and strong relationships with local landowners, we’ve completed every hunt without incident or accident.
With nearly 10,000 feral hogs harvested during those seven years, we’ve learned exactly what it takes to run safe, efficient, and successful hunts.
The Tools Behind Our Success
When you’re running two to three hunts per week with groups of up to eight hunters at a time, dependable equipment is critical. Reliability in the field directly impacts both safety and effectiveness, which is why we invest heavily in proven, professional-grade gear.
We’re proud to partner with several industry-leading manufacturers, including LWRC International firearms, DNT thermal optics, and Rugged Suppressors. In addition to using their products in the field, we also conduct extensive real-world testing on a variety of equipment platforms and accessories.
Why We Use Suppressors
Improving Shooter Confidence and Safety
Our clients come from all backgrounds and experience levels. Many have never handled an AR-platform rifle before arriving for a hunt, and that can be intimidating.
Running suppressed .300 Blackout rifles helps create a much more comfortable shooting experience by:
- Significantly reducing felt recoil
- Eliminating muzzle flash
- Lowering the report of the rifle enough to reduce stress and improve shooter confidence
For inexperienced shooters especially, that added comfort translates directly into better control, improved accuracy, and a more enjoyable hunt overall.
Protecting Hearing in the Field
Hearing protection is another major consideration. On busy nights, it’s not unusual for 350 rounds or more to be fired during a hunt.
While our hunting groups wear hearing protection with integrated communications, guides often keep one ear uncovered so we can hear impacts and communicate effectively in the field. Suppressors reduce sound levels enough to make that practical without causing hearing issues over time.
Respecting Landowners, Neighbors, and Livestock
The properties we hunt range from small 10-acre tracts to ranches spanning more than 6,000 acres. Many of those properties include occupied homes, nearby neighbors, livestock, and valuable animals that landowners understandably want protected from unnecessary stress.
Although subsonic ammunition is quieter, we prefer supersonic .300 Blackout rounds because they consistently produce better terminal performance on feral hogs. Even with supersonic ammunition, suppressors dramatically reduce noise levels.
Much of our hunting takes place at night, sometimes within 30 yards of a landowner’s home, yet we’ve never had complaints about noise or disturbed residents. One property we hunt operates a multimillion-dollar horse business where keeping animals calm is essential. Suppressors allow us to work effectively without disrupting livestock or nearby homes.
In fact, neighboring landowners have often approached us after hearing about the number of hogs being removed without ever hearing the gunfire itself.
How Suppressors Affect Hog Behavior
One of the most interesting differences we’ve observed is how feral hogs react to suppressed fire compared to unsuppressed shooting.
Our average engagement distance is around 50 yards. When the first suppressed shot is fired, hogs frequently become disoriented and scatter in every direction — sometimes even running toward the shooters. On occasion, groups will circle back into the field, creating additional shooting opportunities.
With unsuppressed rifles, hogs almost always flee directly away from the sound.
By reducing the directional signature of the shot, suppressors create opportunities that simply don’t happen otherwise and significantly improve the effectiveness of our hunts.
The Suppressors and Platforms We Run
Our current lineup includes:
- 16 AR-platform rifles equipped with thermal optics and suppressors
- 2 rifles chambered in .308
- 2 rifles chambered in 6.8 SPC
- 12 rifles chambered in .300 Blackout
While we have an excellent partnership with Rugged Suppressors and regularly run several of their products, we’ve also used and purchased suppressors from numerous respected manufacturers over the years, including SilencerCo, Daniel Defense, Dead Air, and others. We’ve had positive experiences across the board and appreciate the innovation each company brings to the industry.
For us a direct thread suppressor works great. The only time we remove them is to clean the guns and the direct thread seems to give us less issues. We also have to consider weight as our clients carry these guns for up to 8-10hrs in a night. Aluminum gives us the lightweight option without the cost of going with titanium. With over 10,000 rounds through many of our suppressors we have not had any issues at all with that option. The budget suppressors such as the Gemtech tracker has performed well.
Equipment Maintenance
High-end equipment is only valuable if it’s properly maintained.
One of our initial concerns when transitioning to suppressed rifles was the possibility of increased cleaning and maintenance requirements. In practice, we found that suppressor use made very little difference to our maintenance schedule.
We already maintain and clean our firearms regularly due to the volume of hunting we conduct, and suppressors have not created any significant additional burden.
Final Thoughts
We couldn’t imagine operating the way we do without suppressed rifles.
Suppressors improve shooter confidence, increase comfort and control, reduce noise for landowners and neighbors, and ultimately make our hunts more effective. They are an essential tool that helps us safely and responsibly manage feral hog populations while helping hardworking farmers and ranchers protect their land and maximize crop yields.
For more information, visit Pork Police or follow Pork Police on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Author
Shon Rolfe
Co-Owner
Pork Police
