Wild Boar Hunters /Experienced
Hogs
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What kind of broadhead and set up are you using? You are smart to plan this out... very tough critters - they have a "shield" of fascia that acts like armor behind the shoulder... if you can get close you can get through it with whitetail stuff - I use a 180g silver flame and get them quartering away behind the shoulder - works for me
That picture is totally accurate. Do not be afraid to shoot straight up the leg and not behind like on a deer. I've killed a bunch of hogs with whitetail gear. My setup is 60#, 380 grain arrow and 100gr Magnus Buzzcut and it puts them down quick. Just dont shoot high and back.
Yeah, what Boothill said. If you shoot them like a whitetail behind the shoulder you'll hit guts.
I've shot 16 of various sizes with 3 blade fixed Rocky Mountains, 125 grns, 60#s. My G-Son & son in law have used 3 blade fixed also. Heading to S. Tx in March & we are all using 3 blade fixed. I prefer broadside or just a slight quartering away.
Razorhead,
Good question...If you are talking about the preferred shot placement on a mature boar(150-plus lbs.), your best shot is a hard quartering away shot several inches behind the crease of the shoulder. Mature boars develop a thick gristle plate that gets thicker and heavier as they age. I doubt you would even penetrate it with a broadside shoulder shot on a really mature boar. For this very reason, I would also recommend a short, compact, heavy duty fixed-blade broadhead that provides maximum opportunity for penetration.
For smaller boars and sows, an arrow straight up the front leg mid-line to the lower 1/3rd will do the trick. A hog's vitals are a little father forward than other North American game, very similar to that of African game. The lungs don't come as far back as they do on a whitetail for example...A broadside shot more than 4-5" behind the crease is a gut shot on a hog.
Good luck! shoot a bunch!
Low and back is worse that high and back, for what it is worth. I have killed them with both 3 blade and 2 blade. Most hogs you run into don't have enough of a shield to worry about with the average compound bow set up. Large shielded boar are a different ballgame. So many variables. You haven't mentioned your setup as far as bow goes, as far as I can tell.
Low and tight behind the shoulder and they won't go far. Your set-up is fine. I shot this boar with a 447 grain ACC Pro Hunter, /slick trick grizz trick 2 launched from a 60LB Mathews CHILL.
Your average hog isn't any harder to kill than a deer. The really big boars can have extremely thick "shields" and that puts them in a completely different category of tough. The shield and thick mud caked hair can make it really tough to get good penetration.
Have fun, hogs were designed for the bow hunter!
What weekender said about the mud. It can dull your blades on impact if he's really caked with mud, something that is pretty usual in the summer time when ticks and lice infest the hogs .
As an aside, a 75 grain boat tail hollow point in the ear does an excellent job also :)
I ditto what others have said about avoiding the shoulder. When a pig gets to 150#+ they develop a shield. If is almost impossible to penetrate that shield with a BH and with some bullets.
The heart is low and slightly forward. Best shot scenario is quartering away aiming a low at the crease. This should put you in the heart.
Bottomline: Stay away from the shoulder on larger hogs.
Best eating size hog is 75-125# range. Piglets are super delicious. When they get up in size the meat gets gritty.
razorhead you are getting great advise on this one I jave killed a ton of hogs with an arrow everyone is spot on!
razorhead you are getting great advise on this one I jave killed a ton of hogs with an arrow everyone is spot on!
Michael, it's not that hogs are tough, but rather most folks simply hit them either too high, too far back, or quartering. Our guests shoot between 500 to 600 hogs each year so we get to see a pretty good sampling of what can go wrong. For about eleven of the past 14 years we employed the use of a bloodtracking dog that not only located dead hogs but bayed up wounded hogs so we could finish them off with a rifle. This gave us the luxury of doing a necropsy on each wounded hog to find out why it wasn't dead.
The vitals lie incredibly low and far forward on a hog when compared to other North American game species, so a majority of folks shoot them like they would a deer- behind the shoulder. I can't tell you how many times we've heard "I hit him perfect", while tracking a wounded hog. What would be perfect on a deer or elk may be a gut shot on a hog. Their stomach comes as far forward as an inch behind the elbow.
Also, if you look at their neck and visualize their spinal column in the middle of their neck, you can see just how low their spine is. Anything above the spine is simply muscle and even a high lung shot is not ideal as they can run a long way before expiring, and by the time the first drop of blood hits the ground from that high hole there's a very high chance you won't find it. There's a lot of fear about hitting the shield on a hog also. First of all, only an old, mature boar hog develops the shield. It is simply cartilage the builds up over years of rubbing to encourage the build-up of this cartilage. While we have seen shields of 2" or more thick on mature boar hogs, a sharp cut-to-tip broadhead penetrates that shield like a hot knife through butter. Bullets can be hampered, but broadheads not as much. Look at it like a bulletproof vest on a hog. If you hit them in the right spot, they're going to die.
Lastly, on the subject of quartering shots...we strongly suggest our guests wait for a perfectly broadside shots to increase the likelihood of recovering their animal. Unless you hit the aorta, heart or other major blood vessel, it's not likely you will kill a hog with a single-lung hit. Just like a human being with a collapsed lung, the other lung will continue to function, and we've field dressed many hogs with only one good lung. More often than not, if only one lung is hit, the hog will survive. I'll post some pics to show better what I'm trying to say.
Here's a hog that was shot by one of our guests that was slightly quartering away. The arrow entered just a little bit behind the entrance side lung and exited through the offside lung. We shot this pig with a rifle the next day. Most folks would call that a perfect shot...until you see the hog running across a field a day after it was shot.
Straight up center of front leg and one third up. Shoot 425 gr + arrow and a SHARP COC broadhead and you won't have to worry too much about the shield. Gear up for the biggest boar you might find because you never know what you might encounter. Increase arrow weight if you are light on poundage. Big boars are harder to kill than anything in the lower 48, IMO. Not much room for error.
Don't push em, but if possible gain high ground immediately after shooting a big boar so you can keep eyes on them, if possible. They don't bleed much and you can't always count on a good blood trail.
And here's another one that was shot a day or two after it was hit. This pig was perfectly broadside but was hit just a tad bit back. The liver was lacerated but isn't immediately fatal in most hogs. Both of these hogs would have died several days or even weeks later from the resulting infection, but not during the time the hunters were still here.
So to answer your original question, try to hit them directly above the elbow in the bottom one third of the chest, perfectly broadside. That will bring home the bacon!
Hope this information helps you and others as well!
Here is a photo of the shield on a 200# Russian boar. You will note that the shield is approximately 3/4" thick.
When you skin a hog you will also find out how sharp your knife is and how good of steel your blade is made of and a hog's hide tells the truth about sharpness of an edge.
Low and tight like weekender mentioned.
I'm not sure of the broadhead firehuntfish uses but, I'm certain his hunting partner is better looking than any of you. :^)
Tradman and Huntress,
That is some great info you shared. I know you have seen your share and heard your share. Hard to beat top notch advice. Thanks
elkmtngear's Link
I hit this large boar (est. 225-250#) quartering away. The arrow entered about 3 to 4 inches behind the near shoulder, and buried in the hide just ahead of the offside shoulder.
It took him about 200 yards to go down "hit perfectly". I was simply amazed at the thickness and weight of the hide. The head and hide alone was probably nearly 100 pounds.
I gave him an hour, since he was a big boar. Years ago, one of the local Bow Shop Owners hit a boar a little too far back, and he was blind-sided by the hog while bloodtrailing it. The result was 4 hours of surgery on one of his calves.
They are indeed tough critters... and dangerous!
Best of Luck, Jeff (Bowsite Sponsor)
This sow was shot from about 12' up and stood 8 or 10 yards from the tree. The picture shows the entrance. Arrow went through the center of the heart and exited a little lower. I'm not sure where most people shoot deer but this is where I aim.
The vitals on a hog are slightly forward but not much. I always try to shoot hogs and deer tight to the shoulder. Every deer I've heart shot from the ground has a hole through it's leg at the elbow. Any lower and the heart would be outside the hide!
Nice shot dm/wolfskin, I'd call that the X ring! Impressive shot with the stick bow!
My wife shot this little boar last February, this was about the shortest blood trail I've ever witnessed on a non spine shot hog. He was slightly quartering forward at the shot. The entrance side is shown and the arrow exited slightly forward of the off shoulder. Barely caught the front of the lungs and was over the heart (basically disconnected the heart from the lungs).
Sapcut's Link
This is a big boar I killed with my recurve and TuffHead broadhead. It had 2 inches thick of armour on each side. The shield also ran all the way down to his flanks.
The arrow went thru bow shields, part of scapula and everything in between.
That's no exaggeration about the shield running all the way down the flanks. I've killed a few old boars you'd have to kill with a Texas heart shot if you wanted to completely avoid the shield.
Sapcut, did I read that right? 830 grain arrow!
Yes. 830 grains with 32% FOC shot with a 71# recurve.
The shot was actually a front quartering shot. That arrow went thru a lot of thick bad news swine armour before exiting. And like I mentioned, he was on the ground dead in 8 seconds.
BTW...if you build your arrows accordingly, there is no need to avoid the shield.
That's a serious trad set-up Sapcut!
Serious pigs takes a serious weapon.
A well hit pig will go down fast. Marginally hit pigs keep going and going. They do not have a tendency to bed down like an injured whitetail.
What Tradman and Huntress said above.
Killed a few pigs. Their vitals are more forward than deer/elk. I shoot em straight up the leg, but then I shoot pretty much everything straight up the leg.
Big boars have a "shield" but I have never been stopped by it. Any decent weight arrow with a good head (COC is better yet) will get through it no problem. Normally through the other side too but have had a few the far side shield has stopped. In all honesty I trust my gear and pay it no attention.
Shooting 460 grain right now and a good 2 blade has blown right through every time with every pig, but have killed fair number with the old 4 blade muzzy. I shoot 70 lbs but I knew several folks that shoot 60 and have no issues with penetration. Tuned is going to be very important as well, an arrow with all it's energy behind it. I would shy away from wide cut mechs and/or steep blade angles.
Smaller pigs will not be any issue period. Just hit em where you should.
Pretty much agree with weekender. I try to get close cuz a poor marginal shot makes for a no fun track job. Hitm good an usually they will die close. Hogs at times don't bleed very well either so tracking can be tricky. For me straight up the leg infront of crease a tad is ideal on broadside average hogs. Big boars the shield can Be tough so ideally quartering away has worked best or even head on. This pig made it 50 yards. Exit almost exact same spot on other side.
I have shot quite a few and never worried about the shield - I shot 125 grain Rothaar Snuffers that Magnus was producing - the arrow MIGHT stop on the fletch but usually blew through them - a hell of a head!! I shoot them low and tight when broadside or put the arrow in from of the shoulder on the opposite side on a quartering away shot - deadly.
Good luck,
Lee
A third of the way up the body and tight against the leg/shoulder.
about 7 PM of the "line" of the ten-ring on that 3D target, is your 12-ring on a broadside hog
Right above the front leg (the first pic is good), man I need to go shoot a pig! Haven't killed one in a long time.....
I Would say straight up the leg also, shot this fat sow this weekend actually quartering too but hit straight above the leg, straight through the heart. Like was mentioned above, hit good they dont go far but hit bad and they dont stop.
You can just see the entrance in the above pic and i still was behind the joint below the shoulder, crazy bloodtrail too, she must have done a 360.
Slightly quartering away, low and tight to the leg. Lodged in the far shoulder.
Dude, give that thing a bath.
That mud was like additional armor! 1" thick in spots AND on top of the shield to boot!
Beautiful shot razor! I double lunged this little hog last week. The whole thing will be on the smoker this weekend!
Here are a few educational pictures. I arrowed this boar tonight at ten yards. This is the entrance.
And the exit. Slick Trick "X" through the heart.
This hog didn't like my 2 blade rage hypodermic. I will take that shot placement but should have been a couple more inches closer to the front leg
Nice shot! How's the entrance hole with those heads? Here's a hog that shows the entrance hole with a 100gr Wasp Jak Hammer 1 3/4" cut. She went less than 50 yards.
wild1's Link
300#'s +/-
Shot in South Texas. Shot him broadside behind the shoulder thru the "plate". No pass-thru but he only made about 40 yards.
I have A Sh#tload of hogs and it took me awhile to figure they were not deer and you could not shoot them like deer if you expected a high percentage of recovery.
I cannot use dogs to track where I hunt and I hunt a lot in the summer since for me they are the only game in town.
Obviously, I am not going to contest what Tradman said because he has more experience in one year than most will in a lifetime as far as pigs go. What I will say is when you have trained yourself for years to shoot deer you have to make a conscious decision to aim different for pigs.
This may may not be as difficult for guys that have traveled and hunted different species may not be as challenged.
As for me, I have not had animal that will make you pay more for what is considered an ideal shot on deer like animals than Mr. Pig.
Be it big, little, or small hit him wrong and you may end up with more story than bacon.
Don't shoot at a spot ON the hog. Look and shoot INTO the pig to that spot low and directly between their legs, whether broadside or angled away.
Actually, shoot deer this way, too.