arrow placement/shot angle
Contributors to this thread:Hogs
From: HuntEasy
08-Dec-16
Been getting my rear kicked on bow hunting pigs. I've stuck three or so pigs now without any recoveries. The last boar I shot had the arrow pinned tight against the shoulder, a little above mid line on the body, didn't get much penetration at 20 yards broadside. Shooting 70lbs, FMJ 340's, 125 grain slick tricks. Barely any blood. .. every time I get close to the shoulder it's bad news. Must I wait for a quartering away shot every time? I shot one in the guts a couple years back and no recovery either. I'm getting crushed
From: Matt Quick
08-Dec-16
Unless this was an extremely large pig you should of had a pass through with a 70# bow. Sounds like you hit the shoulder blade or the top of the backbone. Focus on the lower one third of the chest. I like to come up the leg and shoot through the shoulder a couple of inches above the elbow. With that said quartering away is a great shot angle too. When aiming don't just focus on where your arrow will enter but more importantly where it's going to come out. I like to aim so that my arrow comes out the far shoulder on quartering away shots. They never go far with that hit. Good luck.
From: Tradman and Huntress
08-Dec-16
Midway up is to high. Shots need to be lower 1/3 just about elbow. If you are behind the elbow you are to far back. I tell by hunters to take broadside shots, follow the front leg straight up to elbow and shot and inch or so above it. That's the money shot. For the size of a big hog they have a relatively small kill area compared to deer. Good luck!
From: HuntEasy
08-Dec-16
The last one was about a 200lb boar. Pretty good size for a Mendocino Co. penetration was like 6 inches. Was too high and too much in the shoulder. Reminded me of shooting an elk in the shoulder.... That's good advice on focusing on the elbow. I'll give that a try and be more patient on shot selection.
From: Drahthaar
08-Dec-16
And a VPA cut on contact broadhead. Forrest
From: Flash
08-Dec-16
Their shoulder is seriously tuff. No problem with your setup if you avoid it though. This one sounds about like the one you shot. 50# longbow, 475grains arrow.
From: Flash
08-Dec-16
Offside
From: Tradman and Huntress
08-Dec-16
Here's a cut-down I did on a pig to show exactly where the heart and lungs are (I didn't include any other organs because we rarely recover hogs that were not heart or double-lung shots).
I colored the lungs red and the heart purple so they'd be easier to see. Anything above the lungs is bone or backstrap. If you look at the front of the lungs and see how they angle down toward the middle of the neck, that gives you an idea of how low you actually need to hit a hog to kill it. If you're aiming halfway up, you're aiming for the backstrap, which is not a lethal shot. Hope this helps.
From: smarba
08-Dec-16
awesome cutaway Trad/Huntress!
From: joehunter8301
09-Dec-16
This pig went 50 Yards. Vpa 3 blade. That was entrance came out almost same. The crease is as far back as I would suggest. They are tough. Real big big board get them quarter away An Bury it in their arm pit
From: Beendare
09-Dec-16
Even if you are using the ST mags with a poor blade angle...you should be getting better penetration than that and a 70# compound. I would guess your setup needs some tuning....or your form is going to heck with a shot on game.
From: Fuzzy
09-Dec-16
as said, midpoint is too high, the spine dips WAY down btw the shoulders on pigs
From: willliamtell
09-Dec-16
A 200 lb boar is going to have that nylon cutting board-like sheath extending around and back of its shoulder. Like the folks said, keeping it low 1/3 up is important. What size blade on the ST's? A fat pig (a lot of them) seem to seal up on you, particularly if you are using a 1" blade you won't get much blood trail (which isn't other game's dark blood anyway - more pinkish and translucent). Do you have access to a tracking dog? You may have done a kill shot, but as I posted a couple weeks ago about a pig I stuck, they are really TOUGH animals and can soak up a lethal shot and still go a ways. A (hopefully quiet) dog following the scent highway of a wounded animal is really helpful. Hey tradman, are the lungs on a pig really that small? Wow.
From: elkmtngear
09-Dec-16
This was a pass-through on a 200 lb sow (entry and exit wounds in sequence). She expired 30 yards away.
I shoot 65 lbs with about a 450 grain arrow, fixed 2 blade head.
I've only had one go more than 50 yards, and that was a big boar. Arrow was right in the boiler room, and buried in the offside shoulder. He chugged along for about 100 yards before he finally dropped...tough critter !
Best of Luck, Jeff
From: Flash
09-Dec-16
I agree with you guys that below midpoint is optimal. As my pic shows, if you don't hug the shoulder so tight. Then midpoint is under the spine. I'm sitting on 29 pigs for the year with a stickbow, so I've done the testing. Again, a bit lower is better but what ever you do, stay away their shoulder.
From: HuntEasy
09-Dec-16
I've been shooting the 125 grain viper trick by slick trick. Just weighed the arrow at 498 grains 28.5" FMJ with 125 grain head. I must of hit the armor plate. Bow is a carbon element by Hoyt, 28" draw. They are tough. I'll try and be more patient and wait for better shot angle and place it better per the prior posts. Thank you all for the great posts here.
From: ELKMAN
10-Dec-16
You hit bone high. Great illustration Tradman
From: welka
21-Jan-18
I have been fortunate to kill a bunch of hogs. Leaned the hard way (50% recovery) until switched to 2-3" back of leg and up from corner of leg/belly. Need to stay away from shoulder and stay low. I also switched from a 4 blade trick to either a two blade Rage and Exodus. Thick hair and need any blood you can get. A triangle exit doesn't seal back and stop blood like the cross of a 4 blade. Recovery rate went way up with these changes. Good luck
From: dm/wolfskin
22-Jan-18
You don't always get the perfect shot so I try to get my arrow to the off shoulder. But low is always better than a high shot.
From: dm/wolfskin
22-Jan-18
From: Pigsticker
22-Jan-18
I took a guy this past Saturday and told him verbatim what Tradman posted. Luckily we walked up on a big boat and shot it at 30 yards just like a deer and got nothing but guts. This was his first bow shot at a big game animal and he got a tough lesson on shot placement on a super tough animal.
Tough but not unkillable my son has anchored seven out of seven big boars following the same advice and sticking to at the moment of truth. Shot placement on pigs has been the most critical on pigs more than any animal that I have hunted.
From: bad karma
22-Jan-18
One other thing, that leg should be forward when you shoot. Follow the line up with the leg forward, and shoot about 1/3 of the way up. Don't shoot straight up the leg with the leg back, or even in a neutral position. Shoot where Matt and Cheryl suggest, and you've got a 50 yard tracking job. Hit elsewhere, and you're likely not recovering him.
From: bad karma
22-Jan-18
From: dm/wolfskin
22-Jan-18
From: Skippy
22-Jan-18
What Matt&Cheryl said and you can't go wrong. This shot is almost too high, another 1" down would be perfect. Hogs are tough!
From: EmbryOklahoma
22-Jan-18
As an old local guy who has battled these prolific breeders once said... "there is no bad shot on a hog". :)
From: dm/wolfskin
23-Jan-18
I hear ya Embryoklahoma.
