Hello Gang,
I've been doing some web research for my first boar hunt, which will be in Tennessee in a couple of weeks, but I keep reading conflicting advice about shot placement. Some say you want a double lung hit and to stay low and tight to the front leg/shoulder for a broadside shot. Others say (especially with large boar) you're best arow shot is quartering away aiming for the front of the leg on the opposite side, which will probbaly go through the stomach and at least one lung, but will avoid the thickest part of the shield. Some sites seem to take the shield around the shoulder very seriously, while others scoff at it and say not to worry about it. What do you experienced Trad Gangers suggest? (I'll be using a 60# English longbow with heavy hand-forged, 2-blade broadheads).
Thanks,
Paul
Put a sharp broadhead just bhind the front leg, preferrably quartering away, about 1/3 of the way up from the lower body line. This will put them down in short order. Have fun. They eat good. :thumbsup:
Yep low and tight is the rule. Now if he looks like an angus bull, you will need all of the bow you have and hopefuly a HEAVY shaft to do the trick. I shot a very large boar a few years back and penetrated the 3/4" shield on the near side and 1" on the far side with a 60# longbow and a 600 grain maple arrow.
Mike
Low and tight, and double lung, is the same thing on a hog. I try to go straight up from the front "elbow", 1/3 of the way up the body, and broadside. I feel that gives me the best shot at both lungs, as well as two holes for better bloodtrailing. When I do my part and hit one properly that way though, they are usually down in sight or earshot anyway.
There is a bunch of info and pictures on the dangerous game thread. Low and tight to the elbow is good. I like it about 6" off the belly line.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/Islandlongbow/feralhog1.jpg)
This might be helpful
Jerry
Thanks for the help guys. I originally did a search in the Pow Wow forum and didn't come up with much. But after posting my questions here I stumbled across the threads in the Dangerous Game Forum which were also very helpful.
For those who are interested, a search for "boar hunt" on YouTube resulted in a bunch of videos of boar hunts, some with dogs, some without, and some were bow hunts. I only saw one trad archer though. Still, the videos gave me a better idea of what to expect, especially since some of the vidoes were from hunts in Tennessee, where I'll be in 6 days :D
Thanks again,
Paul
QuoteOriginally posted by Islandlongbow:
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/Islandlongbow/feralhog1.jpg)
This might be helpful
Jerry
great graphic
http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s9/bmh2100/?action=view¤t=MeBoar.jpg
A double lung shot works every time. Arrowed this 225 pound boar broadside, exactly halfway up and right behind the front leg.
I put mine down within 30yds with a quarter away shot about 6 inches behind the shoulder. Thats a great graphic to look at! A guy I went with thought he may have hit his a bit high but the hog went down quick. Now I know why, the lungs hug the backbone.
I quit telling guys to shoot tight to the shoulder a long time ago. The thing I find when a guy shoots tight to the shoulder is a shot like you'd shoot a deer. It simply results in a hell of a lot of lost hogs. The double lung shot is also a big failute shot simply because the physical make-up of the hog is so much different than a deer. The positioning of the shot is not the same. Sure, there are going to be nay-sayers with varying results but take it from me, I've shot lots of hogs and have been around lots of other guys who've shot hogs, don't shoot em like deer or your recovery results will be dismal. Just last night I once again found myself on a tracking job of a client who "SHOT ONE PERFECT". For those new guys, this translates to "I shot him too far back". If you are tracking a hog that has been shot "perfect" and you aren't finding blood or the hog, the shot was too high or most often, too far back. We did not recover this "perfectly shot hog". I now tell everyone to break the shoulder bone. I've not yet seen an arrow stopped by the shoulder since I've been telling guys this. If the arrow is within a couple inches of bone ya got him! If it's "lung shot" like you would a deer, ya got yourself a liver hit and most ofter an unrecovered hog. I'll post pics later of a hog I shot two nights ago. Tried to break the shoulder and missed by two inches. Still clipped the tip of the heart. She went 30 yards and died without a drop of blood left in her. Good luck on the hunt and by all means "break the shoulder bone low on the body"! CK
Amen to that ! I like to shoot most animals low thru the shoulder!! Actually the Secret here is " LOW". Well said Curtis.
OK, Here is an example of good shot placement that will always result in a recovered hog. Sure, I like everyone will sometime place an arrow too far back but when it hits where it is supposed to it looks like this. I actually missed by two inches of hitting the shoulder. Still clipped the tip of the heart. The leg is resting forward in the pic. Imagine the hog in a standing position and look at the hit. This is what I consider the proper placement for an arrow on a hog. I wish I could always hit em like this. Enjoy! CK
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/ck/CkbigSow.jpg)
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/ck/SHOULDERHIT.jpg)
I have very little hog shooting experience and Curtis doesn't need me to agree with him, he has tons...take it from him, break the shoulder or leg...you'll enjoy eating that hog.
I hit one last year in the ten ring...a "perfect shot"...arrows to the fletching...blah, blah...she was nursing piglets three hours later and unfortunately, I was not succesful getting another arrow in her.
If hunting hogs, stop the "hit tight behind the leg" stuff...follow that leg straight up and work on breaking it.
My nickels worth.
This shot took out the top of the heart and both lungs.....
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/terry/hogshotplacement3.jpg)
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/terry/hogshotplacement2.jpg)
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/terry/sc20.jpg)
I agree.The good stuff is all in behind the shoulder.Either a quartering shot to get you back there or shoot through the shoulder to get there.As long as you stay away from the big bone in the front and leg bone it is no problem to get in there even with lighter weights.
Based on other info and diagrams I found online, I can almost guarantee I would have been aiming too far back...but Trad Gang comes through again! Thanks for the great advice and very helpful pics guys.
4 more days until my hunt :D
I agree.....littlefeather is THE man on hogs....he has helped me out a LOT in his post on hog hunting.
I have helped track about 40-50 hogs....not nearly as many as some of you but a few. If you hit behind the front leg(elbow joint) if the hog is broadside you hit to far back!!!!! GO STRAIGHT UP THE MIDDLE OF THE FRONT LEG 1/3 UP. I have seen them shot "perfect" and not recovered more times than I care to talk about. We had a compound guy come back to the truck last time and say "I got one down I can see and another one with a perfect hit that will be a short trail".....1 hour later and long trail...no hog. A shot that was perfect on a deer is FAR FAR from it on a hog......most likely a LOST hog!!!
We had a group from our home town go to the same ranch 2 weeks after we did....they shot and recovered two hogs that seemed health that had two of our broadheads in them!!!! They go down fairly quick if shot properly.....but anything but perfect usually results in a LONG bloodtrail without a recovery.
Our last hunt there were 5 of us shooting trad gear. 41#, 48# 65# 49#, and 54#. All of those were plenty. Our recovered hogs had @90% with two holes in them.
Like I said this is just my fairly limited hog hunting experience....but it has proven true for us in the past.
thanks
citori
FYI, Javelina are built about the same. Hits that you would think are "back of the lungs and liver" are pure gutshots. I have to keep telling myself to "shoot the shoulder".
QuoteOriginally posted by Terry Green:
This shot took out the top of the heart and both lungs.....
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/terry/hogshotplacement3.jpg)
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/terry/hogshotplacement2.jpg)
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/terry/sc20.jpg)
...and in contrast, this is where
not to shoot a hog. Deer? Yes. Hog? No. If it hadn't been for a lot of top-notch tracking help from Charlie and Curtis, the coyotes would have eaten a lot of pork that weekend. Right behind the diaphragm, nothing but liver.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/wesbrock/CRW_2055small.jpg)
Good post Jason. I thought about your hog and your hog shooting experience level when you shot him several times when I was posting on this thread. That was a great recovery but was certainly based more on our luck than skill. I remember us standing there talking about how a deer would have fallen in 50 yards from that shot and how the hog went ??? yards. It was a happy moment to find that porker! I was glad to have been there. We gotta do that again sometime soon. I haven't been on that place but about three times since you left but I still have the lease. Call me! CK
Jason, your picture of the liver shot shows exactly why so many people think hogs are so hard to kill.They shoot them like a deer and swear the hog is the toughest animal on earth. :) Anything often is lost with a gutshot,which is what a lot of those great shots on hogs really are. :) If you are not in or can't get an arrow around behind the shoulder you are in trouble in most cases.Great pics btw.
IMO there artistic drawings are for the birds....in this one for example the spine is too high thru the chest area. Which in turn puts the heart/lungs too high.....
Here's some "real" hog vital pix, the last pic tells it all....
http://www.texasboars.com/anatomy.html
Good stuff guys
Thank you.
QuoteOriginally posted by Littlefeather:
We gotta do that again sometime soon. I haven't been on that place but about three times since you left but I still have the lease. Call me! CK
You name the time, buddy!
Guru, great site,,very helpful and informative,,
Where ya goin hawkin?
Caryonah Lodge in Tennessee. Thanks for all the help guys ;) .
(http://www.michiganlongbow.org/IM000451.JPG)
I am in no way a hog expert. I have only taken the one this weekend, but 7 others were taken as well.
this is a pic of a hogs ribcage when we split it down the spine. It shows how low the vitals would really be. Remember it is hanging so the opposite front leg is extended foreward.
(http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g167/skipmaster1/IMG_0574.jpg)
This is a pic of the entrance wound on my hog. Again the leg is pulled forward. It was right in the crease, tight to the leg and it was angled slightly forward, exiting center of the leg muscle and about 1" lower( i was on a hill). It was right in the lower 3rd of the chest. He bled out FAST, but I could have been a little farther forward.
I was worried 'cause he was 600#'s and I was shooting a 49# longbow with a 430grain arrow.....so I held back a little. The 125 grain razor shark did a great job.
(http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g167/skipmaster1/IMG_0547.jpg)
I can't resist showing him off again! sorry guys, it was my first longbow kill. If you look close you can actually see the exit in this pic. it is right in the back of the front leg muscle, a leaf stem is just sticking up to the left of it.
(http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g167/skipmaster1/hog.jpg)
Yessir, I'd call that an acceptable shot that was most likely recovered without the aid of a tracking dog. Congrats on a very nice hog and an exceptional shot placement! That will drop them every time. CK
Hey Hawken is there a story that goes with that boar?
Hi Jeff,
I'll do a separate post with more photos and the tale as soon as I get a chance; hopefully by the end of the week (I'm swamped with work right now).
Paul
QuoteOriginally posted by Littlefeather:
Yessir, I'd call that an acceptable shot that was most likely recovered without the aid of a tracking dog. Congrats on a very nice hog and an exceptional shot placement! That will drop them every time. CK
Yup, blood came gushing out of both holes. In all my years of hunting I have never seen anything like it. he went down very quickly and in sight.
Hit one much like SkipMaster did it ran ten yardes and started throwing its shoulder into the air and banging its head against a Cedar. Did that three or four times then went down. I thought I had shot under it at 17 yards but I guess not. Entered about 5" up and exited about 3" up straight through. 145 gran Ribtek on 2020.