Bullet for hogs

[FirstBubba]

The shield on a big boar can be tough. It was something to be avoided when I was shooting hogs with longbows and recurves for the most part. Especially my lighter weight 52-53 pound bows. But I have seen Grim Reaper broadheads on carbon arrows shot from a compound bow blow right through shield and stick in the dirt on the off side on treestand shots. My 66 pound black widow recurve would do pretty well with a well tuned 640 grain carbon arrow and a Zwickey 4 blade Eskimo. It would get thru the onside and penetrate deeply enough to kill quickly but often not exit.

The shield is thick and tough no doubt, but it's not impenetrable Angling a shot into it is a lot like sloped armor on a tank. There's more to penetrate through and it is almost self sealing meaning not a lot of blood. Staying below halfway up the body and tight in the crease is certainly a much higher percentage shot, rifle or bow. But I prefer just below and back of the ear with a rifle. Put there, there's a whole lot of bullets that work just fine. Even the 22 mag. or LR.

Friend of mine came up to hunt the "Primitive Arms" (muzzle loader) season.
Mike killed his deer...and if I hadn't witnessed the shot and dressed the deer, I probably would NOT have believed what I saw!
He was shooting a .50 caliber Knight "in-line" and he shot the deer broadside at about 30 yards.
Mike loved the high shoulder shot and the shot was spot on....but that's where "normal" stopped!
The bullet went through the shoulder blades, shattered the spine as intended...THEN...the bullet turned down and exited just behind the elbow on the same side! (did a U-turn?)
When we got the deer hung and skinned, we found the right shoulder horribly bloodshot and infused with hair...and I don't mean just a little! In fact, the entire wound channel looked as if you had ground up a double hand full of hair and massaged it into the shoulder!

Point of this story is: weird crap can happen when bullets meets flesh! Shots you think should be straight can turn and twist and do things that defy physics and logic! ESPECIALLY when dealing with the shield and heavy muscle of a large feral hog!

Murphy's Law - "...If anything can go wrong, it will.....and at the worst possible time! ..."

 

[Turpentine21]

Friend of mine came up to hunt the "Primitive Arms" (muzzle loader) season.
Mike killed his deer...and if I hadn't witnessed the shot and dressed the deer, I probably would NOT have believed what I saw!
He was shooting a .50 caliber Knight "in-line" and he shot the deer broadside at about 30 yards.
Mike loved the high shoulder shot and the shot was spot on....but that's where "normal" stopped!
The bullet went through the shoulder blades, shattered the spine as intended...THEN...the bullet turned down and exited just behind the elbow on the same side! (did a U-turn?)
When we got the deer hung and skinned, we found the right shoulder horribly bloodshot and infused with hair...and I don't mean just a little! In fact, the entire wound channel looked as if you had ground up a double hand full of hair and massaged it into the shoulder!

Point of this story is: weird crap can happen when bullets meets flesh! Shots you think should be straight can turn and twist and do things that defy physics and logic! ESPECIALLY when dealing with the shield and heavy muscle of a large feral hog!

Murphy's Law - "...If anything can go wrong, it will.....and at the worst possible time! ..."

Seen similar on a buck shot dead broadside with a 150 corelokt from a 300 win mag. Bullet hit the shoulder, went most of the way through then somehow turned and ended up about 2" from the rectum.
I witnessed the shot. Helped skin the deer and it was not a fun job.

A lot of guys here use 55 grain m193 rounds to kill hogs with good success rates. I don't overthink it with hogs. I wouldn't choose a 5.56 but if that's all I had at the time I'd use it. I like a bit more punch. But a shoulder cannon isn't necessary.

 

[jjam211]

I've use the 150gr ballistic tips out of a 300wsm on few hogs and have had pretty good luck with them.

 

[Derral Crance]

Just returned from Oklahoma with three hogs. All one shot clean kills with a Ruger 44mag carbine with Hornady 240 grain TPX bullets. We hunted No Mercy Hunting Service in Gracemont. They have to be the best hog outfitter in the country. If you want a great hunt I would contact them!!!!!!

 

[Russ-T]

I guess I am THAT guy today:

Where I hunt in the regrown clear cut thickets in GA, you have to shoot them in the head if you want to recover them. So Shot placement trumps cartridge for the most part.

I've been slowly using smaller cartridges for hogs. Started w/ .308 (150gr barnettsx) and 280ai (175gr EDL-X)

Now using mostly 6ARC w/ Factory 103 ELD-X

I've shot a 120lb boar in the shoulder w/ 6ARC and DRT him. Also recovered the bullet on the opposite hide.

 

[rfd]

It's all good, all can take down a hog with proper projectile placement. Most of my hog kills were with a longbow and Woodsman 3-blade. But the best cartridge for me is a .45-70 black powder paper patch slick in a CVA Scout.

Just put together a Henry .45 Colt lever that should work well, too.

 

[Turpentine21]

I had trouble with the Woodsman on big hogs from a 12 foot high treestand. I gave them a good try with bows from 56-66 pounds on several hogs. Didn't get near the penetration with them that I got with 4 blade Zwickey Eskimo's or Grizzly's. Even Ribteks 190 grain two blade did better. I've shot many hogs with my longbows and recurves. The Grizzly gave me less blood trail but superior penetration. I don't recall a single time a Woodsman got close to getting through the offside hide of a big boar. Which helps with blood trails. But it would get through smaller sows or pigs. The Zwickey bleeders aren't big enough to impede penetration but leave a substantially better blood trail than 2 blades. The smaller Zwickey 4 blade is also very good. The Grizzly is by far the best penetrator with its 3 to 1 length to width ratio.

 

[rfd]

It's probably all about shot placement and for hogs ya wanna steer clear of front shots on their super thick shield. I like Woodsman tri blades cause they're so easy and quick to get hair shaving sharp, and yer honing a pair of blades at the same time. FWIW I've had complete pass through kills with properly sharpened Woodsman 3-blades, and two of them were with 47lb holding weight longbows. It's all good as long as the results are good.

Bloodied and matted 4-fletch on this Beman 500 carbon with Woodsman up front after blowing through a pig at about 15 yards.

'Nother Woodsman pass thru that this cocktail pig busted up. The long bow is my 2pc Sparrowhawk design, built for me by master bowyer Vince Mig. Bamboo limb cores are my fave.

 

[Turpentine21]

It's probably all about shot placement and for hogs ya wanna steer clear of front shots on their super thick shield. I like Woodsman tri blades cause they're so easy and quick to get hair shaving sharp, and yer honing a pair of blades at the same time. FWIW I've had complete pass through kills with properly sharpened Woodsman 3-blades, and two of them were with 47lb holding weight longbows. It's all good as long as the results are good.

Bloodied and matted 4-fletch on this Beman 500 carbon with Woodsman up front after blowing through a pig at about 15 yards.

View attachment 749564

'Nother Woodsman pass thru that this cocktail pig busted up. The long bow is my 2pc Sparrowhawk design, built for me by master bowyer Vince Mig. Bamboo limb cores are my fave.

View attachment 749565

All I ever shot with them were larger 240 plus older boars with heavy shields. That is where I had the problem.. Pigs and sows were no problem. I moved on anyway. I have some Zwickey 4 blades that have killed 10 or more animals. Just wash the blood out of the fletching and put an edge back on the broadhead. I can put an edge on them that will shave you with a Grobet file. I shot Cedar and birch arrows, they always penetrated less, aluminum 2018s and 2117s, somewhat better penetration, and Carbon Expess 400s or 300s IIRC, the Carbon was definitely superior for penetration. My 66 pound Black Widow was right at 70-71 pounds at my draw length. I used it when the treestand was high and the downward angle was going to be steep where the shield was likely to come into play.
But this is just my experiences. By all means use what you are most confident in.

 

[Bigdub]

My 6.8 spc sst or boat tail hp do fine for me

 

[Fish4Food]

6.8 SPC with a 120 SSA Sierra Pro-Hunter did the job last night in this shoulder shot sow.

Planning on making a round again tonight and seeing if I can't shoot a few more, or if my dogs can't catch a couple.

 

[Turpentine21]

6.8 SPC with a 120 SSA Sierra Pro-Hunter did the job last night in this shoulder shot sow.

Planning on making a round again tonight and seeing if I can't shoot a few more, or if my dogs can't catch a couple.

Good Luck to you!

 

[dashaw]

It's probably all about shot placement and for hogs ya wanna steer clear of front shots on their super thick shield. I like Woodsman tri blades cause they're so easy and quick to get hair shaving sharp, and yer honing a pair of blades at the same time. FWIW I've had complete pass through kills with properly sharpened Woodsman 3-blades, and two of them were with 47lb holding weight longbows. It's all good as long as the results are good.

Bloodied and matted 4-fletch on this Beman 500 carbon with Woodsman up front after blowing through a pig at about 15 yards.

View attachment 749564

'Nother Woodsman pass thru that this cocktail pig busted up. The long bow is my 2pc Sparrowhawk design, built for me by master bowyer Vince Mig. Bamboo limb cores are my fave.

View attachment 749565

Nice, i always envied traditional archers.

 

[Fish4Food]

Shot 6 more last night with my thermal, dogs caught 2. A knife behind the shoulder kills em pretty quick as well.

I'm slowly running out of these Sierra 120 Pro Hunters. Going to change to 90gr Gold Dots soon.