Hog durability question

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Brett Bracken

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Midland, TX
I've got a question for all you experienced hog hunters: Is there a spot on the neck of a hog that is possible to temporarily drop them in their tracks but is not fatal? Twice now, out of over 100 hogs killed, I've had a hog get up and take off after being shot in the neck between the back of the head and front of the shoulder. The second one being this past Saturday night. I shot a medium sized boar dead center in the neck, at least that was my POA, at 454 yds. This is my usual POA and it always drops them DRT, but this time it didn't. Granted....I must not of hit the hog exactly where I wanted but I'm shooting 220 gr Berger out of my 300 Win mag. This dropped him immediately and he didn't move, which was kind of odd to me because they normally twitch and kick for about 2 mins or so. I shifted my rifle off of him just for an instant to try to pick up another boar, in my scope, that was feeding off to the left under a lighted feeder 300 yds away. When I shifted back to the first hog it was gone. I searched Sunday morning for him with no luck. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

BTW....my rifle is a custom built rifle that easily shoots 1/4-1/3 MOA groups with my load. I don't miss at this range.
 
I'm not that experienced with hogs, but I've seen bullets pass close to the spine on whitetail, and there is enough shock to the nervous system to drop them flat, then it takes a few seconds for the system to "reboot" if you will, but then if no arteries have been damaged, they will run off..
 
Yes. Depending on caliber. An inch or two above the spine. There is a fatty neck zone with no arteries. If the bullet misses the spine or the hydrostatic Shock doesn't separate spine they will drop but run away. Literally what happens in this video. Fast forward video to 3:25 section.

Though initial shock dropped him. He got up and waddled off.
 
ButterBean,

I learned that on head-on shots with smaller caliber rifles you need to hit them in the forehead above the eye line. If you draw a line horizontally across their head from eye-to-eye, you need to hit them above that line....not below. I shot one about 2 years ago just like you said at about 30 yds with my .243 Win and all it did was reeeeally **** him off. At that point he went after my dog which gave me a broadside shot which put him down. Of course....just about anywhere in the head with my 300 Win Mag puts them down permanently.

Zen Archery,

Thanks for the education. Glad to know that I'm not the only one to which that has happened. It's still hard to believe they can withstand an impact like that from a 220 gr bullet impacting at 2408 fps
 
Coyote Shadow Tracker,

You are absolutely correct. However, my shots can be difficult at times because I'm using a NF 5-25 x 56 ATACR scope at night at fairly long range....mostly between 450 and 850 yds. Sometimes the hogs don't stand in the light well enough for me to get a crispy clear sight picture. And there is the wind component factor too. If I don't have it spot on I can miss a few inches right or left. But yes....I mostly try for the back of the head. This latest incident has me bumfuddled though. I could hear the bullet...WHACK!!!! when I hit him. He dropped instantly like a sack of potatoes. Take my eyes off of him for 5 secs....bam...he's gone.
 
Some will read this and call BS, but I was there and watched it with my own eyes, and I'm a pretty honest guy. So it's not BS.

Couple of years ago while deer hunting, my buddy had a big boar come in and he dropped it with his rifle. Walked up on it and it got up and started running. He drew his 10mm and put one in the shoulder, it dropped, and then he walked up and put another in the head. Went and got the Ranger and winched it into the bed, then it started trying to get up again while winching....2 more 10mm rounds made it stop again.

Once back at camp, getting ready to process it, it started flopping around and trying to get up again. Our jaws were on the ground- this was the strangest thing we'd ever seen. 2 more 10mm rounds to the head again and it stopped, again. Then we quickly took the knives out and got to work. We didn't want it getting up yet again.

So, as @ButterBean said, these are some tough SOBs.
 
ButterBean,

I learned that on head-on shots with smaller caliber rifles you need to hit them in the forehead above the eye line. If you draw a line horizontally across their head from eye-to-eye, you need to hit them above that line....not below. I shot one about 2 years ago just like you said at about 30 yds with my .243 Win and all it did was reeeeally **** him off. At that point he went after my dog which gave me a broadside shot which put him down. Of course....just about anywhere in the head with my 300 Win Mag puts them down permanently.

Zen Archery,

Thanks for the education. Glad to know that I'm not the only one to which that has happened. It's still hard to believe they can withstand an impact like that from a 220 gr bullet impacting at 2408 fps
Yes Sir I knew that as my Grandpa butchered for our local community and I had seen him kill a thousand or so over the years with a 22LR so I figured the ole 25-06 would do the trick, Survey Say's ......... Not on the board
 
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