Hog durability question

[Brett Bracken]

Thanks for all the comments gentlemen. When something like this happens I get to second guessing myself....did I pull the shot? Is my scope off? Is my Kestel/load data off? Is my load accuracy deteriorating? Yada yada yada. It does help to know that others have experienced the same phenomenon.

 

[Les in Wyoming]

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.

I have seen this happen also. I shot a doe through both shoulders and pinned her down. When I came up to her, she started to hop. So I put a 45 long colt 200 grain bullet into her head from behind. Down she went. Then she began to get up again. SO I shot her in the head again and she practically stood up on her hind legs, seemingly more alive than before. So I put another bullet into her head. Down she went. A few seconds later, she began to get up again. I put the bullet behind her ear and finished her. There must be something about head shots that are not so lethal with deer.

 

[Texas Speed Bump]

Oh no, I believe you

I had almost the exact same thing happen when I shot my first hog 30+ years ago. I was hunting whitetail deer in S.Texas from a ground blind and I'd never shot a hog before when a 150 lb boar came out into the pear flat I was watching. Shooting the 6.5x06 that I still shoot today, I tried to drop him by hitting him in the neck like my father in law had done before. When I shot him, he dropped immediately so I figured I'd done exactly what I intended. Trouble is, the spine on a hog is not where you think it would be. I waited awhile to approach the downed hog, like my FIL had taught me and by this time he'd come over from where he was hunting to see what I'd shot. As we both approached the hog, it suddenly jumped up and took off running. My FIL swung around with his muzzleloader and shot him on the run, hitting it in the front shoulder. It rolled once, jumped back up and limped into some brush. We crept up on it and I shot it point blank in the head with my .357 revolver, at which time it jumped up and ran again. This time straight toward my FIL, who of course had no second shot in his muzzleloader. He was slapping his side trying to grab his .357 but for some reason had it strapped it on INSIDE of his coveralls instead of outside. The hog ran on by him and settled down in some brush not far way. One more shot with the .357 and he was finally dead. When we cleaned the hog, I could see that my first rifle shot had broken his spine but had not severed the spinal cord so he was still able to get up and run. What I learned from that experience was that their brain is very small and most of a hog's head is just sinus cavities. If you want to kill them with a head shot, go for the ear hole or eye. One of the hunters on my lease works at a vet and says when you want to find an animal's brain, draw an imaginary line from their ear across to the opposite eye. Do that on both sides and where the two lines intersect in the front is where the brain will be on most critters.

 

[Brett Bracken]

Tim Sharp,

I think that you are probably correct since I am shooting the 220 gr Berger Long Range Hybrid Target bullets which, technically, are TARGET bullets and not for hunting; hence the reason for neck and head shots. Shots through the shoulders or just behind the shoulder rarely produce a DRT result, albeit, they are fatal. However, my setup is extremely accurate with this bullet, and so I feel very confident in taking low percentage shots in the head or behind the head. If I have a pretty good wind component then I may elect to take a higher percentage shoulder shot. This bullet performs well if I hit bone which causes a higher degree of fragmentation.

 

[Exterminate1]

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.

 

[Texas Speed Bump]

Possibly the 220 Berger is not yielding enough expansion to sever the spinal cord. The blunt force trauma caused by the impact of the bullet is causing temporary paralysis, however, not enough tissue has been damaged to force blood into the spinal cord which causes a brain hemorrhage.

Franz Albrecht, the Crown Prince of boar hunting, prefers the neck shot, too. The early videos show his use of a 300WM and 7x64. Present day videos show he uses a 270Win, 130 GMX. (The use of the copper alloy GMX bullet may be a requirement due to the fact the meat is ultimately used for human consumption in markets and restaurants.) In any case, enjoy the video!

****, that guy's a good shot with animals on the run !

 

[Exterminate1]

I used to guide hog hunts. I've seen well over 1000 go down but about one out of three would get back up after a seemingly fatal shot.
It's not uncommon,when I took somebody out I would always have them be ready for follow up no matter how hard they what went down.
I have many amazing stories about how tough they are but one of them really stands out. I saw a very large bor across a creek. I had a 475 Linebaugh it was a great opportunity to put one right below the ear. It hit him perfectly he rolled into the creek bottom and thrashed for a few seconds and stopped. Then got up and stood exactly where the first shot was. I could see blood coming out of his ear. Thought I would take another shot this time put it right behind the front leg about where the heart should be. I saw the hit it looked like a paintball hit him. Another seemingly perfect shot he walked over a little rise we decided he was probably expired. The guy I was with said there was no way he survived that one.
So we walked over to where we thought he'd be piled up no pig to be seen. Then we looked about a mile or so away we could see him heading out to some neighboring property. I do think that is the only one that survived the 475.
Pigs seem to be the perfect test media for bullet performance.

 

[Frog4aday]

Hogs'll make you question ANY rifle or cartridge, no matter how powerful or magical it may seem. My buddy loved the 7mm RM. Killed everything with it and loved it. Then we went hog hunting. He shot a hog (traditional heart/lung area). Hog went down. Then hog got up. Then hog ran right at him! He shot again and put it down for good. He sold his 7mm after that and got a .300 WSM. No, it wasn't the 7mm RM's fault the hog didn't die, but he lost 'confidence' in it. I get that.

I shot a hog with a .308 Win (150gr Silvertip) through the lungs. It ran off like it was on fire. We found lung tissue all over the place while tracking it. Many hours later, we found that hog still up and running around and finished it off with a spine shot from a .243 Win.

Hogs - they'll drive you crazy! They are not of this world, I swear. Tough critters. When people say, ".223 is good enough", for hogs, I try not to judge. If you do head shots over a feeder at 50 yards, a .223 is probably good enough, but only just...maybe.

Like all living things we hunt, they deserve a quick and relatively painless death. That means bringing plenty of gun and learning their anatomy. And even then, as we read here, they seem to defy death. Amazing critters. You would think a neck shot would get it done. But...they're hogs!

 

[Texas Speed Bump]

My wife has killed several with her 22-250. But then she puts the bullet right in their ear canal too. Hard even for a hog to argue with that !

 

[Brett Bracken]

I try to get as close to the back of the ear as possible but at 11:00 o'clock at night, black or mud covered hogs that won't stand still and 450 yds or more....it's little tough sometimes....even with a 25X scope. Sometimes the illuminated reticle blinds me to where I can barely make out the hogs head. I've had to make a few shots without illumination.....that's tough. But yes....any shot in the back of the ear or in the ear is 100% effective.

Your wife is a good shot

 

[MZmoose]

Depending on the size of the hog there is up to 6" of neck meat above the spine and that's likely what happened. Pigs are twitchy and never stop moving easy to miss your mark at distance. We shoot em at night at something less than 150yds with 458 SOCOMs. Usually aiming at the point of the shoulder or forward to the ear hole.

 

[HRM Johnny]

Tag

 

[Rifleman97]

I'll just leave these here for you guys to interpret on your own. There's a decent chunk of their neck which you can hit and not hit anything vital. But their lungs are huge. Do with that info what you may

 

[foul bore]

I live in the GREAT STATE OF TEXAS, and have killed lots of hogs. Best place is the ear hole or close. You may not always have that shot though. Shot one coming straight at me , thought it was a good shot, dropped and didnt move, 20 sec. later he jumped up, hollered and ran off. 75 yards and died. shot placement is key, regardless of caliber