Geo4061, I'm glad you posted this. Hogs are tough. They are far too often underestimated. Shooting them in the day time is one thing. If they run off 30 yards, no big deal...you can find them. But night time hunting is a whole 'nother game! You want them dead right there (DRT) as 'tracking' in the Texas brush at night is asking to be bit by a rattler or copperhead, stung by a scorpion, or having a tarantula take you for a test ride. SCREW THAT. Besides, all brush in TX has thorns of some kind (or so it seems.) So...what to do?
You were on the right track with the Partitions. Awesome choice. Or the TTSX, which you have found is a fast shooting, deep penetrating round that expands well, so win-win. If you reloaded, those Hammer bullets are accurate as all get out AND they kill fast, too.
The best advice I read was to shoot them farther forward than you would a deer. I shot a hog 'behind the shoulder' on a slightly angling forward shot (.308 Win) and the bullet went completely through and we saw lung tissue in the blood trail. Should have been 'game over'. Tracked that dang thing for at least two hours and it was still alive and running off again when we caught up to it. Friend finished it off with .243Win but the lesson was learned - shoot hogs more forward in the chest as the lungs don't seem to go back as far as they do on other animals.
Same friend shot a hog with his 7mm RM at night on a (dry) river bottom and the hog jumped straight in the air and when it came down, came right at him! He cranked in another round and shot it again 10 feet away and it dropped, but that was more excitement than he was expecting. Up until that point in his life, everything he shot with that 7mm RM just died right there. But not a hog. They are tough and tenacious little bastards. Some are courteous and flop right there but a surprising percentage don't go down and run off. If they go down but are still moving, they always warrant another bullet (or two?) No worries about lost meat - hogs are like Doritos - they'll make more! Plenty of meat if you shoot enough of them, right?
Since those early experiences, we've gone for head shots ever since but we are lucky to be hunting from blinds with a place to rest the gun for a steady shot and the feeders have green LEDs that provide enough light for a precise shot. Head is dead. Perfect for night hogs, but it doesn't sound like your setup is allowing for that level of precision so...TTSX or Partitions placed farther forward in the chest is next best bet. And - since you have a semiauto - a second shot (if possible) is never wrong.
Thanks for bringing up some fun and frustrating memories. Hogs are unique.
