BOWHUNTING FOR PIG'S.

wildarcher

wildarcher

New member
I have shot three big pig's in the last two weekend's with my bow. I have yet to recover a single one of them,I have shot them quartering away,straight on broadside,and in the neck.Where do you need to hit them to kill them? All were shot at 20 to 30 yard's away,i blood trailed one for a mile and a half in the snow,lot's of blood the whole way,but no pig,and it was the broadside shot right behind the front leg mid way up.Need help any advice is appreciated,thank you. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
I shot 3 this year with my bow, and recovered all three. All three were shot behind the shoulder, and 2 were complete pass throughs. One ran about a 100 yards, one went about 30, and the last went about 50. None of them left a blood trail. All 3 were sht with a two blade Bear Razorhead.

I have shot several in the past with 3 blade thunderheads. Several of these I lost due to being extremely thick and not getting good blood trail.

Hogs (especially fat ones) don't leave a good blood trail a lot of the time because the thick hide and fat seem to close right up around the entry and exit hole.

I found the two blade heads to penetrate better. On big boars, I have had thunderheads hit like shooting into a Block target with only a 6 or 8 inches of penetration. You sure don't get a good blood trail then. Boars often have thick "shield" of gristle covering their ribs and shoulders. I quartering away shot that comes in behind the ribs and angles forward into the vitals is the very good shot.

I know a few people who go for a femeral artery shot (right in front of the hams). They say it puts them down pretty fast. I can't bring myself to take that shot though.
 
Why do you think my pig left a good blood trail yellowhammer? I sware it was six inches wide but was small drops but it was constant. I shot mine with the old puckett blood trailer's mechanical,four blade.the pig i hit in the neck didn't bleed at all,the broadside shot and neck shot were pass through,but the quartering shot was not.
 
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Why do you think my pig left a good blood trail yellowhammer?



Sometimes, you can get a good blood trail. You said it was in snow. No snow here, and very thick vegetation. I may have gotten a little blood, but if it was, it wasn't enough for me to find or follow in all the leaves, pine straw, weeds and brush. I suspect even the tiniest drop of blood would show up in the snow.
 
I is cool to find pigs on public land that aren't weary of being shot at,i walked right into a pile of pigs feeding,in a snowstorm yesterday,i didn't even see them until i almost stepped on a small one.I looked around and was in about 30 pigs,i shot two before they moved on, then my buddy hit one with a mussy,and trailed his along way and didn't recover his either and it didn't bleed either. it's crazy i'm hooked but baffled.
 
Hogs are tough. I shot one with a 125 thunderhead a few years ago on public land. I stalked up on them as when I drew on this sow, she turned to face me at 10 yards. I thought I would just shot her between the eyes. At the shot she took off, so I knew a didn't hit here between the eyes, but I got a blood trail that I quicly lost.

The next morning I went back, and got into the same group of pigs about a hundred or so yards from where I shot her. There were two other public hunters stalking the same bunch and they were about 40 yeads closer than I was, and they got a shot before I did. The hogs scattered, and I saw one heading down a fence row. I rushed to cut it off at a gap in the fence that I knew was ahead of it. When it got there, I could tell that it was one the guy had gut shot as it was slowing down and guts were hanging out. I could also tell it was the same spotted sow I had shot at the evening before.

I shot at the running sow as she went by, and missed. It turned down a mowed lane, and I followed it to where it bayed up in a weed thicket (almost the exact same place where I had shot it the evening before). I shot it again, but it was still not giving up.

By this time the other two public hunters had followed her blood trail to where I could see them, and I called them over. I told them the hog they had shot was in the weeds there, and I had shot it again, but it wasn't dead yet. The guy pulled a big knife and thought he was going to finish her with it, but I told he better think again. After she rushed him couple of times, he decided to shoot her again.

By this time, there were so many holes and blood, I could not tell where I had shot her the evening before. I told him I had shot her the evening before, and lost her in this same spot. He went ahead and took the hog. I saw him on the area again about a week later, and he told me he had found my thunderhead when he cleaned the hog. It had went to the left of her head and into the shoulder and broken the arrow off about an inch from the broadhead. The broadhead was between the ribs and the shoulder when he went to cut off the shoulder.

He said when he shot her that morning, there was no sign she had even been hit before. Hogs are just tough.
 
Wow, that's some crazy stuff yellowhammer,I have been into this same group of pig's twice,once from a tree stand,but walking into them was wild.the first time from the tree i shot three times,i hit the first one quartering away,it took off but another walked right where i had shot the first on,but as it turned out i miss #2,and a third walked up in the same spot,and yeah i missed #3 as well both arrows were two feet from one another,my buddy shot twice,before they ran off.Three year's ago i heard there were pigs there but never seen any sign,but now they are everywhere,they are ruining a great whitetail enviroment,they have some pig traps set up in there,(O.D.W.C.) I HOPE THEY THIN THEM OUT,i'm trying to help lol.
 
i stopped hunting them with my bow.i have a video of a 350 lb sow i shot perfect double lung with a muzzy that stayed on her feet eating corn for 32 minutes before she layed down.every time her heart beated i squrit of blood would come out her side.i think this is how people get killed buy them.they think they make good shoots on them and try to track them to quick.we had a guy get killed buy one here a couple a years ago that he had shot with a gun.he made a good shot on the pig.in all right the pig should have been dead.the pig still made it 200 yards before he died.after he killed the guy.
 
Varmentwacker,that kept running through my mind the whole time i was tracking that pig.I have to shoot these pig's with a bow,they are on public land however it is bowhunting only.After archery season you can predator hunt with rim fire only,I HAVE A 22 mag. and a hmr 17. that i am going to see what they will do,probably i would have better luck with my bow.You can use shotgun with pellets in there as well,maybe some 3 and a half inch mag loads might be better,any thoughts there ? thanks to yellowhammer and varmentwacker for the thoughts,( very appreciated.)
 
I have hunted similar public lands that were archery, rimfire or muzzloader only for hogs, and have killed them with all 3. The .50 muzzle loader was of course the best. I have killed quite a few with a .22 mag though, and a couple with a .22 lr.
 
OMG,lanceb,im sorry,freakin wildcat ehh ?lol anyway just got back from hunting that place tonight,the deer hunting was really looking up,I had a nice big buck coming on a string across a 600 yard feild right at me he gets between 35,to 30 yards away at 4:30,all of a sudden the head pops up and runs up a wooded hill,my dream was over,looked in the direction he was a there stood nothing more than a grey fox !!!30 yards,pffffttttttttt !!!!! no more little gray wondering around.OH and yeah i heard the pigs squealing back in the woods.Too p,oed to give a hoot.
 
no wildcat fan born in pittsburg ks and raised here have no love for them, naw just kidding im not really a sports fan. i race a dirt modified so if its not hunting or racing im lost.wish i could get a fox been trying just not yet.
 
Back to the pigs/bows: I lived in Central FL many years and have killed too many pigs to count.... In my humble opinion is it is risky to shoot a pig anywhere except the brain if you are on the ground... A 22LR works fine out to 50yds or the distance that you can hit a quarter. A 22mag is good to 100yds. with same shot. A brain shot is the only reliable shot that will put them down untill you get up to the deer calibers. Have had some close calls with a bow while on the ground... Shot one about 75#'s from 3ft. in the chest with it facing me. I was sitting. 357mag/158gr.Fed. Next buddy #2, with 44mag shot it in the nose, then in the hip. Bud #3 then shot it in the head with 44sp and beleive it or not killed it! They will try to "get you" if they are hurt. And they will "hurt you" as some about 4 people I have known can attest to... Even a 10#er will try to eat your boots if you hurt it. Last day of hunting season on the Deseret Ranch we decided to drive the swamps; a guest shot a pig in the rear as it came out and it went into another cypress head. You can't leave a wounded pig on a working ranch. So I went in with my A5-12ga and found him at about 15ft. When we made eye contact here he came. He was on my right and I am right handed. My last shot (#5) was touching his left sholder. Had to put in another shell (00) to finish him. Sorry that I got carried away there, but please understand that pigs have the potential to change your life...or end it..I hope that I will have the good sense to not shoot another pig with a bow while on the ground.
 
I've hunted a lot of hogs on the ground, and the only 2 that ever came my way were being bayed by dogs and looking for a way out of there.

They usually run at the first sight of a person. Corner them up, and that is a different story.
 
Your right about how a pig will kill you,but it doesn't mean your not marked by walking in to bowhunt and a pig squeal that you won't be attacked in the darkness as well. however the risk is 100% greater if you shoot the pig,i feel if you understand the risk,and still chose to shoot the pig,don't blame the animal.At the same time my father shot a nice buck deer,hit it several times and ran out of shells and trailed behind the buck about 50 yards across 40 acre's,finally the buck turned and charged my dad,he stuck his rifle into the bucks horns and fought it to a small tree in which he finally reached around it and put it between the two where he proceeded to kill the deer with only his knife the process he said took one and a half hours to succeed,bloody from head to toehe was unscaved,but tired and sore.He still chooses to pursue the whitetail.He had shot the deer 6 times with a 303 cal.british rifle,knocking it down each time.(out of seven shots)
 
Thanks for the responce doubleclutch,your advise is truely taken to heart,and believe me it was fun to shoot those hog's even though the risk is ultimate!However the blood trailing i really felt crazy,and moved very slowly,and would not of done if it weren't for the snow.Thanks fellas,it's very appreciated.
 
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