pig hunting experience - HP game

[trashwood]

I have dropped down in draw weight, move to samller BH, ya know all the popular stuff.  Heck fire I likely said it.  Ya know what? On pigs I don't believe it.  45 bow, well yes i will kill the pig but the question is will you recover it without a dog?  Their is not doubt in my mind that to recover pigs without dogs ya have to have two holes in the sucker.  I had rather it be a blow thru.  the arrow sxit of the offside well drag blood with it.  This greatly increase your chances for an early bloold trail.  It makes the possilbity of wipe off trails very likely.

Remember the difference we are talking about is recovery vs dead pig.  My personal experience best recovery.......heavier draw hunting bows and great big holes    

rusty

[trashwood]

a big problem is as you know a pigs boiler room is forward of where deer and elk are. this means on good quartering away shoot your arrow has got to punch thru the off side in a very tuff area.  

IN pig hunting nothing replaces momentum

rusty

[sgrogg]

What are you thinking Rusty?  Is 50 pounds the bare minimum?

[trashwood]

Sprogg - heck I don't know.  I have been doing ok with a 56#@28" 60" recurve. (my draw is 28").  The thing I do believe is you will recover more pigs shooting as much horse power as ya can.  

I think lighter draw bows are fine for Texas Deer and pigs if ya have a trailing dog.  I just wanted to set the record straight from my view point regarding pigs.  

The thicker the cover ya hunt the more draw wieght ya need and more cutting area from your BH.

rusty

[flatlander37]

Rusty, I have been reading yours and wingnuts other thread religiously.  Lots of good stuff.  What I was wondering was has anyone tried a  big ole 160 Snuffer on a pig?  If so with what success?  Mark

[trashwood]

Mark, Wingnut and I were just talking last night and he reminded me that I had been talking aobut lighter draw weight bows then trn right around a hunt pigs with 55 to 65 pound bows.  He kindly     (ya right) pointed out that I was saying one thing and doing another.  So I wanted to correct that.  I have no doubt that a 45# will do the job.  I have a great deal of doubt you will have enough signs to recover the pigs.  Pigs are a special case in my opinion.  Ya often hunt them in very heavey cover, often in areas you that are not your home grounds, and you often shoot them at the edge of the evening.  pigs in general leave the worst blood trials I've ever tried to follow.  In this case (pigs) sharp BH don't replace HP from your bow.

pigs are tuff hunting in general.  I have not tried the big snuffer but will if ya recommend it.  I have had very good luck with the Zephry 4 blade sasquach driven by a 56# hot recurve.

I also use at 61# 60" Marriah Williwaw recurve and a 61# 64" Groves spitfire mag II.

rusty

[trashwood]

All of the is just to get a blood trail started early.  I don't know actually that it kills them any faster or any deader    

I want to know Streettalks secert of down where they stand   .  I have had that happen very very few times.  best shoots end up with average of 70yd blood trail on big pigs.  that's the one that don't try to climb in the stand and kick your can  

if you have no idea where they went after the first 10 yds ya better hope ya have a trail of some kinda

rusty

[wingnut]

Let me chime in here.  Over the years, a few pigs have not been recovered with very good shots from our group.  Most often it is because they were shot from above and have no exit wound.  One thing is the sharp BH, another is arrow weight, and the last is "do you have enough bow?" to do the job.

I'm still experimenting around.  With the thick bottow we are hunting, I decided to try a string tracker.  Made a mount and got it working today.  Going to the thick stuff tonight to see if I can test the theory.

Mike

[SL]

Alot of people shoot them to high.
aim low and forward and tney wont go to far.
SL

[trashwood]

SL - i agree with shot placement.  do you alwsay get a blood trrail from low and forward shots?

rusty

[wingnut]

SL,

I agree also, I get forward enough but tend to hit my full draw and shoot right at the 50% line.

Most of the time I get a double lung and they don't go 50-75 yds.

Gotta bring the shot down to punch the bottom out.

Mike

[SL]

I try to block out the upper 2/3's and shoot for the lower 1/3rd. Its hard to do sometimes though. If I do keep it together the exit is more on the bottom like you say, which is good for a blood trail. Most that are hit like that you can watch or hear crash. Ive hit some high that have barely bled on the outside and never found them...Im sure their not still around though. If the arrow enters low and forward it will usally come out the bottom oppisite side where its softer- if that makes sense. I like bows around 52 pounds at 27 inches and tune an axis 500 at 28 inches with 275 grain BH's. Last pig I shot had the arrow exit about 8 inches. One before that went clear through. I cant image that the 45 #er wont punch on through as often as the 50 #ers.
SL

[SL]

I should add when I dropped bow weight from 55-60#s , I went from three blades to the 2 blades. The 50# bow with a 3 blade wouldn't punch through a pig. It'll Zip right through a deer though.  
SL

[MikeW]

I've shot 1/2 dozen or so pigs, all but two were with WW's. I've been lucky and shot everyone right where you are suppose to, right at the knee. 3 with the WW's went right though, the other one buried up too the flethcing and barley poked out the other side. I didn't get a pass through with the 2 blades(STOS) but they buried all the way to the feltching also. None of them made it more than 50 yards from where they were shot. It did take a couple hrs and 4 guys to find one of them, he was with in 30 yards and buried him self under the brush. No telling how many times we walked within inches of him...hardly any blood at all and that one was a pass through.

I was shooting 53# @ 28"(pull 27 3/4") and 550-600 grain arrows. All shots were 15 yards or under.

Hit them in the shield and it's a coin toss if you will find them. I had a buddy roll one at 100 yards or so with a 300 Win mag. He hit it in the shield, it got up and took off running, he hit it again this time in the head. When we cleaned it out we found a .243(6mm) bullet in it's shield. It was perfectly mushroomed and only 2" deep or so. This was a 225-250lb pig.

[flatlander37]

Rusty, I wasn't recommending the big snuffers, just asking if someone had tried them.  I may get to go pig hunting in Texas next year and was thinking if some Sasquatches or Magnus I's weighted up pretty high would work.  I shoot 53-54 lbs at my draw out of my longbow.  Right now I shoot 2216's with a big snuffer weighted to 200 grains for a total weight of 585 grains.  I was thinking of making some CX Heritage 250's with 250-350 up front for extra punch.  Total arrow weight(guessing) around 600-700 grains.  Mark

[Ryan Sanpei]

Hey Rusty,
I shot seven pigs this year with 45# @ 25".  Total arrow weighed 460 grains with a 175 grain razorcap. Pigs were small though. Although it worked I just switched back to 53# @ 25".  I'm another advocate of low and forward.

Ryan

[Bjorn]

Low and forward is where it is at for sure. I don't worry as much about blood as I do about air! You have to get both lungs-that means hunt them on the ground-it's way more fun anyway. And don't count on too much blood trail-it usually ends before you find the animal. Oh sure, sometimes the lungs come flying out the nostrils-like in my Avatar-but that's the exception. Bow poundage is misleading; good arrow tuning and shot placement rules, and not all 45# bows are created equal.

[robtattoo]

Where's Curtis when you need him!?

I believe CK (Littlefeather) shoots a Horne Brushbow & only draws around 43@26 or so. I don't know of anyone who'd have more hog-savvy & he seems to do just fine with his little bow shooting pretty much every broadhead going!  :D

[trashwood]

thanks for sharing your experince.  I am waiting for a Dryad 45# recurve to hunt pigs with but was getting cold feet and about to stick with my tried and true heavier draw bows.  

ya have reassured me that if i put the BH on the spot all will be well  

rusty