Large hogs

[txcookie]

I put three hogs down this spring with a 55 pound Montana and cedar shafts tipped with bear razors. All three were around 120 or so. I'm curious if I have enough bow for the large hogs?

Anyone hunt and kill larger shielded pigs with your bow?

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[Possum Head]

Sure

[Caddo]

Yes, plenty of bow, just put it in the right spot!


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[Bisch]

You have plenty to kill the big hogs. Shot placement is of utmost importance!!!  If you hit them high in the shield, you’ll probably still kill them, but finding them is another story altogether. Keep your shot low and tight to the armpit, and it will work just fine.

Bisch

[Wudstix]

Low and tight to the front leg, in the "arm pit" is the money shot.  Good sharp broadhead, stout well balanced arrow with decent weight, good arrow flight.  Then tracking skills kick in.  Good sharp knife, needed.

[Terry Green]

You should be fine.

[GCook]

What Bisch said.
But don't let anyone lie to you.  That shield on big boars is thick and tough.  Stay away from it and the shoulder joint and you'll get penetration.

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[txcookie]

Yea that's the issue. You have to hit right by the shield or elbow to hit that little 3x3 spot. I'm on the ground stalking so that helps I agree with an ideal placement I'm gtg but was looking for experience with hitting that shield.

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[Terry Green]

More than likely you are going to hit the sheild on a big boar,...it covers too much of the vitals and that's what it was designed for....to protect the vitals.

Its hard to just "stay away" from it....much more likely your arrow is going to have to deal with it.  And quartering away doesn't get around it either....it goes too far back. 

Ill be back in a minute to show you how small the sweet spot is.

[Terry Green]

I'd also like to add that I center punched the shoulder MUCLE...not the shoulder bone.  The lungs were behind the shield where I hit and not bone.  This shows just how far forward you can shoot a hog and go straight to the vitals boneless....if you got enough bow or the right broadhead to get through the shield.

                 

Here's a pic of the shield and you can plainly see it and all its battle scars from taking jabs from other boar's tusks...

           

              

Not all hogs have shields this thick(2 inches), but they are noticeable when they get this big, so this might be good to know before you shoot if you see some saddle bags hanging off of one.  Turn your volume up....

 CLICK HERE FOR THICK SHIELD AND SHOT PLACEMENT INFO

This is another hog I shot with Ray Hammond a couple of years ago...

This might be a great opportunity to show some shot placement photos.  Ray and I discussed this on the way back, and by showing these pics someone may save themselves some grief.  It shows just how forward you can shoot a hog because of the front end bone structure.

Remember, this 300#er only ran 30 yards, and this shot did get both lungs and the heart......Note the forward exit wound and this was from a 60# longbow and a Zwickey Delta 4 blade.

                 

This pic reveals that 'Bride of Horse Tail' was slightly quartering away. It also shows how far forward it exited without hitting any bone. This picture however is deceiving on how low on the body the shot placement was.

                             

This pic shows the true elevation on the body...and makes the shot 'low and tight'.

                           

Here is the exit wound from a Delta 4 blade.  You can see how far forward the exit was and no bone was contacted.


   

Results of the Shot....(Thanks to Ray Hammond for pulling this out of the gut bucket for me, I was too busy trying to get 3 hogs skint and quartered up that day)

               

[Tim Finley]

My boy and I shot some large hogs last winter the shields went all the way back to the end of the rib cage . One I shot had a 1 1/2 " shield the arrow went through the shield  cut two ribs half way through the head went horizontially, cut part of a rib on the other side and went through the opposite shield and poke a hole in the skin . I was using a Simmons Tiger Shark broadhead from a 50# bow. My son shot a huge hog that had close to a 3 inch shield, as we were skinning it he held up the plate and skin and said how do you shoot through this with a bow (he had shot it with a gun ) I stabbed it with my knife as he was holding it and it went through like nothing .
  With a good broadhead and Razorheads are as good as you can get, I think 50#s is enough for most hogs .

[Terry Green]

I've seen this posted for years on web sites...

"I like to shoot them quartering away to avoid the shield".  If you hear that, then they haven't killed any big shielded boars.

I've tried to explain that this is not the case on a shielded boar....So at Solana I got pics of Michael's boar to add to the shot placements thread stickied at the top, so they can do the talking. 

This is a pic of a shielded boar and the location of just how far back the shield goes and that you are not going to avoid the shield by shooting quartering away unless you shoot behind the rib cage, and that is a VERY dicey shot.

           

         

           

Also, if you do shoot quartering away, your are actually increasing the thickness of the shield you have to pass through because you are making the shield thicker by the quartering away angle....and the sweet spot smaller to basically nil.

I am not condemning a quartering away shot with this post, I've shot plenty that way.  I'm  just making folks aware that you are not going to avoid the shield.....unless of course you shoot that little soft pocked in the clip posted on the shot placement thread...and that soft spot can be shot broadside as well.


Hog vitals are a bit more tricky as they are angled up a bit as they go back...the same double lung shot on a deer could result in a gut shot on a hog.

Low and tight is good...low and back aint...the same shot low and back(yellow circle) would double lung if it was high and back(pink circle).....so again I aim for the middle right over the elbow for the greatest margin of error on a broadside shot (orange circle).

                           

I quit shooting hogs 'low and tight' after I lost one due to it being 3 inches back.  I now aim as I suggested above(orange circle).

Same low and back on the deer would kill it(orange circle)....

                         

                 

Again...Low and tight is good...low and back aint...the same shot low and back(yellow circle) would double lung if it was high and back(orange circle).....so again I aim for the middle right over the elbow for the greatest margin of error on a broadside shot.
                 

In this pic....the PINK circle gives you the greatest margin of error. 
                 

[Chuck Jones]

55# at your actual draw length, with good arrow flight and a heavy enough arrow should punch right through both sides of a big hog with shields. Here is a boar I shot straight broadside,  that had thick shields. I shot him from the ground at about 20 yards, with a 45#@28" Black Rhino takedown, and Sitka arrow with a razor sharp, 225 gr. Tuffhead. Full penetration and a short, amazing blood trail. I aim right up the leg to get a center lung hit.

Untitled by okawbow, on Flickr
Untitled by okawbow, on Flickr

[Terry Green]

I aim right up the leg to get a center lung hit.

Yes....just like in the diagram on my last post....best shot and greatest margin of error.

Nice hog Chuck!

[txcookie]

Thanks guys,

I have killed a pile of hogs over the years but only started hitting them with trad gear this spring. I am confident that my little bow at 55 will certainly get it done as long as its a good shot. Ill just make certain them razor heads are popping hair.

[Todd Cook]

My opinion: As terry's pictures show you, there's a big difference between pigs and BIG pigs, especially boars. I think your draw weight is fine; more is better but it's not always an option. I love wood arrows too and hunt with them a lot, but for what you're talking about I would consider carbon with some weight in the front.

[Terry Green]

The shield its a layer that is not on any other animal stateside...Its a layer that should not be scoffed at like it makes no difference. Its not just "skin". 

Even though the blade goes through....arrow pinch by the shield is a big energy robber.  This occurence is the #1 reason for 'great shot' one lungers that never get recovered.

And I'm not willing to concede that the power wielded by the force of a knife by a 14,000,000 grain grown man is a measurement to define a 585grain arrow with a set amount of energy free flying.

[txcookie]

Well I'm gonna test that shield some this yr . I also have a 60 patriot. May use it some as well

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[Terry Green]

HAVE FUN!!!...Hope to see some pics!!!

[Tim Finley]

14 million grains now I really feel fat ! He held the shield with the skin still on horizontally and I stabbed upwards not even hard not anywhere close to what an arrow would have hit and the knife went right through. The shields were thick that hog would dwarf any in the pictures above  !