I got a laugh yesterday morning, even though it was at my own mistake.....

The backstory: My oldest daughter and I were in a box blind on a pipeline, trying to get her a deer, when a herd of hogs ran across the line at a little over 300yds. The leader paused and turned back, right at the edge of the line, and I shot her head on while she waited for the others to make it across. She spun and went into the woods. We got her with a clean frontal chest shot and she'd started bleeding heavily just a few feet from where I shot her. Probably one of the fatter sows we've shot in recent years at 271lbs. Some of our boars have beat her for size and weight, but she was as round as a butterball. (129gr LRAB from my 6.5x47L at 315yds, lots of damage but I did not search for the bullet)





Our lesson was learned when we followed the blood into the woods. The blood was heavy and I knew my shot angle was a killer, plus it was about 2 hours after the shot, so I made the mistake of leaving my rifle at the edge of the pipeline. Figured I'd want both hands free to drag her out. My daughter gets all geeked up about bloodtrailing and about 20 yards in, she points and says "There she is!". We could see black hide of a pig's side on the other side of a berm, not moving. We tromped up to her through the briars and the shape began to look strange and too big. At 6-7 yards, my daughter says something like, "Hey, did you shoot two pigs?" Dang if another huge pig didn't jump up right in front of us and start cutting up, popping its teeth, grunting, and giving us a stare down. Wasn't much we could do at that point but freeze. It had obviously been asleep, snuggled up to the dead sow, and we had woken it up. My daughter was petrified, except for her eyeballs, which kept turning from the pig to me, and back to the pig. I couldn't help but start laughing a bit. After maybe ten seconds, the other pig backed up about fifteen yards and continued to chew us out, all the way to the point at which we came back with my rifle. The brush did not allow for a shot, and it eventually trotted in a circle around us and left the area. What is hunting without a little adventure?

I never knew that a live hog would lay down and sleep next to a dead one. Perhaps it was because the sow was the leader of the group? In any event, I'll tote my rifle along next time, even if I know it's dead. Never know if it has a companion that is not dead at all. This one even had a rooted out "bed" in the pinestraw and leaves, right alongside the dead sow. Always, always, have a gun in pig country, as they pop up at the most unexpected times......

That is interesting. Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

I never heard that. Congrats

FWIW,

I'm strapped most all times away from my house, but when I'm "afield" a side-arm is the first thing that goes on my belt after I put my pants on, and the last thing I take off at night before I hop in the sack. We also stand hunt. When I get off my ATV, I put on my pack and sling my rifle, muzzle up an pointing over my left shoulder. I turn on my "headlight and carry my pistol in my left hand as I'm walking in. Carry pistol in hand when I'm walking out. If a critter is not DRT, when I arrive at the suspected POI to begin tracking, my pistol is in my hand. I find that I can make a snap shot with a pistol much easier/quicker than with a rifle.



Sows can do damage, but a big boar can rip you an new orifice.

ya!

GWB

Wow

Geedub...we were hog dogging three years ago. Four of us standing around jabbering in the middle of the night when the recently departed hog decided it wasn't dead after all....ran right in amongst us but thankfully was more interested in getting away than cutting somebody. Coulda got me for sure...but as it turned out, we ran him down and I killed him all over again...

Good reminder. I haven't seen the sleeping hog thing but have tracked ones right in to the rest of the sounder. I also nearly tripped over a black hog walking in the dark with no light.

A friend shot one with a muzzle loader and it was out cold. He got out of the tree he was in and the hog jumps up and goes straight for him. He hadn't reloaded and resorted to using the rifle as a club. That boar I think was really after my friend and consider it a legitimate charge. I have had them run at me several times but never a real charge.

That's a real porker for sure. Looks way to big for those little feet...err, hooves.

I had taken three local peace officers and their sons hog hunting. We shot 19 hogs in three days and recovered 16. The young man who wounded this hog had never fired a rifle. I dropped him and his dad off at an elevated blind about 20 minutes before this, and had gone on down to put out another man and his son. I came back down the road and stopped my truck adjacent to the blind and was talking to them when a group of hogs came to the corn. The distance was about 130 yds. The boy's dad instructed him where to hold on the hog and to squeeze the trigger. He was shooting a scoped 243. The hog bucked at the shot and ran off. We waited about 20 minutes. I asked the boy if he would like to track him. He said sure. I located the blood trail and we took off through the cedar, which is very dense here. It had rained that night so between the tracks in the mud and blood it was not to difficult.

We had probably gone 70 yds into the cedar and I was instructing him on tracking. I figured we would come on him laying dead. That would not be the case.

I always carry a pistol at my leases just in case I need one. At this time I carried a Glock 36 in 45 ACP with a plus one extension. I almost always carry my pistola in a belt slide, but for some reason I had it in a breakaway fanny pack this one time.

Anyway we were following sign when I heard some grunting and this boar charged us out from under a cedar bush at about six feet away. The boy was in front of me and I was able to push him to one side, out of the way. The boar ran right between my legs. I'm 5' 8". Luckily he did not hook my femoral artery on either leg. Perhaps if he hadn't been hurt he would have. He knocked me over when he went between my legs. I did a shoulder roll and came up with my pistol in my hand. Perhaps because he was wounded, he did not turn and charge again, but continued running.

At this point the boy said he had had enough. I said I was going to get the SOB.

I tracked him another 20 yds. or so and he was laying up against a large cedar log. I yelled to the boy, "here he is".

When I yelled, the boar got up and started charging me again. At this point he was about 10 feet away. This time I had my pistol in my hand. I put seven in him, and was dry firing when he dropped at my feet. Talk about an Adrenalin rush. We carry radios with us at all times and so the chatter and bullshit started. These guys being LEO's wanted to know what the hell I was doing with a full auto. I told them that my pistola was only a semi auto Glock, but that I was just in a hurry.

As soon as I got back to town I planned on investing in a 10mm that had a round in the chamber and at least 15 friends to back him up!
.
Here is a pix of the boy and the hog.





ya!


GWB

My experience has been pretty much the same as GW's. I've had a few "dead" hogs get up and run at me, but only one full on charge. And I also stopped one full on charge from a hog that came after my little brother, when I was about 10 yards to the left of him.
From my personal experience, both a 45 acp or a 10mm work very well at 10 yards.

And like GW mentioned, when I'm hunting or working at the Ranch, I'm always wearing one of my two favorite packing handguns on my belt. Either a full size 1911 in .45 acp or 10mm, or a Glock 20 in 10mm. It's the first thing I strap on in the morning after my Wranglers, and the last thing I take off at night. And as GW mentioned, when I'm walking from my truck to the blind, or back to the truck, I've got my handgun in my right hand, with my rifle slung barrel up over my left shoulder. And if it's after dark, there's usually a Streamlight laser / light combo mounted on my handgun. And I've also walked right up on sleeping hogs and rattlesnakes in the dark. And once had a mountain lion stalking a doe under my feeder right at dusk, when I was Bowhunting. So I figure better safe than sorry. My handgun is always at the ready.

100%

ya!

GWB

Dayom! Between the legs like the one that came after GW, and I would have probably had to change my underwear.

I will admit my scrotum was up to my throat. I could have done a pretty good Slim Whitman impression...................







ya!


GWB

Geedub: had one get after me in college, way back when. Completely unprovoked, came from the back side of a big tree ( he could have easily gone 180 degrees the OTHER way...) and was open for business. All I had was a .22 Diamondback and a camera, so out came the pistol, and I was hoping like hell I could slip one between his eyes when he got about 6 feet away... very luckily my pard ( who was looking the wrong direction...) turned and brought his .308 into play...at 8 feet...my trigger squeeze was ALMOST complete!

I generally have a full-size handgun on my hip when I'm out in the woods doing whatever, except when I'm actually hunting and have a rifle in tow. We have not had the best of results with .40/.45 handguns on pig body hits (deer either), but they are better than a sharp stick. What I learned here was that having a rifle does you no good if it is propped against a tree 20 yards behind you. So, it is best to wade in and find your dead critter with the rifle still in your hands. I assumed that our talking while we were on the blood trail would naturally preclude another live pig being dangerously close. I was wrong......

Great story. Glad no one was “hog bit”! Congratulations on hunt’n with your daughter. That’s an adventure she’ll never forget! Also, as others have mentioned, a big-bore handgun in a shoulder rig would be a benefit. Your hands are “freed-up”, but your prepared for what will likely “never” happen again! memtb

A member of my deer camp had a big boar run in. He did the matador thing and side stepped the charge at the last instant, shooting down into the hog with a 357 mag if I remember right. The skull of that hog decorated the sitting area of his camper for many years.

Cool story. Sounds as exciting as walking up to a bear sleeping on "your" elk.

Wow GW, pretty cool story now, but I'm sure it was an adrenaline rush at the time. We've got quite a few hogs on our place, but I've only had one (so far) do a mock charge at me. I keep a Springfield Xdm with 13 +1 of 45ACP on my hip whenever I'm down there.

In my next life, I want to live where there are hogs to do battle with on a daily basis!

JPro,

I've seen that before. A few years back, I shot a big sow with my 6.5-284 at 300 yds from a box blind. Probably hit her in the chest and she ran. It was evening and getting dark. I looked but couldn't find her.

The next day, my hunting bud walk up on her. Lying next to her was a big boar. The boar jumped up, bud killed him. Two for one.

I've seen suckling pigs come back to a dead sow. Sometime one can get a chance to whack some of them with a .22.

Years ago, I was in a high box. A group of hogs came into a shooting lane. I picked out the biggest sow and whacked her with a head shot at around 150 yds. I was able to kill a second hog before they left. After a while, some medium sized pigs returned to their mom and I was able to kill two more.

DF

They come back sometimes, once in a while some don’t run after the first shot.

Like a lot of spots in the South, we have our share of piney woods rooters. It’s surprising how many of the folks carry 10mm’s on their side. Virtually every one of em. Most are loaded with 200 grain XTP’s.

Carry one myself for infedels.

What’s the most common, favorite 10mm that you see?

DF

Not too long after the "charge" incident related above, I decided that one in the pipe and fifteen friends as back-up seemed to be a bit more prudent!







Glock G20 SF, 200 gr. Hornady STP









Ya!


GWB

I own 10mm pistols in the 1911 configuration and the Glock 20 full size 10mm. And while I love 1911's, the Glock 20 gets the most holster time while hunting hogs or Bowhunting in bear country in the lower 48.
The 15 + 1 capacity of the Glock 20 is very comforting, IMO. And with the rail mount, it only takes 2 seconds to attach my Streamlight light / laser combo when walking back to the truck or house after dark.

And my Glock is almost as accurate as my high end custom 1911's
Mine will easily place 5 rounds in sub 2" groups easily from a sandbag rest at 25 yards. When using it on hogs, I prefer the Buffalo Boar Factory Ammo with the 220 gr Hard Cast bullet. At 1200 fps, it's a hog killing sonofabitch!
And my handloads with a Hornady 200 gr XTP HP bullet at damn near 1300 fps work well too. It also works very well on deer.

GW, the Accurate # 9 is the only powder I use for 10mm handloads. Good stuff! And great photos as always. You missed your calling in life as a Proffesional Photographer!

Daytime Glock, G-20 SF





Nitetime Glock, M17, 9 x 19, Truglo light and laser


ya!


GWB

Nah, If I was a pro, then someone would want to pay me to do something and then they would expect to have a claim on my time.

I'll settle for being and "ex-spurt". Ya know...... an "ex" is a has been, and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure. Now I can resemble that remark!

ya!


GWB

A few sporty moments there!
You'll have to go back and settle the score with that one.

Glocks by far. Delta Elites second and Kimber bringing up the rear.

Mind sharing your favorite XTP 200 grain #9 loads? I have a Delta Elite that only showed decent accuracy potential. Currently having a Wilson Match barrel installed that will allow more substantial loads because the case will now be fully supported from what I understand. Former loads with 180 gr TC copper plated bullets were abysmal. Only powder if cared for was 231 at low pressure. Tried Blue Dot, Power Pistol, AA#9, Titegroup, a few others...no go. Perhaps this Wilson match setup will show more promise.

What a proper gentleman might carry for just such purposes, along with his Jägerbusche!

Agree.

Very well done, great story teller, as well.

I’ve always enjoyed his posts. Told him so in a PM.

DF

Or just a humongous Bowie Knife . But I like the way you think Bob!

That be a lotta stylin' in da hog woods...

DF

Geedub: do you use the factory triggers on the Glocks?

Well, not being a proper gentleman, i usually approach such beast with a fresh charge, clean/sharp flint, frizzen shut on fresh prime, full cock, and give em a quick poke or two in the eye with the muzzle!

ya!


GWB

It's important to have both the appropriate footwear as well as a proper blade when perforating porkers!




ya!


GWB

Too good.

One more story. Was about 12 yrs. old and naive to say the least. Left a deer in the crotch of a tree and went to find my dad. Couldn't find him so went back to the deer. Three 200 lbs plus hogs were putting a serious munch on the deer. Thinking they were the ranchers swine I laid my rifle against a tree and yelled at the Hogs with no effect. Then I got mad and booted one so hard in the family jewels that it both hurt my foot and lifted the boar off the ground. That one plowed into the other and they ran off. The third pulled his head out of the carcass with blood in his eyes and looked like he was going to come for me. I grabbed a pine apple sized rock and clouted him on the head which fortunately discouraged him from eating more of the deer or me. I went back to the rancher and told him his hogs ate my deer. He said he didn't have any hogs, Doh! Even with my puny M1 carbine I could have killed all three easily. Praise the luck of the innocents and fools, it has worked for me several times.

Now if I only had my Crocs and a sword.

Having killed my first pig at 8 or 10 years of age with a 22 Hornet, my last a couple years ago with a Schrade and a cool few hundred in between with everything from Maglites to deer rifles. I can honestly say my favorite handgun to use on them was a New England Arms revolver in .22 Magnum. That old pistol laid low many in traps, bayed with dogs and thoroughly deterred several charges wether they were bluffs or not. Before someone decided they needed it worse than I did, it accompanied me afield always.

In east Texas in the late 50's and early 60's, IIRC, they had "open stock" laws, or at least that's what I think they were called. Back then folks branded their cows and horses and "cropped" the ears of their hogs. Then they turned them loose. Livestock would go where they so desired. Did not matter that it was your property they were traipsing on. Back then "feral" hogs were not as prolific in Texas as they are today. They would range up and down the creeks, but typically they were somebodys stock. Now getting close enough to tell whether a hoglets' ear was "cropped" could be might difficult. I learned at an early age about the "three S's".

As an aside, we used to have what we'd call "pig rodeos" when I was a yonker. We'd put a trail of corn leading into a pen, and have a trap door. Usually an apple on a stick lodged between to sticks drove into the ground. When a pig would bite the apple it would come off the stix and would release the trap door. Usually it would be a sow with a bunch of shoats that we caught. We'd climb up on the fence an take turns jumping down and grabbing a shoat. When you did this, the sow would charge you. If you had a hair on your azz, you'd try to hold onto the piglet and clamber back up the fence before the sow got to you. Since the sow's ear was usually cropped, we'd let her go later that day, But we did have a ball.

ya!


GWB

I love to kill pigs

For those interested, I did find this economically priced hunting hanger! Just the thing for dispatching those rogue tuskers!

http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AH4226

No hog camp is complete without one!!! .

The really cool sword is out of stock!!!

http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=NS001

I never am anywhere around hunting area with out a gun either. While in camp it may not be on me depending but something is not far away.

I never look for anything without.... have trailed with Tiger quite a bit and had to shoot a few with the 10mm when we found them.

The other thing.. I'm never low on ammo or only what a normal rifle would hold IE 3 or so rounds.. I tend to have almost always a box with me, at least 10 to 20 spare or a full Glock 20 mag of 15...

Have not tried 200xtps yet, totally happy with 180s so far on deer.

. Us, no way. Aftermarket all the way on the triggers. You still ain't gonna have an AD...Can't quite think of what we use right now, but its shorter reset too.. OLD glocks I can deal with. The new supposed 5-6 pound triggers that weight 10-11 on my scale.. nope...

Thanks pard!

JPro,
Exactly why I pack my 45 sidearm in every hunting scenario. I never consider anything to be routine especially when with my girls.

Great show Gee.

I like that hog pose. I think it'd be neat to have a 1/2 mount in that pose.

Thnx

Jerry

About when I first moved to California in the mid 1990's, a local politician in the Central Valley was hog hunting with a bow. He arrowed one, and it charged him, got to him, and chewed him up a lot before he managed to get his pistol out and kill the pig. He needed 80+ stitches, IIRC

Hoping to get loose to ambush a big sow at night here in the next week or two. She's a crafty one, never goes to feeders except at night. Time for the beast AR10 to speak.

Did he get Rabies like Old Yeller in the Movie ?

https://youtu.be/eTzwS38GK1s

Old Yeller got hydrophoby from the wolf!!! Caught the slobberin' fits!

The hog?

Bob, there are no 'Proper Gentlemen' on the fire.... we're all, at least most of us, 'deplorable racist', and proud of it!!!

JPro, We always try to shoot the sow and then wait a while and try to shoot smaller pigs as they come to the downed sow. But, I've never seen a large pig bedded down with a dead one. That's a fat one for sure.

Like you, I have waited a few and gotten a bonus piglet or two when they come back. One of the extra benefits of shooting a sow over a boar. Oddly enough, this big sow had no piglets in that huge gut when a friend took her to the processor. Must have all been corn and rice bran! Those carbs will put it on you.....

My legs would have been way up in the air.

Mayor of Monahans years ago laid his shotgun down on a dove hunt to find a bush and drop a zero. Big hog nailed him and almost killed him.

Glad the op and daughter are ok. That hog they roused was considering charging them. Had it been one person it likely would have.

Well -- y e a h

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Jaguartx ,

Was there a Dr. on the fire who had a buddy leg shanked by a -shot- boar hog ?
Couple/three of years ago ?

Some of those fellows with shotguns can't shoot for schitt !

I have some pretty small short, booming rifles that I hunt with... but nothing beats a S&W mountain gun in .44 mag for chasing them into the bushes.

I've had to take off my slippers to go back in the house and swap my rifle for a pistol... when following up on 1 I had 4 more come after me in 2 different packs from 2 diffferent directions. I got the ones stupid enough to get in front the slow ones made it to see another day...

Now you know why when ever I venture out to the woods in my home state or where it's allowed I wear my XD Tactical in 45acp with 14 230 grain Speer Gold Dots. Had a rather sobering experience three years ago roosting turkeys during spring season. Both my boys asked if they could remain back at the truck in the shade as it was quite hot and a long walk in the sun back to the roost. I said OK. I also left my XD 45 back in the truck and was armed with nothing more than a fixed blade hunting knife.

I no sooner sat down on my folding seat in some waist high brush but I heard what sounded to me as several deer hauling butt towards me and sure enough three does appeared and passed within feet of me oblivious to my presence. Within moments I heard more animals headed my way and this time it was three vary large Farrell dogs. They spotted me quickly and became quite aggressive barking and snarling at me. I usually carry a large 6' long sapling as a walking stick and I had it with me that day. I proceeded to yell and rush at the dogs swinging the stick and hitting the ground and trees as I approached the dogs. My charge worked and they broke and ran away.

I occasionally post my pre-teen sons to watch different roosts so we can cover more area when putting birds to bed. I don't like to think of the possible outcome if those dogs had happened onto one of my sons instead of me and he or they panicked and ran. From then on if I post my sons by them selves they are armed with one of my semi-auto .22s and I always carry now. If pigs encounters were a threat I would likely invest in a 10mm G20 as a cost effective alternative to a .44 magnum.

Glad the OP and his awesome daughter are OK.

Based on those videos if I ever decide to go hog hunting I will build me and AR-10 and stoke it with some hard hitting bullets made for use on big ole nasty hogs. Seams like fast fallow up shots are the norm.

I dont remember that Mike. I was nearly nailed by 3 boar and one momma javelina that surrounded me and alternated chaging from opposite corners at the same time after i had jumped from behind a live oak as the herd filed past me on a deer trail to grab the last little one in line on a deer hunt one time near Gonzales once when i was in college.

Yes GW, when i was a kid in the 60s the timber co lands in east Texas were unfenced. Grandad let his cattle run on timberlad part of the year and his on the rest. He fed chopped field corn at the barn at times to keep them in truck horn hearing distance of it.

Stock dogs like ole Yeller would toll or drive free range cattle to pens with funnel arms. The dog leading the lead cow in would escape under a rough cut oak plank or jump to the top of the fence and make it over, or not. Those cows were wild.
Horses and mules were kept fenced in the private pasture or house trap if being used.

Ive told of cousin and i going to the corn fields a mile through the woods with the farm/ranch pack of curs, fiests, black and tans and blue ticks one day and they attacked a sounder of hogs and drove them into the pond and branch leading to it.
Grandad paid a dollar for any wild hog we killed out of the corn fields. A quarter for terrapins out of the purple hulls ot tomatoes and 50 cents for a crow. We had so far only collected on terrapins. Dayom crows were smart and the reminton was missing one sight. Sometimes it took 10-12 shots to roll a fox squirrel from the top of a tall pine.

A dog or three would be fighting each hog in the water and we took turns with the ss 22 bolt gun shooting them. I was about 10 and sometimes had nightmares for years after from the fear of hitting dog instead of hog.

Well, i had a nice sheath western co or some such sheath knife i had gotten from Santa and my older cousin Johnny had thrown and stuck in the side of the outhouse. Being young and dumb i didnt work it riggt and broke a quarter inch off the point pulling it out. I was pissed at him and he worked trying to refashion a point with the big whetstone. It got passable. Cousin and i somehow got seperated in the pond/hog shoot melee and a big black hog came toward me in a rush in the high marsh grass in the high marsh grass at the tail end of the pond dam.

I could only see the top six or eight inches of its back parting the grass as it came, at the time i thought, for me.

I had that knife and decided i would jump to the side as it reached me and stick him through the heart as it passed. Wel,, being young and dumb i didnt lead the heart area as mr piney woods rooter rushed past. I stabbed but was slow and the knife tip hit it in the ham a bit higher than dead center and i guess at an angle with the point lower than the haft. I remember thinking it felt as if i had tried to stab a thick plank and instantly the handle was jerked from my hand.

I guess i will never forget the sight of my beloved Bowie bounding away from me while barely stuck in the butt of that hog at roughly a 30 degree angle. What was notable to me at the time was that for split seconds my knife appeared motionless for split seconds at times but then wiggled up and down violently as the hogs hind legs hit the ground.

Thats what i last remember seeing of my knife as the hog disappeared into the woods. Shake, steady, shake, steady......

Well we were just kids and told our older farm hand cousins of the story and they laughed at us mere kids supposedly killing either 7or 9 hogs in the pond so we didnt tell Grandad.

A few days later he went to plow old Bill in the fields and as the branch in the woods was dry he took him to water in the pond. Oh hell. We were in trouble a bit until we told him we had told the big guys and they thought we were kidding.

They had to swim out and rope the floaters and drag them out. He was stil, pissed enough he chewed on the big wart just below his right lower lip for a few days so we thought it best not to remind him he owed us.

Thanks grandad puss-Ervin for putting up with us grandkids all summer. May you rest in peace.