Folks,

Ive never hunted hogs before, and i'm heading to wilderness hunting lodge in TN next month. i'm going to be looking for an old russian boar, and a large trophy at that.

ive read that these hogs are tough, and can have a tough shield to get an arrow through.

this is what i'm thinking, let me know if have any thoughts on my setup.

bowtech destroyer 340, 70lbs, 30" draw.
gold tip velocity pro 300s with 100gr brass inserts, 180gr steelforce razor dobbs black death broadheads. (2 blade with 2 small bleeder blades).
total arrow weight will be ~580grains, with a FOC ~21%
i'm guessing velocity to be somewhere around 270fps out of the bow.

i will have to retune to use the new broadheads, and adjust the sights a bit, but i'm currently shooting those arrows with a 100gr broadhead as my normal hunting setup. it slings arrows ~285fps.

any info will help from you hog hunters.
thanks folks

You don't really have to change ANYTHING! I've killed a bunch of hogs with my bow and I simply used the exact same setup for them as I did for whitetails. The last hog I killed was with a 70 lb. Forge Woodsman bow, a 29 inch carbon arrow and a 100 grain Slick Trick Magnum 100 broadhead.

I shot him with a slightly quartering away shot, so I could get behind the "shield" they get on their shoulders. The arrow sliced through, took out the bottom of the lungs/top of the heart, lodged in the off shoulder and the pig dropped within sight.

And every pig I've killed has fallen to similar shots, all within sight...

Yes, they are tough, but they're NOT armor plated...

I typically hunt hogs with same setup as I use for whitetails. I have put large hogs down with Full Metal Jacket arrows using 100gr G5s and 100gr two blade rage. My favorite is the 100gr German Kinetic. Anyway, I only shoot 58# and I've never had an issue with penetration. Most shots taken between 20 and 30 yards.

Good luck.

This reminds me of my neighbor. For two consecutive years he shot his deer in the shoulder blade, didn't recover either one. Frustrated, he vowed to do something about it. So... he bought some FMJ dangerous game arrows, German Kinetic 180xl broadhead, and 3 brass inserts to round things off. He is 6' 5'' and has about a 32in draw length. That arrow set up was north of 850 grains when all set up. The irony in this is that he took a perfect heart lung shot that year, no bone. If it wasn't for the luminok he would have lost the arrow, it buried itself DEEP! He used the same set up this year and hit the front shoulder again. It didnt matter though, the arrow blew though both shoulders and stuck out halfway on the other side. The deer went only a few yards before it laid down and died. Not at all needed, but certainly impressive penetration.

Unless you have accuracy issues I would think that anything over 500gr should be more than adequate for pigs.

thanks guys,
of course placement is king, i just want to make sure i can get good penetration just in case the hog moves or if i flinch a bit. i have montecs, muzzys, atoms in 100gr and the big 180s as well.

i've seen videos on youtube getting about 2" of penetration on a dead hog by hitting it in the shoulder, so i want to avoid this situation.

thanks for the info

quote:

Originally posted by cooperjd:
thanks guys,
of course placement is king, i just want to make sure i can get good penetration just in case the hog moves or if i flinch a bit. i have montecs, muzzys, atoms in 100gr and the big 180s as well.

i've seen videos on youtube getting about 2" of penetration on a dead hog by hitting it in the shoulder, so i want to avoid this situation.

thanks for the info

And that's why you wait for the proper shot angle. I prefer a slight quartering away shot. It allows the arrow to bypass the shield on the shoulder, yet still gets the arrow into the vitals...

As long as you're shooting a good fixed broadhead, you'll be fine. This isn't a time to be trying those mechanical broadheads in my estimation....

isnt the heart on a hog really really low? i've read one place that the only shot thats too low on a hog is one that misses. is this your experience as well?

quote:

Originally posted by cooperjd:
isnt the heart on a hog really really low? i've read one place that the only shot thats too low on a hog is one that misses. is this your experience as well?

That's fairly true with hogs. The heart does seem to be a little lower and further forward than on a whitetail, but I wouldn't worry about attempting a heart shot. A razor sharp broadhead through the lungs will take them down quick enough.

If you go to outdoorfrontiers.com and click on the SHOFTV tab on the home page, you'll find a couple hog hunting shows I've done in the past. You might get some ideas on arrow placement from them...

You might also get some ideas on what not to do as well. Look at episodes 10 and 12...

The bigger the boar, the better to wait for that quartering away shot. I have shot some really big boars that had plates almost 2 inches thick on the shoulder. The thickness tapers as it goes father back and thickest up front on the side where they would need the protection from fighting other boars, so I like a pretty steep quartering away shot. I have actually shot a few with a 30-06, 180 grain winchseter silver tip bullet that didn't make it into the rib cage,, actually knocked one down twice and finally 3rd shot was behind his ear. He had 2 huge bruises and blood clots on the rib cage but the vitals were not hurt. Most I have shot with my bow have been with my usual set up and never had a problem killing any size pig with it,,, same set up as I have killed to 1800 plus eland bulls,,, SHARP arrows and proper shot placement will get it done!! go get a big one!

I like the "micro dia" arrows for hogs.....seems to get a bit better penetration. BTW I only use fixed blade BH's.

Gary

well, back from my hog "hunt" at wilderness hunting lodge in TN. not much of a hunt, more like live grocery shopping... but the hunt was secondary to the trip. the trip was my bachelor party with a big group of friends to hang out and have a good time, which we did.

it was actually very difficult to get within bow range during the day of the hogs. even though there were lots of them, they were very spooky. until the end of the evening, when it seemed like they just stopped caring. so the final shot was pretty anticlimactic. i used my gold tip velocity pro 300s with 100 gr brass inserts and 180gr steelforce broadheads. it zipped straight through the hog, and he went down in a few seconds.

i had a 'cameraman' with me filming the shot here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAb98hBCkPg

as well as a go pro on my forearm with a really cool mount by "blacktail 154", a small company out of oregon. that video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2js4BiiylI

Cool video. Nice shot!