How many of you have been charged at by an angry boar....

Would they rather flee than charge after a person.....

Just wanting to know your thoughts before I start setting my trap out in the next month or two....

If stumbled upon in the open would they flee?

If surprised upon there trail would they flee?

If cornered I know I better be ready for some mean action....

What have been your experiences....

Thanks...

Mamas with babies are unpredictable. You're right, Mostly they flee unless cornered or harassed.

Years ago, I had a couple of big sows that I had raised. I learned this:
Big Pet hogs, expecting handouts, that run towards humans can scare even "old-hands"

Off of the top of my head I can think of 2 pigs that "charged".

The first occured when I shot a pig out of a group. One of the others "charged" directly at me. I dropped him with a head shot at about 7 yards.

He was probably just running in my direction.

The second time I shot a pig at around 40 yards with my 9,3 hitting him behind the shoulder, he was quartering away. He ran in a small half circle and came straight for me.

No doubt he was charging. I did not have time to reload the right bbl so I planned on waiting till he was at poing blank range before shooting the left. He fell dead at 15 yards from the effect of the first shot.

I always carry a handgun when hunting.

I do know of a fella that was knocked down by a big pig he hit around the edges with a 45/70.

He finally managed to get his 500 S&W out and shoot him in the head.

I saw the scars on his legs.... OUCH

Feral pigs, no matter what size, if cornered or wounded will often go after the hunter.

I have witnessed many cases. In one interesting case, my hunter missed a handgun shot as the pig ran past him at close range. The young boar passed him by 40 ft., stopped, turned around and attacked him. He was able to then kill the pig at his feet.

In another case, my hunter wounded a pig at night with a handgun. The pig charged the shooter who was wearing a headlight and leaped at the headlight. He killed the pig at point blank range.

I have been knocked over and on my back holding the boar's head and small tusks away from me by grabbing on to his ear. Another hunter was able to knock the pig off of me and shoot it in the head.

Any wild animal should be treated with respect and caution.

Geoff

6 years on a S. Tx lease that generally carried 50+ hogs on a year-round basis, and I walked up on them in the dark and daylight many times. Closest I ever got was about 10 feet one night and shot a 60-lb BBQ pig with the red light. About 20 more were all around me, and all they did was haul ham when the rifle went off.

I've walked by a feeder at night going back to the truck and have had lots of snorts and grunts as they made a hasty retreat. One of my paying hog hunters had one wounded one that we tracked--he walked right up to it and did it with my .22 Mag revolver behind the ear. Pig never offered to get up--but then one front leg was broken and had healed so that it wouldn't touch the ground, and the other had been shot off by the 8mm.

Oh, and all the rest of the guys on the lease in that period never had a problem with a hog.

A friend of mine got charged by a sow on a driven hunt. I don't know the exact details, but it was along the following lines...

Friend was on a stand in some tall vegetation, the sow was apparently wounded by another hunter and immediately came for my friend when she saw him. She threw him, and according to my friend he did not know what happened before he found himself sailing through the air. Back on the ground, the sow came for him again. My friend kicked the sow in the mouth - with which she was intending to bite him - and I remember him telling how fortunate he was to wear hiking boots on that day, as opposed to his regular wellies....

I can't remember exactly how the story ended, but somebody must have shot the damn pig, although whether it was my friend or another hunter? I vaguely seem to remember something about a dog getting involved and keeping the pig at bay?? In any event, my friend told me the story, so I guess he must have gotten out of his predicament somehow...

Pigs can do incredible damage in very little time. Treat with respect - in particular when wounded...

- mike

Late Bloomer if you dont mind i'll ask my boyfriend to post on this as he has ALOT of experience with this subject TOO DAMN MUCH if you ask me. But then again when it comes to hog hunting or anything hog for that matter he gets amped!!! He's been charged,run over, cut etc more times then I care to remember. Good to see another local boy on here goodluck with your hog huntin' Aloha!!!

Aloha to you as well Geoff havent seen or spoken to you in awhile. Take care and God Bless!!!

UltraMag, thanks for the info.....

AWESOME....

PM is on its way!!!

Mahalo Plenty!!!!

LB

I have hunted quite a few pigs, and only been charged once. My brother shot a hog last year with a muzzleloader. Shot placement was a bit off "perfect" and the hog ran into some pretty thick cedars, common bedding grounds for hogs on the property. We put a pair of dogs on the blood trail and they had the pig (a ~100 pound boar) cornerned in a wallow under a steep bank in short order. I waded in with my .45 to finish him off, as I have done several times. I was about 15-20 feet away from the hog when he decided to come out of there. He looked left and saw a dog, looked right and saw a dog, then looked right at me in the center and headed right for me. A hog can cover that distance in a heartbeat, let me tell you. By the time it all registered in my tiny primordial brain, and I managed to bring the .45 to bear, the hog (then dead from a 200 grain HP to the brain) slid into my legs and knocked me down. Had he been a bit closer, a bit faster, or me a bit slower, things might not have ended so well for me.

Is it common? I don't think so. I certainly don't go anywhere near a wounded hog without a pistol drawn and ready now though!

Aloha Late Bloomer,

My GF asked if I could post on this topic I guess because of all my experiences ive had.

But that would be a book if I wrote it all down. Anyways in my experience ive found they'll take flight 99% of the time DEPENDING on the situation. Again I aint no expert just a hunter like everyone else.

When I say DEPENDING on the situation I mean for e.g. Youre walking along a trail and bump into a hog ALMOST guarantee they'll run away although I have experienced quite a few unprovoked attacks but this is thru YEARS of dealing with them. Then enter this scenario the dogs and boar fall into a cave or other tight spot and he's doing serious damage to my dogs you can bet your last penny im in there with my dogs and this is where most of my injuries have come from. My dogs put their lives on the line for me and I promise them I'll do the same thats just how I grew up and learned how to hunt.

To summarize if there's any other way for the hog to run then thru you they will almost always do so. Its just that 1% of the NASTY bastards that dont really care and they will come regardless. Just treat them with respect and caution and you should be fine.

Sorry for the long post!

Aloha and Good Hunting!

Aloha Ultra Mag,

Good to see you posts. Have missed seeing your comments for quite a while. I probably don't have the battle scars like you do, only two "pukas" on the left shin from a bite of a small sow.

Geoff

I've shot numerous hogs over the years. Some were tracked from wallows right after first light in the hot summer. My thinking has always been that when it's hot they wallow just before they go bed down for the day. Most of the hogs I have shot using this method are shot at very, very close range. Many times the hogs are spooked and run the other direction or they rub all the mud off them and are never found at all. I always felt that if an unwounded hog was going to charge it would be when I was on my hands and knees crawling thought their bedding area. So far it's never happened. On more than one occasion I have crawled into a thicket and had hogs softly grunt at me and slowly move in my direction. I believe they were thinking I was another hog because normally they just run or grunt loud then run when spooked. This is a very exciting way to hunt hogs but it's not very productive and after running them out of their bedding area a few times they tend to move out of my hunting area.

The only time I have had a hog act like it was going to charge was one that had been shot and not doing very well. When my buddy and I walk up it was laying on its' side facing away. We were a couple of steps from it when it jumped up and turned around fast as a cat just in time to catch a 357 bullet in the neck breaking the spine. This hog would have hurt someone if given the chance.

I did have a sow one time run to me in a thicket while I was using a hog call. I can only imagine she actually thought I was another hog and was either wanting to say hi or wanting to run me out of her area. I had been hunting most of the morning and had seen very little sign and was hot so just before turning around I pulled out my hog call and grunted a couple of times. Immediately something got up and start walking. My first thought was that it was an armadillo. Then it grunted! This really excited me so I got my gun up and grunted again. At that the hog came crashing through the briars stait at my position. Talk about getting your blood pumping! Here I am in a green briar thicket with a dry creek bed and a 15 foot drop behind me, briars so thick I can only see twenty feet, no way to run or climb and a hog running full tilt in my direction because it thinks I'm another hog! I'm thinking it's a boar and it wants to fight or catch a new girlfriend. The only option I had was hold my ground and shoot. Believe me, when the hog came into view it wasn't in slow motion and as soon as I could line up my sights I fired. At the shot the blast from my rifle seemed to move the wall of briars directly in front of me. Immediately, I bolted another round, stood up and she was gone so fast I never saw her leave. As I was listening to the hog run through the briars my mind was telling me I missed because there is no way a hog could run after being shot at point blank range with a 300 grain bullet from a 375 H&H. When the hog ran out of hearing and I quit shaking I took what I believe to be five steps and found a grapevine the size of my arm I had shot through and within two more steps I found blood. After tracking for approximately 100 yrds I found the largest sow I have ever shot. The bullet must have been tumbling when it struck the hog because the entrance wound was size of my fist and never exited. Who says a 375 H&H is too big? most of the time it is but sometimes it's just right. I don't know what I said to that hog but it must have either been real good or real bad.

After all that, I will say it has been my experience that a hog will run away if it can most of the time. I will also say that if it can't run it will fight.

I have been on over 20 hog kills, and only one was a charge. It also happened to big the largest hog I have seen killed, field dressed with hide on it pegged out passed the 250 lb mark on the Hanson scale. The hog was hit in the back ham with a 243 as he was running away and he ran about 40-50 yds into a large patch of chemise. As we approached the brush pile we heard him coming out and two of us hit him with a combined additional four shots one from the 243 and the other three from my 257 Weatherby. The shot from the 243 was the kill shot in the neck and he died about five yards from us. I will never forget that animal or the noise he was making during the entire episode.

I think that most pigs that charge are either sows with little ones or possibly pigs that have been hunted with the use of dogs.

Paul C

Me once, a friend of mine once, both charges could be diverted by some fierceful shouting though. Mine was a sow with piglets, that turned away at about 10 yards. His was a lone semi-tame boar, who apparently didn't like being "stalked" for a good picture.

Frans

Ihave been charged a lot of times by cornered hogs ,i hunt mostly with my dogos and knife.Juan

Aloha Geoff yeah for some reason I couldnt get on the site really dont know what was up. Changed some stuff and seems to work ok for now. Well its my BF with all the scars LOL!!!I tell you he's nuts when it comes to hunting pigs. Take care and God Bless!
Yeah those sows can be worse than boars so ive heard = ).

Aloha!!!

quote:

Originally posted by UltraMag:
Aloha Geoff yeah for some reason I couldnt get on the site really dont know what was up. Changed some stuff and seems to work ok for now. Well its my BF with all the scars LOL!!!I tell you he's nuts when it comes to hunting pigs. Take care and God Bless!
Yeah those sows can be worse than boars so ive heard = ).

Aloha!!!

Same is true with the female of several species. The black widow is one that comes to mind, along with cow elephant

The best way to keep a hog from charging is, to take away it's credit card.

Gidday Jarrod,

I see you have come across my ex wife.

I'm not talking about the spider coz I'm still alive, just a fat cantancerous cow.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

I've had 2 charge me. Pigs charging on sight is an old wives tale. By the way, the PC term now for old wives is now "aging spousal units".
I had one about 20 years ago that had been shot several times, & had broken off a tusk; the red nerve was dangling out of the stump. He had been run by dogs for an hour or so (before he lost them) and when I came on him, he was in a foul mood. Who wouldn't be ). He was burrowed in a palmetto patch and came at me when I started in on my hands & knees. A 44 mag stopped him between the eyes @ very close range. When I skinned him he had several 22 bullets imbedded under the hide & a load of 00 buck in the side armor.
Another one, a couple years ago, I had shot with a crossbow and it looked like a good hit so I just followed him into the swamp expecting to find him dead 50 yards in. I didn't even reload the bow. Well, the thing charged from the side while I was following the blood trail. I tried to side step but he lashed upward as he went by and sliced the leg of my new camo pants (. He ran 10 yards out & turned, clicking his tusks & whetters and was obviously about to charge again. I reached down & cocked the bow by hand & loaded it. This time as he came by, I stepped sideways and put one through his heart at @ 2 feet. At the first charge I was more amused than anything, as he wasn't real big (@ 125#). I've always had to use a cocking device on that 200# bow, but I found, under the right circumstances, it's no problem at all, to cock it by hand I went back & followed the trail again & he had gone up and stopped; obviously aware of me following him. He then circled back on his trail and waited by a tree where he rushed out. It was very obvious from reading the sign: trail & blood pools, that it was a calculated, premeditated attack that I've never seen in a hog & I've killed hundreds in 50 yrs of hunting them in FL.
I later recounted the story to the ranger and he said they had a similar incident the year before when a hunter was severely gored having his femoral artery cut through. They medivac'd him out to the hospital and saved him, but it was very close. A hunting partner happened to be a paramedic who applied a tourniquet that kept him from bleeding to death.
Hogs will nearly always flee, but never trust them to do that

Hunting with dogs I've had more charges than I can remember. Only one hit me. Got a gash in my left calf that took 5 big stitches and a drain tube for 7 days.

This is a good thread. I haven't been charged -- yet -- but a few of my hunting buddies have.

Brayhaven, where do you hunt in Florida? I've hunted hogs quite extensively in central Florida.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
This is a good thread. I haven't been charged -- yet -- but a few of my hunting buddies have.

Brayhaven, where do you hunt in Florida? I've hunted hogs quite extensively in central Florida.

I grew up in central FL (Lake Wales) & hunted a lot there & Kissimmee River area & north FL. I hunt several public lands in N. FL and on my lease near Live Oak these days.

About a month ago I hunted my old haunt near Lake Okechobee (Palmdale) where my brother-in-law and I took six hogs. Good times -- lots of hogs! I've never hunted in the north part of the state.

The largest pig I ever shot charged me, but not until I had shot him twice with a 30-06 180 grn winchester supreme big game bullet. Both well placed shots. He was pissed when I went in the woods looking for him and shot him at my feet with the third and final round between the eyes. On cleaning the pig, his cartlige plate was so thick, both rounds barelly penetrated the lung, I would not of believed it if I had not seen it. Really unnerved me. He was not a 1000lb pig that we hear claims on here but was in the 300 lb class and running at me he looked really big. I am a terrible judge of weigth on a pig, I always think they are bigger than they are, ground shrinkage possibly but this pig looked like a black angus bull. He filled up the bed of my full sized truck. Cleaning it he straightened the hooks on the single tree and we had to use a block and pully using metal fense posts to clean it. Yep,, and he tasted like a mean old tough bore as well. I had a friend charged by a sow after he shot one of her piglets with his bow, we were spot and stalking the group and she was most unhappy and unpleasant about it and being sent up a tree,,, she elluded us but we did get the offspring on the grill. My second biggest pig also tried to turn the tables, I shot it in the neck with a 270 win. , I thought mortally wounded and when I went to finish the job I pulled out my Walther P-22 auto and put half a clip behind its ear, it tried to get up and I then emptied the clip, still unphased I reloaded and at point blank range to the head, emptied my last clip with the end result the boar got up and tried to take my leg off and another 270 round to the head finished the job... I know the phrase,, use enough gun,, my 45 glock goes with me now. I have had many pigs bust by me spooked but were just trying to run away, not make me supper but when they are coming at you,, who knows? It's certainly a rush.

quote:

Originally posted by drwes:
On cleaning the pig, his cartlige plate was so thick, both rounds barelly penetrated the lung, I would not of believed it if I had not seen it.

That's kind of the way I feel about it too
I shot a 70 pounder last year with a 2 inch beretta 22 (mod 21) while scouting for archery season. behind the ear @ 10 yds He went @ 18 inchs: down. As a kid, all I used was a Colt woodsman & probably killed 50-75 of all sizes with no problems.
I've shot quite a few through the plates, including the big ones, with guns like 44 mag, 30 carbine, 25/35, 222 and quite a few others. never had a shot that didn't go all the way through into the vitals. Most went through the opposite plate as well. You need to put some powder in those "aught six" loads

quote:

You need to put some powder in those "aught six" loads

Greg

I do now, I put it in a 300 ultra mag cartridge for the big beasts! Yep I agree now, use enough gun!

I have been charged twice that I can remember. The first was a sow with piglets I ran across a little after dark. The second was a BIG boar I had trapped and tried to trailer. He wouldn't get in the trailer, so I gave him a little touch with a hot shot. He ran to the front of the trailer, turned, and ran and jumped out back over the top of my trap. He was a little unhappy about the whole hot shotting thing.

Since then, my trailer has always had a piece of plywood in place to prevent that.

But that is the only time I can think of, and I have crossed paths with hundreds of hogs since then without incident. Most of the ones I shoot just drop. And the ones I run across without a gun usually turn and run like crazy.

I have really only been charged once. 11 years ago (when I was 8 years old), I was bowhunting with my dad in South Texas near Sabinal. My dad shot a boar that was about 175-200 lbs. It was a good double lung shot. When we began walking back to the 4-wheeler, I heard something and told my dad to stop. What I heard was the boar, he was grunting and raising hell and he was getting closer. My dad told me to "RUN!!!" (the other way of course) and I ran like I've never run before. The boar had been bedded down next to the road and when we came by, he charged. Luckily his lungs were full of blood and he didn't make it to my dad. He died less than 10 yards away. This was a "bowhunting only" ranch and we were not allowed to carry side-arms. My dad had pulled an arrow out of his quiver and I guess he was planning on stabbing the boar with it I'm not really sure how well that would have turned out.

I have a friend who has hog dogs and I have hunted pigs like that several times with my pistol. You get charged all the time when you're dealing with the pigs and dogs, but the dogs usually keep you out of trouble.

A friend was charged by wounded boar. Hi pulled 9 mm semi auto and emptied whole clip (10) before animal collapsed. He admitted that actually near by rock saved him from being wounded. I suggested him to get at least 357 or 10 mm…

Onty, I alsways carry a handgun when I go hog hunting. Though, I've never been charged, the pistol is better than a rifle for close-in work, and I've put some finishing shots into a few with it.......

don't think you can go wrong with big bores for big boars!
GWB

Geedubya -- I used my squirrel rifle (.338 win mag) last time out a couple of months ago!

Here's a video that shows a hog taking on a group of 3 hunters--and in my opinion it's a good example of bad, unsafe gun handling.

dust how did they manage to not shot that guy that is un believable

Crusher--the first time I saw the video I didn't expect the downhill guy to get up--thought he had taken a hit. I've used the video several times as a bad example of poor thought and planning. Doesn't look like they put a lot of thought into "What if?" but then as a retired military guy, I know the best plan goes out the window when the first shot is fired--or the charge commences.

dustoffer,

a video is worth a million words...

wow...wow...wow...

thank you for sharing, i've asked this question awhile back to see how much RESPECT i should give these awesome animals...

countless stories and an awesome video you shared just shows me that they demand not only all my respect but also my undivided attention in every situation that i might encounter them...

thak you very much...

Late bloomer--yes, they may charge, but in 6 years of hunting a South Texas ranch that was thick with hogs--about one per 10 acres, and having shot probably 30-40 of them, I never "took a charge". However, all the pigs I shot were "bang, flop, dead right there" from neck/head shots. I did go into the brush after a big boar that had been double-lung shot with a .300 Win Mag and about an hour after he had taken the hit, when I walked up on him, he was laying on his side, still very much alive but sick. One partner tried to put a .357 in his ear, and did, but only the ear flap. Hog got up and things got exciting but the sick pig wobbled away about 50' and fell over. Dog was in the way so I couldn't intervene with the shotgun (later determined it was loaded with 7 1/2 shot ) Other partner (better shot) put a .357 in his ear and that was it.

I also spent many nights walking the ranch roads with a red light stalking them--walked up as close as 10' many times and when detected, it was always a grunt and a run. However, I never tangled with a sow with a litter either. So, guess they do charge, but I have never been on the receiving end, but have much respect for them and their tusks, as you can see in this photo (that's a Rem 7 Mag cartridge):

I've guided for pigs for a living for over 19 years. In that time we've taken around 1,500 pigs. Before I started guiding I took about 100 for my own use and to give to friends and community members.

In that time I've been charged about 6 times. Not pigs running my direction to get away... but full blown charges. Each time it was a wounded boar (male) of about 200 pounds or larger and usually in tight cover.

I've had a couple false charges (where the pig backed down) by sows when I accidently got too close to piglets. But I've never seen a full charge from:
1. an unwounded pig
2. female pig
3. or boar smaller than around 200 pounds.

We hunt spot and stalk and usually the stalk starts in pretty open country (if things go wrong it ends up in the thickest stuff you can imagine... much thicker than I've ever seen in Africa). I would think the dog hunters get charges more often than we do.

The only really bad sitation a client has had was with a gut shot boar just under 200 pounds. That client needed a few stiches but was okay and handled it pretty well. He'll sight in his gun next time...

The only really bad one I ever had was ironically the largest pig we'd ever taken and I was really lucky not to get hurt. It scared me bad enough that the incident changed the way I follow wounded boars.

It cracks me up when my clients tell me they will be okay in a tight situation because they have a "pistol in the bottom on their pack". They just don't understand how quickly stuff can go wrong when following a wounded one. Twice I've had a .44 in my hand and had boars come at me so fast in tight cover that there physically wasn't enough time to even aim the pistol in their direction before they closed the gap to you. They don't play to lose and they don't come at you unless they think they can win.

By looking at my statistics above you can see that a true charge is quite rare and very few thinking and careful hunters will ever see one but DON'T under estimate the larger wounded boars.

Kyler

KH,

+1 on your post.

I've been shooting and killing hogs for probably 43 of my 56 years. Some years I kill upwards of 40 hogs myself. Your experiences mirror mine. I got seriously charged for the first time this last weekend and it was my fault. I invited some friends to my lease to kill hogs. A 12 year old shot a hog we later weighed at 270 lbs with 243. He made a good shot but the hog ran off. We waited about 30 minutes before we started tracking him. I carry a handgun at all times when I'm in the field and I know my buds think I'm nuts. It came in handy this time. I took the kid with me to show him how to track, following the blood and hoofprints in the rain softened ground. I got careless as I did not have my pistol in my hand while tracking. We had tracked the boar about 70 yards in dense juniper. I was looking down at the ground following blood when he charged from about six feet. The hog grunted/snorted,and charged. The kid screamed. I snapped to what was happeneing and pushed the kid out of the way. The dam boar ran right between my legs, brushing me and knocking me over. I usually carry my pistol in a belt slide holster for easy access, but for some reason I had it in a fanny pack that day (that won't ever happen again). Lucky for me, the boar did not turn around and rip me a new one. I did a shoulder roll in the mud and came up with my pistol, but the boar had run off. If he had turned and been on me I'd have been done for. All this probably took about 5 or six seconds. the kid did not want to keep tracking the boar after this but I said I was. I continued following blood for another 20 yds or so until I came on him laying next to a fallen tree. I yelled to the boy, "here he is". No sooner had I done this than the boar got up and charged from a distance of 10 to 15 feet. However this time I had my pistol out and ready. I have a glock 36 in 45 acp. It has become my choice for daily carry. Probably not the ideal pistol for hog hunting but it is light and fast and its hard to argue about the effectiveness of big heavy slow bullets on the street. I shot this boar six times in 10 feet and was still trying to pull the trigger on an empty mag when he dropped. He dropped 2 feet in front of me. Talk about a rush. By the way, I'm ordering a glock 20 in 10 mm. It has a 15 round capacity. No more mister nice guy.

GWB