Making the Right Shot

The first time I encountered a wild boar we got a shock. My In-Laws owned a commercial hog farm in Eastern Oklahoma that includes a 600 sow unit. This wild boar showed up in the middle of the day and he could smell romance in the air.

As deer season was near, my father-in-law had brought his 7mm Remington Magnum to the barns, cleaning it and getting ready for the coming hunt. As the boar made his way around the sow unit he would stand on his hind legs trying to reach the curtains and the wire to make entry into the unit. My father-in-law grabbed the 7mm and headed around the barn, myself close on his heels. At less than 20 yards he placed a 165 grain 7mm Mag about 6 inches behind the front leg and mid-body of the big boar. Dust and blood flew and the big hog went down and then right back up, running like a small locomotive for the woods.

We watched in awe as the animal disappeared, not understanding why the hog was still moving instead of kicking in the dust. My father-in-law had made a perfect shot IF the hog had been a deer.

Michael Vansant and David Dell are not just people I work with at WildHogHunters.com -- they are personal friends. They have muzzleloader hunted for whitetail deer on my ranch in Oklahoma for several years and they both took their first mature bucks from my property. When I told them my story at deer camp they told me he missed the vitals of the hog.

Mike said, "A hog ain't built like a deer. A deer's vitals extend well past the area behind his leg while a hog's is mostly located above the leg and behind the shoulder. Its kind of all stacked in there together." He moved around in his chair to avoid some of the smoke from our fire pit. The smoke had been taking turns drifting into his face and then into mine.

I was listening intently. I had killed several hogs, but I had lost a few too including one I had shot the same way my father-in-law had. I had shot a big sow with my .44 Magnum pistol at 30 yards, knocking it to its knees, but no pork made it to the table.

Continuing Mike said, "Putting the bullet or arrow in a hog you have to think about getting it between its shoulders. If the animal is quartering away from you, hold to where you think you need to shoot for the bullet to come out just in front of the opposite shoulder. If he is quartering toward you, hit him in front of the shoulder facing you to where it comes out just behind the opposite shoulder. His vitals are in a smaller area, but a hog tends to go down fast when you hit them right."

David Dell added, "And if you are close enough, his spine is pretty much even with his ear hole. You hit him right behind that ear and he stiffens up like a board!"

I had been taking all this in. "So if he is broadside I want to shoot him low through the shoulders?"

"Absolutely," confirmed Mike and he added, "A head shot on a hog is tough, but the neck is pretty easy when you are close." He grinned. "I always prefer close." (I have personally seen Mike and David stalk within 15 yards of feeding hogs and shooting them before the animals knew there was a human around.)

Since that night talking about hog hunting, nursing a beer and enjoying company of good friends after a deer hunt, I have applied that theory to my hog hunting and I can honestly say that my success ratio has definitely improved. I have taken deer and turkey with a bow. I haven't gotten a shot at a hog with one yet, but I will and when I do, with what I have learned from my two friends at wildhoghunters.com, I am sure I will make the right shot.