Hog Survives Behind The Ear Shot

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alsaqr

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The other evening i sat in a blind with a novice hog hunter. A 175 pound boar showed up about 30 yards away and presented a broadside shot. The hunter fired his .270 Winchester. Hog went down, lay still for about 30 seconds, then started crawling away. The hunter fired again and the hog died.

The boar would have gotten up and ran off. i've seen this happen too many times.
 
Feral swine are the cockroaches of the mammal family. It is always surprising what it takes to kill one, then, other times they will heatstroke and fall rt over.
 
So, what was the issue?

Bullet expanded well, huge exit wound. Hog was shot in the wrong place. Had the shot been a couple inches lower the hog would have DRT with a spinal shot. It don't matter what the caliber is. Shoot a hog high behind the ear and they often go down like poleaxed, recover and run away.

Someone here recently killed a hog with a healed wound that had survived such a shot.


https://outdoorwarrior.com/wild-hog-hunting-tips-shoot/
 
It don't matter what the caliber is. Shoot a hog high behind the ear and they often go down like poleaxed, recover and run away.

Yes, same thing with too high a shoulder shot. You will hit the dorsal spines of the vertebrae..which will knock the hog out for a short period...only to have them jump up and run off when they recover from it. This leads to tales of hogs being harder to kill than they actually are...because of errant shot placement.
 

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This Einstein clipped one high and was off the gun having a chat about it.
Guess its the way the cool kids do things these days.
Ridiculous
 
The first hog I ever killed was a nasty big boar - he had both a .223 bullet and a broadhead stuck in his shield that he'd shrugged off sometime before my 270 did him in.

Yep, there is a lot of meat over the spine above the neck that a bullet can pass thru without hitting vitals.
 
I don't like behind the ear shots unless the hog is quartered away and behind the ear is the entry point for heading into the back of the skull. I have made them. I have lost hogs as a result, because as noted, there is nothing vital behind the ear. The ear marks the rearward most extension of the skull.

I have killed two hogs that had mostly healed "behind the ear shots." The first was this 185 lb boar in 2014. This is the exit side. There is damage to the ear as well. There was a small scar on the entry side.
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The second was this smaller boar in 2018 with a healing, oozy wound that my hunting partner actually sniffed and said it smelled terrible (infection?). Don't be like my hunting partner! In this case, you can still see the open cavity from the previous shot. The interior surfaces were largely scarred over, but not completely, and had a wet appearance. My shot's exit wound on this hog was about 3" below and slightly left.
2nd Boar (8).jpg

And here is one of my behind the ear failures. I wasn't trying for this shot, but that is where the bullet impacted and as a result, my hog managed to get away...
 

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Pigs can take an unreal amount of punishment if you don’t punch them through the brain or spine. We shot a 150 lb sow one night with a 50 BMG. The shot was a little too far back and she was gut shot. She ran several hundred yards dragging every inch of her intestines behind her until she was finally stopped when her intestines became wrapped up in the brush and she couldn’t get loose. I’ve also seen several of our clients shoot pigs in the head with various rounds and if those shots are not IN THE EAR, those pigs will fall, lay still a bit, and then get up and run off. You’ve got to punch them in the brain or spine if you want to anchor them.
 
Nothing survives a heart shot ever. There are people and critters walking around with severe brain injuries CNS shots are pretty much bs.for hunting.
True, but I've had hogs that were shot through the heart run over 300 yards before they dropped. There's still enough oxygen in the brain to last for 15-20 seconds and they can boogie quite a distance in that time.
A good shot to the neck or spine and they won't travel very far, if at all.
 
True, but I've had hogs that were shot through the heart run over 300 yards before they dropped. There's still enough oxygen in the brain to last for 15-20 seconds and they can boogie quite a distance in that time.
A good shot to the neck or spine and they won't travel very far, if at all.

Indeed. Began shooting deer in the neck. Prefer the 1st 3rd of the neck by the body as it doesn’t move much. Anywhere else and a quick movement can change everything. Often picks them up and throws them down with one doing a cartwheel, but that was a special circumstance as I was spotted and she was about to stomp on my last evening for a hunt so it was frontal, which I don’t otherwise do. None do anything after that (using a .270 and 130 grn bullets and within 100 yds).
 
People miss high on hogs all the time.....because that is exactly where they were aiming. People who are used to deer hunting don't understand you have to aim low and right on the shoulder to the vital organs.

As to head shots, the ear hole is the spot you more or less need to hit. If you use a centerfire rifle then there is some margin of error there is none with a rimfire like I use. I get within 50 yds and wait for the earhole shot and as another poster said it is better if they are slightly quartering away so you can get part of the brain if you hit where you aim. After my first shot, the hog is usually down but I am legging it to them to put two more head shot on them as quickly as I can.

I have never lost a hog when shooting it with a .22 mag to the head or 12 gauge slug anywhere from the vitals forward...yet.
 
Also proper ammunition is important. High velocity expanding bullets appropriate for the quarry insure massive destruction of tissue and loss of blood and function. Rimfires and slugs kill but I don't recommend them, I prefer a sudden and sure death. But I don't dictate to others what they want to do.
 
I don’t recommend rimfires either. A few places I hunt, they are the only type of weapon allowed.

I don’t care how big the swine is, a shotgun slug will deliver a sudden and sure death as well as anything inside 75 whether it is a headshot or shoulder shot. I use Winchester Partition Golds so that is a pretty good slug round. I don’t know how Fosters perform as I have never used them.
 
Nothing survives a heart shot ever. There are people and critters walking around with severe brain injuries CNS shots are pretty much bs.for hunting.

I have to admit, I found your post interesting. CNS shots are my preferred shot when I conditions are right to make them. Probably 20-25% of my shots are CNS shots. They seem to work pretty good and no tracking is involved. I included pics on the first few and then gave up because doing the file searches were taking too much time, but this little vid is a sample from the first few months of 2018 and from the first 32 days of 2019
 
If it works for you more power to you. Clearly it doesn't work for everyone. Shot placement is so critical you must use a high level of skill and knowledge. I also realize that we don't always have a choice of weapons. I have been forced to use slugs and make them work myself. I also prefer sabot slugs. They do a lot better than fosters in my experience I admire your success.
 
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I have to admit, I found your post interesting. CNS shots are my preferred shot when I conditions are right to make them. Probably 20-25% of my shots are CNS shots. They seem to work pretty good and no tracking is involved. I included pics on the first few and then gave up because doing the file searches were taking too much time, but this little vid is a sample from the first few months of 2018 and from the first 32 days of 2019


A lot of bacon in ‘18! Nice shooting!
 
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