Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Finally!!! I've wanted to shoot this hog since I saw trail-cam pics of him a month ago. He was a very smart hog and would only come out after dark even when all the other hogs were coming out during daylight. I asked for some advice on getting him to come out during the day and Dave (cayugad) said that I should sling less corn and set the feeder to come one earlier in the day. That's what I did and it worked. THANKS DAVE! I checked the trail-cam yesterday morning and saw that for the last three days he had been coming out around 5PM. Being that there are crows and coons feeding on this corn also, I guess he figured he needed to come early or there wouldn't be any left.

So I went and sighted in my Endeavor. I was initially going to use the 350g Hornaday FPB's but they were giving me fits and I just couldn't get acceptable accuracy with them out of my rifle. I'm not exactly sure why... So I shot a nice group with the Shockwaves and went back home for some lunch and a shower before my afternoon hunt.

I came back and made my way to my ground blind. It had to have been 110 degrees in my blind and boy was I sweating bullets. I probably lost 10 pounds just sitting there. But I had a good wind and anything coming in front of me wouldn't be able to detect my scent. Which is a good thing because I'm sure I was pretty ripe when I came out. Shortly after I got in my blind, Mr. Boar Hog came out of the brush on the left side. I was aimed in on him but hadn't cocked the hammer yet when something spooked him. He took off and didn't return for about an hour and a half. He was going to make me sweat it out.. HAHA! When he returned I quickly sighted in, cocked the hammer, and as soon as he turned broadside I squeezed the trigger. BANG!!! and he takes off like he wasn't even hit. I was a little baffled because I knew I had made a good shot. So I gave him a little time, reloaded my rifle, drank a bottle of water, got a pinch of Copenhagen, and exited the blind.

I made my way up to where he was standing when I fired and initially didn't see any blood. Then I found some with some meat chunks in it. So I followed the blood trail back to where the brush got thick and where he had taken a hog tunnel into it. I knew how dangerous it would be to go after a wounded animal through such a small space on my hands and knees. So I waited a few minutes and listened for anything that sounded like a wounded hog. I didn't hear anything, so I began to crawl on my hands and knees following the bloods trail. I followed it about 70 yards into the brush when I saw him laying, facing toward me. I threw a stick at him and there was no response so I made my way over to him, gave him a few pokes with my rifle and declared him dead. This is the point where I screamed and felt the emotion rush over me. I WAS VERY HAPPY! He was even bigger than I thought. And now I had to drag his big butt 70 yards back through what I just crawled through. I started out trying to drag him one handed, holding the rifle with the other. That wasn't working so I had to crawl out, leave the Endeavor, crawl back in and haul him out. Once I got him out I was able to examine him and I saw that I had made an awesome shot.

Here's the first trail-cam pic I ever got of this hog...


Here he is right after I drug him out of the woods...


Some pics of his tusks...




I took these pictures myself so don't tease me too much... At least I smiled... :D




So I strapped him down and hauled him to the clubhouse for skinning...


Now I'll get to the damage the bullet did.... Here's a shot of the entry wound...


And the exit wound...


Entry wound with the skin removed...


And exit...


Entry wound from inside the rib cage...


And exit...


This shot was made from 76 yards (verified by Nikon range finder). I was using my TC Encore Endeavor firing from shooting sticks I made out of two saplings and some tie-wraps. The load I was using was a 250g TC Shockwave over 120 volumetric grains of BH209 and a Federal 209A primer. I don't have any complaints about the Shockwave. From the damage to the hog I would say it did it's job and I certainly had a great blood trail! This hog was just one tough SOB. Examining the insides I found that both lungs had been taken out and there was a large cut on the heart. And he ran 70 yards like that!!! I love hogs!

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Congrats on the nice boar. That bullet did a really good job.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Nice Hog.......I wonder what the Lehigh would have done to him?........LOL..........

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Congratulations on a nice hog and good shooting as well as good eating. Shockwaves are the main bullet I hunt with in my Triumph. Out of about 15 deer shot with 250 gr shockwaves I only have had to look for one and it didn't go but 90 yards. The rest went either boom flop or less than 20 yards, The way some people talk about shockwaves I thought I must always just be lucky with them:D. Your shot shows otherwise.
again congratulations

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Great report, great pics. Congrats!!

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

SWThomas

Congrats!!! I am glad it all worked out for you - wish we had something we could hunt at this point.. but gotta wait until October...

It is always good to read about people that can hunt and then have success on top of that that...

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Im jealous! And determined. Nice Hog, nice shot, nice ML.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Thanks fellas! Yeah, I'm a believer in Shockwaves now. I'm not saying I'm going to ditch the Barnes' and go with them, but I wouldn't hesitate to take game in the future with them. I'm really stoked about this hog. I've killed a lot of hogs but I've never had one elude me this long. He made me work for it.:D

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

thanks again for a complete report ..congradulation on your hunt ..could it be that the Shockwaves perform better when the weather is warm ,because when we hunted deer in november [temp 0 -5 ] the Shockwaves did not do well at all ..that is why i switched over to BARNES EXPANDER MZ ...

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Nice report SWThomas! You're a bigger man than I am, there's no way I'd set in a blind in 110 degree heat... It paid off for you though.

That Shockwave did the job. Can't complain about that performance.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Awesome hog! Great post too- that's great that it all came together for you. Although I have to agree with TNHagies- the only time that I'm going to sit in a cramped space when it is 110 degrees is when I'm in a sauna;). Nice shooting too

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

I do like the Barnes' better but I can't honestly say whether or not they would have had any different affect on the hog. I can't see the weather having anything to do with the performance of the bullet though.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

It was definitely a test. A couple of time the though crossed my mind to just say screw it and leave. But I've been hotter than that before and I'm always properly hydrated. It was pretty uncomfortable though.:D

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Yes sir! Seriously, I actually thought to myself while I was in there that it felt like a sauna. I was literally soaking wet with sweat.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Where did you do this hog hunting? I live below Charlotte NC in a little town called Pineville. I have always wanted to go after some hogs. The only place I have ever seen them running wild in big numbers was down near Darien Georgia. I have a feeling from what I have read in some of your post lately that you are at Parris Island since I saw you were going to Okinawa soon. Were you hunting coastal hogs in that area? When I was there a few years ago I was amazed at the amount of rattlesnakes in that area. We were there at the request of a farmer that wanted us to get the hogs out of his cornfields. We actually caught about 10 hogs using dogs to hold them. Strangest type hunting I've ever done.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Great report SW. Great pics too. Sounds like your pataince paid off. Good hunting & good shooting. Im jealous. Octobers a long ways away

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

S,,,,,,,,

I like the hog, I like you're determination, and I like your report.
I have killed at least twenty deer with the Shockwave and it sits next to the Barnes when I hunt.
Never lost a deer yet...I don't care what you hit a deer with, they seem to have the adrenaline and grit to do a death run up to a hundred yards or better before going down. They may not bleed much outside, but inside,,, they pump out. You hit em right....they go down.

Again...nice hog...jealous

Spit

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

An excellant report, congratulations on a good boar. Lee

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

congrats on the nice hog

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Yeah, I'm currently stationed at Parris Island. I'm a member of a hunting club that has 2200 acres over in Okatie. It's only like 30 minutes from my house. There are hogs all over that place.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

That's the cool thing about living here. We can start knocking the deer over on August 15th! :D

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Congrats on the hog. Excellent report and story. I may have missed this, but were you using the bonded or non-bonded shockwave? I wonder if some of the people out there who say they do not achieve expansion on the Shockwave are using bonded Shockwaves. I think the non-bonded bullets are designed for the deer skinned game and alike, while the bonded are for a little heavier. Just a theory, but I was curious to see what you were using. Again, congrats!

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

It was the regular Shockwave with the supplied sabot.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Wow, your not kidding!! Great story and congrats on the hunt!

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

ATTABOY!! SW. Nice hog. good eatin too!
woodtick

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Very nice porker you got there SW. Many hearty congrats. We have a few hogs on our place, but they seem to be much smarter than me.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

What a great hog. And might I say an excellent report of how the bullet did. That really enforces my belief that a good bullet and good shot placement will always get the job done.

From what I read about them hogs, the reason it turned and faced the tunnel pathyou crawled through to find it, was that was the plann of attack for it. It took a lot of fortitude and courage to low crawl down that tunnel of bushes. I bet your heart was pumping over time and every nerve in your body was turned on. It also took a lot of guts to sit it out in that sauna.

Congratulations.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

I had a feeling thats where you were hunting. Coastal SC and Georgia have great opportunities for hunting. Only bad things is the heat and mosquitoes from hell live there. I used to hunt near Sumter and the early season was a test of nerves between me and the skeeters. Great shot on the hog. I'm glad you got the rascal before you had to leave.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Thanks Dave! Yeah, it was pretty intense crawling through that brush tunnel, but by the amount of blood he dropped and the amount of time I gave him, I was farely positive he had expired. I have a healthy respect for hogs being that I grew up hunting them with dogs and a pocket knife. I've seen a few of my friends get cut really bad and more than a few dogs torn to shreds.

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Yup, the skeeters are already horrible and they're gigantic! I'll definitely be keeping my Therma-Cell close during the opening of deer season. :)

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

Quote
I'll definitely be keeping my Therma-Cell close during the opening of deer season. :)
Sounds like you like your Therma-cell as well as I like mine. do you think they ever spook animals that would not have spooked other wise? Lee

RE: Boar Hog Down with a 250g Shockwave **PICS**
 

You know, I have often thought about that... They say the Therma-Cell is odorless, but I can sure as hell smell it. And if I can smell it I know the animals can. But I have had some encounters with animals since I started using the T-Cell and I haven't noticed any spookiness in them. I guess it's better than spraying down with Deep Woods Off.