close calls

I see a lot of handgun hunters go after boar.

I have taken one in my lifetime on a preserve in Ohio.

I can't honestly say for sure that I was being threatened, but had a bunch charge past/through us and had to jump behind a tree to escape.

Have any of you experienced positively a wild boar aggressive assault?

Rmocarsky

The one time I thought there could be a problem was while walking a dirt road alone when a half dozen little piggies came running out of the brush and when I looked up there were five sows, of different size, in a half circle watching me. Figured it was easier to walk off the road bypass them... You know how mommas can be about their kids...

I?ve been hunting pigs for about 30 years. I cull crop raiders as a past time and favor for ranchers and farmers.

Took over 20 of them last weekend for a rancher friend.

I?ve taken them with everything from handguns and rifles to knives and tire irons. I?ve never found them to be the ominous beast so oft depicted. No more than any other wounded, pressured, or cornered animal could be expected to respond.

In the above situations, they will likely react in a defensive manner as would a rat or a dog.

I?ve had a wounded shoat try to remove my kneecaps and a wounded boar try and munch my nuts.

The big ones obviously have more mass to throw around and tusks to injure any would be hunter.

But, I?ve had the same size shoats and large boar scatter and run given any chance. Even stepped on a big boar unexpectedly in a thick draw. Falling to my back as he launched out from underneath me, I figured I was in for the fight of my life. Only to watch him beat feet down the draw. Given an option of fight or flight, they will usually choose flight.

But, injure or corner one, and you might want to have a plan. I?d say the same thing about a raccoon, though.

ZEE: YOU JUST SAID IT FOR ME, MY THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES EXACTLY.

Agree with Zee and 45man. I grew up in south Texas and have been chasing hogs my whole life. The lore is fun to read about but it's just that. Overblown for the most part.

The only time I've ever been charged was actually by a group of javelinas which aren't in the swine family although most people refer to them as 'javelina hogs'. And I'm convinced the pack of 10 or so didn't know they were charging me, just fleeing after I spooked them.

Like any animal, if pressured, wounded, or threatened, they deserve respect.

I was hunting a small preserve in Pa. [actually a bow hunt for Fallow deer] After cresting a small ridge I decided to sit on a log in a small blowdown to take a break. To my surprise at approx. 15 yards Russian hogs appeared walking towards me. The wind was in my favor and the all totaled 24 hogs passed within 8 yards. That got the blood pumping. I was not attacked that time but, was treed twice before because of wounded hogs at the same hunting preserve.

Same here.....

Here is one probably just shy of 300 pounds from last weekend. Being as he was a non-eater............that?s a 4 pound bottle of Tannerite tucked up against his chest.



You can imagine what came next.

:evilgrin:

https://youtu.be/B1oYecCbJTg

That?s his head flying off to the right.



The only other solid part found was his pelvis and back leg.



Everything else looked like this scattered about.



And the resulting crater.

The eaters were all about this size.



Anything bigger and it was carried to the trash pit.

I HAVE ONLY SEEN 1 PIG ACT AGGRESSIVLEY, AND THEN IT ALMOST KILLED AND/OR SERIOUSLY INJURED A YOUNG BOY. I WAS WHITEWING HUNTING IN MEXICO WITH MY WINCHESTER MODEL 42. THERE WAS A BUNCH OF HUNTERS SO A LOT OF SHOOTING AND HOLLERING WAS GOING ON. I HAD MY 6 YEAR OLD SON JOHN MATTHEW AND A 12 YEAR OLD BIRDBOY FROM THE LOCAL VILLAGE WITH ME WHEN SUDDENLY A LARGE SOW, WITH HAIR BRISTLING ON HER BACK, CAME UP OUT OF A WOODED RAVINE, AND ATTACKED THE BIRD BOY, KNOCKING HIM TO THE GROUND AND TRYING TO DO WHATEVER IT IS PIGS DO. THE BIRD BOY WAS YELLING AND TRYING TO PROTECT HIMSELF AND WAS UNDER THE FRONT PART OF THE PIG. SINCE I ONLY HAD A SHOTGUN I GOT UP VERY CLOSE AND AIMED FOR THE GUT AND SHOT. AT THAT RANGE IT WAS ALMOST LIKE SHOOTING HER WITH A SLUG. AT THE SHOT SHE WENT BACK AND I SHOT AGAIN AND FINISHED HER OFF. IT TAKES LONGER TO TELL THIS STORY THAN THE TIME IT TOOK TO HAPPEN. THE BIRD BOY HAD A CUT ON HIS CHEEK AND WAS SCARED S...LESS BUT LUCKILY OK. THE SOW BELONGED TO HIS GRANDFATHER AND HAD A LITTER OF PIGS DOWN IN THE RAVINE. OBVIOUSLY SHE HAD NO FEAR OF MAN, WON'T SAY SHE WAS FERAL, BUT SHE WAS A HOG. I THANK GOD SHE DID NOT GO FOR MY SON, WHO WAS A LOT YOUNGER AND SMALLER.

ANY ANIMAL CAN BE DANGEROUS.

so called raised pigs in particular sows with piglets can be a real problem -- a good farmer friend went into his pig field just checking on several sows with piglets-- as he turned to close the gate, a sow run to him and tossed him in the air as he came down his head hit the fence and partially scalped him. when he came to at first he couldn't understand why his head was jerking around
another large sow was chewing his scalp and more coming as they smelled the blood when he sat up they backed up and when he stood they moved away.. Herman spent a while in the ER
he had a number of pig stories the lesson is if the raised can behave badly-- the wild ones certainly can

the two above posts have shown me that sows with piglets can be a problem....rare... but a problem none the less....the one by glynn41 is a real "hair raiser".......

I respect sows without a doubt. My great uncle was a pig farmer and had many stories of I?ll tempered sows with piglets. I suspect domestic sows, oft larger and less fearful of man, can be quite dangerous in confined spaces.

I have snuck up on wild sows and stollen their piglets on two occasions. The first time was in daylight, I used a bush to sneak up on the family group. When I stepped around the bush and grabbed a piglet, the sow and all her other babies took off down the hill. Never looking back at the squealing piglet I had in my hand.

The second occasion was at night. I was sneaking up on the sow, trying to stab her with a knife. With the wind in my favor, I made it to about 5 feet when she realized I was there, grunted and took off. At the grunt, all the piglets dove into high grass to hide. I reached down and picked up two. They squealed and momma did an about face. Charging back at me in the dark. Just before she got to me and the two piglets, I growled and started barking like a dog. She came to a screatching halt, and turned around again. Running off into the dark.

Those are my two up close and personal sow stories.

I fear a domestic pig much more than a wild one.

WILD SOWS WILL LET THEIR PIGLETS GO INTO A CORN FEEDER AHEAD OF HER, SORT OF LIKE SCOUTS. SHE KNOWS BETTER THAN TO RUSH IN BUT DOESN'T CARE ABOUT HER PIGLETS. FEAR OF MAN CHANGES A PIG.

I've been charged twice. Once while bow hunting and once while handgun hunting.

Nice pics zee, tannerite and pigs. Always entertaining. That was a nice xmas present

Zee -- the photos are priceless! Thanks for posting those!

I have had a couple of aggressive encounters with wild hogs, one in North Carolina and once in Florida, while serving as an editor of the now defunct Boar Hunter magazine (at that point in my life I was hunting them very frequently). In both cases the hogs were wounded. A friend got cut up pretty well by a wounded boar in Florida a couple of years ago and it wasn't a bluff charge and in fact after opening his leg up, it pinned him against a tree trying to work him over even more. My buddy fought the hog off with his left hand while trying to bring his drilling into play with his right. A face full of bird shot at powder burn range ended the ordeal. I have friends who breed and hunt bear dogs who no longer run them on wild hogs in the off season because they tend to get hurt too often. A mature boar is equipped to do damage if he so chooses. Again, hunt 'em enough and you are bound to have an encounter at some point.