This past weekend things were fairly slow out at my place. Had lots of sign but only had one old boar show up at my feeder with almost no light left. Let an arrow fly at him but shot around 4 inches low for some reason. Couldn't really line up the pin with the peep in that low light. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I wanted to get out there in the afternoon at what I thought would be early 4:30. Well arrived to my ladder stand and was two rungs from the top when 6 hogs came literally running out of nowhere to the feeder. Crazy how fast they ran into the feeder. No wind checking or anything. They were on a mission! My .223 was hanging on a limb above me and my bow was on the seat of the stand. Again I'm standing on the ladder with the hogs at the feeder behind me. My heart started pumping so hard I thought it was going to jump out of my chest. I felt like if I moved they were going to spook. 17 yards from feeder to Tree stand. I went for my bow and one of the cams hit the side of the two man ladder stand. I cringed thinking they were gone. The largest male looked a little apprehensive but kept on eating with the others. I managed to put my freeflight release on and knock an arrow. Twisted my torso so I could face behind me and let an arrow fly. Wack! Right through a 100 pound white and black spotted hog. They all ran including the one I shot. As they turned to head back the way they came from I saw the arrow protruding out the opposite side of the hog with only the fletching and maybe 2 inches of shaft still in the hog. I was pumped! Got down and went check for blood, and NOTHING! Not a drop! Tried to find him later on in the post oaks and briars but never did. I know he went down because the same group showed up not 10 minutes later behind me minus the one I shot. Later that night the yotes were particularly noisy and vocal so we assumed they found him. Learned some lessons with regards to my bow. Always take a side arm, always have an arrow knocked going to and from the stand and practice shooting in different body positions. Oh and I learned I'm absolutely hooked on bow hunting!

I would be very careful having a broadhead knocked on the bow on the way to and from the stand. One trip could be disastrous for you, and walking around the woods in the dark can be a tricky place to navigate.

Just my 2 cents...

I agree not in the dark, but I do it spot and stalk in the daylight. You'll get another shot. What broadhead?

Didn't even think that out. You and passthru are both right. Never mind the arrow knocked early in the morning. I didn't mention it but I walked within 5 yards of a huge boar and couldn't do anything one morning as well. Just had to keep walking, two steps and he snorted and ran off. Scratch the knocked broadhead I guess. I was using some Carbon express fixed broadheads.

The two blade with a bleeder?

Sounds like the broadhead did its job if it went all the way through the hog. After the shot you need to really listen and concentrate on what the animal is doing and where it went. Tracking is a very important part of a successful bowhunter.

My son said he passed a sounder of hogs on the way to the stand this past weekend as well, hard to pass them up but when all you see is shadows and hear snorts...

Looks like a pretty cool broadhead. Keep it sharp and should be a good killer. I would bet that hog you shot wasn't more than 50-70 yards down the thicket. I know that's a little cross over form your other thread, but as mentioned above, trying to find shot animals is part of the trick to being a bow hunter too. Even with no blood, broken brush, stirred up dirt, hoof prints, etc all could make the track possible. Again, depends on the motivation level of the recovery. For a hog, I would probably have done the same as you. But when it comes to tracking deer, the experience gained could mean the difference in recovery vs not.

Your right I'm going to remember that for next hunt. I should have spent more time trying to find it. That stuff is just so thick in there its crazy. Excuses are like noses though, I'm going to remember what you said for sure.

Even on my last hunt when I saw my deer drop down only 60-70 yards out, by the time my son got to the stand, I had him and myself go through the process of finding the blood trail and tracking it, just to gain the experience. I found it is hard to track in a really dry dirt field, as the blood soaks up pretty quickly.

It made tracking his deer the next morning a lot easier though, but we followed that one too even though we could see the deer within 20 yards of starting the track. Experience matters, the shot is only the first step, its the remainder that separates a good hunter from a great hunter.

Keep at it man and don't hesitate to learn something every chance! Sounds like you are on your way for sure!

Pass throughs mean nothing... the best shot you can make on a hog wont pass through unless its a tiny one... you gota punch through the side plate closer to the shoulder.. imagine a box that starts from the chest bottom lining the sternum and stopping at the arm pit...it has all that protection for one thing and its to guard the vital.. best shot is quartered away enough were you can send the arrow right in behind the shoulder blade and in between the shoulders... all you need halfway.. your talking a fraction of the arrow to have him drop within 40yards.. some make it just a few steps.. also when shooting from high angle I will take quartered to or from shots and punch through the top of the shoulder down into the sternum... if your shooting for lungs or anything further back your usually not going to have much of a blood trail with fixed heads.. their hair is usually matted so it will soak up most of the drip and your left searching rub signs on branches or tall grass.. they can also plug a hole quick by rolling in dirt or internals filling the hole

Those CE heads are really good for pigs and good price also... Muzzy will give you an edge on punching through tough plates and bone if you ever choose to try them.. I don't waste mechanicals on them anymore.. why I have a few arrows with 4blade muzzys sitting in the quiver next to the NAPs

Thanks for that and the previous as well. Didn't even think of choosing one that was quartering away either. Bow hunting is brand new to me but man I'm enjoying the heck out of it. I went with the CE's because they were like 15 bucks for 3 of them. I'll look into the Muzzys as well for sure. Heck I've got 2 more tree stands to setup around the place and I'm chomping at the bit now to do it.

Its addicting.. best way to learn is experience.. I have plenty of those CE heads nothing wrong with them at all and crazy sharp out the box

Next time, go ahead and get situated in the stand. I found over the years, when hogs are feeding like that, you can pretty much do anything you want and they won't noticed. Heck, I emptied my quiver one time and still had hogs under the feeder. Since I didn't have any more arrows and light fading, I decided to climb on down and start tracking the ones I shot. Climbed all the way down, untied my bow, and still had to fling my arms in the air to run them off, which was only 15 yds. away!!!

No doubt, I had a mess of hogs under my stand one year. Needless to say, this lease was overrun with pigs. I couldn't get down because I had a dying hog at the base of my tree - shot 2 others that ran off and missed two. All out of arrows. But there were still pigs all around feeding. Lesson, bring a sidearm. Was able to get down once I started to hoot and holler, and when the sow beneath me finally expired.

Don't take it too hard man. Just helped a friend track down a lung shot on a hog last evening and even with 3 more .40 cal in it it was still alive for a few more minutes.