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Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big?

Posted By: hetman

Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big? - 12/27/15 12:42 PM

Hunting in Cisco TX on Xmas day. Sitting in a area that I have not hunted in over 2 weeks. Blind sits up on side of a mesa overlooking a creek drainage area. there are 2 feeders one on each side of the creek. Farthest feeder is at 170 yards & closest feeder is at 150 yards. This is a evening hunt / nice weather /65-70 degrees. Started off seeing a approx. 200lb reddish/spotted Boar make a pass thru the closest feeder ( feeder had not gone off yet, so very little corn on the ground) Had scope on him but all I could get was a angle shot from the back or a Texas heart shot( up the Butt) I kept waiting for a better shot and he walked off behind the trees & I got no shot.


Pig #2 comes out on the far feeder right at dark (170 yards)/he was a very very large boar. My wife had shot a 240lb pig during Thanksgiving weekend that we collected and weighed and this pig was noticeably larger than her boar. Set up the shot / light was fading fast & did not want to take a chance on a neck shot so I hit him behind the shoulder with a 150grain SP .308 from my AR-10. Last I could see of him he was down on his back / legs up in the air doing the bicycle.
At this time shooting Light was pretty much gone / pig was down on his back so I packed up the blind and hiked down to the feeder area. Got there and pig was gone, but he left a nice blood trail to follow - tracked him approx. 100-125 yard to a swampy low brush/cactus covered area and blood trail went into some very heavy low cover. I was not going to crawl into that at night- he was too big to do anything with besides just look at.

Went back to feeder & pulled the chip from camera: he started showing up on 12/11 - till 12/25 there were 1,154 pictures taken in that time frame and over 1000 were of this pig. He pretty much took over my feeder & ran everything else off. One thing I noticed from the pics was that you could actually see his Tusks showing in most of his pics. The tusk must be fairly large to see them that well. On most of my camera pics on other pigs you don't see the tusk.

Glad I did not try & crawl into low brush after I shot him!! here is 2 pics of him.

Hetman


Posted By: Double Naught Spy

Re: Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big? - 12/27/15 01:59 PM

Pics are always hard to judge. Yeah, he has tusks, but he doesn't look filled out to me.

Pigs look bigger when they are close to the camera and he is pretty close to the camera.

You have over 1000 pics of this guy and those were the best you have???
Posted By: flintknapper

Re: Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big? - 12/27/15 03:46 PM

Looked at both of your pics after running them through Zoom Browser to lighten them up. Boar has not filled out or achieved his 'mature' physique yet. I don't think he would weigh much over 180 lbs. at present.

Whenever possible, don't shoot hogs 'behind the shoulder' (you've already discovered why). Shoot them THROUGH the shoulder (when broadside) or in the neck. Your recovery rate will likely increase, or at the very least...you wont have to track them very far through the thick stuff they love to run into.

Hope you find him, thanks for sharing your story.

Flint.
Posted By: hetman

Re: Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big? - 12/27/15 04:12 PM










Posted By: hetman

Re: Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big? - 12/27/15 04:44 PM

ok for a picture size comparison here is one my wife shot on thanksgiving weekend on a different feeder in another part of the lease. weighed 200 after gutting / processor said it would be in the 230-240 range live weight.

pics are before & after it was shot






Posted By: Double Naught Spy

Re: Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big? - 12/27/15 05:27 PM

Well the additional pics do not help much and your pics of the ”240 lb" are nearly useless for comparison as the camera is in a completely different position relative to the feeder and the hog is obscured by the feeder or is half off camera. The butchering pics don't help at all.

However, taking camera angles in consideration, the Xmas hog is 2 or more inches shorter than your wife's hog. Yours is a much smaller hog.

Flintknapper's assessment seems good.
Posted By: bigjoe8565

Re: Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big? - 12/27/15 09:26 PM

Tough to say, but it's a dead hog so it's a good hog. I can tell you from personal experience I also over estimate how much a hog weighs and generally by 30-50 pounds.
Posted By: bg75074

Re: Xmas Day Boar - any idea how big? - 12/27/15 10:43 PM

Looks like a definite shooter, my "guess" is 170-190
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