Boar Cal

[Scipio]

I'd find better video. He's very superficial, has silly notions like that "223 shoulder shot" (I bet it barely touched flesh, it was so high) and the circumstances are quite different (mental attitude and selection of firearm).

Hello mate and thank you for commenting - well it was not much his choice of caliber (a choice which i doubt would be legal for boar in most, if any place in europe) i found interesting, but more his point on prefered shot placement. Particularly the one he calls the behind the ear shot, but which in most photos seems to be, if the boar is broad side, aiming for the spine, centrally in the neck, where it connects to the torso/shoulder area. For a boar not running, that shot seems to give pretty ok leeway of error, whilst providing less chance of seeing runners happen. Have you tried that shot placement much?

As for the differences in attitude, choice of weapon etc conveyed, i think some context might be useful.
Besides the seeming much more common use of semi auto weapons for hunting in the US, especially now with the AR platforms, i believe a lot of these wild hog videos from texas and so on, are shot in areas where the hunters/farmers are desperately trying to surpress hog infestations.
So these are not euro hunters who are out there to calmly stalk and harvest 1 or 2 animals to take home to the freezer or bbq, but guys and girls who are out there to also, if not primarily, surpress an otherwise very aggressive population growth of hogs, and the following damage it would mean to property and agriculture.
That probably means a focus on at times simply taking hogs down vs taking the shots which would be optimal for an animal intended to become human food.
I might add that a lot of driven hunts in europe doesnt always result in much controlled or ethical shots being taken on running boar either, so might we not be so different at times to US hunters as we sometimes think we are?

Still, all of this said, the central and base of the neck shot placement on a boar, when it isnt running and it is presenting itself broadside i do find an interesting one and i was wondering how it is considered over here.

 

[jthyttin]

The thing with vertebrae specifically IS for running boar. I think it's no coincidence why running (rifle) targets are boar and in northern countries moose. Both run quite steadily w/o large up/down movement, most of the time.

Moose is of course quite large animal, and the vertical judgement is somewhat easy since many times the torso is fully visible and unless you try to be clever the hair doesn't obscure much. On the boar, the lead is quite forgiving provide you can keep the vertical wobble tight and at snout level. Anything from ear to front shoulder is instant drop, and shoulder / back of the shoulder still results in short retrieval.

Of course it depends on what kind of hunting you do and with whom, but crop protection is highest priority in many European hunts also. While you can stalk solitary males for trophies, almost all stalking is crop protection. When I stalk with my friends, guess where we start? On their fields of course, only proceeding to neighbouring fields if we don't spot anything. Part time take care of important landowners who don't hunt themselves.

In European driven hunt, while all shots might not be spot on, the beasts will be taken care of instantly, later same day or the following day. Running a driven hunt is no easy task, and you must weigh the options. While the main party might advance to different area and wounded beast left behind, the hunt leader might give a single dog handler task to track and dispatch it or next day start at the same place when non-mortally wounded beast would be easier for dogs to separate from sounder etc. As a paying customer you rarely see this side of the equation.

I'm not particularly selecting a shot in the neck / head area, but wouldn't avoid it either. BTW neck is good eating...

 

[Dhindes]

I really think people over think this topic.
Small calibre placed in the brain will, of course, kill a boar. So if you are stalking or in a high seat and have a stationary boar at close range, with good light and you are a great shot - go ahead and use a 22 hornet.
However most European boar hunting is driven - running animals -or high seat - boar milling around feeding- in reality you aim for the front qtr and try to get neck - many will say they carefully place the shot in the exact position they target. For me a running boar crossing a small ride is a snap shot at the front qtr - I bet if most people were honest they would say the same. This why calibre matters, shoot the back half and, no matter what calibre, the boar is off and you will need dogs and a long follow up to find. Hit the vitals area and a bigger calibre can help bring the animal down faster - this is one reason why many areas specify a minimum calibre ( often 7mm). It is not that you need 7mm to kill a boar but that, in real hunting situations, the larger size, properly placed, will bring the boar down faster. There is a good reason why the 9.3 is so popular.

 

[Scipio]

The thing with vertebrae specifically IS for running boar. I think it's no coincidence why running (rifle) targets are boar and in northern countries moose. Both run quite steadily w/o large up/down movement, most of the time.

Moose is of course quite large animal, and the vertical judgement is somewhat easy since many times the torso is fully visible and unless you try to be clever the hair doesn't obscure much. On the boar, the lead is quite forgiving provide you can keep the vertical wobble tight and at snout level. Anything from ear to front shoulder is instant drop, and shoulder / back of the shoulder still results in short retrieval.

Of course it depends on what kind of hunting you do and with whom, but crop protection is highest priority in many European hunts also. While you can stalk solitary males for trophies, almost all stalking is crop protection. When I stalk with my friends, guess where we start? On their fields of course, only proceeding to neighbouring fields if we don't spot anything. Part time take care of important landowners who don't hunt themselves.

In European driven hunt, while all shots might not be spot on, the beasts will be taken care of instantly, later same day or the following day. Running a driven hunt is no easy task, and you must weigh the options. While the main party might advance to different area and wounded beast left behind, the hunt leader might give a single dog handler task to track and dispatch it or next day start at the same place when non-mortally wounded beast would be easier for dogs to separate from sounder etc. As a paying customer you rarely see this side of the equation.

I'm not particularly selecting a shot in the neck / head area, but wouldn't avoid it either. BTW neck is good eating...

Actually that makes complete sense, thank you, as i hadnt considered that but going back to stalking, the viewing angles permitting it, that base of the neck/spine shot does sound like good shot placement to as well. That is if i want to minimize the chance of a runner.

A lot of other interesting points made too, and it makes sense that a lot of behind the scenes workings to find wounded beasts and salvage meat is in place, as besides the important ethical aspects to it, it also makes sense to not waste potential meat or trophies.