First time shooting boar - carcass handling vs deer?

[phillips321]

Hi all,

Tonight I'm going out on boar for my first outing as they're out in numbers on a friends farm. I've not shot boar in the past so wanted to know the differences between boar and deer in the way you treat the carcasses.

1. I've heard of people washing down the outside of the animal before gralloching, is this for most animals or only ones that are stinking muddy?
2. Do the lower legs/trotters come off at the same joint as deer?
3. I've got a triconella test kit ready to send off before I take the carcass to the butcher, any ideas on the turn around for this result, where's the best place to take the meat from?
4. If I shoot something with decent teeth I'd like to keep them, when/how do you remove them from the head/skull?

Thanks in advance everyone

 

[Dan Gliballs]

1. Gralloch as normal, never needed to wash down the outside.

2. Lower leg comes off the same way, I do this back at larder, not in the field.

3. A sample from the diaphragm will do, I can't remember the weight off the top of my head but your test kit form does state the weight required. Turn around time is quick, I usually get the email within 4 working days of posting sample.

4. Boil meat off lower jaw to get a clearer picture but what I will say is that the ROOT of the lower teeth travel well up the lower jaw bone. They need cut out.

Top tip... You can't shoot these beasts far enough forward. The vitals aren't like a deer, the engine room is pushed right up behind the shoulder. The spine is also well below where you expect it to be.

Good luck, be sure to post up your success.

 

[phillips321]

Many thanks @Dan Gliballs

 

[zambezi]

I've got a triconella test kit ready to send off before I take the carcass to the butcher, any ideas on the turn around for this result, where's the best place to take the meat from?

The first couple I sent off were rejected because I sent too little material. I posted a few streamers of diaphragm material.

If you send the diaphragm, send the whole thing and any attached bits.

A top tip I received on this forum which I now do is to send a golf-ball sized chunk from the muscle off a foreleg. That has never failed to satisfy the APHA labs.

 

[zambezi]

Oh, and they are tough. I echo Dan's caution about importance of good body shot placement. With an appropriate projectile.

The last few I lardered, I have head shot at ranges at which I am confident of good placement. They drop on the spot to a head shot [just below the ear].

The only caveat I would have with shooting a boar in the head is that I always watch animals for a significant period before taking shot. When they first arrive at a new location, they are prone to rapid head movement and pirouettes to sniff the air as they establish whether it is safe to tarry/feed. I will not attempt a head shot until the beast is calm and the head movements cease to be erratic. More often than not, it is possible to see a feeding pattern establish: head down gobble up some food, raise head and chew [one thousand, two thousand, bang].

 

[phillips321]

Oh, and they are tough. I echo Dan's caution about importance of good body shot placement. With an appropriate projectile.

300wm 178grain ELD-X, a friend is using his 30-06 with 155graim sako

Thanks both for the pointers, much appreciated.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Tusks not teeth BTW.
I do front low body shots, gives bigger stable kill zone and it does not rock up & down, you are risking head wounded beasts if you do only head shots. Incoming!!!!!!!!

 

[finnbear270]

 

[finnbear270]

Are you sitting or stalking?

 

[phillips321]

Are you sitting or stalking?

Probably a bit of both.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

For me it is always sitting in high seats or doe boxes. My local hunters always lament that you stalk (pirsch) the land empty by moving the game onto anothers revier.

 

[kimh]

good luck and enjoy with extreme caution

 

[finnbear270]

Wouldn't be mixing both on the same trip, unless you are going to carry your sitting out gear over your shoulders.

 

[phillips321]

Wouldn't be mixing both on the same trip, unless you are going to carry your sitting out gear over your shoulders.

Plan is to leave my thick coat in the highseat

 

[finnbear270]

I have stuck it out in a high seat right through to full light on two occasions, The proper kit top to toe is most important for a full session.

 

[OJL1991]

Head shoot between the eye and ear. Then when it’s down, give it another for good luck.

 

[mereside]

My personal shot on the picture Finnbear posted is the white spot up and left of the green spot that drops them on the spot, the green spot you have a real tendency to hit the skin between the elbows or clipping them if shooting From a seat and a long runner and a dog is needed, as is head shooting can go very wrong, shooting between those white spots gives a big margin of error and a dead pig will be at the end, trying for a heart shot you run the risk of grazing the belly it’s really low and all you get is loads of whit fatty stuff on the floor. As for testing do as others say nice big pieces and lower leg meat is a good one as is liver and trachea, happy hunting, stalking at night under the moon is really worth while and is an experience. Regards Wayne

 

[zambezi]

you are risking head wounded beasts if you do only head shots. Incoming!!!!!!!!

LOL. Actually, I tend to agree

[is that our first SD accord since 2016? ]

I live by the the old adage: "if you can't make the shot, don't take the shot"

I agree there is less risk of a miss with a body shot [bigger, less mobile target]. But there is less risk of a runner with a head shot. [where both shots are executed perfectly] . Make no mistake, a boar that has sustained a fatal chest shot can leave the vicinity running on adrenaline and be a "pig" to track. Not something you want to do in the dark.

If you practice shot placement on paper targets at [sensible] distances which replicate distances you will shoot in the field, study your quarry's demeanor carefully immediately prior to pulling the trigger, and are taking the shot from a platform similar to that which you practice from, then I think the headshot is the percentage option. For the record, I would limit my range for a nocturnal boar headshot to perhaps 50m. At that distance, I am confident I will hit the white dot at left indicated by pink arrow and it will fall over and await gralloching without taking even one step:

 

[Heym SR20]

Take two knives and they need to be sharp. Wild boar have thick and tough skin. Gralloching the same - in many ways easier as you don’

Yes to washing down first if they are mucky and been wallowing.

And remember that wild boar, especially one that you have irritated by putting a bullet into are bloody dangerous. Their natural instinct is to attack and go for your soft bits between your legs. Their tusks are very sharp and every year on the continent hunters are killed or badly damaged by them. Its why beaters and trackers in Germany have kevlar lined trousers, and why traditional garb are thick leather lederhosen.

So when you have shot your boar don’t go jumping off your highseat and running up to claim your prize. Wait a good while - nowt wrong waiting till morning.

Pigs don’t have a rumen like deer so you get nowhere near the bloating that you do with deer.

The last one I shot was at 3am, it was snowing and it ran into the trees. We went and found him 20 yards in stone dead. Dragged him into the trailer and drove back ti the hut, washed him down and then gralloched - there was no bloating nor meat spoilage.

 

[phillips321]

Well that went nice and easy.

Thanks for all your help chaps. First time boar, I’m sure first of many.