Bowhunting Sidearm

[SETXHUNT0902]

glock 40 in 10mm is what I carry to the stand.

And yes i've had multiple encounters/standoffs in the dark with big boar hogs and its a little unnerving lol. We have lots of hogs here in ETX and they sometimes are on the corn pile as I am walking in, or coming to it as im walking out. And they are not afraid of my super bright headlight I use. They will walk right towards it everytime.

[Drycreek3189]

Just curious, has anyone here actually been attacked by an unwounded hog unprovoked? I'm sure it has happened, but I know an awful lot of hunters, and I've never heard of it happening. Friend of a friend of a friend doesn't count.

I haven’t unless they were in a pen. Even in a pen you have to wonder when a 175 lb. boar charges if the panel is gonna hold !

OTOH, my son was charged last year by a boar that was hanging with a sow that he had shot. On the same lease year before last his buddy shot and killed a hog, walked down to the feeder with no gun and the other boar came out of the woods and flipped him azz over teakettle and rooted him around a little before running away (and dragging his sack across said buddy’s face)

The closest I’ve come is a five minute standoff on a trail leading to my stand. I saw him in the dark at about thirty yards standing there, probably trying to make out what I was. I continued on flashlight in one hand, .40 caliber Shield in the other. I did baby steps until about ten to twelve yards and then he just kinda melted into the brush. Once he got into the brush I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him and smell him. I don’t mind telling you the hackles were up on my neck and I’m sure his were too. A little Browning flashlight and a .40 caliber seemed woefully inadequate if I had needed them. I eased on down the trail and got in my stand but I spent a few minutes thinking about the nephew of a friend that nearly bled out after a boar hog cut him right next to his anus. He drove himself to the hospital and was completely blood soaked from the hips down. It doesn’t happen very often at all but it does happen.

[Big Red 82]

Unless the laws have changed make sure you have a conceal carry during bow only season. I carry my ruger redhawk 44 mag.

[SaltwaterSlick]

I grew up in the East Texas woods and I have hunted them for 60+years... Never have had a situation but one time while squirrel hunting with my Model 100 .308 on my back and a big ol' boar came charging at me while I was in a thick Palmetto flat... I killed him with that .308 and it scared me to death. However on reflection, I'm pretty sure the hog was running FROM my dad who was a couple hundred yards away in the same Palmetto flat and NOT running AT me... I just happened to be in his escape path...



In southern Liberty County over the past 15+ years, I've walked right by many hogs in the dark and had them come by me... on more than one occasion, I've kicked at 'em, though don't think I ever made contact... There are enough wild hogs in the woods now that if they were viscous and prone to attack humans, we'd have multiple injuries/deaths a week in East Texas... "Wild Boars" attacking people is almost as big a hoax in East Texas as BigFoot! Now a wounded hog or an old sow with pigs that you threaten, that's a whole other ball game!

[Jay in Texas]

A G20 in a kenai chest holster loaded down with 220 gr hard cast solids should put you at ease……or you could borrow low fences’ unused nunchucks.

That is a wonderful holster, by the way. I carry my FNX-45 Tactical in one of those Kenai chest holsters when backpacking; I did an entire trek through Big Bend with it, with a 70 lb pack, and the holster was comfortable, durable, and unobtrusive. For a large gun, it worked very well, and I was pretty pleased.

I carry my typical sidearm in a fanny pack when I'm not backpacking - it's more comfortable to me than a holster on my belt.

Unfortunately, we have had to carry firearms for personnel protection at one of the ranches on which I hunt, south of Highway 90. The migrant traffic is heavy and unfortunately not always friendly. So, the sidearm question for hunting is certainly coming up more and more among folks I interact with in South Texas.