I've adopted a new method of hunting large solo boars that have learned to check feeders. The older dominant boars often will do large circles before coming in, so I just out-circle them. I basically stay out of the area, let them do their sweep, and then circle around downwind from a ways off after dark to get a shot. Its a blast. Last night I had been sitting somewhere else for deer, when my phone showed an alert (Covert cameras are so much fun) that a pig was about a half mile away right as it was getting dark. So I packed it up and started walking.
This trip I had brought my Reckoning as a backup, and I kinda just refuse to own even a crossover/target bow without putting some blood on it at some point. My Reckoning is 70#, with the flipdisc set to performance. I had built some specific hunting arrows for it. The arrows are Easton 330 Injexions with Firenock AeroOutserts and a Deep Six HIT placed inside the shaft where about half was "inside" the outersert, and half was further down the shaft. I did this to provide more strength, and the FOC doesn't hurt. They are tipped with Iron Will V100s which is followed by a Nockturnal.
I worked my way into a good crosswind position and pressed the low light button on my bow light to get a feel for exactly where the boar was. He was feeding aimlessly, but seemed unaware I was there. I eased a tad closer, turned on my pin light, and got ready. A few more low on, he's facing dead away, low off, low on, he's behind something, low off, type cycles ensued. Finally he looked close to broadside so I came to full draw and hit the high button on my light. Right as I did that he turned and looked right at me. This was now, looking back, an awkward situation. I'm on the ground... this is an older dominant boar, its dark... and he knows I'm there. He seemed torn between coming closer to see what was interrupting his dinner or fading into the brush. I have a distinct memory of his eyes shining back at me, and me dropping my pin to between them and low towards his nearest shoulder, then the arrow was gone... a streak of neon pink light in the night. As it arrived at the pig there was a thump and the light was gone. I heard some heavy trotting footsteps in the dark, and was thankful they were headed away from me. My immediate concern was I didn't know the exact range and I thought I may have shot under him. After 2-3 minutes of silence, I eased to where he was standing, and found the back half of my Nockturnal. No blood, no arrow. So I panned my headlight over toward the brush line, and there a mere 18' away was the boar, stone cold dead.
The arrow had caught him just below his left jaw, and penetrated to the nock through his neck and chest (27.5"). He had bled out in a few steps. A big shoutout to Iron Will, as I don't honestly know how many heads would have performed that well in that scenario. It took some doing to extract the arrow later, as it had busted through some bone and gristle getting where it was going. The arrow and head were completely intact. Autopsy revealed a center punched heart and one lung turned to half melted jello. I've put quite a few pigs on the ground, and the front half of a mature boar, is about as close to a tank as nature can build in my opinion. The main reason I bought a pack of Iron Wills was especially for big boars, they rarely bleed great no matter what as the hair/hide/fat/scar tissue just close up holes and don't allow a lot of leaking. So I wanted to go with something I knew no matter what was getting all the way through, and it was going to still be nasty sharp after going through all of that hide and muscle before reaching vital tissue. They have delivered admirably, and this is the 4th pig I've anchored with them this year, but this shot takes the cake for impressiveness.
A friend said he looked like a werewolf from my original pic of when I walked up on him, so I think in my memory, he'll be the werewolf pig hah.
This trip I had brought my Reckoning as a backup, and I kinda just refuse to own even a crossover/target bow without putting some blood on it at some point. My Reckoning is 70#, with the flipdisc set to performance. I had built some specific hunting arrows for it. The arrows are Easton 330 Injexions with Firenock AeroOutserts and a Deep Six HIT placed inside the shaft where about half was "inside" the outersert, and half was further down the shaft. I did this to provide more strength, and the FOC doesn't hurt. They are tipped with Iron Will V100s which is followed by a Nockturnal.
I worked my way into a good crosswind position and pressed the low light button on my bow light to get a feel for exactly where the boar was. He was feeding aimlessly, but seemed unaware I was there. I eased a tad closer, turned on my pin light, and got ready. A few more low on, he's facing dead away, low off, low on, he's behind something, low off, type cycles ensued. Finally he looked close to broadside so I came to full draw and hit the high button on my light. Right as I did that he turned and looked right at me. This was now, looking back, an awkward situation. I'm on the ground... this is an older dominant boar, its dark... and he knows I'm there. He seemed torn between coming closer to see what was interrupting his dinner or fading into the brush. I have a distinct memory of his eyes shining back at me, and me dropping my pin to between them and low towards his nearest shoulder, then the arrow was gone... a streak of neon pink light in the night. As it arrived at the pig there was a thump and the light was gone. I heard some heavy trotting footsteps in the dark, and was thankful they were headed away from me. My immediate concern was I didn't know the exact range and I thought I may have shot under him. After 2-3 minutes of silence, I eased to where he was standing, and found the back half of my Nockturnal. No blood, no arrow. So I panned my headlight over toward the brush line, and there a mere 18' away was the boar, stone cold dead.
The arrow had caught him just below his left jaw, and penetrated to the nock through his neck and chest (27.5"). He had bled out in a few steps. A big shoutout to Iron Will, as I don't honestly know how many heads would have performed that well in that scenario. It took some doing to extract the arrow later, as it had busted through some bone and gristle getting where it was going. The arrow and head were completely intact. Autopsy revealed a center punched heart and one lung turned to half melted jello. I've put quite a few pigs on the ground, and the front half of a mature boar, is about as close to a tank as nature can build in my opinion. The main reason I bought a pack of Iron Wills was especially for big boars, they rarely bleed great no matter what as the hair/hide/fat/scar tissue just close up holes and don't allow a lot of leaking. So I wanted to go with something I knew no matter what was getting all the way through, and it was going to still be nasty sharp after going through all of that hide and muscle before reaching vital tissue. They have delivered admirably, and this is the 4th pig I've anchored with them this year, but this shot takes the cake for impressiveness.
A friend said he looked like a werewolf from my original pic of when I walked up on him, so I think in my memory, he'll be the werewolf pig hah.
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