Tracking a Hog. Question...

This past weekend my buddy shoulder shot a good sized hog using my 270, but I believe he got him a bit too far back. It was 9pm and was well past dark when he took the shot. He did not pressure the hog, but came back to camp, got me and we went back to track. Followed a pretty good blood trail (looked like lung blood) for a long distance thru some heavy cedar cover with some tricky turns. Then we saw where the boar apparently laid down and rolled and kicked in the dirt and leaves under a cedar. Ground was a bit muddy, so we could make out tracks we think were from that hog continuing in the same general direction, eventually leading off the property, but we saw no more blood after the dirt rolling episode.

Is that common? I take primarily DRT head shots, so trailing a pig that did a dirt roll, and apparently plugged up the wound is new to me. I did feel good about our teamwork tracking, finding blood where it seemed to end, catching places where it turned down a new trail. Fun woods skill test, just sad it went off my place.

i cant say ive ever tracked a pig... so idk lol.

I have had that happen to me with pigs thats why I switched to the headshot but I think what happens is the wound clots up and no more blood comes out I have seen it on one of my deer that I found by luck without a blood trail.

I would guess that the blood covering the wound mixed with some dirt, which probably made some kind of thick mushy type mud that clotted the wound. Personally I would never go track a hog at night.

Since I bow hunt only, it's happend to me a lot. I too try for an ear shot if possible. A hogs vitals are real low, it's not hard to miss the vitals even when you think you've placed the shot well.

I bet that you walked by him more than once. They are very hard to track at night and if it was lung blood he didn't go far plus the mud bath just stopped the blood flow to the outside. He was still bleeding on the inside. My wife shot one about 7:15 Monday morning, we looked for him for an hour before I stumbled over him in a thick patch of vegetation. I had walked past it at least 2 times but could not see him. He had gone about 10-12 yards from where he was shot.

The only hog I've ever had to chase didn't leave much of a blood trail at all and I got a double lung pass through with 165gr Sierra GameKings in .308

Other than a good sized splatter of bright red blood right under the feeder, it petered out quickly. He only made it about 25 yards, but the last 15 of it he must have been holding his breath. The shot was from 44 yards, so I knew exactly where I hit him and knew it was a lethal shot, but just missed the sweet spot.

Try as I might, I could not find him that night. I heard him crash in the brush, then no other sounds, but the little bugger picked the best hiding place around and it wasn't until the next morning I was able to locate him.

Here is a pic of the shrub he buried himself in. I walked right by it 3 times that night and never caught sight of him. At one point, I could see my footprints were no more than 5 feet away. It was misting so heavily the night before that the light from my headlamp was completely washed out at about 5 yards. Can you see him?



The bush behind my left shoulder was the culprit. He bled out pretty good once he stopped.



I've seen some hogs loaded with fatty deposits. I'm sure some of that helps naturally seal the entrance/exit wounds.

In any event, I generally put the rifle down and approach downed hogs with my 12ga stoked with OO buckshot. It's like a judge's gavel. Once that hammer falls, there's no more arguement.

I recently cleaned a hog that had what appeared to be a Foster style 12 or 20 gauge slug that had mushroomed out, but did not penetrate the shoulder due to the shield. I would not believe this, but I pulled it out myself. I grew up hunting hogs with that type of slug, and it always flattened them, but for some reason this one did not. However, my .308 behind the ear dropped him in his tracks.

Yup, pigs are notorious for sealing up wounds....and quickly. If you are able, go for the neck/head area for a "no tracking situation"!.

I hunt alot on very small properties, and if the pig runs at all, chances are it's gonna cross a fence onto another property and there's no way I'll trespass, so the pig wins. Least you connected with one!!!!

Yah I shot a hog with my bow, let it sit for about 2 hours and tracked him about 600 yards with a steady blood trail, then all of a sudden the blood stopped, and the hog was never found. I use a .270 for hogs now.

I come from the "shoot till they stop squealing" school, but then again I don't view hogs as a source of food, simply a pest to get rid of. I did hit one bowhunting once that did basically what you are describing. However, you don't really say how long between the shot and the time you found where he was laying down- could have been enough time for him to clot up or at least mat his hair with enough mud and crud to make a temporary plug.

Yeah, I always head shoot, but this was pretty dark so he decided to go for the shoulder. We did not track it too far into the thick stuff that night, and I was definitley armed and well lit for what tracking we did. The next morning we went back and tracked it a long way. Even though we did not push it until it had time to lay up someplace it appeared to cross off of my property still on the run from what we can tell. Looks like He only stopped that one time to roll in the dirt. I know we did not walk right past it based on the trail he left. Good practice tracking, but I wish we at least found it the next morning to see if its one of the big guys thats been hanging around.

exit wound from a 6.8 showing ideal shot placement
no tracking required, whatsoever, ever
I HATE tracking

You must have really gone at him with the Windex and wipes Charles!! I'll give you a call this weekend. Even though it's my anniversary tomorrow, I think I got a hall pass since it's been raining so much lately! Need to hunt!

Tracking a hog, I didn't know there was such a thang!