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  1. #1
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    Default Warthog that drop, then run.

    Normally an animal that drop to the shot but then get up and run is a bad thing and, unless you can quickly rectify it by a well placed follow up shot, will lead to a long and often unsuccessful tracking job and a lost animal. This is mostly caused by a shot close enough to the spine to stun an animal without doing any damage to the vitals or by a head shot that miss the brain but hit the nose or jaw.

    However, I have on three occasions seen warthog drop from lung shots, then get up and run. The first was a young boar shot by my wife. The warthog was ±50 m away and angling away from her. The 400gr bullet from a .416 rem mag (we were on a buffalo hunt) entered behind the shoulder and exited from the front of the chest. The hog dropped flat on its stomach, which was not unexpected. It then did the unexpected by bouncing to its feet and running off apparently unhurt. My wife, recovering from the recoil, was a little slow on the follow up and the pig dropped dead in full run after ±50 meters before a second shot was fired.

    A while ago I stalked three half grown warthog grazing in a dry river bed. As I wanted the pig for a braai, I shot the smallest, a young sow. She was 60 m away, perfectly broadside and on her elbows, which meant her head was hidden in the short grass. As, again, I wanted the pig for a braai, I shot her just behind the shoulder with a 9.3x62 using a 250gr Hornady GMX bullet. At the shot she flopped down in the grass, disappearing from view. I reloaded and started walking towards her when she suddenly jumped up and took off running up a steep slope. As I could see pieces of lung protruding from the exit wound and because the only follow up shot available was from directly behind, I let her run. I found her dead ±50m from where she had been shot.

    This morning I spotted a large warthog boar, accompanied by 2 smaller boars, disappear in a shallow depression. As I would be very close by the time I could see them, I put down my shooting sticks and approached with my 9.3x62 in my hands and ready. I got within ±40 meters of the hog, which was completely unaware of me. He was almost broadside on and grazing. Shooting offhand, I put a 230gr Peregrine just behind his shoulder. The shot appeared to knock him over, he fell on his side, rolled on his back and then proceeded to get up and run off with great enthusiasm. I could see the exit wound and a piece of lung sticking out of it. I had no doubt that he was going down but as I was not going to eat him and because the best way to practice for running shots on wounded game is to shoot at running game I shot him again as he was running away at an angle. The second shot, which hit just behind the shoulder and angled forward dropped him in his tracks.

    None of these three pigs were hit anywhere close to the spine. Neither were any of them hit in or on a shoulder nor was a leg damaged. All three ran off on all four legs. All three were shot with fairly heavy calibers, using fairly heavy bullets at between 2300 and 2450 fps. Slow, to be sure, but as the ranges were short, impact velocity was not really exceptionally low. All three were completely unaware of the presence of the hunter but to be honest, so are most warthog that I shoot. They all acted as if unhurt on getting up, there was no stumbling around or kicking, as you see with shots that just missed the spine or brain. In all three cases the bullets exited, so there was none of that magical complete energy dump stuff either.

    So, because it is Friday and we are under attack from alien like lousy horse flies, why did the three warthog drop like that?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    Can a bullet knock over a smaller animal?

    My reasoning: the animals were not bracing themselves, or under adrenaline. Thus a heavy thump from the side could throw them over, much like being hit unawares by a bag of sand. It would also explain them running of - they run off to get away from what hit them and probably don't realise (or barely realise) that they were hit.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ds J View Post
    Can a bullet knock over a smaller animal?

    My reasoning: the animals were not bracing themselves, or under adrenaline. Thus a heavy thump from the side could throw them over, much like being hit unawares by a bag of sand. It would also explain them running of - they run off to get away from what hit them and probably don't realise (or barely realise) that they were hit.
    I really don't think so, definitely not in the case of the last animal. The warthog I shot this morning weighed pretty much the same as I do.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    I posted this same question a few years back here on gun site, asking can a bullet actually knock an animal over. I had experienced the same as you affects, where it appears animal was knocked down/over only to get up again.

    I still have two theories.

    The bullet sometimes causes a blood pressure spike when passing certain veins, the temporary wound channel compresses some arteries resulting in massive blood pressure spike and temporary black out.
    Secondly, if the animal’s muscles were in a state of retraction, as in it was lifting a leg at time of bullet impact, those muscles would collapse as in opposed to supporting muscles stiffening up. I have tried a few times to explain this in a better way, but cannot get it right. All four leg muscles are in support mode and it gets hit - they stiffen - jolt - become rigid for a moment and it then runs off a split second later. The muscles had stiffened in a support body manner. Straightening out so to say.
    If however it was lifting a leg to take a step, that lifting - contraction muscle would stiffen - go rigid in a contracting further leg pulling up spasm resulting in loss of support on that side of body.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    Look at a bullet shot into a block of gelatine, look at the cavitation in the gel, but gel itself doesn’t contain a vessel keeping it together. Now imagine an animal, that cavitation happening inside the animal but the energy not being able to extend outwards like in gelatine tests, dispersing energy via stretching.
    Now blood like water isn’t very compressible, so what happens to that energy (I am just calling it energy to annoy T-stone) ?

    If that cavitation happens inside an animal I suspect a lot of veins is getting over-expanded, since the blood cannot compress, I can only assume that will lead to a lot of nerves getting pinched, whomever have had a nerve pinch in his back for example knows that either puts you down or freeze you into position. Imagine that happening to a LOT of nerves and I can only assume the animal is, for a lack of a better word, shocked into falling. It recovers from that and now it have to deal with the physical damage to the vitals.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    We had a warthog infestation in the area a couple of years ago and had time to hunt often, so I shot many warthog. I counted 70 in one year, but stopped counting after that. The problem subsided when someone resorted to poisoning them. Bloody idiot, I was having fun.

    I found quickly the shot placement on warthog is critical, and traditional placement does not count for hogs. At first I also shot them just behind the shoulder, as taught, and to not waste the meat. This did not work out too well, some of them escaped and were never recovered. In fact, on quite a few of the pigs that I gutted, I found scar tissue on the skin, a broken and mended rib, scar tisse in the lungs, another broken and mended rib and a scar on the skin again. So they were shot through the lungs and healed completely. This was on more than one warthog. What I can't tell is what they were shot with, could have been 30 cal FMJ bullets, or maybe my own bullets?

    Then there were those that were actually shot pretty well. One particular huge boar, live weight around 110kg, was shot from the front with a 375H&H and 270gn Hornady Interlock @ 2500fps from 100m. The bullet destroyed the heart, penetrated the whole body length and broke a rear leg, stopping under the skin. The hog ran another 100m before crawling under a sicklebush thicket and expiring. Many others did similar "death runs" before expiring.

    My solution was to change my shot placement. I proceeed to place my shots in the brain or upper spine. If that was not feasable, I would try to break both shoulders. In all cases, the aim was to break vital bones, not just organs. This reduced the placement area, so accurate shot placement was crucial. This usually resulted in one-shot stops and minimal tracking.

    I also like to use larger calibers on warthogs than I would on other game of the same weight. If you look at a warthog carcass, you will notice that it is wider that typical game animals of similar weight. In fact, it is comparable to much larger animals like kudu or gnu. One should choose the bullet according to carcass whith rather than weight. And since they seem to be quite a bit tougher than other game, rather go for larger and heavier bullets.

    I have shot them with just about any calibre from 22LR to .44. My favourite pig load pushes a .338" 250gn cup-core bullet at 2400fps MV. This works quite well out to 200m. For shorter ranges (up to 100m) I would not mind a 45-70 with 350-400gn cast lead flat-nose bullet at a decent MV. This would punch straight through all the thick bones and waste minimal meat.

    So, use a big, tough bullet, place it to break bones and destroy vital organs, and the pigs will usually stay where they are shot.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    And thats why I built the 458 x 2" - cause Wart Hog never read the books on shot placement and how they supposed to die.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    While I prefer a shot through both, or at least one shoulder, I have never lost a warthog shot through both lungs, behind the shoulders and I shoot them on a weekly basis. Then again, I have never shot one with a fmj bullet. They do often run a distance but unless both shoulders are broken, they often do that with shoulder shots as well.

    I have hunted warthog with rifles ranging in caliber from .222 rem to .375 H&H (have seen them shot with larger calibers), .357 mag revolvers and a .54 cal traditional muzzle loader. These days I use a 6.5 Creedmoor, 7x57, .300 win mag and 9.3x62, strangely the most effective caliber/load combination for dropping hogs in their tracks in my experience was the 6.5x55 with 140gr Hornady Amax bullets at ±2600fps.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    A certain person I know shoots them with a 222, with 55gr softpoints, and they die every time when shot on the lungs.
    I’ve always thought that one of the reasons many people wound them is their stature, they don’t stand as tall as antelope and hence when walking in vegetation the exposed body area can be confusing shooters, I mean those people that don’t have lots of experience with them.
    I am one of those people that believe all wounded or lost animals can be attributed towards shot placement alone, nothing more. I also believe warthog tend to move their bodies more than antelope when suspecting something, meaning even if an antelope is standing broadside it might turn its head to look to the left or right, warthog have this thing of turning it’s body more, perhaps because of THAT neck, and then you have an angled shot, with less chance of hitting both lungs or breaking both shoulders. And if it then makes it to a burrow, what analysis is done then to determine the point of failure? That is where the guessing game begins, and the campfire fairy tales originate.

    Certainly using a cartridge capable of shooting a strong bullet through both shoulders should be number 1 on the list, but what would that be?
    My 270 does it, goes clean through with a 130gr TSX, so something bigger like a 30 cal or 338 is not really required, although I own both of those as well.
    Perhaps this is one of those scenarios where people use power over precision, meaning someone gets told pigs are tough so they use a 375 which kicks, instead of a smaller cartridge with a strong bullet and no recoil like my 270. Hell even T-stone said a 6.5 with target bullets is the medicine for him, but that comes back to shot placement, aka precision, not so?

  10. #10

    Default Re: Warthog that drop, then run.

    having been shot myself, I can first hand tell you that a shot packs one hell of a kick. I firmly believe that a shot can knock them over.

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