decent weight for pig hunting

[Newindian]

I know we all kinda sorta agree that 30-35 is the minimum for deer hunting, but what about hogs?

[JW_Halverson]

Bigger the piggie, the bigger the bow.  That gristle sheild on their front quarters takes some doing to cut thru.  I bet some of these gold ol' southern boys will have some idea. 

Make sure your broadheads are sharp enough that you wake from deep sleep having nightmares about them!

[H Rhodes]

You need heavy arrows and a bow with good cast.  Hogs are tough and I think you should shoot as heavy a draw weight as you can still shoot accurately.  Like JW said, it needs a sharp point, and at least 6 or 7 hundred grains of arrow.  If you catch them quartering away, and you don't try a broadside where you are trying to cut through that shield - anything that will kill a deer will kill a hog.   

[trad bow]

I presently use a 53# bow and have no problems with penetration. I have seen 35# bows work but you will need to be close and have a pig on the smaller side. No matter what poundage a super sharp bh is mandatory as is shot placement. I use  cut on contact two blade heads and have taken a couple of hundred with trad gear. Just now starting to hunt them with my self bow but see no drop off in performance compared to the glass. I prefer a quartering away shot myself and shoot them low. Hogs die quick with a well placed shot.

[crooketarrow]

    My brother lives in SC. his friends have dogs and do the knife and spear thing. He wanted me to send him a bow about 15 years ago. I had a old him a 62" Hickory at 52 pounds with just under 3 inchs of string follow. I sent him 4 dowl (ceder) arrows with zickeys,555 grain.
    He said his friends laughed at it never seeing a self bow. He called and told me he shot 4 hogs at 5 or 6 yards one around 9 yards all broad side. 2 Behind the shoulder pass throughs. One through the back of a shoulder it also passed through also but just bearly but it did come out he said. The other he shot through both shoulders just to see. It did'nt pass through stoped at feathers.

[PeteC]

I hunt hogs with 50#self bows,but I hunt for good eating size animals under 150#.I know you can kill a bigger hog with that weight bow,but you need to hit them quartering away behind the shoulder shield,and, as always,with a very sharp broadhead hafted to a heavy shaft .JMHO God Bless

[H Rhodes]

I hunt hogs with 50#self bows,but I hunt for good eating size animals under 150#.I know you can kill a bigger hog with that weight bow,but you need to hit them quartering away behind the shoulder shield,and, as always,with a very sharp broadhead hafted to a heavy shaft .JMHO God Bless

Yep, I agree.  There is a big difference in shooting little meat hogs and taking a big boar.   

[stickbender]

     The smaller pigs taste better, and unless you are looking for a head mount, skip the Boars, and go for the sows!  The boars, especially the big boys, are rank, and the meat tastes like it!   Unless they have been caught, and clipped, and then released.  The fighting sheild is mainly on the back, around the neck and past the shoulders.  It is a thick grisly chunk of skin, and is very tough.  It protects the hog from tusks, and teeth, and fangs, and claws from big cats.  Like they said, the key is a good arrow, and "SHARP" head!  And also as they said, use the heaviest bow you can shoot well.  Tough?!   I shot a sow quite a few years ago, at about 15 to 25 yards, with a .357 magnum, with 158 grain, semi jacketed hollow points.  I hit her the first shot, in the front section of heart, and she took off like I had fired in the air!  I thought I had missed!  I then shot her again, and hit her in right front leg, between the shoulder, and elbow, and it shed it's jacket, and lodged in her left front leg, at about the same point.  My buddy, was to my right some distance, and shot her from the hip with a 12 gauge with 3 inch magnum triple ought, and blew an inch or more hole through her jaw, and when she turned, he shot again, and severed her spine, and that ended it!  She was less than 15 feet from him when he first fired, and she was heading right at him.  When I cut her open, the front half of her heart, had been severed almost in half, and her liver was like chunks of thick jelly, and her insides was full of blood.  My bullet was mushroomed beautifully, and lodged in the skin on her left side!  She dressed out at about 100-120 lbs.  However, there were some  "HUGE" hogs in that area, of Perry Florida.  After I got home after that trip, I bought my S&W Model 29, .44 magnum!   But then again a .22 short in the forehead will drop them like rock.

                                                  Wayne

[Tarponnut]

All good advice. We(at our ranch) have had pigs killed with bows with as little as 35# draw weight. I hunt with 50# bows and generally get an entry and exit hole. Going to use a 47# Gill selfbow on my upcoming hunts, I will let you know what happens.

I generally shoot hogs under 100# because the trophy is the meat.