Wounded boar charge in the thick stuff

[doccherry]

I just returned from my third trip to the forests/jungles of Laupahoehoe in northeast Big Island Hawaii. I got small pigs on each of the last two trips. I was back in from the 4WD road about a mile at 9:30 AM with fog, drizzle, and wind. I came to a valley that was solid with polka banana vines [passion fruit] and stood on the ridge above it. I heard a "woof" noise and recognized it as the startled sound that a pig makes when it sees or scents you. On the far side of the valley, just above the polka banana, was a solid black boar, and a big one. I sat down, calmed my nerves, and sent a .308 at his lungs. He sqealed and went down but got back up. I shot again and he rolled down into the thick vines. I sat down for 5 minutes and then hiked below the valley [it's too thick to hike through, particularly with a 30 pound pack, so I bypassed it] and then up above where the pig was. Plenty of blood and not a sound. I began poking around in the vines and immediately there was a loud grunting, squealing and the thick vines 40 feet away began to shake and the shaking vines got closer and closer at an alarming speed. I knew the boar was coming for me but couldn't see a thing because the vines were about 4 feet high and formed a thick canopy that won't even let light through. 10 feet from me the boar burst from a tunnel but fortunately a blowdown log was at his shoulder height so he went under it and squirmed and then burst out again 6 feet from me. I have a scope on my Winchester 100 so there was no time to aim. I just shoved the barrel out and shot him in the mouth, which was open wide. The shot hit him in the jaw and he turned to the side and then turned back. I shot twice more and he collapsed and died. I made sure he was dead and then sat down because my legs were shaking so much. I'd estimate his weight at 225-250. He was really fat, as the photo [hope the photos come through] will show. On the way out, I met the other guys who hunt the area and told them my story. One of them had been bird hunting on Kauai the week before and had been charged by a boar. He shot it at a range of 10 feet, in the face, and it veered off and disappeared. Uncle Ji and Ev Bouret can comment on this, but it seems to me that these Hawaiian boars, which rarely see humans, tend to be more aggressive than the boars I encountered in Hawaii.

This first photo [not sure if it will work] is of the boar, lying were it fell. It was too heavy for me to move so I had to bone it out right there.

 

[doccherry]

This is the valley where the incident took place. The vines are so thick that a human can't really walk through them but the pigs can run in the tunnels beneath the canopy. The vines are passion fruit, which the pigs love and which makes them really fat, locally called polka banana.

 

[doccherry]

This is the tunnel he burst out from. It's dead center in the photo. If you look carefully, you can see the blowdown log just below the tunnel. Glad it was there or I might not have had time to shoot.

 

[BDB]

Wow, wild story, hope you brought a change of undies with ya !!! Congrats on the piggy, sounds like an awesome adveture

 

[doccherry]

Corrrection in the first post:

Meant to say that the boars in Hawaii are more aggressive than the boars I've encountered in California. Frazzled nerves seem to affect my cognitive abilities.

 

[YumaHntr]

Wow, hope that doesn't happen all the time. But it does reinforce my wanting of a pistol just for such cases. A very cool story.

 

[DaRabbit]

ya that sounds exciting...i am trying to get my dad to take me hog hunting in Norco, CA...any tips???

 

[bux-n-dux]

Doc-

My girlfriend keeps telling me how badly she wants us to move to Hawaii. She grew up going there, mainly to Maui, and her parents have just retired there. Reading about all the awesome hunting there, including your amazing story, is really starting to sway me. If I could just spend winters here to hunt ducks.......oh but to dream......


I really liked the story of your hunt. I hope to get my first hog this year.



Best of continued luck,

bux-n-dux

 

[drewjunr]

That is some thick stuff, glad that ended like it did, good shooting. Doesn't look like many trees to climb or room to get out of its way.

I have not had one charge me yet. Last year bow hunting I did walk up on a pack of them 10 yards to my right side, all I could see was black shapes in an open field, it was pitch black with no moon the only light was from the stars. They didn't get my scent till I walked past, then they ran the same direction that I was walking and crossed 30 yards in front of me. They are like little bull dozers. they busted through barb wire fences snapping the rusted fence as they went. I started carring pistol after that...not that I could see accurately to aim that day but it would have at least gave me some joy of returning some pain if it did get to the point of a showdown.

 

[MikenSoCo]

I don't know how to measure aggression, but my buddy was gored by a charging 80 lbs. sow in Sonoma county. It came at him twice, cutting his leg in the process. Although the sex could've had something to do with it, it was a mean bitch

 

[spectr17]

I gotta get over there and hunt there, it sound like a blast Doc.

Never had a wild boar get real froggy with me yet except for once at FHL when our new Lt. bivauced us in an area where pigs were rooting at night. We told him it wasn't a good idea and he went ahead and camped us there. Sure enough at 2am the trip flares went off and here came the spooked hogs, all disoriented and looking to just get out of dodge.

The smart guys among us had already picked out a tree to climb, just in case. The poor Lt. just ran around dodging hogs. he tried to get up a few trees but the guys already in the small trees just shoved him back down with their boots. Lt. learned to listen to his older NCOs and farm boys that night. The whole scene looked like the one in the Predator movie. When I first saw that movie I laughed thinking Deja Vu all over again. I checked the credits and advisors list at the end of that movie to see if any of my teammates were in Hollywood now since the story was close. No one stabbed a pig in our scramble, tho I know a few tried.

When I was a kid in Iowa I just about got ate when I fell in a hog pen. Pigs can be real mean and aggressive in a second. Toss a snake in a hog pen and watch what happens.

One other pig that tried to hook me was a pig in a large lot we have to cross to get to our deer stands in MO. It was a long walk around the pen and we knew the pig was onery but we always took the shortcut. My cousin and me both had to sprint a few times and dive over a gate to get away from that son of a gun. More than once we put our crosshairs on that hairy bully but we knew the farmer and our dads would kill us for shooting that pig.

 

[doccherry]

Several people have mentioned to me that I should have climbed a tree or run or executed some type of evasive maneuver. Laupahoehoe, like much of the forest and jungle in Hawaii, is covered with vines, roots, lava rocks, and blowdowns. Where I hunt, I have never, ever seen a single place where you could run more than 5 feet without tripping or becoming entangled. I was standing at the bottom of a steep hillside that was a real mess----vines, tangles, fallen trees, lava rocks---and he came out of a sea of polka banana down on the valley floor, which is like a waist-high kudzu, which should be familiar to you folks in the South. There were no options at all other than to shoot or freeze up and hope for the best. I chose to shoot because it happened so fast that I didn't have time to become terrified. Just this big thing coming for me and it wasn't a dream and there was nobody to get me out of the predicament and I was carrying a rifle. Uncle Ji mentioned on this forum that he always used open sights at Laupahoehoe because the shots were so close and in tight. Honestly, that scope allowed me to take the first shot but in close it was worthless. All I did was stick the rifle out from my body and shoot. I could see the impact of the bullets and was amazed at how far off my intended point of aim the shots hit. I'm seriously thinking about using my Winchester 94 in .356, because it has a Lyman tang sight with a huge aperature and a standard ramp bead in front. Only problen there is that I would probably forget to work the lever and the pig would have gotten me. Have to think about it.

What I did do was thoroughly clean and lube the Winchester 100 I used. My DI would be proud of me. That thing just shines. I want to make absolutely sure that it goes "Bang" everytime I pull the trigger.

Jesse: You and others mention making a trip to the Big Island some day. Well, do it!! Aloha Airlines flies out of Orange County or Oakland direct to Kona for about $350. Come in November and combine birds [including turkey, one per day] with pigs, Mouflon sheep, and goats. Non-res license is only about $115 for everything, and you will get just about everything. Mention to the locals that you're a hunter and they smile at you because that's their culture and history. Wild hogs are actually a part of their religion, an important part of their heritage. Whole families hunt here. The only people who have looked down their noses at me for hunting are visitors from California.

You guys come over and I'll guide you around. It'll cost you a beer at the end of the day.

Aloha.

 

[larrysogla]

Awesome!!!!! Just amazing!!!!!

 

[One Track]

That's a great story!!! That was better than watching Lost.

 

[EvBouret]

Nice hog doccherry!!!

Love hearing your stories. Ive had two pigs run under me in a tangle like that. I was standing on a fallen tree and there was about an acre or two of banana polka tangle. I heard one blow and two ran straight beneath me, I was happy I was on the tree instead of crawling through the tunnels.

Im planning a Big Island trip this summer to stay with my friend in Hilo and hunt. Maybe we can meet up for a hunt.

 

[MikenSoCo]

Good Man Doc, look me up if you make it to Sonoma County

 

[sportyg]

WOW great story.. That is what I call an exciting time... Way to go...

 

[doccherry]

A couple more things. First, I called that vine polka banana and Ev Bouret, who knows a thousand times what I know about Hawaii, called it banana polka. I checked with U of Hawaii and it's banana poka. Second, we had a bunch of guests over last night and I cooked up a mess of carnitas using a recipe that a native Hawaiian hunter gave me, sort of a quickie kalua pig recipe. Here it is:

Take a whole ham or shoulder and clean it well. Put it in a big pot and add a couple quarts of water. Add a heaping of Liquid Smoke, a couple tablespoons of kosher salt [not iodized], and a teaspoon of pepper. Simmer it for 5 full hours. Then let it cool. Take out the meat and it will flake off the bones. Clean the meat thoroughly, removing all fat, weird looking stuff, and crud. Then rinse the meat under cold water. Take that meat and put it in aluminum foil and put it in a baking pan. Add whatever seasoning you like and then take 1/4 cup of water and add another heaping of Liquid Smoke. Mix it all around on the meat. Seal up the aluminum foil and bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours. Drain and serve.

Some of the guests were repulsed by the thought of wild boar but agreed to try it. They all came back for seconds and raved about it. It was, without a doubt, the best pork I ever ate. These Hawaiians are awesome when it comes to cooking wild pigs.

Enjoy!! And come over to visit. You'll be in hog heaven, as I am.

 

[larrysogla]

Definitely mouth watering!!!!! God Bless.

 

[bayedsolid]

You know....when charged by a toothy boar hog....you're supposed to cover your head and play dead....or run away in a zig-zag pattern....I'm not sure which....but shooting at them is just plain crazy. Nice pig.