Are ear shots ideal for hogs?

[shooter43]

I know i've talked about shot placement before and it may be annoying, my apologies, but would a shot in the ear canal of a hog be foolish or smart, does it matter what grain bullet is loaded in my 30-30?

[mrawesome22]

Ground hogs I usually aim for center mass.

Head shots are fun though

[Keg]

Shooter..I go for neck shots on big hogs....If your a lil off..prob still be ok....Smaller pigs not that big of a deal....I like 170's in a 30-30..maybe even some of the newer hot loads with bigger bullets....

[YARDDOG(1)]

Ear shots Angeling away is better IMO ; )
Y/D

[arch308]

170's in a 30-30, especially for hogs IMO. I don't see any reason to go for the ear unless you're showing off or just want to prove to yourself you can. Neck shot does the same thing and is a bigger target.

[rickyrick]

2-4" 45deg from the ear.

[BIG P]

Most head shots are going to give same results dead hog.With a 30-30 its not really going to matter much.223 works for me.

[Saltydog235]

Don't know about the 30-30 but its a blast shooting them in the ear with a .243. I use either 70 or 90 grn Ballistic Tips and it scrambles those melons good.

[Doyle]

The true "sweet spot" is just behind the ear. It is where the brain stem connects to the spinal cord.

[farmerboy]

works great, they drop instantly. Ear shots should be made when you have a steady rest and can be sure of the shot. Its not just proving something its dropping them in the tracks, killing them instantly and not having to track a animal. If they're moving around pretty good or cruizing through pretty fast right behind the shoulder is good and for the 30-30 the 150s or the 170s are all good. I have been shooting the 160 grain Hornady FTXs because that what Ive been reloading but before that I was shooting the 150s. But all are good medicine for hogs.

[Double Naught Spy]

When most folks refer to the ear hole (external auditory meatus), they are referring to the soft tissue ear hole and not the boney ear hole which is actually lower down on the skull.

The problem with ear shots is that if you are just a tad high, you end up skipping over the top of the skull. Slightly below behind, underneath, or forward should work very well.

The true "sweet spot" is just behind the ear. It is where the brain stem connects to the spinal cord.

It does work well, but isn't where the brain stem connects with the spinal chord. Directly behind the ear puts you either in neck muscle or hitting the occiptal. It does work, but does so without directly having the brain stem or spinal chord hit.

[Doyle]

Double Naught Spy, I invite you to look at this picture of a hogs anatomy. That spot behind the ear sure looks like the base of the brain stem to me.

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/57600/57619/57619_hog_lg.gif

[rickyrick]

That picture don't show tissue the spine is right about centerline of the neck. Any where in the neck should incapacitate on hydrostatic shock alone.

[Double Naught Spy]

Double Naught Spy, I invite you to look at this picture of a hogs anatomy. That spot behind the ear sure looks like the base of the brain stem to me.

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/57600/57619/57619_hog_lg.gif

Doyle,
You do realize that the picture you provided isn't of a hog's anatomy, just a skeleton. It doesn't actually show the base of the brain stem that you say you can see. It doesn't show the location of the external pinnae which are what most folks refer to as ears. It does show the bony external auditory meatus, but few folks would recognize that for what it is and it isn't labelled in the drawing.

In invite you to read my first sentence again since you obviously missed it.

If you treat everything as "ear" from the ear's bony structures and all the way up to the tips of the external pinnae that most folks call "ears," then allow for a lot of head tipping, directly behind the ear ends up involving a good bit of neck tissue and some air space above the neck.

Given that the bony ear structures shown in your linked skeleton are at the base and below the external pinnae, most folks note shooting relative to the base of the ear, such as "directly behind the base of the ear."

In your image, directly behind the ear with the hog's head at that angle would produce a shot that went into the occipital of the skull, at least for the 1-1.5" behind the skull as shown. Beyond that distance you would come into the atlas.

As rickyrick said, the hydrostatic shock will do its thing nicely, even when you don't actually hit the brain stem.

[Doyle]

Spy, I'm going to have to trust you about the labeling of a hogs anatomy.

[Sport45]

Is this picture anywhere close to accurate?

[Double Naught Spy]

That depends on what you mean by accurate. Several of the bones showed are very inaccurate such as the bizarre triangular thing that is supposed to be the pelvis and depicting the tibia and the radius and ulna as being the same shape of bone and not showing that there is a fibula and not showing the radius and ulna as separate bones. The pelvis is shown connecting the the sacrum with both the ilium and ischium via an extended sacrum and that this just all wrong. Also showing is the NECK VERTEBRAE label with the arrow pointing to the thoracic vertebrae which most definitely are not neck vertebrae. Humerus depicted in front of the heart is depicted smaller than it is in real life. In fact, the overall length of the humerus is shown to be shorter than the heart is long. That is wrong. Apparently with the shortened humerus, you have the scapula and vertebrae drawn down in lower positions than they actually occur. The scapula is shown as an oversized rectangular bone when it is actually much more triangular. For example, see... http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&s...0&tx=114&ty=34


The MAIN ARTERY and MAIN VEIN are surprisingly not as parallel as you would find in real life and the vein is depicted making a strange partial loop around the abdominal and thoracic cavities which it doesn't actually do. There are some other issues, but I will stop at this point.

The image you put up comes from ...
http://hunting.about.com/od/deerbigg...toshoothog.htm

and shows up on many discussion/hunting boards about where to shoot a hog, such as here... http://www.elusivewildlife.com/index.php?section=24

The author is trying to help out deer hunters under the auspices that a hog's anatomy is significantly different from that of a deer and so deer hunters who hunt hogs in the off season are losing hogs because their shots that would have worked well for deer won't work well for hog.

So it is rather ironic that the author puts forth am image of a hog showing the correct anatomy so that deer hunters will understand and yet gets so many things so wrong. The title is...

Where to Shoot a Wild Boar Hog, and How Much Gun to Use

Boar Hogs Aren't Built Like Deer, But Many Hunters Don't Realize That

Hogs may not be exactly like deer, but most folks probably knew that by just looking at them. However, while hogs are not like deer, they are more like deer than they are like the provided drawing.

The author and several others will tell you that the organs are well forward in the hog versus the deer. I don't know what is meant by well forward, but maybe a better description is that the lungs and liver don't appear to extend as far back. I have read where if you want to make a heart shot, the pig's leg needs to be moved out of the way and so you want it forward, or it will cover the heart as shown. This happens on a deer as well.

[rickyrick]

That triangle thing appears to be an aftermarket independent rear suspension setup.....LOL

[shooter43]

thanks for the advice! I might just go for shoulder shots, right in the center of it. My marksmanship skills will need some good work before i can shoot a hog in the ear, giving its so small a target.

[BIG P]

Shoulder shots will work TOO.biggest thing is to shoot'um. Those FLA. hogs are leaking over here to GA.So we need to get them in a cross fire.Damn things are getting bad here.Just kiddin about the FLA THING.

[03Shadowbob]

I shoot them in the neck. DRT.

[Keg]

The author is trying to help out deer hunters under the auspices that a hog's anatomy is significantly different from that of a deer and so deer hunters who hunt hogs in the off season are losing hogs because their shots that would have worked well for deer won't work well for hog.

My SIL's buck from last season...U can see the entrance..About same place for exit on the other side....It took out both lungs and top of the heart....I learned the hard way not to put it here on a large hog....

[thallub]

i sometimes shoot big hogs in the ear or behind the ear; usually while hunting with a .22 magnum in small game season. Ear shot hogs often do not bleed out. IMO: Bloody hog meat ain't so tasty.

[Flintknapper]

DNS wrote:

It does work well, but isn't where the brain stem connects with the spinal chord. Directly behind the ear puts you either in neck muscle or hitting the occiptal

DNS the following is not for your benefit, I know you know your hog anatomy (its your business after all), but for others less familiar.


Exactly right…and that is the “area” I always seek to hit (where possible).

I don’t have anything against “head shots” PROVIDED you are good marksman, the animal is relatively still and the angle is reasonable.

But, if I have a choice…I always take a neck shot. However, what I mean by “neck shot” is shot placement designed to hit (or nearly hit) the Occipital, Axis or Atlas.

In the picture below the simulated cross-hairs would be about right (for the head position of this hog).



If the shot should land a bit farther back….I would still connect with the Cervical Vertebrae, but you have to be careful not to shoot too high on the neck.

All too often a hog hit in such a manner will drop, only to get back up and run off. The reason of course…is that the spinal cord itself was not hit (usually just a dorsal spine).

My advice is to take a neck shot anytime the circumstance permits, it’s a highly effective shot and allows a bit more room for error than your typical head shot (ear canal).

[603Country]

Mostly I shoot em in the lungs and that works just fine at any range with my 260. With my 223 however, you need the right bullet if you lung shoot em. Before I switched to the 65 gr Sierra GK, I used mostly the 55 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip and that really isn't a great bullet for pig blasting. I had a big one quartering away from me at a medium trot at about 100 yards and I had the Ballistic Tips in the rifle. Well...not the time for a lung shot, but I had an angle shot available right behind the ear. I guess I sent it about an inch high, because there was this big cloud of vapor above his head. No, not the red mist, but more the mud and pig bristle mist. He didn't speed up or slow down at bullet impact. He just kept trotting. That's when I switched bullets. Later, I switched calibers. I was seeing pigs from 60 to 400 yards and the 223 just didn't have enough horsepower to anchor the big ones. The 260 does. So yes, the ear shots are fine, but I think the lung shots allow more margin for error.