# Chattahoochee Boar Hog.  Euro Mount Photo Added



## jbogg

I shot this boar at last light opening day of turkey season.  I just took up muzzleloading this year specifically to take advantage of the hog hunting in the North Georgia Mountains.  Full disclosure, I have had a steep learning curve in the few months I have been hunting the mountains.  In my thirty years of hunting I have never hunted public land, never seen a hog, never hunted evenings, never hunted the mountains until last fall, and never used a muzzleloader.  I was reluctant to share this story as it was not my proudest moment, but thought someone else might benefit from my experience.

When I first saw this hog at last light at the other end of a clover plot I initially thought it was a bear due to the angle, color, and shear size of this pig.  Once he turned broadside it was evident that it was a huge boar.  He started closing the distance walking towards me.  Almost instantly  I felt the wind hit the back of my neck, and within a couple of seconds he stopped and put his nose in the air.  He started walking quickly to the corner of the field, so just before he would disappear behind some thick young pines I whistled him to a stop and squeezed off behind the shoulder.  I am still not used to the smoke produced from a ML.  As the cloud of smoke cleared from my 100 grns of Whitehots I was able to see the pig running flat out as it cleared the far end of the field.  Realizing I had very little daylight left I immediately went to where he had been standing and began searching for any sign of a hit.  After searching the field for twenty minutes I had not discovered a drop of blood and the light was fading fast.  I returned to my setup to pack up my gear and retrieve my headlamp to resume my search.  I ended up walking to the last place I had seen the hog at the far end of the field, and with no blood to follow I just started following the drain down into the woods where I was sure he had headed towards.  After searching for another twenty minutes just hoping to stumble on him it was now pitch black and my small headlamp was not casting near enough light to see a black pig in those shadows.

I ended up walking the mile and a half back to my truck convincing myself I had missed.  Looking back now I know I was just trying to make myself feel better after not being able to recover an animal that I had likely mortally wounded.

Fast forward one week.  I had spent Saturday of the following weekend backpacking in about three miles on the AT to hunt turkeys on the NF.  Woke up Sunday morning in my hammock to a bird gobbling on the ridge behind my camp but he went quite before I could even get my boots tied.  I ended up packing out a little after lunch.  Once I arrived at the parking lot at Tesnatee Gap I agreed to give a couple of weary thru hikers who had surrendered for the day a ride into Helen.  At this point I decided there was still enough daylight left to return to the food plot where I had shot at the boar the week prior in hopes of finding the gobbler that had gobbled his head off for almost an hour the week before up on a ridge above the food plot just a couple of hours before the boar entered the field.

As I approached the field, I noticed some buzzards flapping around in the white pines just off of the trail leading to the food plot.  I had a good idea of what that meant, and sure enough as I rounded the bend I saw movement off of the trail about 40' into the woods.  What I expected to be buzzards on the ground turned out to be the largest black bear I have seen in the woods clearly feeding on something in the large pines.  As I moved closer I was able to observe the bear drag the carcass a foot or so and then begin to rake pine needles and other debris on top of the what he had clearly decided was his dinner.  I hesitated not knowing if he would defend his meal, but was relieved to see him take off up the hill when I started shouting at him.

Sure enough it was the hog from the week before.  He had barely cleared the field, and I had walked within 40' of him the week before but had failed to see him in the black of night with my feeble headlamp.  I called killerkyle on my way out that evening to relate the story and he reinforced my decision to return to salvage the head of this huge animal for a Euromount.  We returned the next morning in a monsoon to complete the task.  Looking back there are several things I should have done differently.  First and foremost I should have been better prepared to search for a downed animal in the dark of night.  A small headlamp may be fine for walking in or out in the dark, but it is not nearly enough light to adequately find a black animal in the pitch black of a pine forest.  Additionally, I should have been more familiar with my weapon as well as the animal I was hunting.  I have since learned that muzzleloader s often fail to leave an exit hole, and large hogs are notorious for leaving little or no blood.  My friend Joe Brandon had offered to help me look for the hog the following day, but I turned down his offer still telling myself I must have missed.  I broke a couple of my own cardinal rules.  Always assume you hit the animal and exhaust every measure in trying to find it.  As I said at the start, this was not my proudest moment in the woods, but I am a better hunter for it, and will not make the same mistake again.


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## Tio Hey Seuss

Thanks for sharing the story dude! I can relate to just about every aspect of it too haha. I'm new to muzzleloaders and have only been hunting the mountains for 2 seasons now. Also failed to recover the first pig I shot with my smoke pole. Like you said, you learn from it. I've since started training my dog to help recover wounded game because I felt downright ill about it. 
Glad you at least got your skull to commemorate the hunt and congrats. Looks like a fine pig!


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## Echo

Wow! Quite the chain of events there, jbogg!

Some real nice cutters on that beast!


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## jbogg

Tio Hey Seuss said:


> Thanks for sharing the story dude! I can relate to just about every aspect of it too haha. I'm new to muzzleloaders and have only been hunting the mountains for 2 seasons now. Also failed to recover the first pig I shot with my smoke pole. Like you said, you learn from it. I've since started training my dog to help recover wounded game because I felt downright ill about it.
> Glad you at least got your skull to commemorate the hunt and congrats. Looks like a fine pig!



Thanks for the response.  That would be great to have a dog that could track through the thick laurel and buck berries.  This pig was very close to the same size as the big sow that Kyle wrote about in "Chattahoochee WMA Tank".  We guessed she was around 270lbs.  The feet on this boar were probably 50% larger than the feet on the big sow.  Regardless, there are some large pigs roaming those hills.


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## jbogg

Echo said:


> Wow! Quite the chain of events there, jbogg!
> 
> Some real nice cutters on that beast!



Yep.  The cutters and whetters were not super long, but they were almost as big around at the bases as my thumb.


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## 35 Whelen

If it makes you feel any better, even though you did not recover that hog be assured that no protein goes to wast in the woods and you removed a destructive, non-native, invasive animal from the environment.

Also, what bullets are you using in your muzzleloader that are not giving you a pass through?  Hopefully not PowerBelts, I stopped using those long ago when I tried them and did not get pass through on deer.


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## mar0311

*mar0311*

Thanks for sharing! A Hunter learns everyday of the Hunt..


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## jbogg

35 Whelen said:


> If it makes you feel any better, even though you did not recover that hog be assured that no protein goes to wast in the woods and you removed a destructive, non-native, invasive animal from the environment.
> 
> Also, what bullets are you using in your muzzleloader that are not giving you a pass through?  Hopefully not PowerBelts, I stopped using those long ago when I tried them and did not get pass through on deer.




With the benefit of hindsight I am uncertain as to whether I got a pass through or not.  It is very possible that I did, but still no blood to be found.  At the time due to the lack of blood and the what appeared to be a healthy hog running off I prematurely decided that I must have missed.  When I found him a week later I did not think to roll him over looking for an exit hole.  I was mainly looking over my shoulder hoping the big bear didn't change his mind.  I am shooting the Barnes T EZ 250grn which is an excellent bullet, and actually did pass completely through the  Big Sow that we shot last week.  Even with an entry and exit hole, there were just a few drops of blood visible at the point of impact, and then nothing more for almost 100 yds.


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## jbogg

mar0311 said:


> Thanks for sharing! A Hunter learns everyday of the Hunt..



Really nice cat!


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## model88_308

Thanks for sharing this! A couple things to keep in mind, a big boar with a significant shield is very difficult to blood trail. Even if shot in the right place a boar of over 250 pounds will very likely not have an exit even with a powerful CF rifle. The shield can and many times will shift after the hit and the one "good" hole can get "plugged" when that happens.

As a couple examples, a big boar taken by a good friend on one of our hunts took a warmly loaded 225gr bullet from a .35 Whelen through the shoulders and the bullet did not exit at a range of 50 yards. Another big boar I shot with a 200gr XP3 out of a .325WSM at around 80 yards also had no exit, that bullet was wedged in the offside shield. 

I hope your Euro mount comes out well.


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## jbogg

model88_308 said:


> Thanks for sharing this! A couple things to keep in mind, a big boar with a significant shield is very difficult to blood trail. Even if shot in the right place a boar of over 250 pounds will very likely not have an exit even with a powerful CF rifle. The shield can and many times will shift after the hit and the one "good" hole can get "plugged" when that happens.
> 
> As a couple examples, a big boar taken by a good friend on one of our hunts took a warmly loaded 225gr bullet from a .35 Whelen through the shoulders and the bullet did not exit at a range of 50 yards. Another big boar I shot with a 200gr XP3 out of a .325WSM at around 80 yards also had no exit, that bullet was wedged in the offside shield.
> 
> I hope your Euro mount comes out well.



I believe it.  The big sow that we quartered up last week for our pack out had a 2" layer of fat all over it's back and shoulders.  After many years of only working up deer this experience was a real eye opener.


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## Killer Kyle

There had better be a follow up with a picture of a euro mount!!! . 
This is the kind of thing that I think fellow hog hunters can understand. Searching for a black animal in the dead of night with a light casting shadows from trees and vegetation....Finding a black hog at night cannot be considered a foregone conclusion. I have lost a few the same way. A deer has a white belly, some hogs are lighter colored. But bigger ones, much like a bear, can leave scarce evidence of a fatal hit. Given their nocturnal nature, hammering one at last light is the usual. Finding a black hog like that in the woods can be challenging to say the least. 
Has anyone ever tried those UV blood tracker lights before? I have never used them on game. Do they really work? I have one in a flashlight, but never carry it for the sake of weight. Any input would be greatly appreciated!


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## tree cutter 08

Good story jbogg! I lost a big hog on hooch 2 years ago. Big black boar that would go over 300 easy. I said then, hogs will be shot in the head from now on. They are tough critters. Something I started doing a few years ago is carrying 3 flashlights with me. A small head lamp,a medium light and a real bright light. They are small now with the led technology and all 3 lights take AAA batteries. I carry enough light now to last all night because you never know when you might need them.


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## Killer Kyle

tree cutter 08 said:


> Good story jbogg! I lost a big hog on hooch 2 years ago. Big black boar that would go over 300 easy. I said then, hogs will be shot in the head from now on. They are tough critters. Something I started doing a few years ago is carrying 3 flashlights with me. A small head lamp,a medium light and a real bright light. They are small now with the led technology and all 3 lights take AAA batteries. I carry enough light now to last all night because you never know when you might need them.



I do the very same thing cutter! Two headlamps, a bright tac light, and extra batteries. When you're 2-4 miles in, you can never have too much light!!


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## jbogg

tree cutter 08 said:


> Good story jbogg! I lost a big hog on hooch 2 years ago. Big black boar that would go over 300 easy. I said then, hogs will be shot in the head from now on. They are tough critters. Something I started doing a few years ago is carrying 3 flashlights with me. A small head lamp,a medium light and a real bright light. They are small now with the led technology and all 3 lights take AAA batteries. I carry enough light now to last all night because you never know when you might need them.



I fully agree, and lesson learned.  I went out and bought a small but powerful LED the week after.  I had it with me when Kyle and I got that big sow a couple of weeks ago.  Thankfully the pigs came out early and the only thing I used it for was to illuminate a couple of whippoorwills guarding the road on our way out.


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## jbogg

tree cutter 08 said:


> Good story jbogg! I lost a big hog on hooch 2 years ago. Big black boar that would go over 300 easy. I said then, hogs will be shot in the head from now on. They are tough critters. Something I started doing a few years ago is carrying 3 flashlights with me. A small head lamp,a medium light and a real bright light. They are small now with the led technology and all 3 lights take AAA batteries. I carry enough light now to last all night because you never know when you might need them.



I fully agree, and lesson learned.  I went out and bought a small but powerful LED the week after.  I had it with me when Kyle and I got that big sow a couple of weeks ago.  Thankfully the pigs came out early and the only thing I used it for was to illuminate a couple of whippoorwills guarding the road on our way out.


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## ripplerider

tree cutter 08 said:


> Good story jbogg! I lost a big hog on hooch 2 years ago. Big black boar that would go over 300 easy. I said then, hogs will be shot in the head from now on. They are tough critters. Something I started doing a few years ago is carrying 3 flashlights with me. A small head lamp,a medium light and a real bright light. They are small now with the led technology and all 3 lights take AAA batteries. I carry enough light now to last all night because you never know when you might need them.



Would you and Kyle mind sharing the make and model of the lights you carry?


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## livinoutdoors

Great story and great experience to share!


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## Ben Athens

I carry a couple of snap Chem lights too.


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## tree cutter 08

I like the coast line of lights pretty good.  My coast headlamp is about 3 years old and I bet you couldn't fit all the batteries it's burned through in a gallon jug. All three lights I carry use 3aaa batteries but it's amazing at how much light the bigger ones throw


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## Killer Kyle

ripplerider said:


> Would you and Kyle mind sharing the make and model of the lights you carry?


Hey ripple, I'll have to look mine up also. I use the Coast brand as well, and have been fairly happy with them. Sometimes I will also carry a Petzel that has served me several years now.


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## livinoutdoors

Killer Kyle said:


> Hey ripple, I'll have to look mine up also. I use the Coast brand as well, and have been fairly happy with them. Sometimes I will also carry a Petzel that has served me several years now.



Coast is the best bang for the buck hands down!


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## Killer Kyle

I have gone through a lot of headlamps, and I have learned something in the process. I have one from Coast that was about $19.00 at Walmart. It runs 210 lumens on high. I have another from them that is 285 lumens that cost $29.99 at Walmart. (I checked them at Wally world tonight). I'm pretty sure both are running Chinese Cree bulbs, but they behave very differently. The one that is 210 lumens has either six or eight smaller bulbs. The one running 285 has one large Cree bulb. I actually get FAR greater visibility with the lower powered headlamp. It provides a floodlight effect, but the higher powered one, while having more lumens, provides an INTENSLY focused beam from the one bulb, and the beam has really "hard" edges. Effectively, I can only see what is directly in the beam and nothing else, 
rather than having a good view of everything around me. It is tunnel vision. Like looking through a pipe. It all comes down to what a hunter wants or prefers out of his light. I have learned that I prefer a lamp with many bulbes as compared to a single one. 
We also have to take lumen ratings with a grain of salt, specifically in regards to companies that use Cree bulbs. Cree is notorious for misadvertising the lumen ratings of their bulbs. You will often see where they advertise certain devices at (for instance) 800 lumens, an independent tester will compare the light to another brand, and a flashlight running 350-400 lumens will completely flood out a Cree "800" lumen. There are too many online tests and videos to reference here. But suffice it to say that when Cree advertises a certain lumen rating, it irregularly runs true. It is always the best practice to seek product reviews and research prior to the purchase of an illumination device. A little research goes a long, long way.


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## Killer Kyle

I should also commend jbogg on the recovery effort. Many people, including myself on MULTIPLE occasions have searched for animals after a potential kill for a few days. I've had a couple instances where I thought I had made a kill shot, but couldn't recover the game. This included a buck I shot on Wilson Shoals WMA. I called a friend in from out of town. It took him 2 hrs to get to me. We tracked a buck further than I care to relate. Bright bubbly blood was everywhere. This bucks trail diminished after maybe 400+ yards. I went in for two weeks looking for buzzards, the stink of dead animal. Never found the buck although he bled an immense amount. I finally found the first bear I killed two weeks after I kille it. J persisted and finally found the boar more than a week later. Many hunters today do not follow up like he did. When he shot it, he told me he thought it was a big boar. I didn't realize it was until I saw it. He really did kill a magnificent boar, and instead of giving up the search for it, he went in a week later and found it. A lot of hunters today would have just written it off as a loss. This boar was half rotten and half eaten, but we covered our noses and mouths and smeared the facial coveriengs with Bengay to mask the odor, and finished the deed. I gagged a few times in the process because of the stench. 
All this said, J went above and beyond the call of duty to recover his trophy. That is more follow up than many hunters exercise today, and I respect that.


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## ripplerider

Theres no shame in letting one get away occasionally as long as you made an honest effort to find it. It pretty much happens to everyone who hunts long enough. I try to always fix in my mind exactly where an animal was standing when I shot it. I leave something at the place I shot from to mark it and go directly to where the critter was. If theres no blood, I look for cut hairs. They may be hard to find, but a bullet doesnt enter an animals body without cutting some hair. You can tell a good bit about your hit from the hair left behind. If theres a good bit laying there close together you got a solid hit. If it's sprayed past where he was standing you only grazed him. With a deer at least you can get an idea where you hit him. A slow muzzleloader bullet wont leave as much evidence as a high-velocity rifle bullet but there still should be some. I always trail from the point of impact even if I'm pretty sure he's laying dead over the next rise. It's good practice. Sometimes they'll bleed out internally and wont leave a blood trail. Then you've got to look for running tracks and pieces of bone. This is how I found my best buck. It never bled a drop but I found hair at impact and a couple of pieces of bone along the track. He ran 300 yards with his heart and lungs vaporised from a quartering away shot at 10 yards. I want to see the European mount too JBoggs!~


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## jbogg

Thought I would share the euro mount I got back a few weeks ago.  That's the first one I've ever had done.   Turned out pretty good.   Definitely a conversation piece.


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## model88_308

The skull looks great! Thanks for updating with the pic!


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## ripplerider

Definitely a cool conversation piece. What do they charge for something like that?


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## model88_308

ripplerider said:


> Definitely a cool conversation piece. What do they charge for something like that?



I paid $150 for the skull to be done on the big blonde boar I got in '15. I got it and the mount done in Dublin.


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## jbogg

ripplerider said:


> Definitely a cool conversation piece. What do they charge for something like that?



Hey Jeff.  I think I paid about $80 at Trophy Taker Taxidermy in Cornelia.  Don't know that I would do another, but this was my first hog, and first public land critter so it was worth it to me.


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## jbogg

model88_308 said:


> I paid $150 for the skull to be done on the big blonde boar I got in '15. I got it and the mount done in Dublin.



Those look awesome!  Great looking buck!


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## Killer Kyle

model88_308 said:


> I paid $150 for the skull to be done on the big blonde boar I got in '15. I got it and the mount done in Dublin.



Showoff!! haha! Just kidding...killer mounts man!!


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## Tugboat1

Bravo jbogg! Great story and I admire you honest self appraisal.


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