Dangerous??

[Lifeguard]

I was wondering how agressive and dangerous wild boar can be?  I hunt in Northern Saskatchewan and the local outfitter just had his boar get away on him and now there are boar EVERYWHERE.  I shot 2 during my week of deer hunting and 1 during the elk season.  They are of course not a native species up here and I was wondering how dangerous they can be and how aggressive they are if you come across them in the bush.

[fly-in]

I manage a barn with "domestic boars", I don't trust these ones, I sure wouldn't trust a wild one.

Two close calls I've had were once I "tapped" one with a cane to get him out of the pen, he turned so fast and I was stuck between two sets of bars, I was lucky in that case, I ended up with just a scratch on my abdomen, below my waistline .

The second one I was going to put down, we use a captive bolt gun, it uses a blank to push out a steel rod that shoots into the head causing a "wave" that destroys the brain stem. I had the gun cocked and was just lining it up on his head (the gun has to be put right against the head), when he hit the gun with his snout and the momentum drove the gun up with me still holding it and hit me in the head right between my eyebrows, I had to go to the emergency room to have the wound super glued. The boar did die, but not with the gun.

Those are just two close calls I have had with these "domestic animals", there have been many more.

[mooseslayer71]

a friend of mine goes to tennesse every year to hunt them. he saw one guy that needed serious stitches after he wounded a boar and pursuded him into some briars. i guess the boar tore his leg up pretty good before the guy finished him off w/a blast of buckshot! they can be nasty buggers from what ive heard.

[bamaboy]

hunting hogs is like hunting anything else. you have to know the animal you are hunting. most of the people i see get hurt are people who have never done it before. I compare it to bear hunting. you just have to know what you are doing and what not to do.

[booghuntin]

     My dad has a farm in Southeastern Oklahoma and there has been a rapid increase of dangerous encounters with wild hogs.  My uncle, who uses my dad's pasture land for his horses, lost a colt to hogs this past year.  They ran the colt down and slashed his gut open.  By the time my dad and uncle got there the hogs had left and the colt had to be put down at the vet's office.  They'll eat anything they can catch, kill, or scavenge.  Nasty critters but very tasty and, with many states having liberal bag limits and seasons, it's time we get in touch with our inner bacon. lol  Good luck and be careful!

[Double Naught Spy]

Boar can be dangerous, but for the most part, they will opt to run away as opposed to fighting.  The exceptions to this are when they are wounded, cornered, or being handled.  Few gun hunters get hurt by boar, but hog-doggers and knife hunters do much more often.  This is because they are in physical contact with animals that don't want to be handled, often that are already wounded.

This is the only real time that I have experienced anything approaching aggressive behavior on the ground. 

[SamShooter]

I was wondering how agressive and dangerous wild boar can be?  I hunt in Northern Saskatchewan and the local outfitter just had his boar get away on him and now there are boar EVERYWHERE.  I shot 2 during my week of deer hunting and 1 during the elk season.  They are of course not a native species up here and I was wondering how dangerous they can be and how aggressive they are if you come across them in the bush.

Yup. It can be a bit dangerous especially if you haven’t done it before. First time I went hog hunting , I was with a friend who has years of experience under his belt. I suggest studying their behavior first. They can be quite smart, so you got to have your guard up. Feral hogs in some states are troublesome. No matter how many you hunt, you just can’t keep their population down. That is why in some areas in the US they’re quite liberal when it comes to the bag limits and seasons. Stay safe!