Trad Gang

My wife and I are going hog hunting. She is shooting a 40# recurve with a well tuned 570gr arrow. Her draw is only about 24". I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on her setup for shooting pigs.

IMHO, she's got enough power, but no real excess power, so the margin for error is less than it would be with a heavier bow.  That puts a even greater than normal premium on making a really good shot.

I'd not want to try more than about 15 yards with that setup, but as with most things related to bow hunting, if you put a razor sharp broadhead in the right place you'll do fine; if you don't you won't.

Last, if she sees a 300# boar with that setup advise her to let him walk.  A nice 150 or so will be a much better choice.

Is that 40# at her 24" draw, or a 40# bow at 28" that she is  only drawing to 24"?  Big difference.  If the former, may be OK on a smaller hog, but not on a big shielded boar.    

40# @ 28? So she is generating 28#? That is not going to go well. If she nails one she will not likely want to hunt again.

QuoteOriginally posted by dragon rider:
IMHO, she's got enough power, but no real excess power, so the margin for error is less than it would be with a heavier bow.  That puts a even greater than normal premium on making a really good shot.

I'd not want to try more than about 15 yards with that setup, but as with most things related to bow hunting, if you put a razor sharp broadhead in the right place you'll do fine; if you don't you won't.

Last, if she sees a 300# boar with that setup advise her to let him walk.  A nice 150 or so will be a much better choice.

I agree with everything in this post as long as she is drawing the 40#. Like Bjorn said, if she is only shooting the 28# it may not work too well. I do have a friend who hunts with a 31# at her draw recurve and she takes animals all the time. She is VERY selective on her shots and VERY well tuned. I was on the hunt where she took a beautiful 36" axis buck.I would probably limit myself to about 100# though on the hogs.

Bisch

Like the others said, she should be fine on smaller hogs. In her case, I think the benefits for EFOC arrows and single bevel heads would be well warranted.

I just shot a hog a couple weeks ago and it was my first one.  It weighed 240 lbs.  I shot it dead broadside at eleven yards with a 56lb longbow and a  585 gr arrow tipped with a kme sharpened muzzy phantom.  The shot was about two inches behind the shoulder, almost in the center of the shield.  I did not penetrate through the other side much less get a pass through.  I got one lung and a portion of another.  The hog did die rather quickly, about a half hour of tracking and the hog was expiring when we found it. Not a single drop of blood was found, we tracked by footprints in the sand.  IMO she is undergunned on large hogs and marginally so on smaller ones, especially if she is shooting a bow that is 40@28
which would make her draw weight somewhere around 28lbs approx. IMO she should limit herself to small hogs with little to no shield or if she is consistently very accurate a shot with the hog quartering away where she could slip an arrow behind the shield and up into the boiler room might be effective.  I have shot a fair amount of big game and was amazed at how tough it is to penetrate the shield on a big hog.  I shoot regularly with guys who have not modified their arrows in any way and consequently their arrows are not anywhere near the weight of mine and they hate pulling my arrows from 3-D targets.  I get substantially more penetration with that heavy arrow and could not imagine trying to shoot a hog with less. Your girl has a substantial arrow there with that much weight but not much power behind it.  I would pick your shots very very carefully and ensure that missile on the end is absolutely hair popping sharp or you could be in for a bad experience. My first hog was a real eye opener. Hope you guys have a blast and good luck!

She is pulling 40# @ 24" I should have wrote that better. I agree with what everyone said. I told her most of the same things tonight when we were shooting. I might just have to shoot the really big pigs for her.   :bigsmyl:

I will say the same thing that I always say about hogs, make sure that you both know where the vitals of a hog are located, if you shoot them just like a deer you might miss the vitals all together. The heart and lungs are much futher forward and the heart is low in the chest behind the leg.  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=108224

My wife has a 43# @ 28" dryad phoenix she draws to 26".  She drove the arrow to the fletch on the only hog she has shot.  A 100# ish boar.

She'll be fine.

My daughter killed a near #200 hog with her Javaman Tanjavur pulling 40#@24 when she was 14. She got a near pass thru.

She had 27 inch Gold Tip 35/55 with 100 grain brass inserts and 125 grain Magnus two blade heads.

My daughter did put another arrow into that hog but it was more out of her wanting it to be dead quick as possible.     ;)    
   (http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g128/ad2877/Harvests/0112.jpg)

If it's free-range, most hogs you'll encounter will be 150# or less.No problem with that set-up with a two blade head.
(like most things, the weights of hogs are greatly exaggerated)
As previously stated, straight up the front leg, one third of the way up(broadside). I don't like quartering away shots on hogs unless it's a heavy bow and arrow combo, much better to have two holes than one, especially if the first hole starts in the guts.

I am glad to hear you guys think she should be fine. I was worried that her arrows were a little on the heavy side. We wont be hunting for sometime so it will give her more time to hone her shooting.

QuoteOriginally posted by BrushWolf:
I am glad to hear you guys think she should be fine. I was worried that her arrows were a little on the heavy side. We wont be hunting for sometime so it will give her more time to hone her shooting.

If she can hit what she is looking at, the heavy arrow should do nothing but help!

Bisch

You going back to Ray's, Mike?

Yeah, we were lucky enough to get the St. Judes hunt. Haven't scheduled it yet... I need to get ahold of Ray. Been waiting to see what my work schedule will be next spring. It looks like she'll be fine with what she's got. Now we just need to practice, pratice, practice.

Congratulations on winning the hunt!!  Is your wife shooting one of your bows?  I want to go back to Ray's, but not sure of the best time of the year to go.  When we were there, food sources were hard to find.  I know you got into them pretty good the last day, and Kyle saw a few at different times, but no rhyme or reason as to where to look for them.  In the fall with the acorns dropping and the grapes ripening, I think the food is more concentrated.  I'll probably try a fall hunt.

I am having the same problem with when to go. She is shooting a bow I made for her. It is the shortest bow I have made and its one of a kind. Her bow is 56" and 40# @ 24". My problem with a fall hunt is it's hard to get vacation time then.

Hey she won't have any problem as long as her broadheads are sharp.  I went to rays with a back up bow of 45lbs and a 540 grain broad head.  As long as her shot placment and stalking techniques are good you will have meat in the freezer.