Need a "boar" knife

The folks I was hunting with were using Belgian Shepards to hunt hogs. Seems like pit bulls would have been a better choice. There were a couple of 3 legged shepards in the pack that had obviously been the losers in earlier hunts.

Chad - That 686 may at least make you feel a bit safer. My experience with trying to get instant kills on large game animals (hogs and deer) with handguns (44 Mag in my case) has not been very good. The "instant" part is important when you're only arm's length from a set of tusks. A better idea would be to have someone close by with a shotgun loaded with buckshot or slugs.

Jake - the Hell's Belle looks like it would be just about ideal.

Neil - some of the folks in coastal SC use the terms "boar" and "hog" to differentiate between the critters that are descendants of Russian Black Boar vice plain old feral hogs. The "boars" have a longer snout and have thicker hair than feral hogs. They are also reportedly a bit meaner.

One last bit of advice is that you want to stick the hog "just" behind the front shoulder/armpit. If you go back more than an inch or so behind the shoulder, you'll hit and bounce off a rib. This tends to make the hog forget about the dogs and start thinking about you. Trust me - I'm not going to make that mistake again.

 
Way back in 1981 I shot a deer with a 30-06. The bullet went low and the animal, although hit, managed to turn and run up a rocky incline. We gave chase and caught up with it about 150 yards up the incline at the end of a long trail of viscera.

By the time we reached it, the animal had managed to drop its entire digestive system, along with its liver, lungs, and heart. Yet, with all of this damaged it had manage to run 450' and climb over 100' over rough terrain. And you want to stab something three times at big and hope it doesn't make it 2-3 feet to rip you to shreds.

You may want someone to come along with a 12 GA double and a first aid kit just in case you're successful.
 
Just what a man needs! Some primal hunting the way it was meant to be! Just you and your 'claw' up against it and its tusks! That's hunting for the totally balanced! That's playing it fair! A shotgun from a distance? That's cheating! Get right in there. But be quick about it! Thrust several times if you can before jumping away. A wounded boar is worse trouble than a hive full of hornets! Sure, bring your handgun. Rather shoot it than be its dinner, but the rush of the hunt is so much sweeter when you've done the thing in with your bare hands (and your 'claw')!

Now, if you want to play safe, check out the spears Cold Steel offers. It's still a 'projectile' if you throw it, (as opposed to something that doesn't leave your hand), but at least it's still bringing you close enough to give the critter a 'fair chance', as opposed to using a gun of sorts. Or use the spear without throwing it.

Does it sound like I'm on the side of the critter? No way! But the glory of the victory is so much sweeter when the 'sides' are even! If you're harvesting the critters for the food to feed your family, by all means use a gun and get it over with. But if it's the thrill of the hunt you want, get a good pig sticker and have at it! Enjoy yourself!

I favor Newt's weapons. HKR sounds good, though it seems a mite short, ...

And whatever you do, if you end up on the losing side, blast the critter to kingdom come before you REALLY lose! This forum has had enough losses lately - God bless the families of James Mattis and Al Barton.

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Champions make improvements as fast as losers make excuses.
 
Originally posted by Champion:
primal hunting... Just you and your 'claw' up against it and its tusks! ... the rush of the hunt is so much sweeter when you've done the thing in with your bare hands (and your 'claw')!
...the glory of the victory is so much sweeter ....the thrill of the hunt
Click to expand...
That is the spirit of the hunt, thank you.
I got my Rinaldi Armaggedon yesterday (with a Chimera attached) it will be my weapon of choice (unless I find a HKR in my mailbox)
and it is AWESOME. I'll post a review and pics soon.
Thanks to all that have replied.
Chad

 
I've read that the Russian wild boars have a thick plate of gristle that protects their vital organs, and that the knife has to be long(9" to 10" blade), strong, and sharp to penetrate. These boars can weigh 500 lbs. I think a set of slash resistant pants or chaps might be a good idea, bucause that's where you get cut by the razor sharp tusks if the boar attacks you. Fighting Knives magazine had several articles on boar hunting. One was on Larry Harley's knives and the other was about a custom made knife that the author made specifically for the hunt.
 
For me: .12 Ga. slug gun w/ a 18" Mauser bayonet.
Whatever you use, make sure it has a nice guard- the Keating/Dozier Crossada comes to mind. You don't want the critter running up the blade right at you.

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Runs With Scissors
AKTI# A000107
 
You want long, tough, and somewhat narrow. You want a blade that you can stick in the soft spot under the foreleg or between the neck and clavicle into the heart. You are sticking in real deep between boney obstacles. Around a 12" bayonet blade would be good. There are a zillion versions of the Mauser bayonet, some have around that blade length. They are made of tough non-stainless alloys to withstand being rammed into targets with the force of a well swung rifle behind them. Grind a sharp edge and point on the blade and, voila, you're ready to pig stick.


[This message has been edited by Jeff Clark (edited 09-20-2000).]
 
you know i heard Walter Brend makes knives for this purpose and may have even hunted hawgs with them.
 
I haven't been in quite a while, but I used to get quite a kick out of pig sticking.

The way I learned didn't involve dogs, and was more like the "greased-up pig chase" they have for the kids at the county fair.

We have a plethora of boar in Florida(not everyone down here calls the hawgs, that seems to be a country thing, all the swampers I know call'em boar, mostly), and you can usualy find some likely canidates along any stretch of relatively rural road. Or you can make a camping adventure expedition of it.

Either way, we went for smaller boar, probably less than two feet at the shoulder. The idea is that you either stalked and sprinted best you could(low likelihood of success), or your buddies would circle `round the herd and drive one towards the person who was going to make the kill.

The general idea was to jump on the thing's back, sweep its rear legs out from under it with yours, wrap your left arm under his chin to restrain those tusks, and use the left arm to grab the right leg and lift to expose the soft armpit, and then stab the bejeezus out of it.

I used my Project 1. It's a bit on the small side for this type of work, but the rounded angles where the guard meets the handle make for a comfortable and secure purchase to really ram home the blade, and the knurled handle with wristloop keep the knife in the hands well.

A variation on the pig roast we did was to butterfly the beast, leaving the skin w/hair on, and sandwhich it between two pieces of diamond grate. Then light the fire in the pit, and while the flames are still high, set the spit up, with the hair side exposed to the flame. After all the hair's burned off and the timing feels about right, you flip.

 
In middleages those that afforded used chainmail - even with spears. Boars in America must be lame as here nobody hunts boars with knife. Even female (only that I've seen) boars tusks are too large for that NASTY animal.

Use somekind of protective vest! In the middle of boar fight you don't have time to draw a handgun(while it slices and tramples you to something that used to look like a human beeing), not to mention to hold firmly it or aim and shoot. If there is only going to be you and a full-grown boar You are mad IMO. (but brave)

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"Good tools to sustain life, or at least make life more convenient"
-James Mattis
 
Originally posted by Tommi:
If there is only going to be you and a full-grown boar You are mad IMO. (but brave)

Click to expand...
Hi, my mental stability has been questioned on several occasions.
smile.gif

Brave, not very, but fear is a great motivator. (Three years assigned to a tactical unit taught me that)
Be safe,
Chad
 
There are essentialy three types of boar in the U.S.(well, main varieties, and discounting javelinas)

Feral domestic pigs, which can be agressive and big, but whose tusks are less imposing the the Russian Boar, as it is sometimes reffered to, the razorbacked beast that was the preffered quary of many European nobles, and then the mixes of feral pig and Russian boar, which can be more or less like either of the other two, but which, at least `round hear, have the general apearance of the Russian boar, but different, often lighter, coloring, and slightly smaller tusks.

Legend has it that the European razorbacks were brought to Florida by the Spanish during their colonialization of our state, beginning in the Renaisance. They are often said to be a legacy of the St. Augustine settlement, the longest continously inhabbited Western settlement in North America.
 
Snickersnee,

You mentioned above that the ideal Boar to take with a knife was at or under 200 lbs.

Boar are generally found in the undergrowth around low lying bogs. You generally can hear them long before you can see them. I have had a couple of them shoot out of the undergrowth and cross a trail within 10 feet of me (they are fast so its just a big black noisy blur). Where and how do you hunt these things, and how do you know your friends haven't chased up a couple of nice angry 500 pounders for you?

I am thinking you would probably want to sit in the middle of a nice clearing with a good solid, easy to climb, tree next to you (just in case you need to make a quick exit)
smile.gif
 
No doubt about wanting a tree to climb up on. You know, this topic really interests me, especially since I just got a Cold Steel javelin (I'm still looking for a NIB or semi used Boar Spear) and I remember reading a few years back in Field & Stream about javelina hunting in Arizona and New Mexico. Sounded fun, but those guys wore chaps, like someone else w/ common sense on this thread suggested. In any case, what kind of spears were you guys using? I know that the boar spear has the cross hilt to prevent the thing from running up the shaft at you, so I'm guessing that was what you used.
 
Ive been on several hog hunts. Ive always played the part of the "dog holder".

The dogs dont do much to help kill, sure they help hold him at bay etc... BUT even the best of pit bulls dont do much damage to a big, mean, pissed off hog, nick his ears up at best. (were talking 200-500 pound hogs, and mean).

Another thing, if you bring your pretty bulldogs down here to grab hogs, hes gonna get hurt bad at the least, and killed quick at the most. Ive seen some of the best catch dog blood in the WORLD get killed in less than 30 seconds on a mean hog. One good swiping "root" and he catches a bleeder in your dogs shoulder or neck....thats it.

If you (and especially your wife and kids) value your dog as a pet, DONT HUNT HIM, especially if he wont back off and bay. Most GOOD game bred pit bulls dont bay, they dive in and get hurt, and like i said, sometimes die. Im not so sure about American Bulldogs, they may have a little more cur in them to make a bay dog.

Any how, on to the knife- YOU NEED A KNIFE THAT IS SHARP ON BOTH SIDES AND AT LEAST 9" IN BLADE. Remember, if your down south hunting some of the russian/feral crosses hes gonna have a cartiligous plate running around his shoulders. You have to either get under or through that "plate" to even start to reach the "sweet meat". Once you know where to stick, and have stuck the blade in to the hilt, you then "rock it" back and forth like an old pump handle, as hard and fast as you can.... Its no easy task.

The man to talk to about hog hunting, as many have mentioned, is LARRY HARLEY.




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" The true way of the sword is the craft of defeating the enemy in a fight, and nothing other than this" Ibid

www.lameyknives.com
 
Game bred American Bulldogs don't bay!

View


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RICK - Left Handers Unite
 
Hi,
i`m not a friend of the german way of hunting: sitting at a tree, waiting for the animal to come closer than 100 yards (for food) and then shoot till its dead. So i love the idea to go into the nature with nothing more than the beasts have! Teeth and Claws ! If you come out alive: congratulations! If not: such is live.
I`m a coward my "knive" would be not shorter
than 2Yards.
With a minimum of two .375HH`s behind me.


Thats not all : my knive must be able to shoot twenty 10-gauge slugs in a blink.

BB

 
RGRAY, thanks for the photo. I havent seen any Am. Bulldogs hunting. I see the dog is not in hold, the pit bulls used here stay in hold until you get them off, which i dont really like. I would rather a dog back off at times.

Any how, thanks again for the pic.


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" The true way of the sword is the craft of defeating the enemy in a fight, and nothing other than this" Ibid

www.lameyknives.com
 
I think a bayonet would be a good idea,an older one that has a 10 inch blade min.,nothing to expensive,just in case the hog escapes with your blades still impaled in him.Ralph
 
RMLamey, Hines American Bulldogs in Brownsville Texas has a video of American Bulldogs catching hogs that you won't believe.
I think it costs $10.
This video is not for the squeamish.

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RICK - Left Handers Unite
 
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