Knife for Hog hunting

T

tesselata

Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
37
What would you choose for hunting wild boar/ferral hogs with dogs ??
I saw the following ones and would love to get to know your thoughts:

-The Baconmaker
http://www.kabar.com/knives/detail/37
works as seen in the web, but quite small guard
- The CRKT FE7
http://www.crkt.com/FE7-Fixed-Blade-Tactical-Knife
Big guard, but hollow grind and china made at that price..
- The CRKT Redemption
http://www.crkt.com/Redemption-Large-Fixed-Blade-Survival-Knife?&search_id=835447
perhaps a little too big an wide ...

Thanks for your feedback to come.
 
From guys who do it - 8-12" blade with strong point, substantial guard. Don't hesitate !! That TV guy did it twice , the first time hesitating and putting both him and dogs in great danger ! Second time he did it right -quick safer .
 
Down here in the swamps of Florida, over the years I have seen hog dog hunters use everything from a 4" blade folding knife to a military surplus bayonet, to dispatch feral swine. One hunter I know uses a Ka-Bar USMC knife with a 7" blade; I carry a Ka-Bar KBD-1 (basically the same knife with a spear point) during archery season to finish off wild game (deer, hogs). Depending on the size of the wild hog, almost any well built long bladed knife should serve you well, you don't need to spend a lot of money on a knife to kill a hog.
Mostly when hog dog hunting, the dogs are holding the hog on the ground while the hunter slits the hog's neck, or else stabs the hog in it's side to get to the heart. Wild boars have a thick shield around their shoulder area that protects their lung area. The heart is actually located lower down below the shoulder, near his front leg (elbow area). Study a wild hog's anatomy before attempting to hunt one, you owe it to the animal to make his death swift, and it will be safer for you in the long run.
What Mete said above ^^^^ is good advice!
 
Any bowie style blade with a stiff 7"+ blade and very good grip should work. I'd recommend wrapping any slick-handled knife with gauze hockey stick grip tape. Thus prepared, even a Cold Steel G.I. Tanto should be more than adequate.
 
There are a lot of threads on BF that have touched on this subject. I guess that you will be using dogs and not going it alone. There are a lot of good knife offerings out there. I have used products from Busse Combat and Kin (Scrapyard knife company and Swamp Rat Knife Works), but some of my friends have used others like the Cold Steel Trail Master and OKC RTAK II. You might also check out Becker Knife & tool's BK7 or BK9. At any rate, do your research but any solid Bowie style knife will work for the task at hand. However, I agree that you should study the aspects of your hunt before you delve too far.
 
OK. I'm guessing that there is no way to dissuade you. I'll call you Ahab instead of Ishmael. You are on a quest to slay the great black pig with a knife. I will offer a few suggestions for your hunt based on personal experience.

My primary concerns for offering this advice are optimizing your personal safety, maximizing the respect paid to the animal and minimizing the animal's suffering. Some animals are prey species. Some animals are predator species. As it pertains to pigs, humans are the predators and pigs are the prey. Sometimes humans are killed by pigs or die in a pig pen in which case the roles are reversed or the pigs become the scavengers of humans. If you decide to enter this relationship with a pig, I would advise you to respect the animal and to minimize it's suffering. You don't have to listen to me.

I have had numerous experiences with wild hog hunts. I have not personally killed a pig with a knife but I have been a part of the hunts and have witnessed a few. My own kills have been with a Colt Anaconda. The ones that pertain most to you were part of the Amazon 5000 Expedition. In that case, the expedition was not allowed to carry firearms legally. Part of the expedition was foraging for food and wild hogs were occasionally encountered.

The method the expedition used is as follows. A wild hog is encountered - most frequently by smelling them. 4 - 5 guys get ready for the hunt. One guy scouts out the surrounding terrain looking for natural areas to trap the hog. Common natural terrain features that were used included rivers with muddy banks, steep hillsides etc. The guys gradually herd the pig towards the trap point. One guy is holding a tree branch, one guy is holding a knife. The team worked in concert by herding the pig towards the trap. Once the pig was in the trap, the guy with the big branch would whack it over the head a couple times. The guy with the knife would tackle the dazed hog and plunge the knife into the heart of the pig, meanwhile holding the pig down until it died. There was lots of squealing, lots of blood, lots of stink from the pig and lots of bugs. You can NOT make a mistake in this process or you will suffer the consequences. The pig does not want to die and it will fight you to preserve its life.

There is video floating around on the interwebs of the process we used, but the knife used was a BHK Pathfinder knife. The problems encountered with this particular knife were that the fingers of the stabber would slide over the blade because there wasn't a guard to stop that from happening. As a result of those experiences I worked with my expedition leader to develop a knife that would be suitable for long term expeditions and adequate for the daily tasks of knife use, but also include a guard that would not break and would prevent your finger from slipping over the blade as you stab the pig. None of these are commercially available yet. They are sitting on top of my forge waiting to be finished at the moment. You don't need one of my knives, just make sure whatever you use has at least a 5.5" blade and a guard. Max I would use a 7 inch blade. I won't explain that now, but 5.5" to 7" seems adequate and proven for the task of stabbing and killing.
prototype_zps7d6ceacd.jpg


If you want to do it right with dogs and pay your respects to the animal, I would recommend having one guy along with a baseball bat who will swing for the fences and stun the pig. Be prepared to then tackle the pig and stab it in the heart. I advise you not to go through with this, but if you decide to, give what I have said some thought.
 
Last edited:
averageiowaguy said:
OK. I'm guessing that there is no way to dissuade you. I'll call you Ahab instead of Ishmael. You are on a quest to slay the great black pig with a knife. I will offer a few suggestions for your hunt based on personal experience.

My primary concerns for offering this advice are optimizing your personal safety, maximizing the respect paid to the animal and minimizing the animal's suffering. Some animals are prey species. Some animals are predator species. As it pertains to pigs, humans are the predators and pigs are the prey. Sometimes humans are killed by pigs or die in a pig pen in which case the roles are reversed or the pigs become the scavengers of humans. If you decide to enter this relationship with a pig, I would advise you to respect the animal and to minimize it's suffering. You don't have to listen to me.

I have had numerous experiences with wild hog hunts. I have not personally killed a pig with a knife but I have been a part of the hunts and have witnessed a few. My own kills have been with a Colt Anaconda. The ones that pertain most to you were part of the Amazon 5000 Expedition. In that case, the expedition was not allowed to carry firearms legally. Part of the expedition was foraging for food and wild hogs were occasionally encountered.

The method the expedition used is as follows. A wild hog is encountered - most frequently by smelling them. 4 - 5 guys get ready for the hunt. One guy scouts out the surrounding terrain looking for natural areas to trap the hog. Common natural terrain features that were used included rivers with muddy banks, steep hillsides etc. The guys gradually herd the pig towards the trap point. One guy is holding a tree branch, one guy is holding a knife. The team worked in concert by herding the pig towards the trap. Once the pig was in the trap, the guy with the big branch would whack it over the head a couple times. The guy with the knife would tackle the dazed hog and plunge the knife into the heart of the pig, meanwhile holding the pig down until it died. There was lots of squealing, lots of blood, lots of stink from the pig and lots of bugs. You can NOT make a mistake in this process or you will suffer the consequences. The pig does not want to die and it will fight you to preserve its life.

There is video floating around on the interwebs of the process we used, but the knife used was a BHK Pathfinder knife. The problems encountered with this particular knife were that the fingers of the stabber would slide over the blade because there wasn't a guard to stop that from happening. As a result of those experiences I worked with my expedition leader to develop a knife that would be suitable for long term expeditions and adequate for the daily tasks of knife use, but also include a guard that would not break and would prevent your finger from slipping over the blade as you stab the pig. None of these are commercially available yet. They are sitting on top of my forge waiting to be finished at the moment. You don't need one of my knives, just make sure whatever you use has at least a 5.5" blade and a guard. Max I would use a 7 inch blade. I won't explain that now, but 5.5" to 7" seems adequate and proven for the task of stabbing and killing.
prototype_zps7d6ceacd.jpg


If you want to do it right with dogs and pay your respects to the animal, I would recommend having one guy along with a baseball bat who will swing for the fences and stun the pig. Be prepared to then tackle the pig and stab it in the heart. I advise you not to go through with this, but if you decide to, give what I have said some thought.
Click to expand...

I totally agree on the morality of the stun.

I'm not adverse to hunting with dogs at all, but to wilfully incorporate unnecessary suffering marks one out as the lowest of the low.

In fact, not that long ago a movement here started to gather some momentum to have certain religious practices that circumvent the law brought on to a par with common decency. Critters going to the knacker, in this instance cows, are stunned before being killed. Those that want to preserve the religious status quo argue that it doesn't make any difference how it dies, it's dead. I don't think they'll be able to get away with that for much longer.

Subtards; given the nature of the topic here and the sensory apparatus and information processing capabilities of the pig, for them, there would be no difference between veterinary euthanasia of an elderly Rottweiler and and a bunch of feral urchins topping one they cornered in an alley with daddy's bayonet.

Being adverse to killing is not at all the same a promoting a merciful death. I wish more people could comprehend that. Alas...
 
For the size and the speed of the wild boar here, not to mention those very sharp tuskers
I would suggest a trip to a shrink before trying to kill them with a knife

Here they are only hunted with large bore shotguns
 
I have not personally hunted hogs with a knife but I have talked with several people who have. In my (and their) opinion you want a knife with a quillion to (1) prevent your hand from sliding forward onto the blade and (2) prevent the knife from over penetrating. You are no doubted going to have some adrenaline pumping and you will probably sink the knife to the guard if you place it correctly.

You also want a knife with no choil or very little. The reason being you are supposed to plunge the knife into the upper heart area and then cut in a downwards stroke. If you sink the knife to the guard and have a large choil it will make the downward cut difficult in that it will be the part of the blade touching the thick, tough skin of the pig.

My recommendations are a knife 6"+, with a quillion and no choil. Of the three you posted the Ka-Bar comes the closest to meeting those, but I still would want something with a bigger quillion.
 
baldtaco-II said:
Subtards; given the nature of the topic here and the sensory apparatus and information processing capabilities of the pig, for them, there would be no difference between veterinary euthanasia of an elderly Rottweiler and and a bunch of feral urchins topping one they cornered in an alley with daddy's bayonet.
Click to expand...

Judge not lest ye be judged...
In a university class I was in, one sheltered, judgemental girl equated hunting, all hunting, with bashing a pet cat's head in with a baseball bat.
Seriously, those were her words.
No exceptions, not if native, Inuit, or if you took the deer out with a rifle round large enough to pulp the head entirely.
 
RSKT said:
Profound. True. And desperately needed wisdom for many.
Click to expand...

But who sets the bar for what is merciful enough?
If people are saying hunting with a knife to finish off the animal is inhumane, are they against bow hunting as well?
After all, that is just stabbing the animal with an arrow rather than a knife.

Is hunting with a rifle humane enough even?
Many deer manage to run far enough after being shot that it could be argued they aren't being killed humanely enough.
 
stabman said:
But who sets the bar for what is merciful enough?
If people are saying hunting with a knife to finish off the animal is inhumane, are they against bow hunting as well?
After all, that is just stabbing the animal with an arrow rather than a knife.

Is hunting with a rifle humane enough even?
Many deer manage to run far enough after being shot that it could be argued they aren't being killed humanely enough.
Click to expand...

You can practice with a bow or a gun to make sure you get a clean kill. It doesn't always work out that way, but you should surely try to minimize the suffering of the animal.
On the other hand, you can't really practice for an up close knife kill. But understanding the anatomy of the hogs should be a priority before hunting like this, I think, so that you don't wind up just hacking away at an animal that's already being ripped up by dogs.
 
Swampdog said:
Study a wild hog's anatomy before attempting to hunt one, you owe it to the animal to make his death swift, and it will be safer for you in the long run.
Click to expand...

I think this is very prudent advice.
 
A_T_WorkHorse said:
You can practice with a bow or a gun to make sure you get a clean kill. It doesn't always work out that way, but you should surely try to minimize the suffering of the animal.
On the other hand, you can't really practice for an up close knife kill. But understanding the anatomy of the hogs should be a priority before hunting like this, I think, so that you don't wind up just hacking away at an animal that's already being ripped up by dogs.
Click to expand...

Absolutely.
I think that's where the inhumane part would come in, would be with people just wildly hacking without learning something beforehand.
And the bat idea from a previous poster is also not a bad idea...it gets used on fish, why not a pig? :)

It's a hard topic, in that everyone here is probably agreed about making the hunt a humane death, but there will always be conflicting ideas as to what that means
 
I also know a group of hog dog hunters who capture the wild hogs alive, they "hog tie" the feral swine and put the animal in their dog cages in the back of their pick-up truck. As soon as the hog is caged it sort of goes into shock and just lies down in the cage. Sometimes they "cut" the boars (castrate) and staple the incision, and then wipe it down with an anti-biotic so it doesn't get infected. The hunters then put a plastic tag in the boar's ear and then relocate the animal somewhere else on the private property and release the animal. The wild boar is now a "barr hog" (as in the word- barrow) he no longer can reproduce offspring and gets fattened up pretty quick. Also, by castrating the wild boar, the animal no longer produces testosterone and the meat does not have a "gamey taste" when eaten.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top