Actually Ricocheted A Bullet Off A Hog's Head

I know this is a lame excuse that people often like to use, but I have never actually seen it happen for real. I never doubted that it could happen, only that claims of such mishaps seemed more common than what might be reality. Well, I finally had it happen.

I was testing some new bullets. Conditions sucked. I lost the first hog and despite a lengthy search in the rain, never recovered it. Rains stopped and I started looking anew when I came across the sounder (maybe a different one?) several hundred yards away in the direct the first sounder had run. I managed to shoot one hog, in the head, and the bullet did not penetrate. No doubt that the bullet hit at an acute angle and glanced off of the top of the skull, leaving behind a depression and radiating fractures. The hog didn't run away, but it would not still, either. It is remarkable hard trying to hit a hog running in circles in a sapling thicket at nearly 150 yards. Finally, I got the hog down...

I've used the word "ricocheted" many times before, but never actually wrote it. Had me making weird moth vowels as I read over your use of it a coupe of times.

Waiting to see how the next hog fares with these...

That’s interesting. I’ve never seen that happen with an animal before. Otherwise the bullets seem to do well. Enjoy your trying out the various bullets.

You hear a lot of that with people taking head shots at bruins. I'm wondering if some of it is tales passed down through the generations from a time when round balls being lobbed at a bear may've grazed off, rather than penetrating... or, round nosed (tube fed) rounds doing the same... primarily at a longer than ideal range and an odd angle of impact?

Yours is the first one I've seen any visual evidence of. Big waumpum headache! Nice detail post kill shown. Thanks.

I hit a caribou bull at the base of an antler once... with a .22-250. He dropped his head to feed JUST as I squeezed one off. I heard the typical (TV) sound of a ricochet off a rock. He reared up onto his hind legs (nearly fell over backwards), plopped back down onto all fours and his head was wobbling all around in circles. I reloaded and settled in on his head as I waited for it to stop moving. The second shot entered the top of his black nose tip, went straight to his spine, took a sharp right and exited his neck after blowing out his carotid artery. As I watched through my scope, all four legs splayed out into different directions and his bladder dumped at the same time. Christmas was cancelled.

What bullet? Varmageddons?

Good hog down and some good scientific analogy stuff ...

Wildfowler said:

What bullet? Varmageddons?

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Barnes LRX

Interesting! I've had hogs run in a circle or spin when I've hit them in a hindquarter. I attributed that to them basically being off-balance, or just having more locomotive power to one side. Your hog was really dancing up a storm!
Nice shooting, excellent video!

Very interesting! Did you use a bandsaw to make the cuts?

scrmblr1982cj8 said:

Very interesting! Did you use a bandsaw to make the cuts?

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A buddy of mine did, yes. He did it many years ago. Pretty cool.

I had already sworn off head on head shots after going something like 0 for 3. Now I know what the problem is.

Bakester said:

I had already sworn off head on head shots after going something like 0 for 3. Now I know what the problem is.

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LOL, that must be it!