[Joel Minturn]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Ian Hutchison]

[R. Scott Malone]

My ju-jitsu friend Fred Arnold who works in corrections in Florida helped cold steel design that spear.
He suggested the wings after a boar came up the spear at him.
I saw a picture of him in the catalog and said, "Fred did you kill a 600lb boar with a spear?!"
He looked down and said, "well not exactly." I asked him what not exactly meant and he said,
"They wanted the picture with a 6 foot spear, but I cut off 3 feet of it to be closer to the action".
He's nuts, but I guess if you work in corrections you need to raise your level to get the same adreneline rush.
We trained with Fred Crivello in Clearwater, you can find him under leverage pinning or Ju-jitsu 101 on Youtube.

[Kurt Scholz]

In Munich there's the German hunting museum with a selection of boar and bear spears (no differentiation). They were in between an estimated 1.80m and 2.70m or 6 feet to 9 feet. Length may depend on skill and technique. you can try to stop a pig running towards you, or you can try to stab a pig that has been immobilzed by dogs.
The images of modern use of boar spears for pig hunting show immobilized animals surrounded by dogs with hunters thrusting into them until achieving the death of the animal that takes quite a long time. The length of the spear is a test of courage of how close you want to go, but at the same time might reflect limited training of these men to handle longer weapons. The stabbing seems to be about poking holes until the beast is dead.
It has some resemblance to what the old Romans did in their colloseum:
http://www.roman-colosseum.info/colosseum/wil...osseum.htm

This looks like the animal is accustomed to human presence and thus very surprised.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3cy5w9Ef7o
And thus is one of those tests of courage that at least worked with one thrust:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J47U9-hjVcI
And this example is animal cruelty for fun with a clueless "hunter" testing his courage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJwkGx2XZSU

A 3 feet boar spear is in principle the same idea as a boar sword, a German weapon for increasing the entertainment value of hunting and keeping up class differentiation.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauschwert

[Stephane Rabier]

Hi,
sorry to say but in the videos, I can only see clowns badly slaughtering farm pigs who thing the farmer brings the food when they see a hunter, they should come to an European forest and meet with some REAL WILD boars (not those grown for the tourists), those that don't just look at you or run away when you approach but charge and try to change you into "human pâté"

[Perry L. Goss]

NC eh? A bit west of you over in the English mountain area of TN there is Harley's Hawg Hunts. Not sure of the exact spelling of his name. Has a web page. Might email him. But some of the Don Fogg guys out in E. TN hunt with custom bowie knives out of his base camp. You could also post over there too and get some tips.

I have not done it, but...they claim there is a certain critical mass involved in the blade. Size, does matter there. Dogs and...maybe a back up .357, .44, .45 or a nice smooth bore .62 or .66 pistol? The blackpowder has a fairly large and heavy soft lead ball traveling at abt. 1300 fps. Not modern specs, but for knock down/shock - tis hard to beat. And the wound will not close up, plus bone and organ damage. Trouble is...you got one round

One does not want these little rascals coming back at you, up close and personal.

Reminds me of a buddy in college from Sudan back in the mid 70's that in order to date the maiden of your choice one had to either kill an alligator or lion with a spear. Makes John Travolta and Grease look passe. Wow, all we have to do is to register to vote and take a driver's test!

Keep us posted on your hunt. I agree with Stephane. Managed kills- I guess, are better than nothing.

[Kurt Scholz]

[Julian Reynolds]

I'm currently working on a 16thC boar spear and a boar sword, but have still to find a suitable donor head for the spear (I've made the toggle/bar assembly). I was thinking about modifying the Windlass Euro Spear Head as it appears solid enough (I need them to work, rather than be diplay wallhangers, although I doubt I will ever get the opportunity to use them). My late grandfather used to hunt boar in his native Auvergne region of France, and I guess these are my 'tribute' to his memory.

Anyway, thanks guys for resurrecting this topic: it has given me some new ideas. Also, I found this whilst following some of the above links, which shows what I am striving for:

[Kurt Scholz]

Painted pictures are interpretations. The above image highlights nobles enjoying killing boar while relatively safe on a horse but close to the bloodshed with short weapons and with the danger to the dogs and the horse. If you lose expensive hunting dogs that way hunting is unsustainable as a way of life and rather reflects the dramatic pastimes of courts.



This image from Le Livre de chasse. ca. 1440, by Gaston Phoebus, Count of Foix, On Catching the Wild Boar in His Wallow, highlights the immense danger of male boars, tuskers, who often roam the lands in all-male groups. It's an over dramatization, but it shows different aspects of boar hunting. The hunters have poor equipment turned into makeshift lugged spears and are more likely to do this for economic reasons (protecting their harvest, getting some meat diet). The dogs are not expendable and don't attack boars head on. The dogs are rather used for confusing and slowing down the boars in order for the hunter to make the boar run frontally into his spear.
The tactic of the depicted tuskers is to use the massive energy of their charge for thrusting their tusks into their enemies flesh and tearing open an opponents blood vessels on the pass. Tuskers attack humans on the upper leg arteries.
Before impact, the spear is often held in an almost sitting position, in order to better defend the legs with the staff. The spear is then moved up in order to strike into the ribcage below the head of the tusker running towards the hunter at full speed. Technically, it's similar to receiving a cavalry charge.
After receiving the charge, the spear point is moved in the animal in order to create maximum damage and cut important blood vessels, especially the aorta from the heart. The men capable of facing boars this way have enough sang froid and skill with the spear to also face charging men-at-arms.
http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/student_orgs/arth...iblio.html


The same technique on a Roman mosaic. Remember that Tarent in the Second Punic War fell because of a hunter who had claimed a special prey, a wild boar for the Roman garrison commander. That did convince the guards to let him and the disguised assault party in at night, against normal safety precautions. Wild boar was not the most frequent hunted animal for food.

The male tuskers do attack when they feel irritated and cornered for whatever reason. That's more frequent a reason to attack then for female hogs who rather try to escape in such situations. The female hogs rather defend their offspring only, but this at the drop of a hat. The females don't have these tusks and rather bite until they are satisfied with the result = perceived danger to their offspring is DEAD. Female hogs don't charge normally and have to be pursued and cornered with stabbing them from other directions than the front. They are not as dangerous as the male boars who counterattack, no matter what.

From a hogs perspective, the threats are to their youngs because they themselves are one of the most dangerous animals in their ecosystem.
The usual northern hemsiphere top predator, the gray wolf is from an "armament" point of view a very weak equivalent to the hog with both acting in groups. this leaves as "armament superior" predators large cats, but few of them act in groups, while hogs are in mutually supporting groups, including the aforementioned kamikaze mentality for tuskers if mortally wounded. Don't take me wrong, hogs do have problems with predators, but except humans, they are among the best omnivores to fight off almost all threats and not run away from them.

[Scott Hanson]

Might I suggest some additional equipment?

http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/dtc-shared...-C78669-L4

That leg artery attack Kurt mentions could leave you very dead without any protection. You probably want better than tough pants if available.

I haven't read a lot of reviews and have no experience, but I believe some hunters carry multiple spears in case of failure. If that is true, I'd definitely pick up an extra Cold Steel Boar Spear. Cheap insurance.

[Ralph Grinly]

If you have a spare couple of grand - Puma Knives (germany) makes ( or made) a genuine boar spear. A 13 inch head, 78 inches overall.. I doubt you could find a more authentic one

[Stephane Rabier]

Hi,
I've seen them on an old Kettner catalogue, they indeed looked really sturdy.

[Kurt Scholz]

[T. Arndt]

[Scott Hanson]

I think the biggest problem with plate legs would be noise. If you're not using dogs, you need to be able to maintain your stealth to get close enough, and I doubt you could do that with plate legs.

Maybe brigandine?

[T. Arndt]

[Scott Hanson]

Don't schynbalds just cover the lower leg though? The big concern in boar hunting is protecting your femoral artery, and the thigh is the place you can expect the boar to strike from what I've read (again, no actual experience here).

[T. Arndt]

[Kurt Scholz]

Noobs can shoot hogs, you need training to dare face their charge with a spear. Numbers might not tell the whole story.