Watch the dog. He’s not big but he doesn’t hesitate to take after that hog who’s over three times his size. Man, I love dogs.
When I was younger, I hunted bear and hogs in East Tennessee...I ran a string of Plott Hounds...Those dogs were never more excited than when they had a boar or bear at bay...Their tails would be going 90 miles an hour wagging...
Hogs are very unpredictable...One hog that, today, would run from you, tomorrow, would charge you like the dickens....
A few years back we had a 400lb or so black bear saunter into our yard. About the time he broke the wood line into the yard my nine year old son walked out the front door and our Irish Setter nearly knocked my son down to get between him and the bear. She charged up to the bear about ten feet away and was not budging and standing her ground. The bear was growling and snapping his teeth.
My son can running in the house screaming, bear, bear! It’s going to kill the dog! I stepped out on the porch and sure enough there was the dog and bear in a classic stand off and neither willing to back down. I told my wife who by that time had stepped out on the porch to open the front closet and get my shotgun. She did and said now what? I said when I shoot anything usually the dog will break for the porch and go under the swing when she does grab her and kennel her in the laundry room. I racked a buckshot round into the chamber and shot into the ground and sure enough the dog broke off and headed for the house where my wife grabbed her and kenneled her.
Now it’s just me and the bear and he is still agitated, snapping his teeth in my direction and looking at me like well what are you going to do now. I racked another round and fired into the ground again hoping this would send him scurrying away, I had three rounds left and wasn’t going to waste them on the ground if this didn’t work. I fired and the bear looked at me a few seconds and then slow as molasses turned and ambled back off into the woods.