Thread: Large boar encounter - How dangerous is this really?

A couple of months ago I was out possum shooting on private land south west of Wellington. All alone at around 12am I lay down to have a crack at a possum with my 223.

All of a sudden I hear this horror like squeal. I quickly turn to my left to see a huge boar within a couple of meters dash off into the bush squealing its head off. I didn't hear him coming to check me out, nothing. Now, i can say it was huge because we ended up getting this bugger the very next day. See attached.

I'm not an experienced pig hunter. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and my balls shriveled to the size of peanuts. I know they have tusks and can have a bit of attitude but being in the situation I didn't know what to expect and I was pretty freaked. This boar was obviously checking me out and didn't like what he smelled.

Later on I told my Dad what happened and he said the pig might have wanted to make a meal of me... Well hang on a minute! To those more experienced pig hunters out there, how dangerous is a situation like this? If you encounter a wild boar is there any need to panic like I did? I was alone and it was dark, that didn't help, but what I'm looking for here is a reality check if this ever happens again. I'll be packing a defibrillator haha