I had a young dog do the same thing a month or so . He struck a sounder and caught two smaller sows and showed no signs of being injured.
A few days later he had a knot on his side the size of a softball. wasn't eating much and wasn't moving around as usual. I drained it and gave him antibiotics and had to leave for a week for work while my son looked after him. I returned home to discover another knot lower on his side and his condition getting worse. again I drained the knot and gave him antibiotics twice daily for another week. he seemed to be doing better and was moving around better and was starting to eat more. After the second week I was making my rounds through the yard checking my dogs and found him dead. I raised him on my yard out of my dogs and he was a natural hog dog. He found a hog his first time out and almost everytime after. He figured it all out on his own, I never had to show him anything or put him behind another dog to show him. He was the best dog I have ever owned or even hunted behind . I am sure I will never be able to replace him and I gotta say he would probably still be the heart of my pack if I would have just taken him to the vet and got a positive diagnoses of what was wrong with him.
Anyways sorry to ramble on ,but I would have the vet check it out.
Hate to hear that you lost him MOhogger, like they say........hindsight is 20/20.......... after reading these stories I think it would be in the best interest of the dog to go ahead and tote him to the vet personally.
