A couple of thoughts.

a. Try a small series resistor in the gate drive. I have read this somehow helps with the large input capacitance (1300 pF). I guess it reduces gate current.

b. If the gate drive is held on too long, the inductor will saturate and the drain current will be enormous. Max allowable is 16 amps continuous or 64 amps pulsed.

c. If the PIC driving the gate has other tasks to do, can you be certain that you are not leaving the gate high long enough to saturate the inductor?

HTH

Brian