Well, I had every intention of posting up this evening with pictures and tales of my latest hog hunting success.  Oh well, no pork, but the trip was still pretty successful. 

To begin with, this was my first trip to this property, so I didn’t really have too much in the way of expectations.  I figured in the day and a half I’d be able to hunt, I’d probably end up spending the majority of the time learning the lay of the land, picking good spots for later, and maybe I’d see a pig or two.

Well, I was mostly right…

The first morning, after heading for the highest point on the property (my standard strategy when I go to a new place), I spotted hogs on a distant hilltop.  I looked at the sketchy map provided by the hunting club, but couldn’t see any legal way to get to them.  A few hours later, a couple of club regulars asked how my hunt went.  I told them, and described the scene with the hogs.  Of course, their response set the tone for the weekend.  “Why didn’t you go after them?”

“I thought they were outside the club boundaries?” I replied.

“Of course not.  You could have driven practically right to them.”

It turns out that the map was my biggest nemesis all weekend.  Saturday evening I spotted a bunch of hogs as I drove out for the hunt, but since there was a fence between me and them, I thought they were off limits.  The guys following me stopped, jumped the fence, and shot four hogs out of the group.

My final hunt this morning almost broke the cycle.  I spotted four hogs about a half mile away.  I watched them, but with the fence between us I didn’t think I could go after them.  However, after reviewing the map several times I realized they might actually be on the ranch.  However, by that time all but one hog had disappeared.  I put the stalk on and after a very long walk, I closed to within rifle range. 

I leaned up over the edge of a berm and put the Bushnell rangefinder/binoculars on the hog.  As I watched, several tiny objects swarmerd around her feet.  I’d just stalked all the way across the ranch to close on a wet sow.  I watched her for a while, then went off to look for the other hogs.  No sign of them, and it was time to go home.

Anyway, I did get to try out my new video camera this weekend.  Hopefully, I’ll have some footage live online this coming week. 

In the meantime, I came home to find that the HogBlog had received a mention on The Wild Boar Hunting In California blog.  The site is run by a fellow California hog hunter, Peter Jaeckle.  Great info on hog hunting in general, particularly for those of us in CA.   If you like this kind of stuff, check it out.

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