Way south… all the way to the land of the Mayans and margaritas!  Yupp, Mexico!

While I’m gone, the site may languish a bit, but I’ll be right back… I promise.  (The thought of expatriation has occurred to me, but there’s no pig hunting down there (that I know of), so I guess I’ll stay in the country for now.)  Didn’t have time to preload a bunch of posts, so the fresh content will probably have to hold until I get home.  Hopefully there’ll be pictures and videos and such… but sometimes when you get busy having fun, you forget you even have a camera.

In the meantime, most of the folks on my blog roll are still pretty active, so hop on over and give them a read.  But watch out… Rex over at the Deer Camp Blog seems to think there’s something going on down in the land of the agave.  Silly, gringo… conspiracies are for kids!

Take a look at this hunt opportunity!  

The Carrizo Plain is an incredible piece of CA, and a hunt here offers the opportunity to get out and view antelope, tule elk, and all sorts of wildlife in addition to the hogs, doves, and rabbits that are included in the hunt. 

Sept 12 & 13, 2009 Raffle Hunt

By Chimineas Ranch Foundation and San Gabriel Valley Quail Unlimited

North half of Chimineas Ranch – Hunt is for Dove, Rabbit and Pigs

Enhanced Drive on Hunt for two people for two days on the DFG Chimineas Ranch, the ranch is
west of the Carrizo Plains National Monument near Cuyama, CA, east of Santa Maria 40 miles,
west of Taft 40 miles. The hunts will be held the same weekends as the scheduled Chimineas
Ranch Drive on Hunts for the 2009-2010 season, which are scheduled by California Dept. of Fish
& Game (Chimineas Ranch falls within the condor area, nontoxic ammunition is required for the
taking of pigs) Proceeds from the raffle to benefit Chimineas Ranch as well as SGVQU habitat
work.

Hunt Enhancements:
In addition to the normal privileges extended to the winners of the drive-on hunt drawings, the
following enhancements are added for raffle winners;

• Access to the headquarters area Saturday after the conclusion of the days’ hunt through
  Sunday morning for 2 persons
• Overnight stay at the Chimineas Ranch House (Saturday night only)
  Hunters shall bring their own sleeping bag, towel, toiletries, snacks and beverages (the ranch
  house has full bed and bath facilities)
• Hosted BBQ Saturday night
• Hosted continental breakfast Sunday morning

Raffle tickets are $10 each or 6 raffle tickets for $50, available at all meetings.(raffle winner need not be present)

Winning ticket will be drawn at San Gabriel Valley QU Dove Tune-up and BBQ,Wednesday August 12 6pm at:
Triple B Clays
831 Rosemead Blvd
South El Monte, CA 91733

Send your check to:
San Gabriel Valley Quail Unlimited (raffle hunt)
c/o John Forgy
3907 Lewis Ave
Long Beach, Ca 90807
Please include your mailing address and phone number so you can be notified
call 866-206-9070 extension 6715 or email sgvqu@onebox.com for more information 

Outta here for a couple of days to see if NorCal Cazadora and I can find a pig or two down in Cholame. 

I’ll pop back in on Friday, and then I’m off again to Mexico for a week.  Ya’ll don’t go away, and I promise I’ll be back soon!

June 24-25.  Get it on your calendar!  The CA Fish and Game Commission is meeting in Woodlands, CA on these dates, and high on the agenda are two key topics. 

First, there is supposed to be a report on the levels of lead found in the CA condor since the lead ammo ban was enacted.  While I have my doubts as to the statistical significance of data collected so far, I’d be real interested in hearing what they do have to say, particularly since the two sick condors were found earlier this spring and winter.  Of course, this case will be blamed on someone who broke the law, but watch and see if it isn’t used by at least a couple of commissioners to justify the expansion of the lead ban to include upland birds and small game.

And that’s the second hot topic… proposed regulation changes that will bring small game and upland birds under the lead ammo ban.  Why?  Are condors eating tree-squirrel gut piles, or feasting on the remains of hunters’ quail?  Not bloody likely.  Then what is the purpose of the expansion to a bill that is specifically intended to protect the California condor?

Here’s a look at what the proposed regulations say.

From the proposed regulations change announcement:

The existing regulations provide for methods to be used to take small game, including rabbits, squirrels and resident upland game birds. Traditionally, projectiles (bullets) containing lead and lead shot have been used. The regulation changes proposed as options would require non-lead projectiles for resident small game hunting in the geographic area determined by the Fish and Game Commission (Commission) to reduce risk of indirect lead toxicity to free-ranging California condors. Lead-alternative projectiles are considered effective for hunting and are not considered to be toxic to the California condor.

The proposal will allow the Commission to consider whether to establish that it is unlawful to possess any projectile containing lead in excess of the amount permitted and a firearm, pellet gun, or air rifle capable of firing the projectile while taking or attempting to take resident small game.

The proposed rulemaking is intended to provide the Commission with two options to consider in addition to the recommended “no change” option:

Option #1: establish that it is unlawful to possess any projectile containing lead in excess of the amount permitted and a firearm, pellet gun, or air rifle capable of firing the projectile while taking or attempting to take jackrabbits, varying hares, cottontail rabbits, brush rabbits, pigmy rabbits, and tree squirrels within the area described in 3004.5 of the Fish and Game Code; or

Option #2: establish that it is unlawful to possess any projectile containing lead in excess of the amount permitted and a firearm, pellet gun, or air rifle capable of firing the projectile while taking or attempting to take any resident small game species (the same species as in #1, plus resident game bird species) as defined in Title 14, CCR, Section 257, within the area described in 3004.5 of the Fish and Game Code.

The following species would be included in Option #2:

• jackrabbits and varying hares (genus Lepus);
• cottontail rabbits, brush rabbits, pigmy rabbits (genus Sylvilagus);
• tree squirrels (genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus);
• Chinese spotted doves, Eurasian collared-doves, ringed turtle-doves, of the family Columbidae;
• California quail and varieties thereof;
• Gambel’s or desert quail;
• mountain quail or varieties thereof;
• blue grouse and varieties thereof;
• ruffed grouse, sage grouse (sage hens), white tailed ptarmigan;
• Hungarian partridges, red-legged partridges, including the chukar and other varieties;
• Ring-necked pheasants and varieties
• Wild turkeys of the order Galliformes

You can view or download the entire proposal at the CA Fish and Game Commission site.

The opportunity to comment at the Commission meeting is passing (although if you can attend, it would be great to show some solidarity), but you can comment on the proposed regulations change until August 3.  Please take the time to send your comments to the commission.  Let them know that you disagree with the expansion of the lead ban because there’s no evidence at all that lead used for small game and upland birds presents any risk to condors.  The expansion places undue burden on hunters, due to the cost and lack of availability of lead-free ammo for many small game rifles.  In your letter, demand that objective, scientific proof be provided prior to any expansion of the lead ammo ban. 

It would be helpful as well to send comments to the Governor, since he’s the only “boss” the Fish and Game Commission reports to.  Remember that the Commission has no accountability to the citizens of the state.  No matter how much you disagree with them, they are not elected officials.  Let the Governor know that some of the Commissioners, particularly Rogers and Sutton, are pushing their personal agenda without due consideration of the facts or science, and that, as a voter, you’re fed up with the misrepresentation. 

I doubt we’re going to turn the lead ban around, but it’s time to take a solid stance and work toward sensible legislation.  Get busy, and take an active role in the process… because the process will certainly have an active role in the future of our sport.

Just got back from a great visit with Michael and crew down at Native Hunt this week. 

This time, I was actually helping out as a guide.  There were 10 hunters on the ranch, and in order to keep the hunter-to-guide ratio as low as possible (they always strive to keep it at 2:1 or 1:1), they needed an extra hand.  Since I’m particularly available these days, and any work is good work, I jumped at the opportunity to share what I know of the ranch and the animals with Michael’s clients. 

At the end of the second morning, the clients had taken nine hogs (several feral hogs and a few pure eurasian boar) and one big-bodied management ram. 

This hunt was part of a summer-time special Michael has been offering for groups of eight or more.  The deal is a fully guided, two-day hunt for either a management ram or a wild boar, at a great price of $500 per hunter.  It includes lodging and meals, as well as transportation on the ranches, basic field care, and skinning.  There’s a walk-in cooler on-site, and the ranch staff can recommend processors or taxidermists as needed. 

This is really an excellent opportunity for the hunters, both the price and the quality of the hunt.   It’s also a good deal for Michael as he has some areas where the animals need to be thinned a bit, and these hunts will accomplish that goal neatly. 

The special price was offered initially to the existing clients, but it looks like there may be room for one more of these hunts this summer (the other spots are already booked).  If you’re interested, give a call at 888-HUNT-321 (888-486-8321) and talk to someone about getting your group in on this great deal, or you can learn more about other packages at Native Hunt.

Warning – no hog hunting content in this post!  You can blame Rex, at the Deer Camp Blog, for this departure.

We’ve been locked into an unusually long “June Gloom” pattern here in the San Francisco Bay Area, so it hasn’t felt much like summer lately.  With highs in the upper 60′s on a good day, and low clouds shielding the sun until well after noon every day, it’s practically depressing… especially for someone like me who grew up on the southeastern coast of NC. 

Folks call me crazy, but I miss those muggy mornings when the air is practically liquid.  There’s something about stepping out the front door into a wall of heat and humidity that brings a sweat before you can reach the air conditioned truck cab that just says, “home,” to me.  I miss that sun rumbling up, red as molten copper, over a glassy, bathwater-warm ocean. 

Anyway, I don’t get the opportunity to get back to those NC summer days, but sometimes a little music takes me there.  Here are a couple that can always take me back… even if only for a few minutes at a time.

First, here’s Will Smith (The Fresh Prince), with a really cool twist on the Miles Davis jazz classic, Summertime.. This is just made for cruising down “the Strip” at Wrightsville Beach with the windows rolled down:

And here’s a version of Mr Davis doing it himself:

And finally, no Carolina summer is complete without a little beach music!

This one caught my attention as I was browsing through hog-related news.  I caught it in the Knoxville News Sentinel online version.  This is a pretty good upswing over the number of hogs trapped and killed in recent years, which the experts quoted in the article attribute to a healthy food supply the past few years.

Biologists attribute the increase to several years of bountiful mast. Like black bears, the reproductive rates of wild hogs are highly dependent on good mast crops, especially acorns.

The article first got my attention because it is set in my home state, but as I read more it got to the following:

The park’s hog population traces back to the early 1920s, when a herd of European wild hogs escaped from a game reserve on Hooper’s Bald in Graham County, N.C. By the 1940s, the wild hogs had spread into other counties as well as the Smokies.

The relevance?  George Gordon Moore owned that ranch, and brought several of those hogs with him to the San Carlos Ranch in Carmel, CA.   They may well be direct relatives of the hog Kat shot out there earlier this year! 

OK, maybe that’s really only noteworthy to me, but I dig these little coincidences. 

Anyway, check out the article if you’re interested.  It’s online at the Knoxnews site.

Just got this from my friend, Jake Theyerl. 

Jake puts these things together so folks can learn more about lead-free ammo, and try out some of the alternatives.  With A-zone deer season just around the corner (July 11 is the archery opener), it’s a good time to get out and see what the manufacturers have to offer. 

Take a look at the flier (click to enlarge). 

So, this is only sort of a movie review, with attendant departures and diversions.

First of all, the movie itself.  Big fun! 

The premise, for those who haven’t followed one of my many links back to the Pig Hunt website and trailers, comes across as fairly cliche at first glance. 

There’s the hero, John Hickman (played by Travis Aaron Wade),  who is taking four of his city-dweller friends for a weekend hog hunt in the NorCal boonies.  A little “misunderstanding” with some of the locals leads to armed conflict. 

Shades of Southern Comfort, right? 

Actually, it’s not a completely inaccurate comparison.  City folk facing off against backwoods bumpkins.  Subtle commentary about war and male bravado.  Sexy sirens luring unsuspecting rubes to their fate.  Lots of pig blood and guts.  You know, all that stuff.

But Pig Hunt is no derivative rip-off.   It’s definitely an original. 

To begin with, there’s “The Ripper.”  Oh yeah, maybe I forgot to mention the 3000 lb monster boar?  Did I also mention he’s apparently being fed on human flesh, provided by the pot-growing hippie commune?  Oh, I didn’t tell you about the hippies either?  Probably didn’t say anything about the commune or pot fields either.  Totally forgot one other thing too… John’s brought his girlfriend, Brooks (Tina Huang),  along on the “guys’ weekend”, and it turns out she’s probably hauling more testosterone and machismo than anyone else in the little group.  What happened to “bros up, hos down”?  Dang my scattered mind! 

OK, there’s a whole lot going on in this movie.  Sure, there’s the expected conflict between the city guys and the rednecks.  Did you expect anything else?  You can see it coming a mile away, but only if you’re looking carefully.  The writers, Robert Mailer Anderson and Zack Anderson toss in a couple of curveballs… not too hard to hit, but sneaky enough to make it fun.

And really, fun is what this movie is all about.   (more…)

Thanks a lot, Holly!  It was all because of your post, and the trouble you had getting your comments approved on Michael Markarian’s Huffington Post blog. 

I had to go over there and try to get my own two cents published.  Of course, mine went right on up there, and I got challenged (politely and respectfully), and now here I am embroiled in the same old debate I’ve been having for a couple of decades now… just on a whole new podium. 

It’s a real challenge making a reasonable reply in 250 words or less, and I hope I don’t end up looking like a fool.  If I do though, I’m still blaming Holly.  If she hadn’t posted about Markarian’s blog, I’d never have even gone over there in the first place!