OK, not to be a downer, but let’s keep in mind what this holiday means. Our men and women are still fighting and dying on foreign soil, and their families and loved ones are fighting their own battles here at home. Let’s save a place for them in our thoughts.

OK, so I don’t have it quite as bad as Merle does in this song.  Maybe I should count my blessings… but the song suits the past couple of weeks!

It’ll sure be good to get back home!

Just got this in my email and thought it was worth sharing.  It’s a great opportunity for young hunters to get a much better Hunter Education experience than they’d get trying to sit through the regular course.  It also just sounds kinda like fun!

Check it out, contact information is included:

Quail Unlimited Host 16th Annual Hunter Education Camp

The Fresno and Stillbow chapters of Quail Unlimited will once again be hosting their annual Covey Camp, June 27 through July 1, 2010, at the Stillbow Ranch near Dos Palos, CA.

It is a Hunter Education summer camps where Safety, Sportsmanship and marksmanship are reinforced by daily Hands-on training.  Quail Unlimited’s Hunter Education COVEY Camp is open to youngsters from ten (10) to 15 years of age who are seeking their hunter education certificates.  The Stillbow Ranch Summer camp expands the traditional 10 hours of classroom instruction into a five day program of hands-on learning by doing and repetition.

 While completing their hunter education requirements the campers will be learning to safely handle shotguns, rifles and pistols. Once the basics of safe firearms handling are understood, the youngsters will visit the range everyday where they will learn shotgun and rimfire marksmanship skills.

The campers will take part in a dove nesting cone project to check usage and replacing nesting cones as determined by the survey.  Chukar from a local game bird farm is used to teach game care and basic cooking.  Local dog trainers stop by to demonstrate basic puppy work and retrieving.

The Stillbow Ranch is a unique site for a youth summer camp.  Located in the grasslands of central California the 500 acre duck club offers a variety of waterfowl and marsh wildlife, the Ranch is part of the Grassland area with several wetland and other wildlife reserves near by.  The ranch members have  contacts with USFS biologist, dog trainers and other experts to help make the camp a memorable experience.

A camp coordinator, two certified California Hunter Education instructors, junior counselors and volunteers from local Quail Unlimited Chapters who assist on a day-to-day basis staff the camp.  The Campers will take the Hunter Ed test on Thursday and successful participants will receive their hunter education certificate.

Stillbow Ranch is located 8 miles east of Los Banos, California (One and a half miles south of Highway 152). The club offers bunkhouse style lodging with three to four campers per room, a full kitchen and classroom.  There are duck ponds for wading in addition to the shotgun and 22 caliber shooting ranges.

Many Quail Unlimited Chapters offer scholarship programs.  For scholarship information and any questions regarding the camp contact your local Quail Unlimited Chapter or contact:

Dick Haldeman, QU Western Regional Director,
39455 Black Oak RD., Temecula, CA 92592
westernqu@aol.com, or 951-767-3435.

Another dollar.  Spent.

I’m still here, starting the second week of my trip to Raleigh, NC.  This is a work trip, unfortunately, although I was able to drive down to Wilmington this weekend and spend a couple of days with my family.  The visit was a combination of fun time (freeboarding on the Cape Fear, a little work at my brother’s barn) and fulfilling a promise to my dad by taking his ashes out to spread on the ocean… his favorite place (a love he engrained in me as well).

I’ll be home soon, and maybe we’ll get back to some hog hunting!

Feral hogs are widely despised in Texas.  Many Lone Star State hunters, ranchers, and land managers curse the swine, and kill them with extreme prejudice.  None of this is news. 

But not every pig makes a nuisance of itself, as is the case with this helpful porker down near Bonney, TX. 

According to the article from the Texas Farm Bureau, “Squeaky” the pig has become quite the cattle-herder. 

“We were penning cattle and she started putting the cows together,” Mike says of the talented pig. “When a cow would break, she’d whip out there and bring it back in.”

Mike found the quarter-ton-of-fun as a piglet in a pasture lying next to her dead mother. He decided to take her in, something that had never crossed his mind before with other orphaned piglets. The half-pint showed no objection, not one squeal.

Named by his grandson, Squeaky has been Mike’s helper at the China Grove Ranch ever since. The patch of land is owned by baseball great Nolan Ryan. The Hall of Famer has even fallen victim to the porker’s pranks, watching her run off with his boots on occasion.

“She’s not really like a wild hog, more like a pet. She goes everywhere we go,” Mike says. “If we had a bull get out, we’d turn the pig out. She can do it easier than we can on horseback.”

Squeaky is more intimidating than a cow dog and even has her own bark. That’s one thing she’s sure to have picked up from her two canine co-workers.

Hmm… maybe a new, money-making option for all those hog trappers in Texas.  Start training cow pigs!

Hey all you folks in Southern California, it looks like those of you who’ve been wishing for huntable hogs can stop wishing and start hunting!  Check this out, from the San Diego Union Tribune.

It’s been more than seven months since the first documented kill of a wild hog in San Diego County.

Plenty have been killed since, especially by private landowners who don’t need wild-pig tags to kill them. Now there is a confirmed report of another kill, this one an estimated 200-pound sow taken on public land in the foothills of Palomar Mountain.

Well, actually, as far as my hunt was concerned, she sang at about 19:00 Saturday night.   I had to catch a plane to Raleigh on Sunday afternoon, so that cut my trip short.  Drove all night long,  got a short nap, and hit the air for North Carolina.  But everything leading up to Saturday night was pretty great, as always!

There are no pictures… or at least none by me.  On Friday afternoon as I was motoring over to my jumping off place, I spotted four condors circling lazily over the road.  They were only a couple hundred feet up, so I reached behind the seat for the video camera.  I’d made sure to charge both batteries on Thursday, prior to hitting the road.  I charged up the Olympus and Sony still cameras too.   I haven’t taken any pix in a while, so I’d be sure to be ready for this trip.  These condors circling would make an awesome intro for the weekend’s hunting video. 

But the video camera wasn’t in it’s regular place.  Neither were the still cameras. An image flashed in my mind… the picture of three cameras sitting on the counter beside the front door of the house.  All charged up and no place to go. 

Cursing my forgetfulness, I went on and started tracking up the canyon.  I’d decided to stick with the bow for this hunt.  I really don’t need more pork in the freezer, and I’ve been itching to do a bowhunt for months.  It’s a hard row to hoe, using a bow on this part of the ranch, especially with limited time to get it done.  I could stand a challenge, and looked forward to the opportunity to focus my mind on something besides the crazy shit that’s been my daily reality the last month or two. 

It happens fast when you’re bowhunting… at least it does for me.  I fasten the release around my wrist and shoulder the Cat Quiver and start up the canyon.  My bow feels light and deadly in my hand, a comfortable change from the heft of a rifle.  Even in the mid-afternoon, the light is dim where the creek winds through the deep, rocky cleft.  The breeze is cool and moist, and blows back in my face. 

Within 50 yards of the truck, I feel predatory.  My eyes widen and my nostrils flare.  Every little sound races through my ears and to my brain, to be analyzed and relegated to a category… wind, water, animal-but-not-game.  I love the first hours of a hunt.  I’m stoked.  I’m not tired yet, my legs and back are strong, and every shadow and bend in the trail holds promise. 

After two hours of sidehilling along pig and cattle trails, I was still in full bowhunt mode, but the sweat was running and my lower back was feeling the strain.  I was still a long ways from the bedding area I had in mind, but decided to stop and relax for a few minutes.  I dropped the pack and sat down on the edge of a draw.  I settled up against a tree trunk for cover, and knocked back a bottle of water.  I was getting more comfortable, but from where I was sitting I really couldn’t see any of the hillsides around me.  I decided to get up and move to a spot where I could glass the canyon a little better.

I got to my feet and slung the pack over my shoulders.  As I bent to pick up my hat, I thought I heard something.  My ears flashed back to predator mode.  Up the draw to my right I could hear the unmistakeable shuffle of pig feet.  I peeked around the trunk of a downed oak and was shocked to see four bristled, black backs moving directly down the bottom of the draw.  I eased an arrow out of the bow quiver and nocked it. 

At the rate they were going, they would come out below me at the ideal range of about 15 yards.  I watched as the lead hog, a perfect little 100lb boar, stepped behind the tree.  When he came out, he’d be directly in the trail.  I drew the bow and took a breath.  That crazy exhileration washed over me, shortening my breath and making my pulse pound in my ears.  In my mind, the whole thing was playing out perfectly. 

Pigs suck!  They never do what they’re supposed to do.  In the brief seconds he was out of my sight, that damned little boar turned up the hill.  Instead of popping out in a textbook position below me, he’d come out less than five yards away!  I tried to turn slowly at full draw, but he saw me (how could he help it?) and went on high alert.  I had to twist a long ways to get on him, but as the pin drifted over the kill zone, I started squeezing on the release.  Just as I felt the arrow turn loose, the hog bolted.  The 100gr Slick-Trick broadhead barely missed the tip of the flying tail. 

That’s right.  Yet another hog has felt the whistling wind of death and lived to tell the tale. 

Son of a bitch.

(more…)

Scanning the Outdoor Pressroom today, I came across this story that was simply too good not to share.

Apparently, some yo-yo filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality because some hunters were defecating in the woods.  Apparently the cabin they’d leased did not have a bathroom facility, so these guys were just answering nature’s call naturally.  I don’t have any more details about the actual, alleged violations, but it does look like someone is just spending way too much time worrying about someone else’s business.

From what I read, I guess Judge Daniel Burkeen didn’t think too much of the charges either.  In a classic, straightforward Texas approach, Burkeen drafted up a pretty good summary of the “investigation” and his findings, including the following brilliant comments: 

“We have had some delay in our investigation of the incidents alleged in the complaint which you kindly forwarded to us,” Judge Burkeen wrote in his investigation report to TCEQ. “The problem is, we have recently had a rash of reports of cows, horses, sheep and goats defecating at will in pastures throughout the county.

“… we suspect that wild hogs, deer and all sorts of other animals are defecating without even trying to find a proper facility.

“In addition, I have personal proof on my windshield of a mischievous bird defecating in flight.  The culprit flew away, but I did get a description. It was red. The gift it left was white.”

One of the things I really love about Texas is a general feeling that folks should use a little common sense and personal responsibility.  I’m pretty sure that whoever filed this complaint had a larger agenda, but they sure picked a piss-poor way of getting positive results.  I think Judge Burkeen’s response was perfect!

Over the years since I started putting together these hunts at the Tejon Ranch, one of the most common questions I get is, “what should I bring?”

It’s actually a pretty good question, and as this year’s big trip looms (I’m hitting the road tomorrow night), I thought this was a good time to give it a go. 

First, we’ll dispense with the basics, Guns and Ammo, Optics, Gear, and Vehicles. 

Guns and Ammo: 

I’ve written about this before, but my recommendation is a centerfire rifle in .270 or larger.  Sure, a smaller rifle will kill hogs.  A rock will kill a hog.  But stepping up to something with the range, accuracy, and power of at least a .270Win gives the advantage of a versatile round that allows you to kill a large hog cleanly from powder-burn range to a couple hundred yards.  Especially at places like Tejon, where the terrain varies so widely, it’s good to be able to take the shot you’re presented instead of the shot you’d prefer (within reason, of course). 

You’ll need to be shooting lead-free ammo, so you’ll need to find the kind that shoots best in your personal rifle.  Options are currently, ETip, Barnes, Hornady GMX, Lapua Naturalis, and Remington Copper Solid.  I’ve been real happy so far with both the ETips and the Barnes TSX.  I’ve yet to try the others, however, I have seen good results from the Lapua.  Keep in mind that Tejon Ranch has a total ban on lead ammo, and you are not permitted to possess any on the property… period.  Make sure you clean your vehicle out before you arrive.

A lot of folks want to know about handguns.  I don’t recommend carrying a handgun as a “backup”, simply because it’s generally a lot of extra weight.  If you choose to do so, however, remember that it must be loaded with lead-free ammo even if it’s not your primary weapon.  I do keep my .44mag in the truck, particularly in case I decide to go hunt the bedding areas.  I also carry it if I’m called to help out on a bad blood trail.  But when I take the handgun, I generally leave the rifle behind.  There’s just not much need to carry both, in my opinion.

If you want to carry a handgun for primary, I recommend a .44mag orlarger.  Again, I’ve written about this at length elsewhere, but the bottom line is that it takes a lot of oomph and penetration to bring down a big hog.  Most of the semi-autos and such are designed for lighter rounds that don’t pack the foot-pounds you’ll need for a clean kill. For example, the .40 and .45acp are fine for finishing shots, but not recommended for big game hunting. 

Optics:

No western hunter should ever hit the field without a pair of quality binoculars.  Buy what you can afford, of course, but you won’t be sorry if you spring for the best you can manage.  I like at least a 10×40 (ten power with a 40mm objective), because that’s plenty of power to glass the shadows and draws, but it isn’t so powerful you can’t hold it steady without a tripod.  An 8-power glass is workable, but I wouldn’t bother with anything less.

You don’t need a spotting scope for this kind of hunting unless you’re specifically after trophy boars.  I’ve tried using one twice now, and it really was just more hassle than benefit. Binos worked just as well. There are plenty of good opportunities to use one though, if you feel the need.  There’s lots of open country and cross canyon vantage points.

Rangefinders can be helpful, although in general I think they’re over-rated for rifle hunters.  I have made good use of the rangefinder in my Leica GeoVid, especially with visiting hunters.  If you’re not used to estimating range in this canyon country, a measured distance can be good for the confidence.  Most folks tend to over-estimate anyway, but my rule is, if it seems “iffy”, then get closer or find another hog.  In my opinion, if it’s too far to hold dead on, then you don’t need to take the shot.  You can do better, especially at a place like Tejon Ranch.

Trail Gear:

Most of the hunting at a place like Tejon consists of spot and stalk.  You’ll seldom be more than a mile or so from the vehicle, so an extensive pack isn’t really a necessity.  When I leave the truck, I usually have about a liter or liter-and-a-half of water, a few trail bars, and some striking paper.  I also carry a signal whistle, two skinning knives and a sharpener (a hog is tough on a knife), a game bag or a couple of pillow cases, and several yards of parachute cord (550 cord).  There are also usually a few odds and ends, including some rudimentary first-aid stuff, but that’s the critical content.  All of this fits in a medium sized fanny pack, or in the tactical thigh packs I use.

While I never carry enough gear to fill a frame pack, I do carry one most of the time.  I have a tendency to drop my animals in some fairly inaccessible locations.  With a frame pack and some game bags, I can bone out a hog and lash it to the pack frame for a relatively easy recovery.  I never try to drag an animal, unless I’m really close to the vehicle.  An added benefit of the frame is that it makes carrying the little bit of gear I have a lot easier… I just lash the fanny pack to the frame. 

One other note on recovery… I always try to have several hundred yards of rope back at the vehicle.  In many cases, it’s possible to drop a long rope to your animal and let the vehicle do the heavy lifting to pull it out of a deep canyon.  You can never have too much rope.

Vehicles:

Tejon is a very accessible place, and can be hunted successfully from a two-wheel drive vehicle.  In fact, some very productive areas can be reached from the paved road.  There are several good roads, particularly when the weather is dry, so a regular pick-up truck or SUV can get around quite well.  I would recommend something with a little extra ground clearance for the dirt roads.  A decent, short-wheelbase, 4wd vehicle can access every road on the ranch in dry weather.  Some of the trails get pretty steep, and in places there’s some deep, dusty sand, so you’ll need the extra boost of a 4wd.  Long-bed pick-ups can get around pretty well too, but some roads get real tight and turning around can be a problem. 

When the weather is wet and snowy, however, it’s a different deal.  The high roads are often blocked by drifts, and the muddy lower roads can turn into real quagmires.  The clay and stone soil get slick as Vaseline, and will pack the treads of most off-road tires in no time.  In these cases, you’ll need a really good off-road vehicle combined with an experienced driver to access some areas… other areas should simply be considered inaccessible.  Get out and use the boot leather.

Recently, Tejon has started to allow the use of “side-by-sides” or UTVs, such as the Polaris or Kawasaki Mule.  These vehicles are useful and economical, but they generally don’t offer a lot of ground clearance.  An experienced driver can probably get them into some pretty tricky areas, but it’s also pretty easy to get yourself into a real bind. 

I recommend bringing along some self-extraction gear, such as a winch, hi-lift jack, come-along, and recovery straps or cables.  But even more importantly, bring along some common sense.  Every year the ranch has at least a couple of folks who end up going over the edge, and several more end up calling for the off-road wrecker service.  In at least a couple of cases, vehicles have had to be abandoned for several days until the weather permits an extraction. 

Oh, and the standard aphorism for driving at Tejon: “If the road starts looking really bad, stop and go back.  It will NOT get better around the bend.”

So what else?  (more…)

I just received an email from a fella in Sacramento, asking a few questions about hog hunting.  Since these are pretty good, general questions, I thought I’d take a stab at them here for everyone.  I hope this is helpful…

Is there a message board where hunters can exchange contact information and arrange to get together for hunting?

There are several great message boards/forums out there.   Two of them that I frequent that have a lot of CA content are Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors and The Outdoors Forum.  Another site that a lot of hunters like is the 24 Hour Campfire.   There are a couple of social networking sites you might also try.  One of the best of these (at least one of the most active) is Camo Space. 

I do want to offer a couple of tips on getting info and connections from these forums.  First of all, remember that a forum that has been around awhile is something of a community.  A lot of members come to feel sort of possessive and protective of the space over time, and as such, a certain level of etiquette and decorum will go a long ways toward making inroads.  If you just pop into a forum and say, “hey, can someone tell me where to go kill a pig on public land,” I can almost guarantee you’ll get a cold shoulder.  (If you’re lucky, someone will point out the error of your ways in a friendly voice…others may not be so friendly.) 

A better approach is to introduce yourself, just as you would if you walked up to someone’s campfire.  Share a little about yourself, where you’re from, and what you’re all about.  Let folks know that you’re willing to do your own homework, but could sure use a little tip in the right direction.  And offer something in return, if you can.  For example, offer to drive or pay for gas if someone wanted to accompany you on a scouting/hunting trip.  Or offer to meet up at some public place for coffee or beer to chat about hunting.  In other words, come looking to make friends, not just to gather intel. 

California has a depredation compensation program for pig damage to private land owners.  To be compensated for damage, do these land owners have to allow access to hunters?

To the best of my knowledge, there is no requirement for public access.  Usually, the program provides a depredation permit to the landowner or his “agents” to kill problem pigs, and that’s about it.  The permit generally allows alternative methods, such as night hunting and trapping.  I’m not sure how many ranchers actually see fiscal compensation for hog depredation. 

That said, I do know that the DFG is (or was) working on adding hog hunting properties to the SHARE program, however I haven’t heard much more on that since the effort was announced.  Keep an eye out when the new booklets come out for 2010-2011 for announcements on this program.

My preference is to hunt private land, for which I am willing to pay.  What is the typical daily trespass fee to be allowed onto private property?

Private land “tresspass fees” and guided hunt costs vary pretty widely.  For the most part, you’ll see prices from $400 on up, depending on the level of service and accomodations.  The cheapest that I know of personally is over at Bryson-Hesperia Resort, with day-hunt packages beginning around $200 for an unguided hog hunt.  That’s a great price, and right now is a perfect time to get out there, as the barley crop is coming up and the pigs are more predictable coming to the food source. 

One of my favorite places, but a bit of a drive from Sacramento, is the Tejon Ranch.  Tejon offers a monthly “Wild Hog Management Hunt” from December through June every year.  At a cost of $450, this is an excellent hunt on one of the premier properties in California.  The hunt is a weekend hunt, running from Friday noon through Sunday noon.  Hunters are allowed to take one hog, and hogs are plentiful on the ranch.  It’s a hunt I strongly recommend to new hog hunters in this state, as the opportunity for success is high, and there are usually plenty of other helpful hunters around during the weekend to offer suggestions, tips, or even an extra set of hands to get that big boar out of a steep canyon. 

Another option is to join one of the clubs like Wilderness Unlimited or Golden Ram Sportsmen’s Club.  These clubs lease properties in many areas around the state, and members have access to all of the properties to hunt various game, from upland and waterfowl to hogs, deer, and bear.  Initial costs may seem a little steep, but for the hunter who will utilize the properties several times per year, it’s worth the investment.  I’m currently a member at Golden Ram, by the way, and I’ve found it to be worth every penny for good hunting on private lands. 

Assuming there are pigs in an area, how many acres need to be accessible to actually shoot one?

That’s a tricky question.  The fact is, if you know of a small farm, food source, or waterhole that’s getting hit by hogs, you don’t need a lot of property.  A few acres will do.  However, to keep a huntable population of hogs on a property, you need a good combination of food, water, and bedding shelter.  Without all three, you may have thousands of acres without a realistically huntable population. 

Hogs cover a lot of ground during their daily travels.  In many places, they’ll literally travel for miles between bed, food, and water (although when possible, they like to bed relatively close to their water source).  They are not, by nature, nocturnal animals, but they will adopt night-time habits quickly in the face of hunting pressure.  Once they do, it can be really tough to catch them in transit.  For this reason, a bigger piece of land would be optimal, since it would allow you to distribute the hunting pressure without focusing on a single location. 

For what it’s worth, when I was looking (unsuccessfully) to buy a piece of land to hunt on, I was pretty set on nothing less than a half-section (320 acres).  That’s big enough to allow me to set aside “sanctuary” areas, manage food plots, and also to go out without crossing my own tracks every time I hit the field.  By limiting hunting pressure to myself and a couple of friends, I figured that would be sufficient.  However, there’s nothing to say you couldn’t be successful on 100 acres, or even 50.  I doubt you could successfully hunt a smaller place on a regular basis… at least not in the typical CA habitat. 

How much hunting pressure will drive hogs to abandon an area?

Again, the answer will vary a bit from situation to situation.  The single, best answer is to limit hunting pressure on any small area as much as possible.  In some cases, one hunter can ruin an area for days or even months.  In other cases, there are places that can be hunted hard time and again without driving the hogs away. 

As with any other game, the keys are availability of food, water, and bedding shelter.  If you have a consistent supply of all three of these in an area, then that area will withstand a good bit of hunting without losing your hogs.   This is particularly true for a food source, like barley or other crops.  When the barley is coming in, hunters can (and do) pound the hogs hard and they just keep coming back (assuming the herd is plentiful).  The same goes for isolated water sources… the hogs have to have it, and they’ll keep coming.  The biggest factor you’ll deal with here is the hogs becoming more nocturnal.  They won’t leave the area, but your chances of seeing them in the daylight get slimmer with every hunt. 

Travel corridors can also take a pretty good beating.  Hogs tend to use the same general paths to food and water (with minor variations).   Moderate pressure on these corridors can translate into consistent success and a reliable area for later hunts. 

One thing you’ll want to avoid is hitting the bedding areas too hard.  This is the “safe zone” for hogs, and if they feel that it’s not safe anymore, they will pack up and move.  I don’t know of any magic number of hunts that trigger the exodus, but once they leave a bedding area it may be a very long time before they return. 

A final note about hunting pressure.  In many cases, simply because there are a lot of hunters in a place doesn’t necessarily mean the hogs will be driven off.  Keep in mind that the majority of hunters, both on public and private land, barely enter the outer edges of prime hog habitat.  Most of these folks will seldom stray far from a road or major trailhead.  If you’re willing to get off the beaten track, your odds of success go way up.  I’ve certainly found this to be the case on most of the properties I’ve hunted, from public plots to Tejon Ranch. 

Again, I hope some of this is helpful information.  I’m also open to suggestions, corrections, additions, or recommendations from any of you readers out there.