asaxon
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2 hours hunting, 10 seconds shooting, 2 dead hogs, too much fun but dogs not happy…
Today I went pig hunting outside of San Miguel, a small town just N. of Paso Robles with Tom Willoughby as guide. I “owe” Hoghunter714 for the recommendation. I told Tom my purpose was to have fun and to introduce me to hog hunting - if I shot a hog, it would be a bonus. I’m a total newbie to hog hunting – long story which I will not repeat about my 42 year hiatus from land animal hunting. Tom was great even before the hunt. Returned my calls and was generally available in the evening if, being a newbie, I had a question. Tom had me to call him last Friday to check where we’d meet depending which property looked promising to hunt. Also said it would be very good to get up there in the afternoon to hunt rather than start in the morning this time of year. He felt the hogs eat their fill in the late PM and night and generally are “in cover” in the mornings.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
 pigs standing right out on a clear hillside some 300-400 yds away. They finally heard/saw us and scampered (yes, little hogs seem to scamper) into the trees. We glassed the hills from the high spot and saw a couple of bigger boars – they were not of interest to me. He then spotted a group of ok sized hogs on a knoll about ¼ mile away. Link to picture below - Tom glassing, dog bored.</FONT></FONT></P><P><FONT size=3 face=Arial></FONT></P><P><FONT size=3 face=Arial></FONT></P><P style=)
We then carefully worked our way over to the foot of that knoll to see about 8 hogs that were grazing down the hillside toward an open field. They were smallish ranging from 60-90 lbs he figured. We stalked them and got into a shooting position but decided to pass for the moment and go to the top of the hill and see if any larger sows were up there or over the other side. Nothing doing so we dropped back down the hill toward the 8 hogs that had now crossed the open field and were feeding under a large tree across a field with a small gully in it.
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We discussed what I wanted to do. My mantra from years from spear fishing is never to pass up the first ok fish waiting for the perfect fish. If you do, you will never see the perfect fish on that trip, i.e. let’s try to shoot the biggest of the bunch, the white one with black rump. As I’d brought two tags, Tom suggested I take the shot and then immediately put another round in the chamber and see if I could bag another hog – a couple of the brown ones were almost the same size. So we worked our way to about 150-160 yards from the hogs with the wind in our favor and using the cover of the trees. I’m using my 30-06 Browning A bolt with 3-9 scope, Federal 165 triple shock (lead free of course) and Tom’s old (antique is more like it) bipod shooting stick in a standing position.
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BAM! The White/Black hog simply crumples and never moves again. The others run (not scamper) off but I’m surprised they don’t seem to be running real fast. I don’t’ know if that is because they can’t run real fast or if they are confused as to where to run for they don’t know where the shot come from. Anyway, most run diagonal to/toward us which puts them into the gully and then out the other side. I simply had to wait and in about 10 seconds, one of the larger brown ones comes running over the crest of the gully. BAM! It crumples, kicks its legs a few times and is still. I think Tom was pleasantly surprised at the second shot as he quickly said “good shot” while I acted as if I was not surprised – “ho hum” while thinking - “Did I do that?” (Again, I hope the link works, if not, copy and paste in browser.)
http://www.pishcadora.org/modules/x...Name=album21&id=1_10_11_Tom_working_dog_bored
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http://www.pishcadora.org/modules/xoopsgallery/view_photo.php?xoops_imageid=2757&set_albumName=album21&id=1_10_11_Pig_sisters_2
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After that, back at the ranch, Tom skinned and gutted them in record time. You can tell he has had lots of practice. Both hogs had quite a bit of fat on them – they will be good eating. Tom figured that they weighed about 85 and 75 lbs. You can see where the white hog got hit and the entry wound on the brown one is about 1.5 inches higher. The exit wounds were not pretty -165 grain was bigger than needed but if I had taken the 110 grain Federal, we’d have only seen really big hogs of course. Murphy’s law. I put a bag of ice in each abdominal cavity (with extra trash bags around the ice so as not to have water leak out onto the meat), put the carcasses in cloth sacks, and I was home by 9 pm in Santa Monica. Hell of a day.
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Oh yes, the dogs were not happy – they did NOT get to go hog chasing. Maybe next time. The price for a two day hunt was $575, $50 deposit and the remainder I paid him at the end of the hunt. Definitely worth it for my education – priceless. My only regret is we were so “efficient.” But even in the short time, I learned an enormous amount about what I need to bring (and what I didn’t need) etc. And this is just the beginning of the learning curve. I can see this can easily be habit forming.
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And thanks again for all the input I got from forum members on the guides etc. Been a long day.
Today I went pig hunting outside of San Miguel, a small town just N. of Paso Robles with Tom Willoughby as guide. I “owe” Hoghunter714 for the recommendation. I told Tom my purpose was to have fun and to introduce me to hog hunting - if I shot a hog, it would be a bonus. I’m a total newbie to hog hunting – long story which I will not repeat about my 42 year hiatus from land animal hunting. Tom was great even before the hunt. Returned my calls and was generally available in the evening if, being a newbie, I had a question. Tom had me to call him last Friday to check where we’d meet depending which property looked promising to hunt. Also said it would be very good to get up there in the afternoon to hunt rather than start in the morning this time of year. He felt the hogs eat their fill in the late PM and night and generally are “in cover” in the mornings.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
<o
></o>We discussed what I wanted to do. My mantra from years from spear fishing is never to pass up the first ok fish waiting for the perfect fish. If you do, you will never see the perfect fish on that trip, i.e. let’s try to shoot the biggest of the bunch, the white one with black rump. As I’d brought two tags, Tom suggested I take the shot and then immediately put another round in the chamber and see if I could bag another hog – a couple of the brown ones were almost the same size. So we worked our way to about 150-160 yards from the hogs with the wind in our favor and using the cover of the trees. I’m using my 30-06 Browning A bolt with 3-9 scope, Federal 165 triple shock (lead free of course) and Tom’s old (antique is more like it) bipod shooting stick in a standing position.
<o
></o>BAM! The White/Black hog simply crumples and never moves again. The others run (not scamper) off but I’m surprised they don’t seem to be running real fast. I don’t’ know if that is because they can’t run real fast or if they are confused as to where to run for they don’t know where the shot come from. Anyway, most run diagonal to/toward us which puts them into the gully and then out the other side. I simply had to wait and in about 10 seconds, one of the larger brown ones comes running over the crest of the gully. BAM! It crumples, kicks its legs a few times and is still. I think Tom was pleasantly surprised at the second shot as he quickly said “good shot” while I acted as if I was not surprised – “ho hum” while thinking - “Did I do that?” (Again, I hope the link works, if not, copy and paste in browser.)
http://www.pishcadora.org/modules/x...Name=album21&id=1_10_11_Tom_working_dog_bored
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></o>http://www.pishcadora.org/modules/xoopsgallery/view_photo.php?xoops_imageid=2757&set_albumName=album21&id=1_10_11_Pig_sisters_2
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></o>After that, back at the ranch, Tom skinned and gutted them in record time. You can tell he has had lots of practice. Both hogs had quite a bit of fat on them – they will be good eating. Tom figured that they weighed about 85 and 75 lbs. You can see where the white hog got hit and the entry wound on the brown one is about 1.5 inches higher. The exit wounds were not pretty -165 grain was bigger than needed but if I had taken the 110 grain Federal, we’d have only seen really big hogs of course. Murphy’s law. I put a bag of ice in each abdominal cavity (with extra trash bags around the ice so as not to have water leak out onto the meat), put the carcasses in cloth sacks, and I was home by 9 pm in Santa Monica. Hell of a day.
<o
></o>Oh yes, the dogs were not happy – they did NOT get to go hog chasing. Maybe next time. The price for a two day hunt was $575, $50 deposit and the remainder I paid him at the end of the hunt. Definitely worth it for my education – priceless. My only regret is we were so “efficient.” But even in the short time, I learned an enormous amount about what I need to bring (and what I didn’t need) etc. And this is just the beginning of the learning curve. I can see this can easily be habit forming.
<o
></o>And thanks again for all the input I got from forum members on the guides etc. Been a long day.
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