- Thread starter CottonwoodHunting
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It could be done, it would be tough but it could be done. Best bet would be find a travel path and just set on it. All sighting have been fast and furious with only a few seconds to see the pigs.
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What happened on the hunt? The meal sounded good, but I did not see anything with the hunt. I have a friend in Visaila that wanted to do a pig hunt before he comes out here.
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cjack
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jhill528 was able to put one down with a well placed shot at very close range. The pigs bed down in thick thistle after feeding in the walnut groves at night and then move to heavy cover on the river bank during the heat of the day. The best way to hunt this property at this time of year is to either drive them from the thistle with hunters waiting for them near where you can anticipate an exit or wait in a well thought out location for them to exit in late morning to head for the river. Very few places to catch them in open areas making for quick decisions on running pigs. With only one day to figure out the ranch it was a tough hunt, the accommodations and food were great I just wish it wasn't 100+ degrees out and we had more time. Eric from Cottonwoodhunting was very kind and allowed us to hunt Friday night and even offered to let us stay a second day but I kinda over did it on Saturday and was suffering from heat exhaustion, dehydration and allergies from trying to bust through the dried thistle. jhill528 was a great hunting partner and even shared some of his kill with me. Overall it was an interesting experience and I'm thankful that jhill528 invited me along. Cottonwoodhunting is still trying to figure out his hunting packages and I'm sure it will be a great place to hunt once the details are figured out and perhaps a spring hunt during cooler weather would be a more desirable time to hunt this particular ranch for this tired old man!
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Thanks cjack. I hear you on trying to hunt somewhere just once, it's very hard. And summertime hunting hogs is brutal. I switch to shooting at a feeder and some short stalking where I know the area during the summer. The thistle sucks to, you get in and you can't get out and the pigs just scatter..Most guys out here in Texas use thermal for night hunting. I am one of very few that is successful daylight hunting. Even the "thermal guys" are sick of me killing pigs. Thanks again cjack...
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Very nice...congrats...
cjack
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Yes hunting water sources is normally the way to go this time of year but unfortunately this ranch has a river running through the whole length of it so trying to pinpoint a specific watering hole is impossible.
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THE ROMAN ARCHER
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Thnx cjack for the pics and rundown on the quick short notice hunt u guys got to do.
Very generous of Erik to offer us jho brothers a chance to hunt his ranch. It's great that u and JH got to share the hunt together.
Congrats to jh on the wild pig kill, well done my man and nice of u to share!......tra
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Very generous of Erik to offer us jho brothers a chance to hunt his ranch. It's great that u and JH got to share the hunt together.
Congrats to jh on the wild pig kill, well done my man and nice of u to share!......tra
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Bubblehide
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Just book a hunt with Erik
Stevehazard
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Guess I should of been checking the forums more regularly, actually was on the opposite side of the mountains that day so that would of posed an issue anyways.
Ok guys so its been one week since my hunt and I've been super busy with family and work but here's the story...…
To preface Cjack and I had never been to this property and didn't know what to expect. We arrived and were greeted by Erik (The owner) and Ginger (who we later found out was hired as a Private Chef this young woman was an AMAZING chef). We got settled into our "Rumpus Room", a nice homey cabin with 2 queen beds, 2 twin beds, a full bathroom, fireplace, kitchen, couches, games, a badass Bluetooth speaker incase we felt the need to rock out. Now if all this wasn't enough, the fridge in the kitchen was STOCKED with water, Gatorade, soda, candy and adult beverages, these were all there forus to enjoy at NO extra cost. I don't know about Cjack but I was more than impressed so far. After the usual de-brief and paperwork signing with Erik he let us know that dinner would be at 7pm. Wow ok, I thought we had to take care of our own meals so this was a surprise. Cjack and I headed out to go explore (no hunting today since that was the original agreement). Within 20 minutes of walking around we saw 2 hogs across the Fresno river (100 yads and on the property still) and we stood less than 50 yards from several more hogs moving around in the brush around the edge of the river. Seeing this we headed back to the headquarters to see Erik. We discussed what we saw and Erik graciously agreed to let us do some hunting that evening.
At 7 o'clock Ginger brought us Halibut with plum sauce, fried sweet potatoes and green beans with a carrot wrap. Guys, this was amazing and when it was not expected, that made it that much more special. Now with just an hour of shooting light left we headed out to were we had seen the hogs earlier. We choose a short cut that forced us through a field of six foot tall Thistles. I won't lie, blue jean and short sleeves are a bad choice for this property. I instantly regretted this path, but within 3 minutes we had hos running within 15-20 feet of us but we simply could not see them in this thick brush. Cjack and I decided I would push through the middle of the thistle and Cjack would walk the edge closest to the Almond Orchard, since we knew that's were the pigs would run to. sure enough after about 20 minutes, I heard Cjack fire a single shot. As I later found out, a herd of about 20 pigs ran at top speed out of the thistle and only presented a snap shot at nearly 200 yards. Unfortunately, Cjack did not connect, we checked for blood and we followed the pigs into the orchard until we ran out of hunting light. Now back to the cabin for us.
Now for the big push. With shooting time starting at 5:30am Cjack and I decided we would spend the first hour setting on the edge of the Almond Orchard, we thought we might intercept some pigs leaving the orchard along so VERY heavily traveled crossings. After an hour (now 6:30am) we didn't see any pigs (I saw a small buck) so we decided to walk down along the river where we had seen the pigs the evening before. Cjack and I had planned I would head downstream and he would work downstream until we met back together. Well this didn't produce any pigs so we decided to head back into those damn thistles (that's were the pigs had incredible trails and bedding areas dug out under old Walnut Trees). Back in the Thistles, Cjack on one side me on the other walking along pushing together we walked, the day was getting hotter and the thistles were relentless. I reached a small opening where I could see across the thistles. At this point I knew I was ahead of Cjack and I thought I should pause and wait for him to catch up and if any pigs are being pushed by him I will see them cross right here. Within a minute I saw a thistle move and a quick flash of black. Standing in the wide open I raised my rifle and waited for the pigs to cross. Sure enough at just 30 yards I had a nice Sow and three smaller pigs come trotting by. I hit the big sow perfectly and a short 30-40 yard blood trail and there she was (7:15am). Cjack came and found me with my pig and I called Erik to come pick me and the pig up. As I rode back with Erik to the headquarters, Cjack continued busting brush looking for a pig of his own. Erik had a nice hanging station for me to do my work and a freezer full of block ice so I could get my pig cooled down. Ginger wanted some lessons on field dressing a pig, so I got a helper and a very eager helper at that.
After getting my pig on ice, I waited about a hour so, because I saw Cjack walk by and I figured he come back in out of the heat, but he kept pushing on. Finally around 11a Cjack came in and Ginger brought our lunch (15 Legume spicy Southwest Stew which was amazing). Cjack was beat and I was out of Pig tags but I was going to stick around until he got his pig (you really need at least 2 people to help push these pig through the thick cover). We rested until about 2 pm., but with the temps hoovering around 95-100 degrees, Cjack had pushed it to the max and was done. Erik graciously offered for us to stay another night and hunt on Sunday as well but Cjack and I both had other obligations, se we had to pass. I felt my pig was a team effort and Cjack had not gotten a pigs so I shared the meat with him and we said our goodbyes.
Erik and Ginger were both awesome people and this property has a lot of pigs. We really only hunted 50 acres or less of an over 2000 acre property not because we couldn't hunt the rest, but we didn't have to, the pigs were right there. If you get the chance, book a hunt at the Smith Adobe Ranch.
To preface Cjack and I had never been to this property and didn't know what to expect. We arrived and were greeted by Erik (The owner) and Ginger (who we later found out was hired as a Private Chef this young woman was an AMAZING chef). We got settled into our "Rumpus Room", a nice homey cabin with 2 queen beds, 2 twin beds, a full bathroom, fireplace, kitchen, couches, games, a badass Bluetooth speaker incase we felt the need to rock out. Now if all this wasn't enough, the fridge in the kitchen was STOCKED with water, Gatorade, soda, candy and adult beverages, these were all there forus to enjoy at NO extra cost. I don't know about Cjack but I was more than impressed so far. After the usual de-brief and paperwork signing with Erik he let us know that dinner would be at 7pm. Wow ok, I thought we had to take care of our own meals so this was a surprise. Cjack and I headed out to go explore (no hunting today since that was the original agreement). Within 20 minutes of walking around we saw 2 hogs across the Fresno river (100 yads and on the property still) and we stood less than 50 yards from several more hogs moving around in the brush around the edge of the river. Seeing this we headed back to the headquarters to see Erik. We discussed what we saw and Erik graciously agreed to let us do some hunting that evening.
At 7 o'clock Ginger brought us Halibut with plum sauce, fried sweet potatoes and green beans with a carrot wrap. Guys, this was amazing and when it was not expected, that made it that much more special. Now with just an hour of shooting light left we headed out to were we had seen the hogs earlier. We choose a short cut that forced us through a field of six foot tall Thistles. I won't lie, blue jean and short sleeves are a bad choice for this property. I instantly regretted this path, but within 3 minutes we had hos running within 15-20 feet of us but we simply could not see them in this thick brush. Cjack and I decided I would push through the middle of the thistle and Cjack would walk the edge closest to the Almond Orchard, since we knew that's were the pigs would run to. sure enough after about 20 minutes, I heard Cjack fire a single shot. As I later found out, a herd of about 20 pigs ran at top speed out of the thistle and only presented a snap shot at nearly 200 yards. Unfortunately, Cjack did not connect, we checked for blood and we followed the pigs into the orchard until we ran out of hunting light. Now back to the cabin for us.
Now for the big push. With shooting time starting at 5:30am Cjack and I decided we would spend the first hour setting on the edge of the Almond Orchard, we thought we might intercept some pigs leaving the orchard along so VERY heavily traveled crossings. After an hour (now 6:30am) we didn't see any pigs (I saw a small buck) so we decided to walk down along the river where we had seen the pigs the evening before. Cjack and I had planned I would head downstream and he would work downstream until we met back together. Well this didn't produce any pigs so we decided to head back into those damn thistles (that's were the pigs had incredible trails and bedding areas dug out under old Walnut Trees). Back in the Thistles, Cjack on one side me on the other walking along pushing together we walked, the day was getting hotter and the thistles were relentless. I reached a small opening where I could see across the thistles. At this point I knew I was ahead of Cjack and I thought I should pause and wait for him to catch up and if any pigs are being pushed by him I will see them cross right here. Within a minute I saw a thistle move and a quick flash of black. Standing in the wide open I raised my rifle and waited for the pigs to cross. Sure enough at just 30 yards I had a nice Sow and three smaller pigs come trotting by. I hit the big sow perfectly and a short 30-40 yard blood trail and there she was (7:15am). Cjack came and found me with my pig and I called Erik to come pick me and the pig up. As I rode back with Erik to the headquarters, Cjack continued busting brush looking for a pig of his own. Erik had a nice hanging station for me to do my work and a freezer full of block ice so I could get my pig cooled down. Ginger wanted some lessons on field dressing a pig, so I got a helper and a very eager helper at that.
After getting my pig on ice, I waited about a hour so, because I saw Cjack walk by and I figured he come back in out of the heat, but he kept pushing on. Finally around 11a Cjack came in and Ginger brought our lunch (15 Legume spicy Southwest Stew which was amazing). Cjack was beat and I was out of Pig tags but I was going to stick around until he got his pig (you really need at least 2 people to help push these pig through the thick cover). We rested until about 2 pm., but with the temps hoovering around 95-100 degrees, Cjack had pushed it to the max and was done. Erik graciously offered for us to stay another night and hunt on Sunday as well but Cjack and I both had other obligations, se we had to pass. I felt my pig was a team effort and Cjack had not gotten a pigs so I shared the meat with him and we said our goodbyes.
Erik and Ginger were both awesome people and this property has a lot of pigs. We really only hunted 50 acres or less of an over 2000 acre property not because we couldn't hunt the rest, but we didn't have to, the pigs were right there. If you get the chance, book a hunt at the Smith Adobe Ranch.
Bankrunner
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Thanks for sharing, good write up of your adventure!
THE ROMAN ARCHER
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Finally a great morning read, u guys r so lucky to get a a ranch hunt outfitter in cali for a 100 bucks ea.That's unheard off.
This time of year in cali with high temps keeps those pigs in cover tight during the day with minimal movement the better chances would be at sunrise and sunset when they r coming or going to their bedding area.
That pig has some dried mud on it they r hitting the wallows probably early in the morning before light.
If u think about it its amazing u were able to whack a pig so quick on a property u never been too before on super short notice.
I am sure we have all done weekend hunts that were planned for months with time preparation getting equipment and supplies ready, practicing for months with our hunting weapons and then finally do the hunt and get skunked.
U guys got a quick resort mini vacation with a 5 star cabin and cook, who cares about the hunt u still made out....lol
If u put me on property to hunt I never been to before I am like a hound dog on the loose looking for pigs.....lol
So outstanding of Erik to offer us jho members this hunt, he is a true jho bro!
Thanks for the write up and pics and look forward to your next hunting adventure story....tra
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This time of year in cali with high temps keeps those pigs in cover tight during the day with minimal movement the better chances would be at sunrise and sunset when they r coming or going to their bedding area.
That pig has some dried mud on it they r hitting the wallows probably early in the morning before light.
If u think about it its amazing u were able to whack a pig so quick on a property u never been too before on super short notice.
I am sure we have all done weekend hunts that were planned for months with time preparation getting equipment and supplies ready, practicing for months with our hunting weapons and then finally do the hunt and get skunked.
U guys got a quick resort mini vacation with a 5 star cabin and cook, who cares about the hunt u still made out....lol
If u put me on property to hunt I never been to before I am like a hound dog on the loose looking for pigs.....lol
So outstanding of Erik to offer us jho members this hunt, he is a true jho bro!
Thanks for the write up and pics and look forward to your next hunting adventure story....tra
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
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Really looks like a great place. First class meals and accommodations. Everyone working together for a successful hunt and weekend. Congratulations.
