A week late but here's my story.
I had never hunted swine before and thought that it would be best to go on a guided hunt to get a general idea of how the pig hunting game is played. Based on all the guide reviews and personal reccomendations, I decided that Bryson would be the best place to go. I went with my buddy Jeff who had also never hunted pig before.
Friday
We left the bay area around 9:30am and made to Bryson at about 12:30. From all the information I had, I knew that this place was going to be nice but I had no idea how nice. There are 7 cabins, each with their own BBQ and spaced comfortably from one another. They are brand spanking new with everything you could want. DD was out at FHL extinguishing cows, yes...cows were on fire, so we played cards for a few hours and enjoyed the afternoon. Around 4pm DD showed up and we got ready to hunt. DD gave us a great tour of here property and taught us a little about pig hunting. As a new pig hunter it was great to have someone be so helpful and answer all of my questions along with showing us areas that pig like.
After the tour we got to the hunting. We set up on a barley field that the pigs had been hitting pretty hard. DD's daughter set up on a hill about a 1/4-1/2 mile away and glassed for hogs moving into the area. The plan was that if she saw any movement she would let us know on our walkie talkie's. We waited for a few hours with out any movement when Corin says that ther is a huge boar coming down the hill behind us and we need to move fast.
We jump up and move as quickly and quitely as we can over to the barley field behind us but we don't see anything. Right now the barley is about 3 1/2 ft tall so when a pig gets into it it is almost impossible to see. DD has a good idea of where the boar is heading but it is almost impossible to get within shooting range without making our presence known. We decided to set up and wait for movement. I set up my shooting sticks just so I am ready. A moment later the boar pops out of the barley but it is about 200 yds away, walks over to a tree and starts rubbing himself against it. I put the cross hairs and his neck and let DD know that I have a shot. She said that she could get me a lot closer so I decided to hold off and we try to intersect the pig a bit farther down. To make a short story even shorter, the pig moved slower than we hoped and we ran out of light before it got to where we were waiting.
We didn't make it back to Bryson until almost 10pm and were pretty wiped out when we got in. During our hunt that evening I had made a slight detour through a patch of poison oak and DD was gracious enough to take all my clothes and wash them along with giving me some technu. Talk about a full service guide
We had a few man sodas and called it an evening.
Saturday
The next morning we get up early and hunt the same barley fields as the night before. We are not more than 20yds in when we hear something in the barley. We stop but we can't see a thing. However we hear munch, munch, munch. It sounds like its moving in our direction but we are not sure. I set up on the lower side of the hill and Jeff sets up a little higher up. Every now and then we would see some movement and the twitch of a tail but we were never able to make out the whole pig. We waited for almost 25 minutes, 20 yds from the pig, but we were never able to see it. I would have loved to crawl into the barley with my .45 and go eyeball to eyeball with him. Eventually, it moved off into the barley and we lost it. We later saw it moving up a hill into its bedding area. We hunted for a little longer but didn't see anything.
At this point in the hunt, DD let us know that she was having some trouble locating the pigs on her property. It's not that they weren't there but that the full moon had changed the pigs pattern. Based upon the trails in the barley the pigs were clearly around, just at night. At this point in the hunt she offered to hook us up with another local guide that was having better success.
We accpeted her offer and made arraingments to hunt with Tom Willoughby.
We then spent the rest of the afternoon helping control DD's squirrel population.
That evening we met up with Tom and made our way ove to a 24,000 acre ranch that he hunts. We drove ridglines for about an 1 1/2 but didn't see anything. As we started heading towards another part of the ranch Jeff saw a few spots moving on a hill in the distance. Tom said he knew exactly where the pigs were moving and the hunt was on.
We jumped back in the truck and headed towards the pigs. This was probablly the hairiest truck ride I have ever been in. The road was barely big enough for the truck so Tom folded in his side mirror and scrapped the side of his truck along the hillside. At the time it seemed as if it was a 45% grade going down the hill. We will just say there was a little puckering while we were heading down the hill. Once we made it to the bottom we grabbed our guns/ammo and started making the hike to where we thought the pigs were going to be.
We came around the bottom of a hill we saw 2 sows and 6 little pigs running around. The sows were laying on the ground not doing much of anything. We belly crawled to within 75 yards and each sighted in on a sow. I took the one farther away and Jeff took the one closest to us. We wanted to see if either of the sows were wet before we were going to shoot so the waiting game began. After a few minutes the pig closest to us got up and started heading in our direction. We see that she is not wet but we want to see about the other one also. About a minute later she also got up and began walking towards us...not wet
We decided that I was to shoot first and then Jeff would shoot. At about 50 yards the sow stopped and looked in our direction the other sow was now about 25 yards from Jeff and broadsided to him. I decided that this would be the best time to shoot but all I had was head shot or a frontal body shot. I put my crosshairs between the pigs eyes and pull the trigger. Unfortunately, the pig took a step as I was pulling the trigger and with the combination of a slightly downhill shot I put the bullet in the the pigs hind end. It wheeled around and headed back up the hill at mach 5. I jump up and chased after it for about 50 yards. I see that it stopped and i was able to put a shot in the boiler room to finish her off.
When I shot at my pig, Jeff's didn't move and he fired right after me. A complete miss (I think both of us were a little to excited at that moment). His pig turns around and starts heading for the hills. I don't know how he did it but he chambered another round and put the second bullet right through the back of the pigs head. At this time I am in hot pursuit of my pig and I hear Jeff behind me yelling "I got it, Josh I got it. It just fell over. I got it. It fell over!"
We took a moment to relax and process everything that had just happened and then dragged to pigs to the truck . Tom cleaned the pigs and then we headed back to Bryson where we had more than a few man sodas before calling it a night.
I would like to thank DD for taking such good care of Jeff and I. Her resort is beautiful and she is an excellent guide. Unfortunately the pigs on her property where uncooperative but it speaks highly of her character that she hooked us up with another guide
I am now hooked on pig hunting. It's all that I have thought about for the last week. I actually purchased a new gun this week that will be my "pig gun". I can't wait to go again!
A few pictures of the hunt
DD's Barley Fields
Solving DD's Squirrel Problem
Jeff Looking for pigs
Pigs!
My sow
Jeff and his pig. Tom had started to clean the pig before we were able to take a picture hence the missing foot.
I had never hunted swine before and thought that it would be best to go on a guided hunt to get a general idea of how the pig hunting game is played. Based on all the guide reviews and personal reccomendations, I decided that Bryson would be the best place to go. I went with my buddy Jeff who had also never hunted pig before.
Friday
We left the bay area around 9:30am and made to Bryson at about 12:30. From all the information I had, I knew that this place was going to be nice but I had no idea how nice. There are 7 cabins, each with their own BBQ and spaced comfortably from one another. They are brand spanking new with everything you could want. DD was out at FHL extinguishing cows, yes...cows were on fire, so we played cards for a few hours and enjoyed the afternoon. Around 4pm DD showed up and we got ready to hunt. DD gave us a great tour of here property and taught us a little about pig hunting. As a new pig hunter it was great to have someone be so helpful and answer all of my questions along with showing us areas that pig like.
After the tour we got to the hunting. We set up on a barley field that the pigs had been hitting pretty hard. DD's daughter set up on a hill about a 1/4-1/2 mile away and glassed for hogs moving into the area. The plan was that if she saw any movement she would let us know on our walkie talkie's. We waited for a few hours with out any movement when Corin says that ther is a huge boar coming down the hill behind us and we need to move fast.
We jump up and move as quickly and quitely as we can over to the barley field behind us but we don't see anything. Right now the barley is about 3 1/2 ft tall so when a pig gets into it it is almost impossible to see. DD has a good idea of where the boar is heading but it is almost impossible to get within shooting range without making our presence known. We decided to set up and wait for movement. I set up my shooting sticks just so I am ready. A moment later the boar pops out of the barley but it is about 200 yds away, walks over to a tree and starts rubbing himself against it. I put the cross hairs and his neck and let DD know that I have a shot. She said that she could get me a lot closer so I decided to hold off and we try to intersect the pig a bit farther down. To make a short story even shorter, the pig moved slower than we hoped and we ran out of light before it got to where we were waiting.
We didn't make it back to Bryson until almost 10pm and were pretty wiped out when we got in. During our hunt that evening I had made a slight detour through a patch of poison oak and DD was gracious enough to take all my clothes and wash them along with giving me some technu. Talk about a full service guide
We had a few man sodas and called it an evening.
Saturday
The next morning we get up early and hunt the same barley fields as the night before. We are not more than 20yds in when we hear something in the barley. We stop but we can't see a thing. However we hear munch, munch, munch. It sounds like its moving in our direction but we are not sure. I set up on the lower side of the hill and Jeff sets up a little higher up. Every now and then we would see some movement and the twitch of a tail but we were never able to make out the whole pig. We waited for almost 25 minutes, 20 yds from the pig, but we were never able to see it. I would have loved to crawl into the barley with my .45 and go eyeball to eyeball with him. Eventually, it moved off into the barley and we lost it. We later saw it moving up a hill into its bedding area. We hunted for a little longer but didn't see anything.
At this point in the hunt, DD let us know that she was having some trouble locating the pigs on her property. It's not that they weren't there but that the full moon had changed the pigs pattern. Based upon the trails in the barley the pigs were clearly around, just at night. At this point in the hunt she offered to hook us up with another local guide that was having better success.
We then spent the rest of the afternoon helping control DD's squirrel population.
That evening we met up with Tom and made our way ove to a 24,000 acre ranch that he hunts. We drove ridglines for about an 1 1/2 but didn't see anything. As we started heading towards another part of the ranch Jeff saw a few spots moving on a hill in the distance. Tom said he knew exactly where the pigs were moving and the hunt was on.
We jumped back in the truck and headed towards the pigs. This was probablly the hairiest truck ride I have ever been in. The road was barely big enough for the truck so Tom folded in his side mirror and scrapped the side of his truck along the hillside. At the time it seemed as if it was a 45% grade going down the hill. We will just say there was a little puckering while we were heading down the hill. Once we made it to the bottom we grabbed our guns/ammo and started making the hike to where we thought the pigs were going to be.
We came around the bottom of a hill we saw 2 sows and 6 little pigs running around. The sows were laying on the ground not doing much of anything. We belly crawled to within 75 yards and each sighted in on a sow. I took the one farther away and Jeff took the one closest to us. We wanted to see if either of the sows were wet before we were going to shoot so the waiting game began. After a few minutes the pig closest to us got up and started heading in our direction. We see that she is not wet but we want to see about the other one also. About a minute later she also got up and began walking towards us...not wet
When I shot at my pig, Jeff's didn't move and he fired right after me. A complete miss (I think both of us were a little to excited at that moment). His pig turns around and starts heading for the hills. I don't know how he did it but he chambered another round and put the second bullet right through the back of the pigs head. At this time I am in hot pursuit of my pig and I hear Jeff behind me yelling "I got it, Josh I got it. It just fell over. I got it. It fell over!"
We took a moment to relax and process everything that had just happened and then dragged to pigs to the truck . Tom cleaned the pigs and then we headed back to Bryson where we had more than a few man sodas before calling it a night.
I would like to thank DD for taking such good care of Jeff and I. Her resort is beautiful and she is an excellent guide. Unfortunately the pigs on her property where uncooperative but it speaks highly of her character that she hooked us up with another guide
A few pictures of the hunt
DD's Barley Fields
Solving DD's Squirrel Problem
Jeff Looking for pigs
Pigs!
My sow
Jeff and his pig. Tom had started to clean the pig before we were able to take a picture hence the missing foot.
