smitty661
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- Jun 4, 2012
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well, last weekend i made my first trip out to fort hunter liggett to hunt deer and pigs. All the information that i gathered from this forum was very useful and i appreciate all your advice. We left early friday to make sure we got a good area to hunt. The check in process was pretty basic and painless, no long lines or anything like that. We were able to get area 13A only to be called an hour later and told that they were closing it for training. We ended up getting a different area near by.
We set out on foot saturday morning headed to the only known water on the map they gave us. We set up by a pond for about 4 hours and had multiple coyotes come within 20 yards. I reached for my bow and startled them each time. At this point i really started to understand how quiet and concealed you really have to be when trying to get close! Once it started to warm up we started covering ground we must have hiked around 7 miles that first morning. we came across a few more coyotes and a couple doe's that spotted us long before we could see them. I then realized that if i saw a buck the spot and stalk method would most likely not workout so well for this guy.
That evening we returned to the pond. I had a really pretty bobcat come in to drink about 25 yards from me, a doe come up behind me and stop about 20 yards from me, and another doe drinking about 40 yards away. This was the first time ive been this close to game and i was pretty excited about it.
The next morning we decided to explore the area a little more. While hiking a small canyon covered in chapparell we heard a few bursts of air in the brush. ive heard deer snort like that before so by buddy headed to the other side of this small canyon and started working his way to me trying to flush out anything that was bedded down in the brush. Nothing came out. It was still pretty low light at that time so im sure whatever it was just slipped out of there. A couple hours later we found an area that had tracks all over the place. Elk, Deer, Coyote, pig, this area was being used heavily and often. After setting up and watching the area for a few hours in the late morning we decided to head back. Before we left we cleared an area so that when we came in the evening we would be set up already.
That evening we headed back to the spot that was getting used alot. On the hike in we saw a herd of elk about 10 cows and one really nice Bull about 150 yards away. That itself made my trip over there worth it. We set up with our improvised blind and started the waiting game. After 15 minutes i noticed a pretty big rattlesnake about 6 feet from me. I shot it with my bow and while it was pinned down we cut the head off. he was at least 4 1/2 ft. Not what i was hoping for but still... FIRST BOW KILL! That evening we had a few coyotes, and does come within 40 yards and this time they didnt even know i was there. For about an hour before the sun went down, we heard that same kind of huffing in the brush on a hill side about 80 yards away. Just after the sun went down i saw my first glimpse of something i could put in my freezer! I saw a large black pig walk across an opening in the brush. Now let me tell you, i have been looking for public land pigs for a few years in national forests and blm land, so this was my first actual sighting of a wild pig. I was extremely excited to see this ugly bastard. he came down the trail a little farther snorting and grunting his way down. He stopped about 55 yards away from me on the hill side continuing to grunt growl and snort like crazy. 5 more hogs came down behind this one. It was low light at this point, he was facing me head on, and he was just outside of my confident range. He continued to snort and growl almost like he could smell me but he couldnt pin point where we were. My buddy also had never seen a wild pig before. He was facing the opposite direction and behind a bush so he could not see them but judging from his facial expressions, i knew he heard them. I watched my buddy reach to pull his knife from his belt. Apparently without seeing them he thought they sounded much closer. After running back and forth a few times they decided not to get any closer and ran off into the thick brush again. So i didnt get a shot off but i had a heck of a time and have finally had an encounter with some wild hogs. I look forward to going back and hopefully next time i will have something to show for it besides sore feet and a smile.
We set out on foot saturday morning headed to the only known water on the map they gave us. We set up by a pond for about 4 hours and had multiple coyotes come within 20 yards. I reached for my bow and startled them each time. At this point i really started to understand how quiet and concealed you really have to be when trying to get close! Once it started to warm up we started covering ground we must have hiked around 7 miles that first morning. we came across a few more coyotes and a couple doe's that spotted us long before we could see them. I then realized that if i saw a buck the spot and stalk method would most likely not workout so well for this guy.
That evening we returned to the pond. I had a really pretty bobcat come in to drink about 25 yards from me, a doe come up behind me and stop about 20 yards from me, and another doe drinking about 40 yards away. This was the first time ive been this close to game and i was pretty excited about it.
The next morning we decided to explore the area a little more. While hiking a small canyon covered in chapparell we heard a few bursts of air in the brush. ive heard deer snort like that before so by buddy headed to the other side of this small canyon and started working his way to me trying to flush out anything that was bedded down in the brush. Nothing came out. It was still pretty low light at that time so im sure whatever it was just slipped out of there. A couple hours later we found an area that had tracks all over the place. Elk, Deer, Coyote, pig, this area was being used heavily and often. After setting up and watching the area for a few hours in the late morning we decided to head back. Before we left we cleared an area so that when we came in the evening we would be set up already.
That evening we headed back to the spot that was getting used alot. On the hike in we saw a herd of elk about 10 cows and one really nice Bull about 150 yards away. That itself made my trip over there worth it. We set up with our improvised blind and started the waiting game. After 15 minutes i noticed a pretty big rattlesnake about 6 feet from me. I shot it with my bow and while it was pinned down we cut the head off. he was at least 4 1/2 ft. Not what i was hoping for but still... FIRST BOW KILL! That evening we had a few coyotes, and does come within 40 yards and this time they didnt even know i was there. For about an hour before the sun went down, we heard that same kind of huffing in the brush on a hill side about 80 yards away. Just after the sun went down i saw my first glimpse of something i could put in my freezer! I saw a large black pig walk across an opening in the brush. Now let me tell you, i have been looking for public land pigs for a few years in national forests and blm land, so this was my first actual sighting of a wild pig. I was extremely excited to see this ugly bastard. he came down the trail a little farther snorting and grunting his way down. He stopped about 55 yards away from me on the hill side continuing to grunt growl and snort like crazy. 5 more hogs came down behind this one. It was low light at this point, he was facing me head on, and he was just outside of my confident range. He continued to snort and growl almost like he could smell me but he couldnt pin point where we were. My buddy also had never seen a wild pig before. He was facing the opposite direction and behind a bush so he could not see them but judging from his facial expressions, i knew he heard them. I watched my buddy reach to pull his knife from his belt. Apparently without seeing them he thought they sounded much closer. After running back and forth a few times they decided not to get any closer and ran off into the thick brush again. So i didnt get a shot off but i had a heck of a time and have finally had an encounter with some wild hogs. I look forward to going back and hopefully next time i will have something to show for it besides sore feet and a smile.
