asaxon
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2010
- Messages
- 1,139
- Reaction score
- 163
So when LtD invited me to go to Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) under their reinstituted civilian guest program (one guest per military personnel), little did I realize that I was about to be a target. I thought he said to “go shooting at” but he swears he said “for shooting at.” Sort of like when the cannibal family invites you over for “dinner” – be careful what you are getting into, it may be the dinner pot. But before we get to that…
We arranged to meet at the rest stop before the VAFB at 7:30 am so that meant a 5 am start from Santa Monica. The good news is I got to see a gorgeous sunrise over the Northern Channel Islands. If you live near by and haven’t been out to these islands, go! They are a real treasure.
We (LtD & his mate JR, an active E9 marine) met up and drove the last 30 mi to VAFB and “checked in”. They being military personnel just had to show their ID’s. I had show insurance, show my ID, sign forms and then undergo a full body search – my wearing a towel on my head as a joke was not found to be amusing by the powers that be. We then checked in at the “game shack” where I paid my $50 for a year hunting privilege and we got the latest “Intel” from the head warden. He also told us that there are so many mountain lions now that in certain canyons he would drive but not hike. Wow! We pitched camp and went out to the Rod & Gun club to check out rifles and shotguns with “slugs” since a number of the areas are shotgun/muzzle loader only. The rifles all checked out fine and my Baikal grouped OK with the Dduplex slugs; (http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/showthread.php/225163-Scope-mounts) within 3 inches at 50 yds of each other using only the shotgun bead for aiming and NO tumbling. I also met “Myfriend410”, aka “The Hog Man of Vandenberg”. He let me shoot his 300 win mag, the largest round I have ever fired. The recoil wasn’t bad as the rifle had a muzzle break but the sound just about shattered windows in cars parked near by. I saw this sign at the range – strange but then I noted the chair, I guess there is always one yahoo no matter where you go. And we were to find several more the next day…
Since it was early, LtD took me on a tour of where my tax dollars were going. I saw a Titan missile, a minuteman mis
sile and the VAFB tracking station where they track everything in earth orbit. The only plane I saw was this cool WWII era one in the picture. I was told there had not been active aircraft stationed at VAFB for years, VAFB does missiles, not airplanes “ Little did I know that I was going to need a missile to reach out for the pigs I saw later that day. At 3 pm we headed out to look for pigs at a spot overlooking the Pacific. Talk ab
out gorgeous! The early January rains and later warm weather had the mustard really high for this time of year. We were up on a high ridge and could see for miles. The weather was cool but calm and clear with a most beautiful sunset in the offing. We jumped about a dozen deer including several nice bucks as we walked along the ridge top where we spread out to sit and watch for hogs. The gorgeous sunset materialized but the hogs didn’t. I spotted a couple of good sized hogs but they were > ½ mile away and happily feeding with no intention of coming our way. Where was my Titan missile when I needed it? I pay my taxes – you’d think they be able to cough up a mere missile for a solid citizen like me. Anyway, it got dark and we headed back to camp. We had the most delicious beef tamales home made by LtD and his spouse and turned in.
Up at 5:30 am, coffee and out to a different area of the base. We didn’t see any hogs at sunrise at the selected s
pot so we moved over to ‘Chuck’s Rock’; a vista where we could glass an expansive pasture hillside across a valley. LtD soon spotted 5 medium/small hogs across the valley at the far South end. The only way to get to them given how steep and brush covered the valley wall was, was to drive to the North end and walk the mile or so in. Then we made an MISTAKE – On the way along the valley rim to the N. end, we came across a couple of hunters (non-military local permit holders**) glassing the valley from the ridge top with one of their group across on in the North end. They were too far North to see the pigs. We stopped and told them we were going to hunt through the valley and asked them to tell their buddy we were coming through. They said “sure”. On the way in, JR found this dead Western Meadowlark, lovely bird. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Meadowlark I took its wings to make into earrings.
Well half way down the valley
to the pigs, their hunter walks down and moves out in front of us. “Sure”, the fellows on the top of the ridge had called him and told him we were onto something so he dropped down and cut us off from the hogs. We were not amused at this at this “Hog Interruptus”. We kept walking some 200-300 yds behind him and I kept flipping the bird toward the fellows up on the ridge (about 800 yds away) as I knew they were glassing what was going on. Of course, the guy in front of us finally comes onto the pigs, walks up slowly on them over the open ground while LtD and JR move down the canyon figuring maybe to cut off the others after he shoots. He shoots from 100+ yds out and then fires again and one hog drops. The other hogs take off over the small rise and down toward the valley floor.
All of a sudden, I hear a shot and I look around as I know it was not from LtD or JR; it was too far away. A volley of shots then rings out. Holy Crap, I’m under fire! The Yahoos on the ridge are shooting at the running hogs from 800+ yards with us and their buddy down there. . They must have taken a dozen shots, missing the running hogs of course and thankfully missing us too. JR and LtD are NOT amused. Having been fired at in the service, they did not take kindly to being fired at during their recreation! After the air cooled down from what was said, JR walked up to hunter with the down hog to learn it was a small 50-100 boar that was gut shot twice. LtD thought JR was going to throttle the guy but JR was “cool”. As we walked back out of the valley, the other two fellows were walking in. I suggested we all unload our rifles as I for one wanted to shoot back now from close range. However, they must have sensed something was amiss for they walked on the other side of the valley, ravine and fence from us who were going down the center of the valley so we didn’t meet up with them. We hoped they puked when they went to dress out the gut shot hog. On the drive to our next stop, LtD took down their license numbers etc from their cars. To wrap up this bit of excitement, LtD passed the word and intel on these yahoos to the people at the range and plans to contact the hunting program authorities to make a report. Me, I simply demanded “danger pay”. And speaking of danger pay, I saw this sign at the camp ground – I couldn’t help think that we were in the center of the bulls eye when it came to an “imminent strike”. Fortunately, no sirens were heard.
So we drove around and checked out a few other spots of this gorgeous pig country, decided where to do the evening hunt and then returned to camp for lunch and a rest. 3:30 pm found us staked out
in a narrow valley with LtD near the valley floor and JR and I spaced out along the ridges. Again, lots of deer seen but it got dark and no hogs appeared. LtD calls me on the 2 way radio and says to come in but I tell him I’m going to wait 3 more minutes as there is still a little light left. Within a minute, I hear a shot from down by the truck. What follows was relayed to me by LtD and JR so as opposed to what I personally experience and write which is always 100% true, some of this may be well,…..
Apparently LtD started to walk back to the truck with JR some 20 yds behind him. Just as LtD reached the truck, 5 hogs appear out of the brush about 150 yds away. They both drop down prone and line up but they are far enough apart that they can’t coordinate verbally without scaring the hogs. JR is trying to decide which hog to shot at after LtD takes the first shot (the black/white one, no, the biggest black one) when LtD fires at the biggest black one. It was dark so that it was not easy to make out the black hog but after LtD fired, a whole new animal was “born”, the DEDP (Dale Earnhardt Daytona Pig). They both swear the hog ran right at them and the truck faster than a greyhound could move. Not only that but it must have had an afterburner (probably the result of a secret air force experiment) as flames were shooting out it ass!!! It streaked past Dan who fell twisting his foot badly and ripping his pants on some barbed wire trying to get out of the way while the rush of wind blew the hat off JR’s head. They both swear the DEDP was going so fast that it had to lean in about 45 degrees to make the turn into the bushes where it sounded like a Bradley fighting vehicle plowing through the brush. We searched the area in the dark and re-checked the next day. It must have been a clean miss as there was no blood on the ground. Back at camp. I checked out LtD’s foot. He had point tenderness of over the lateral metatarsals, diagnosis, as the time probably torn ligaments***. We had a quick dinner and figured we’d need to head home the next morning given LtD’s situation.
However, the next morning, LtD felt some better and he decided we should stay since we’d been seeing hogs on each outing..OK! Lets go chase ‘em. LtD planned to sit in/next to the truck spotting but of course wore his ripped pants so he could be the quintessential “raggedy ass Marine”. We dropped JR off at Chuck’s Rock before sunrise hoping against hope that the hogs would re show but not surprisingly, they had had enough the day before. Meanwhile Dan and I drive to a different area and while watching some cows, I note a couple of brown calves by themselves high up on a ridge about 600 yds away. Funny, all the other cattle were Black Angus here. And these two they seem to have heads that are awful close to the ground. No, those are not calves, they are Big Hogs. LtD takes a look with his binos, confirms they are pigs, and notes they are big enough to see with the naked eye from 600 yds. Big. After carefully noting which ridge they are on, we jump in the truck and drive over to where the road crosses what I think is the ridge they are on planning to stalk out to where I can get a shot. MISTAKE. I chose to stalk from on the ridge where the hogs were – I should have done so from one ridge over as I would have had a better view/shot and could have approached within shooting distance without being so close as to be easily heard. To make a long stalk short, I found I couldn’t see more than 20 yards in front of me due to the trees while the noise I made in the oak leave etc was “awful”. There simply was no good way to approach to get a visual these animals on that ridge. I finally dropped out of the trees and was standing where I’d see the hogs in time to see them trotting down into the deep brush in valley below me. Oh well, the stalk did get my adrenaline up!
We picked up JR and returned to where we’d been when I spotted the two big hogs. Seconds later, JR looks down into the valley and says “Pig!” Sure enough, a really big hog is standing feeding in the grass just on the edge of the brush some 400+ yards away. JR heads off to circle around and come down at it from the back ridge downwind while LtD and I spot and talk him in. We can see this animal is big with a gorgeous ridgeback. Unfortunately, by the time JR is in position on the other side, the hog had wandered off back into the brush. Damn. We watch as JR finally walks through where we’d seen the hog and only then do we realize how big that hog must have been for at that distance, the hog looked bigger than JR who is 6’ tall.
We’d had a fun morning chasing hogs so it is back for lunch, check the sighting of LtD’s rifle after his tumble
and a rest. As we are coming into camp, a squeak decides to cut us off across the road and LtD says – “that squeak reminds me of the Hog interruptus yahoos” and he guns the engine. The result, one absolutely flat bug eyed squeak. We tried mounting it on the hood in classic “hunter style” but it was a bit small so it rode on LtD’s door instead. JR suggested that LtD might be better using his truck instead of this 30-06 on the next hog he sees, especially if it is the DEDP.
For the last evening hunt, we dropped off JR where he could walk to a point from which he’d be able to shoot at both ridges where we’d seen the big hogs in the morning. I went with LtD to try to ambush DEDP. We set LtD up in a lounge chair at a concrete barrier right by the side of the road with his rifle/bipod, binos, a book, and his reading glasses. MISTAKE, I should have taken a picture. LtD tells me he got some mighty funny looks from a couple who drove by. I hiked up the valley behind him where there is a good game trail to guard against a sneak attack from LtD’s rear. On the way, I recovered JR’s hat from where it blew off the night before. We stayed till dark but no hogs show up. We did hear 3 shots off in the distance. Turns out only one was JR. A cow kicked out a small hog from the brush but it was a long shot and JR simply missed.
So ended my VAFB hunt. We had seen at least one hogs on each “outing” which made it all the more exciting. Yeah, dropping one would have nice but it was a great fun trip and a privilege to be invited out there. We saw lots of hybrid (Black-tail x Mule) deer on every outing and they were remarkably serene given that deer season only ended there a couple of weeks before. And how often do you get to be the target in target practice? My final comment to LtD and JR was; “I’ll keep paying my taxes.”
*No animals were harmed in the writing of this story, only the truth was bruised.
** DOD defense and civilian employees of VAFB are permitted to hunt on the base.
*** Turned out to be a commuted fracture of the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] metatarsal.
We arranged to meet at the rest stop before the VAFB at 7:30 am so that meant a 5 am start from Santa Monica. The good news is I got to see a gorgeous sunrise over the Northern Channel Islands. If you live near by and haven’t been out to these islands, go! They are a real treasure.
We (LtD & his mate JR, an active E9 marine) met up and drove the last 30 mi to VAFB and “checked in”. They being military personnel just had to show their ID’s. I had show insurance, show my ID, sign forms and then undergo a full body search – my wearing a towel on my head as a joke was not found to be amusing by the powers that be. We then checked in at the “game shack” where I paid my $50 for a year hunting privilege and we got the latest “Intel” from the head warden. He also told us that there are so many mountain lions now that in certain canyons he would drive but not hike. Wow! We pitched camp and went out to the Rod & Gun club to check out rifles and shotguns with “slugs” since a number of the areas are shotgun/muzzle loader only. The rifles all checked out fine and my Baikal grouped OK with the Dduplex slugs; (http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/showthread.php/225163-Scope-mounts) within 3 inches at 50 yds of each other using only the shotgun bead for aiming and NO tumbling. I also met “Myfriend410”, aka “The Hog Man of Vandenberg”. He let me shoot his 300 win mag, the largest round I have ever fired. The recoil wasn’t bad as the rifle had a muzzle break but the sound just about shattered windows in cars parked near by. I saw this sign at the range – strange but then I noted the chair, I guess there is always one yahoo no matter where you go. And we were to find several more the next day…
Since it was early, LtD took me on a tour of where my tax dollars were going. I saw a Titan missile, a minuteman mis
sile and the VAFB tracking station where they track everything in earth orbit. The only plane I saw was this cool WWII era one in the picture. I was told there had not been active aircraft stationed at VAFB for years, VAFB does missiles, not airplanes “ Little did I know that I was going to need a missile to reach out for the pigs I saw later that day. At 3 pm we headed out to look for pigs at a spot overlooking the Pacific. Talk ab
out gorgeous! The early January rains and later warm weather had the mustard really high for this time of year. We were up on a high ridge and could see for miles. The weather was cool but calm and clear with a most beautiful sunset in the offing. We jumped about a dozen deer including several nice bucks as we walked along the ridge top where we spread out to sit and watch for hogs. The gorgeous sunset materialized but the hogs didn’t. I spotted a couple of good sized hogs but they were > ½ mile away and happily feeding with no intention of coming our way. Where was my Titan missile when I needed it? I pay my taxes – you’d think they be able to cough up a mere missile for a solid citizen like me. Anyway, it got dark and we headed back to camp. We had the most delicious beef tamales home made by LtD and his spouse and turned in.
Up at 5:30 am, coffee and out to a different area of the base. We didn’t see any hogs at sunrise at the selected s
pot so we moved over to ‘Chuck’s Rock’; a vista where we could glass an expansive pasture hillside across a valley. LtD soon spotted 5 medium/small hogs across the valley at the far South end. The only way to get to them given how steep and brush covered the valley wall was, was to drive to the North end and walk the mile or so in. Then we made an MISTAKE – On the way along the valley rim to the N. end, we came across a couple of hunters (non-military local permit holders**) glassing the valley from the ridge top with one of their group across on in the North end. They were too far North to see the pigs. We stopped and told them we were going to hunt through the valley and asked them to tell their buddy we were coming through. They said “sure”. On the way in, JR found this dead Western Meadowlark, lovely bird. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Meadowlark I took its wings to make into earrings. Well half way down the valley
to the pigs, their hunter walks down and moves out in front of us. “Sure”, the fellows on the top of the ridge had called him and told him we were onto something so he dropped down and cut us off from the hogs. We were not amused at this at this “Hog Interruptus”. We kept walking some 200-300 yds behind him and I kept flipping the bird toward the fellows up on the ridge (about 800 yds away) as I knew they were glassing what was going on. Of course, the guy in front of us finally comes onto the pigs, walks up slowly on them over the open ground while LtD and JR move down the canyon figuring maybe to cut off the others after he shoots. He shoots from 100+ yds out and then fires again and one hog drops. The other hogs take off over the small rise and down toward the valley floor. All of a sudden, I hear a shot and I look around as I know it was not from LtD or JR; it was too far away. A volley of shots then rings out. Holy Crap, I’m under fire! The Yahoos on the ridge are shooting at the running hogs from 800+ yards with us and their buddy down there. . They must have taken a dozen shots, missing the running hogs of course and thankfully missing us too. JR and LtD are NOT amused. Having been fired at in the service, they did not take kindly to being fired at during their recreation! After the air cooled down from what was said, JR walked up to hunter with the down hog to learn it was a small 50-100 boar that was gut shot twice. LtD thought JR was going to throttle the guy but JR was “cool”. As we walked back out of the valley, the other two fellows were walking in. I suggested we all unload our rifles as I for one wanted to shoot back now from close range. However, they must have sensed something was amiss for they walked on the other side of the valley, ravine and fence from us who were going down the center of the valley so we didn’t meet up with them. We hoped they puked when they went to dress out the gut shot hog. On the drive to our next stop, LtD took down their license numbers etc from their cars. To wrap up this bit of excitement, LtD passed the word and intel on these yahoos to the people at the range and plans to contact the hunting program authorities to make a report. Me, I simply demanded “danger pay”. And speaking of danger pay, I saw this sign at the camp ground – I couldn’t help think that we were in the center of the bulls eye when it came to an “imminent strike”. Fortunately, no sirens were heard.
So we drove around and checked out a few other spots of this gorgeous pig country, decided where to do the evening hunt and then returned to camp for lunch and a rest. 3:30 pm found us staked out
in a narrow valley with LtD near the valley floor and JR and I spaced out along the ridges. Again, lots of deer seen but it got dark and no hogs appeared. LtD calls me on the 2 way radio and says to come in but I tell him I’m going to wait 3 more minutes as there is still a little light left. Within a minute, I hear a shot from down by the truck. What follows was relayed to me by LtD and JR so as opposed to what I personally experience and write which is always 100% true, some of this may be well,….. Apparently LtD started to walk back to the truck with JR some 20 yds behind him. Just as LtD reached the truck, 5 hogs appear out of the brush about 150 yds away. They both drop down prone and line up but they are far enough apart that they can’t coordinate verbally without scaring the hogs. JR is trying to decide which hog to shot at after LtD takes the first shot (the black/white one, no, the biggest black one) when LtD fires at the biggest black one. It was dark so that it was not easy to make out the black hog but after LtD fired, a whole new animal was “born”, the DEDP (Dale Earnhardt Daytona Pig). They both swear the hog ran right at them and the truck faster than a greyhound could move. Not only that but it must have had an afterburner (probably the result of a secret air force experiment) as flames were shooting out it ass!!! It streaked past Dan who fell twisting his foot badly and ripping his pants on some barbed wire trying to get out of the way while the rush of wind blew the hat off JR’s head. They both swear the DEDP was going so fast that it had to lean in about 45 degrees to make the turn into the bushes where it sounded like a Bradley fighting vehicle plowing through the brush. We searched the area in the dark and re-checked the next day. It must have been a clean miss as there was no blood on the ground. Back at camp. I checked out LtD’s foot. He had point tenderness of over the lateral metatarsals, diagnosis, as the time probably torn ligaments***. We had a quick dinner and figured we’d need to head home the next morning given LtD’s situation.
However, the next morning, LtD felt some better and he decided we should stay since we’d been seeing hogs on each outing..OK! Lets go chase ‘em. LtD planned to sit in/next to the truck spotting but of course wore his ripped pants so he could be the quintessential “raggedy ass Marine”. We dropped JR off at Chuck’s Rock before sunrise hoping against hope that the hogs would re show but not surprisingly, they had had enough the day before. Meanwhile Dan and I drive to a different area and while watching some cows, I note a couple of brown calves by themselves high up on a ridge about 600 yds away. Funny, all the other cattle were Black Angus here. And these two they seem to have heads that are awful close to the ground. No, those are not calves, they are Big Hogs. LtD takes a look with his binos, confirms they are pigs, and notes they are big enough to see with the naked eye from 600 yds. Big. After carefully noting which ridge they are on, we jump in the truck and drive over to where the road crosses what I think is the ridge they are on planning to stalk out to where I can get a shot. MISTAKE. I chose to stalk from on the ridge where the hogs were – I should have done so from one ridge over as I would have had a better view/shot and could have approached within shooting distance without being so close as to be easily heard. To make a long stalk short, I found I couldn’t see more than 20 yards in front of me due to the trees while the noise I made in the oak leave etc was “awful”. There simply was no good way to approach to get a visual these animals on that ridge. I finally dropped out of the trees and was standing where I’d see the hogs in time to see them trotting down into the deep brush in valley below me. Oh well, the stalk did get my adrenaline up!
We picked up JR and returned to where we’d been when I spotted the two big hogs. Seconds later, JR looks down into the valley and says “Pig!” Sure enough, a really big hog is standing feeding in the grass just on the edge of the brush some 400+ yards away. JR heads off to circle around and come down at it from the back ridge downwind while LtD and I spot and talk him in. We can see this animal is big with a gorgeous ridgeback. Unfortunately, by the time JR is in position on the other side, the hog had wandered off back into the brush. Damn. We watch as JR finally walks through where we’d seen the hog and only then do we realize how big that hog must have been for at that distance, the hog looked bigger than JR who is 6’ tall.
We’d had a fun morning chasing hogs so it is back for lunch, check the sighting of LtD’s rifle after his tumble
and a rest. As we are coming into camp, a squeak decides to cut us off across the road and LtD says – “that squeak reminds me of the Hog interruptus yahoos” and he guns the engine. The result, one absolutely flat bug eyed squeak. We tried mounting it on the hood in classic “hunter style” but it was a bit small so it rode on LtD’s door instead. JR suggested that LtD might be better using his truck instead of this 30-06 on the next hog he sees, especially if it is the DEDP. For the last evening hunt, we dropped off JR where he could walk to a point from which he’d be able to shoot at both ridges where we’d seen the big hogs in the morning. I went with LtD to try to ambush DEDP. We set LtD up in a lounge chair at a concrete barrier right by the side of the road with his rifle/bipod, binos, a book, and his reading glasses. MISTAKE, I should have taken a picture. LtD tells me he got some mighty funny looks from a couple who drove by. I hiked up the valley behind him where there is a good game trail to guard against a sneak attack from LtD’s rear. On the way, I recovered JR’s hat from where it blew off the night before. We stayed till dark but no hogs show up. We did hear 3 shots off in the distance. Turns out only one was JR. A cow kicked out a small hog from the brush but it was a long shot and JR simply missed.
So ended my VAFB hunt. We had seen at least one hogs on each “outing” which made it all the more exciting. Yeah, dropping one would have nice but it was a great fun trip and a privilege to be invited out there. We saw lots of hybrid (Black-tail x Mule) deer on every outing and they were remarkably serene given that deer season only ended there a couple of weeks before. And how often do you get to be the target in target practice? My final comment to LtD and JR was; “I’ll keep paying my taxes.”
*No animals were harmed in the writing of this story, only the truth was bruised.
** DOD defense and civilian employees of VAFB are permitted to hunt on the base.
*** Turned out to be a commuted fracture of the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] metatarsal.
Last edited:
