How slamin was it?

[bighorn67]

To say I had an awesome time would be understating a bit. I had a ham slammin' great time. Jesse and I hunted together the whole weekend and found several great spots. He knows the ranch really well, so I got to see a lot of stuff I would never have seen on my own. Thanks Jesse. We covered a lot of ground on Saturday after which I finally shot a 100lb sow at 8:00 pm. I had a nice setup overlooking a meadow at sunset. After nothing came by I had the thought that they could be 200 yards up the hill from me and I would never see them. I got my things together and started walking up the road I was near. Sure enough, after walking about 100 yards, I saw a group of them up to the left another 100 yards. I knee crawled a little closer for a better angle, put the 30-06 on the shooting sticks and cracked her through the ribs. She ran about 30 yards and dropped about 70 yards from the road I had been walking on. I hailed Jesse on the radio and gave him directions to where I was. When he got there we loaded up the pig and headed back to camp by 9:30. I butchered her in camp yesterday, so she is now in the freezer. I grilled the tenderloins for dinner with my wift last night. They were incredible.

Dave

 

[Rancho Loco]

Ahhh-----Shower, sleep in a real bed with a pillow, that stuff does wonders.

I got my boar at 6 AM saturday..I parked my truck up on the ridge in the growing light and worked south down a finger ridge to a bowl with springs, water and a oak filled draw at the bottom...I was able to glass all around me and down below, and it was a sweet spot. Just as I got to liking my choice, a group of dark figures balled up at the top of the draw and made a break across the bowl, about 300 yards down in front of me. Instanly I was sprinting down the ridge in waist high grass, and stopped at an oak tree about at 250 yards range, nope - still too far, I took off running again down this steep ridge, peeling off my backpack on the way. I stopped at 200 yards, knelt down, took some deep breaths, and looked over the pigs for a second.

Seven pigs were in a line moving across the bowl, with a BIGGIE leading the way. I put my crosshairs on his sweet spot, lit it off, and clanked the shot.

The pigs took off, I clanked the next shot again

The pigs balled up under an oak for a second to consider their escape from all the noise. They took off towards my right to get up over the ridge where I was parked to get home down in the hole on the north side of the ridge. I sprinted over that way to at least scare them some more, and they went up to the top of the next finger ridge over where I decided to scare them again with another shot.

Seconds later, they balled up in front of a dead log on the ground, trying to get over it and away from all the racket.

One boar obviously had enough of this poor display of marksmanship and noise, and jumped in front of my last shot to end my embarrassment. The '06 went through the low right shoulder into it's head.

Now I had to find it....Not the pig, my backpack. I spent the next twenty minutes zig-zagging back up the ridge to locate my pack in the waist high grass. ]

After a little dressing, some fun with zip-ties, and some dragging back to the bowl, I was able to get my truck down to the bottom to drive the pig out.

Once again a BIG UP to Speckmisser for putting this show together.

It was great meeting some of the JHO crew there, Onetrack and his group just abusing the heck out of some fine vehicles, Hronk and his great info and thanks again for giving me that ride back up the hill to my rig friday night....

It was great to see Jesse, and meet GreatWhiteHunter (nice pig man..), lots of other fine folks and some good looking pork hanging from the hooks. The ranch is a beautiful place as you can see by the pictures, and I can't wait 'till next year.

 

[Buck-eye]

What a phenomenal experience the 'Slam turned out to be.
It seemed at first as if we all had been thrown a big curve. The pigs went nocturnal, and from those who had done the event in the past, it seemed as if there were less pigs visible. They were definitely scared of the truck.
I did not seal the deal, although I was on the trigger twice. Both shots were 250 more or less, and I blew them both. No excuses. Excitment can be the mother of all evils. One Track brought in a nice sow. For those who have never experienced Tejon, it is one of God's masterpieces. Beautiful in every aspect. Very rough to navigate on foot. Be in good shape or you will ache. Right now I feel like a can of crap with the lid crushed in. Once I get these pic's developed, I will post. Everyone at camp is as nice as they are on line. Jesse, Speck - great event. Thanks for the invite. To all my new friends, glad to get a face with the name. Time for breakfast...

Joe Buck-eye

 

[wmidbrook]

WOW~!!!!

Tremendous experience and good time this last weekend. It was GREAT meeting everyone!

Vandal, OneClearShot and I buddied up for this weekend's hunt. Friday afternoon we tried to get ourselves oriented in part of the ranch known to have pig and I think we found a fabulous area after a couple hours. A couple of springs fed into creeks which dropped off into a canyon which had a jeep trail going into the bottom of the canyon below. It was pretty obvious that no one had braved going down that jeep trail with their rig. It was only a set of two tracks so I was a hair apprensive about taking my Nissan 4x4 down it.....but that comes later......


So, the three of us could not find much sign up towards the top around the Springs on Friday late afternoon. Around 1.5 hrs before shootin' time ended I spotted 3 big pig down in the canyon. We decided to hike down a super steep ridgeline in an attempt to get on the hogs....


Well, I think we lucked into a little sliver of hog heaven....pig beds and sign abounded. We had a place to hunt.

Next morning found me and Cory (Vandal) down in that area. Cory did exceptional doing all the right things. Must say I've never hunted with a novice who took everything he's learned here and elsewhere so to heart....making very little noise as he stalked down the hill.....going very slowly and looking around for game.

I proceeded down the ridgeline and glassed 3 boars feeding about 700 yds within a 100 yds of the two track trail. I was hoping OneClearShot would be dropping into them as he took the jeep trail down while Cory and I concentrated on the bedding and feeding area.

I spotted 13 elk on the opposite slope and we had fun watching them before I headed down...1 Bull already had 6 points per side in velvet....awesome site!!!!

Anyway, I hear 2 shots after about 15 minute....we followed the blood trail about 150 yds and found a very nice boar.....Congrats again Cory~!!!!! What an awesome first Boar!!!!

We didn't want to risk dragging the pig down to the 2 track about 500 yds straight down a hill that I doubt any horse could go. Didn't know if I could get the truck there yet. Spotted OneClearShot about 200 yds from the boars but he heard but couldn't get to 'em....maybe next time!!

Cory and I climbed out of the hell hole and got back to the truck....I was sure hopin' we could get my truck down the trail.....from the tracks I could see where a jeep had only gone part way down it and then turned around...was I past the point of no return???

Well, it wasn't that bad afterall....We got the pig out after a hour or so....WHAT A HUNT!!!

 

[superduty]

Congragulations to everybody that made the trip.

Wheather you got your pig or not we were all succesfull on having one heck of a great trip. The ranch is beautifull anytime of the season and the company was excellent. This was my first time meeting any JHO'ers and Loved it. Thank you Speck, Jesse and everybody I encountered, including the two crazies next to me Pit Dog and Ozz. I baged my pig Friday morning. 200yd shot and was the only shot I took last weekend. It took me a total of 5 hours to get her out and finally got alittle help from my brother-in-law on the fith hour to run the winch for me. Thank YOU. It took me an hour just to find her. In that terrain she didn't go far but it was thick and steep. If it wasn't for that fallen tree I don't think she would have ever stoped. Drug her for acouple of canyons and the truck did the rest. I'll try and post some of the pics I took.

 

[wmidbrook]

a nice Merriam struttin'....also saw 5 nice bucks over the weekend...What a place~!

 

[blazintowers]

Congrats to everbody, sounds like you all had a great time.

I'm just a bit jealous!!!!! When is the next one? Blazintowers

 

[deadducks]

Congrats to all that got pigs!

Man what a good time I had. Me and my buddy met up with a few guys at Flying J, on Friday morning and then headed to the ranch. No problems checking in and soon had our camp setup. We camped with Hronk and karstic under a nice big Oak that yielded some good shade.

The weather was great with some wind and mild temps. Me and my buddy headed up through Bear Trap and hooked a left, drove awhile down into a nice canyon. I had been up for about 30 hours since I worked thursday night, and left directly from there. I am knoding off when I look up the side of the hill, and spot a group of 8 hogs feeding across. We give chase for about 30-45 miutes, and get into shooting position. We get our shoooting plans mixed up on who's counting for the shot and I shoot late, the pigs are off running. My buddy nailed a nice sow 160-170 on the first shot before they know we are there. I take a couple shots at the running hogs with no luck.

We get his pig gutted and drag her off the hill. Took about 2 hrs to get her to the truck. Back at camp Hronk helps (does it all actualy) skin and clean up the hog. Hronk, Jr. said thanks again. Wrap and hang her and time for alittle chow.

Saturday morning we plan to go back to the same area. Driving through Bear Trap at about 0530-0545 3 pigs run across the road in front of us into thick brush. Another 1/4 mile up a nice boar in the trees about 35-45 yards up the hill walking through the trees. I get out, fire a for sure kill shot, at this distance how can you miss, and off the pig goes. I check for blood trail, thinking at that close the shot went right through. S$$t, @#$%, I am now boiling mad, many curse words are said and I can't believe I missed. I am punching myself in the face, and in the B***s now as punishment.

Another 1/2 mile up the road 3 pigs laying in the grass about 125 yards up. Stop, take my time, lay the gun across the bed of the truck for a rest and WHAM. Got that one for sure. All 3 pigs get up and run across a ravine. A blue 4dr behind us passes us and say they seen a nice boar running across. We tell them yeah, I nailed him and now I climb up to follow the blood trail. Well guess what, Yep, I MISSED AGAIN, or just grazed him. Only a couple little spots of blood and the blood stops in about 10 yards. Now I really want to pack my stuff and head home, NO I say, I want to see if I can run myself over with the truck. I can not believe the good chances I had at these pig and blew them hard.

Well, we hunt all day and I am just kicking myself. We finally get back to camp and Hronk has a pig and we help him out. Pretty much just help hold it still, and drink a beer or two.

Many good hogs killed, and it was great to meet some others karstic, grtwhthunter, prohunter,wmidbrok, jesse, speck, onetrack, fbcabs, and many others. Me and my buddy had a great time and I both will pay the $400 to do it next year.

I am still kicking and punching myself over my missed oppurtunities.

I WILL NOT MISS NEXT YEAR.

Once agaiin CONGRATS to all and to Speck for setting this up. GREAT JOB.

PS, I am going to counseling now, and I have enrolled in the 12 step program to help with my anger. I still hate myself.

 

[shovelerslayer]

Man,

From the sound of it you all had a ball. I sure wish I would have bit the bullet and went. After all the work Speck did, did he get a pig? Or at least a chance at a pig? How would archery hunting during the Slam be? I will use a rifle, but i really enjoy Pork shishkabobs...

 

[BDB]

Awesome stories guys, sounds like you all had a blast. Congrats to all that took home the pork. Vandal, awesome looking first pig !!!

I can tell you one thing, the wedding that I had to attend was not as fun as this event sounds to have been.

Keep the stories and pics coming

 

[Speckmisser]

Well, first of all... I'm glad you guys had such a good time. That was the main purpose, at least from my perspective, and it looks like mission accomplished there! I know I had a blast with great folks in a great place! Tejon is just pure magic.

Special thanks go out to Jesse (of course), without whom none of this would be happening. Also want to give a huge thank you to wmidbrook and all of you who chipped in for my gift. SWEET!

And to Grtwythunter... there's no way I can thank you enough for all the help, both at the gate and in the field. There is no way to say enough good things about you, brother.

It was absolutely awesome to finally meet so many of you guys in person. I'm afraid I'll never remember all the names/handles and faces. And I'm sure there are some of you I still didn't get a chance to talk to. The fact that we were hunting from about 0430 to 2030 every day made for long days and short evenings with not much time for sitting around chatting. Sleep definitely was at a premium.

Special congrats to those of you who took your first hogs this weekend. That made the whole thing worthwhile, all by itself.

If I'm not mistaken, we were in the vicinity of 20 hogs take for the weekend. By my records, field-dressed weights ranged from 185# to 76#. Barbara has the total list, and may include some hogs that I didn't see.

I'm in no condition to write up my whole story right now (I haven't had real sleep since Wednesday night.), since I rolled back into the Bay Area at around 0530 today. We were a little late getting out of the ranch.

It came down to the wire, but my success rate at Tejon is still 100%! This little meat pig stepped out at really bad time (for him), and I just had to invite him home for dinner.

Oh yeah... let's do it again next year! Dates and info to come!

 

[blazintowers]

Deadducks, know how you feel. Dont be so hard on youself though, it happens to everyone, well almost everyone. Definately have had my share of missed oppurtunity's, just have to learn from our mistakes, mine was not zeroing in before hunting season, you can bet that wont happen again!!!!!! Even if you zero in before leaving for a trip, a scope can still get knocked off during travel. Can never be too sure!!! just my

Good luck next time and let us know how you do at the range.... Blazintowers

 

[reddog5]

Well back from the HamSlam and i had a great time!! I scored on a nice little red hog that weighed in at 68 lbs. All i will say is that it rolled down a HELL HOLE after the head shot. I will let suzmar 1997 tell the story since it was his first hog .

A BIG thanks to gnn961, suzmar1997, huntsndives, and shrigley. With out those guys i proly would'nt have scored a hog. Also those guys fed me and let me ride with them AND helped gut my hog! THANKS guys i really appriciate it.

Happy B-day mark.

I also would like to thank Jesse and speckmisser for puttin it all together.

I hope you liked the cigar Mudwalker!.. Sorry speck

Hope ya'll enjoyed the stogies
There were a lot of guys i didnt get to meet but like spec said we were huntin all day and hard to get them hogs.

Here are some pics. I cant wait for the 2 annual JHO HamSlam!

 

[reddog5]

and the Hell hole, pic just does not do this canyon its due respect!!

Carl and Mark bottom left draggin her out

 

[fpscabs]

Speck
Sorry I didn't get to say "bye", but the tire was filled and I wanted to make it home in that special hunting vehicle without having to stop for air. It was great meeting Mudwalker. It was a bit tough to get going Sunday morning, and I am thankful for the nice log that was placed in a great spot to watch draw. Funny though, I really couldn't see that much through my eye-lids. I just hope my chance didn't walk by between 6:01 and 6:26 am.

Thanks again for the great elk and thanks for the supplement to my empty glass. A big congrats to you on gettting

something to make your drive home better. What a blast of a weekend. I would have put up some photos of "Santa" Jesse passing out goodies to all the boys and girl, but I need my photo cable. Jesse big thanks from all

.

To all those who connected, great job and I wish I was in that group. Next time!

I will say this about the JHO members: We all made a very great impression on Barbara and the Tejon Staff. She was amazed on how well we all acted and behaved.

Brent
You da man. Good going on the piggy. Next time I will just follow you

 

[henriksson]

Well, I arrived about 7 pm on Friday and found an empty camp except my hunting buddy, Scott (soon to be JHOer) skinning his very first pig. He got it at 3:15 on Friday and just couldn't wait for me.

So he got assigned to be my advisor an map reader the rest of the weekend.

One thing is for sure: You don't need to get a pig to have a great time at the Ham Slam. I can tell you that from personal experience. Tejon Ranch is such a beautiful place that just driving and looking around is a great experience. If you then add onn this group of people you just can't go wrong. I got to meet a lot of you, including Jesse, fpscabs, wmidbrook, mudwalker, and some others where I have forgotten the names, for the first time. Pig or no pig I had a great time. And, as I told Barbara when I checked out, it just means the is one more for me for next time.

Thanks Phil and Jesse for putting this together.

 

[mudwalker]

I can not think of a better way to spend the weekend. Except for there maybe having a few more women around. (come on ladies, hunt with us, these guys don't bite!)

If you saw Spec's post you know that we didn't get into town until around 5:30ish. What a long ass drive. But man that shower was good.

It was great to meet everyone. I had the hardest time trying to figure out who was what avatar and remember all the real names and faces. (Maybe next year we just wear a picture of our avatars around camp.)

Tehon Ranch is great. I can not believe all the different environments contained in that one ranch. It was easy to forget that I5 was just over the hills. We were late getting out but Spec got his pig (with Scott's help of course). We were there so late that it was hard to remember why we should leave and we breifly thought about staying, but just for a second. In the end, it wasn't work that made us leave, it was the call of a hot shower and warm bed.

The hunting was the best but you have got to be in shape for those ridges and canyons. My thighs and calves are so sore this morning I feel like I have been walking for weeks. I had two great opportunities but didn't get the pig either time.

For the first shot I had to bust my butt to get down hill (these hills are steep)when I finally got into range and got ready to shoot I was so winded and excited at the same time. The shot landing close enough to make the little piggy jump and run at the same time. When his feet came back into contact with the ground he was off. There were two others with him, and then were moving too. Sort of reminded me of the three stoges sort of running around in circles trying to figure out what to do. I tried another shot while they were on the run but didn't do more that scare them down hill.

The next day we were perched up on a hill looking over some nice looking finger ridges. Scott and Phillip (Grtwythunter and Specmisser) were with me. I spotted some movement in the heavy cover and knew for sure that there were two pigs in there. I waited, scoping out ever visable exit trail getting ready for the shot. Of course when they did finally come out it was way off to the left of where I saw them. I had to raise my rifle off the rest to get a shot off which landed low but the sound of the shot scattered pigs everywhere. I couldn't believe how many when running. Spec got off a couple of shots.

I will let Spec continue to the story of the pigs from there. My part of it is much more interesting. Scott and Phillip decided to go down into the ravine. There was no way I could have survived the decent so Spec sent me back up the hill to the truck and then get this... He told me to drive it down the hill. Wahoo, I drove the tacticle vehichle. Of course I have never driven a 4 wheel drive truck before and those that know me know I DON'T like unpaved roads. But I had a nice long talk with the truck and we agreed to get down the hill in one peice. Of course it was in granny gear the whole way but hey, would you want to be the one to tell Phillip that you had put a dent in his truck?! Jesse was waiting at the bottom of the hill and showed me where he and Spec thought the guys would come out and waited there with me along with one the Tehon ranch guys.

So even though I didn't get a pig, I had a great weekend camping with a group of good guys and I got to drive the truck. All in all it was way better than a weekend of housework.

 

[karstic]

Awesome weekend!!!

I put in a lot of miles on the Jeep and on foot lookin' for pig and only saw one on Saturday morning in the same area that Speck and Mudwalker were in Saturday afternoon. I went back to that same area Saturday afternoon and heard your shots. The pig was feeding across the side of the hill about halfway between the crest and canyon bottom. I looked through the scope and decided against trying the shot. It was probably 350+ yards. I descended into the canyon and tried climbed up the other side. Pure Hell!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Well, you've gone and done it this time!

Equipment-wise... well, that's easy. Just look through these pages and you'll see a simple, straightforward answer to your question. As you can see, everyone here is in total agreement on the single best weapon, scope, and ammunition.

Physically... well, that's different.

First of all, I'd strongly recommend getting the heaviest, sturdiest pack you can find. Now, fill that pack with 80lb sacks of concrete mix. You can start light, and only use two sacks at first. You'll need to work your way up to four sacks before May.

Now, take that pack and go find a 10 story building. Climb straight to the top. No stairs allowed, use the outside walls. Don't worry about those cops, nobody is gonna be crazy enough to try to come up and get you.

Repeat this exercise every other day until the hunt date.

Now, on the off days, you'll want to go out and pick a couple of bushels of poison oak. Dump it in your bathtub. Bring in five or six space heaters, and crank 'em up until the paint starts peeling. Climb into the bathtub and roll around with abandon. Then jump out and do 100 jumping jacks. Every hour or so, have someone come in and turn on the shower with ice-cold water.

After four hours of this activity, put on your pack, run down to the grocery store, strip naked, and climb into the deep freeze. Don't dry off first, you'll want to be soaking wet.

On the way home, find a blackberry patch and dive in. Crawl on all fours through the brambles. Don't come out until dark.

Follow this regimen until May 20. This should just about get you in shape for road hunting. If you want to actually get off the roads, you'll need to work out twice as hard.

Finally... mental preparation.

Drink heavily until 0200 every night. Sleep in a rock garden. Wake up at 0400. Perform the afore-mentioned physical training exercises until dusk. Then start drinking again.

Give up sex. Have your spouse/significant other flirt and tease without mercy, but at the moment of surrender, they should withhold the prize. Finally, when you can't stand it anymore, have her wait naked on the top of a 10 story building on a picnic blanket with a bottle of wine, some fine cheeses, and candles. Climb the building as prescribed earlier, with the pack and four sacks of concrete.

When you reach the top, just as you're ready to claim victory, have her nonchalantly walk to the elevator and get in... going to the ground floor without you. Repeat this process until you no longer have the overwhelming desire to fling yourself headlong off the roof.

Buy the slickest tires you can find. Drive to a narrow, winding, steep, off-kilter, one-lane road on a cliff. Coat the road with 8-12 inches of Vaseline. Drive along the edge glassing the distant hillsides with binoculars.

By May, this should have your senses functioning at the appropriate level. Your ability to absorb frustration will be almost perfect. Your driving skills will be honed to a razor's edge. And of course, going that long without sex will make you totally unafraid of pain and death.

That should just about do it.[/b]

Next time I'll have to pay a little more attention to Tejon Training Regime.

Even though I'll be eating tag soup I had a great time. Hogs were taken anywhere from 65 yards off Bear Trap Canyon Road to the bottomless pit of Tunis Canyon. I think a lot of it was being at the right place at the right time.

deadducks, junior and hronk thanks for dinner on Saturday night.

spectr17, thanks for the JHO swag

speck and grtwhthunter thanks for setting things up and running the show.

I can't wait to do it again.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Oh yeah... let's do it again next year! Dates and info to come![/b]

Where do I send my $$$?

 

[sdbowyer]

Wow, congradulations guys! THis was one hunt I would have like to been on before I leave. I could have met just about all of you in one shot. Sounds like you all had a great time.

 

[fpscabs]

Speck getting a well needed rest.