asaxon
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So what did you do for St. Valentine’s Day? I went hog hunting with Hog Cupid, sometimes known as TW, up in Monterey County. Our freezer had become quite low on hog meat (hard to believe we have been though 7 hogs in the last 12 months) – we must have been feeding our friends and our daughters lots of pork when they came over. Well the Admiral gave me a direct order; “Go out and to shoot a nice large sow.” “Yes, Sir!” Sorry Myfriends410 but orders are orders. The Admiral is “not fond of” boars (other than me I hope) - she says she can tell the difference in the smell when cooking the meat although the taste may/or may not be much different depending on the particular animal.
Realizing it was going to be a Valentine’s Day hunt no less, I came up with the idea of locating a nice amorous sow by using a box of Valentine’s Day chocolates. I figured I’d be sure to get a dry sow as the hormones involved in being an expectant or recent mother generally block amorous intent, at least in wild animals. I checked the F&G regs and couldn’t’ find that gifting chocolate was considered baiting; where is Dirty Dave when you need him? So down to the local Rite Aide I went and bought the biggest cheapest (after all, it was for a hog) box of Valentine’s Day chocolates they had. Then it was off to Bradley CA to meet up with TW. We met before noon and TW admitted my idea of the chocolates was “novel”. I won’t use the actual words he said but the abbreviation is AYOOYFM*. So we drove out to an Indian Valley ranch where I laid out a trail of chocolates leading up to the large unopened red heart shaped box of chocolates among some oak trees where there was lots of recent sign. I figured that later in the day, we’d find at least the amorous sow just waiting for us. And it worked….well sort of.
But before we get to that, we had an adventure. We headed out to look for hogs on the other side of the ranch.
Gorgeous country, saw some good deer on one of the ridges and I can now get much better pictures with my new camera’s optical zoom (picture on left). Thirty minutes later, on another a ridge about 300+ yards away, we spot a group of hogs that is hanging out between the oak trees and some really thick cover. TW recognized the group as one which contained a nice belted sow that a hunter’s of his had wounded 3 days before. We decide to try to take down the wounded sow but she is quite wary. We carefully stalked them using a defilade (that is for you Turkey Hunter 3) to about 100 yards. While some of the hogs came out of the heavy brush to feed, we only get fleeting glimpses of “the belted babe”. Finally TW goes back to the truck and gets his two chase dogs and turns them loose to try to flush the sow out of the heavy brush. The dogs take off, the hogs run deeper into the really thick brush (see picture on right) and we follow on behind. After a while, we hear the dogs barking close
by followed by a cacophony of grunting noises. Sounded like a hog Presidential caucus – what a commotion. The animals couldn’t have been more than 10 yards away but of course, we can only see about 4 yards in the dense cover. I’d never been that close to live wild hogs and whisper to Tom; “if those hogs dec
ide to charge us, we are definitely outnumbered and outarmed.” Tom has his pocket knife while the scope on my A-bolt II Browning 30-06 only goes down to 3x; in a charge, I’d have been better off using the butt end of my rifle. Next time I’m going WWI style with a bayonet. To make a long story short, we spent well over an hour trying to get that hog into a firing solution but failed. She took us on quite a wild hog chase. At times, we simply crashed right though very heavy brush with the dogs barking at the hog in front of us but we never got a sighting so we finally had to give up. Whatever the nature of the belted babe’s wounds, they couldn’t have been too severe. I don’t doubt she will survive to make lots more like her. The dogs did enjoy their romp – on my other trips with TW, the dogs didn’t like me at all as they never got out of the truck. The young one was so excited, he had to be dragged back and put in the truck (picture on left). Don’t tell the Admiral but I got lots of Valentine's Day licks from the dogs – onl
y to realize they were boy dogs. Little did I know it was harbinger of things to come…
After this brush busting, we were all beat so we figured we’ll go check out the chocolate for a “Valentine Day sow”. On the way, TW spotted a large group of Tule elk that are silhouetted against the sky. They just stood there for at least 5 minutes. Unfortunately, they were far enough away that I had a hard time getting a decent photo – this is the best I could do. I needed my small tripod for these 18x photos. There were at least twice as many animals as in this picture on the right. Cool!
Leaving the elk, we crept up a gulley below the spot with the chocolate and sure enough we see a nice hog that appears to be trying to get into the box of chocolate that it has in its mouth. We glass it from about 200 yards and, and, and….what is that? The hog’s hoofs appear red. And there is something red about its eyes. I quickly say, “I’m taking her, that’s a very unusual hog”. BAMM, a 30-06 150 GMX Hornady slams into its neck, over it goes and slides down into the clearing below still holding the box of chocolates in its mouth. Well, here is the animal.
I now am in DEEP trouble with the Admiral - I’d been given a direct order to shoot a sow! And i
t is getting dark and the rain is picking up again. After quickly field dressing the hog and pitching it in the back of the truck, we drive further down Indian Valley Road heading for another ranch. Just after stopping to chase a flock of 15 or so wild turkeys off the road rather than have turkey windscreen hash, we come around a bend and low and behold, we see 2 hogs casually grazing no more than 40 yards from the main road – and they are on land that TW leases. The Gods were smiling on me - it was a gift to keep me out of trouble with the Admiral. We drive right past them hoping they don’t spook at our passing and as soon as we are round the bend, we pile out of the truck and boogie back down to see if we can locate them. We top a small rise and there they are, at least 3 adults and a bunch of small piglets but they had taken a bit of a fright and are now about 150 yards away and moving off. TW notes that the big black sow in the group is dry. That is all I need to know. As she trots to my left toward a creek bottom, I put a quartering shot with another Hornady 150 GMX though her chest and down she goes for the count (hog #2 on right). Now it is really raining. TW guts her in less than 60 seconds. We drag her to the back of the truck, pitch her in and drive to a nearby large equipment shed where we skin the hogs out of the rain. Both bullets had exited and done their job well, neither animal went more than 20 yds after being shot. The devastating hydrostatic shock effect of the Hornady 150 GMX was readily apparent during the butchering.
We then d
rove back to TW’s house were he hung the carcasses in his cold room. I popped into King City for a quick bite, do my emails (thank you free wireless at McD’s,) and have a good sleep in my Van. In the morning, I drove back to TW’s, picked up the now chilled carcasses, bagged ‘em and headed for Santa Monica. And what do I run into trying to get out of King City, the local version of a rush hour traffic jam. Go figure. In the evening I butchered the hogs with the help of a friend.
Happy belated Valentine’s Day to all you JHO’ers.
*AYOOYFM = Are you out of your freakin mind?
**DCDDQH = damn cross-dressing drag queen hog
LESSIONS LEARNED
Realizing it was going to be a Valentine’s Day hunt no less, I came up with the idea of locating a nice amorous sow by using a box of Valentine’s Day chocolates. I figured I’d be sure to get a dry sow as the hormones involved in being an expectant or recent mother generally block amorous intent, at least in wild animals. I checked the F&G regs and couldn’t’ find that gifting chocolate was considered baiting; where is Dirty Dave when you need him? So down to the local Rite Aide I went and bought the biggest cheapest (after all, it was for a hog) box of Valentine’s Day chocolates they had. Then it was off to Bradley CA to meet up with TW. We met before noon and TW admitted my idea of the chocolates was “novel”. I won’t use the actual words he said but the abbreviation is AYOOYFM*. So we drove out to an Indian Valley ranch where I laid out a trail of chocolates leading up to the large unopened red heart shaped box of chocolates among some oak trees where there was lots of recent sign. I figured that later in the day, we’d find at least the amorous sow just waiting for us. And it worked….well sort of.
But before we get to that, we had an adventure. We headed out to look for hogs on the other side of the ranch.
Gorgeous country, saw some good deer on one of the ridges and I can now get much better pictures with my new camera’s optical zoom (picture on left). Thirty minutes later, on another a ridge about 300+ yards away, we spot a group of hogs that is hanging out between the oak trees and some really thick cover. TW recognized the group as one which contained a nice belted sow that a hunter’s of his had wounded 3 days before. We decide to try to take down the wounded sow but she is quite wary. We carefully stalked them using a defilade (that is for you Turkey Hunter 3) to about 100 yards. While some of the hogs came out of the heavy brush to feed, we only get fleeting glimpses of “the belted babe”. Finally TW goes back to the truck and gets his two chase dogs and turns them loose to try to flush the sow out of the heavy brush. The dogs take off, the hogs run deeper into the really thick brush (see picture on right) and we follow on behind. After a while, we hear the dogs barking close
by followed by a cacophony of grunting noises. Sounded like a hog Presidential caucus – what a commotion. The animals couldn’t have been more than 10 yards away but of course, we can only see about 4 yards in the dense cover. I’d never been that close to live wild hogs and whisper to Tom; “if those hogs dec
ide to charge us, we are definitely outnumbered and outarmed.” Tom has his pocket knife while the scope on my A-bolt II Browning 30-06 only goes down to 3x; in a charge, I’d have been better off using the butt end of my rifle. Next time I’m going WWI style with a bayonet. To make a long story short, we spent well over an hour trying to get that hog into a firing solution but failed. She took us on quite a wild hog chase. At times, we simply crashed right though very heavy brush with the dogs barking at the hog in front of us but we never got a sighting so we finally had to give up. Whatever the nature of the belted babe’s wounds, they couldn’t have been too severe. I don’t doubt she will survive to make lots more like her. The dogs did enjoy their romp – on my other trips with TW, the dogs didn’t like me at all as they never got out of the truck. The young one was so excited, he had to be dragged back and put in the truck (picture on left). Don’t tell the Admiral but I got lots of Valentine's Day licks from the dogs – onl
y to realize they were boy dogs. Little did I know it was harbinger of things to come… After this brush busting, we were all beat so we figured we’ll go check out the chocolate for a “Valentine Day sow”. On the way, TW spotted a large group of Tule elk that are silhouetted against the sky. They just stood there for at least 5 minutes. Unfortunately, they were far enough away that I had a hard time getting a decent photo – this is the best I could do. I needed my small tripod for these 18x photos. There were at least twice as many animals as in this picture on the right. Cool!
Leaving the elk, we crept up a gulley below the spot with the chocolate and sure enough we see a nice hog that appears to be trying to get into the box of chocolate that it has in its mouth. We glass it from about 200 yards and, and, and….what is that? The hog’s hoofs appear red. And there is something red about its eyes. I quickly say, “I’m taking her, that’s a very unusual hog”. BAMM, a 30-06 150 GMX Hornady slams into its neck, over it goes and slides down into the clearing below still holding the box of chocolates in its mouth. Well, here is the animal.
I now am in DEEP trouble with the Admiral - I’d been given a direct order to shoot a sow! And i
t is getting dark and the rain is picking up again. After quickly field dressing the hog and pitching it in the back of the truck, we drive further down Indian Valley Road heading for another ranch. Just after stopping to chase a flock of 15 or so wild turkeys off the road rather than have turkey windscreen hash, we come around a bend and low and behold, we see 2 hogs casually grazing no more than 40 yards from the main road – and they are on land that TW leases. The Gods were smiling on me - it was a gift to keep me out of trouble with the Admiral. We drive right past them hoping they don’t spook at our passing and as soon as we are round the bend, we pile out of the truck and boogie back down to see if we can locate them. We top a small rise and there they are, at least 3 adults and a bunch of small piglets but they had taken a bit of a fright and are now about 150 yards away and moving off. TW notes that the big black sow in the group is dry. That is all I need to know. As she trots to my left toward a creek bottom, I put a quartering shot with another Hornady 150 GMX though her chest and down she goes for the count (hog #2 on right). Now it is really raining. TW guts her in less than 60 seconds. We drag her to the back of the truck, pitch her in and drive to a nearby large equipment shed where we skin the hogs out of the rain. Both bullets had exited and done their job well, neither animal went more than 20 yds after being shot. The devastating hydrostatic shock effect of the Hornady 150 GMX was readily apparent during the butchering.We then d
rove back to TW’s house were he hung the carcasses in his cold room. I popped into King City for a quick bite, do my emails (thank you free wireless at McD’s,) and have a good sleep in my Van. In the morning, I drove back to TW’s, picked up the now chilled carcasses, bagged ‘em and headed for Santa Monica. And what do I run into trying to get out of King City, the local version of a rush hour traffic jam. Go figure. In the evening I butchered the hogs with the help of a friend.Happy belated Valentine’s Day to all you JHO’ers.
*AYOOYFM = Are you out of your freakin mind?
**DCDDQH = damn cross-dressing drag queen hog
LESSIONS LEARNED
- Always carry a bayonet when hog hunting in case
- You can’t tell a sow from a boar by the color of nail polish they are wearing
- Butchering a hog isn’t that difficult – and I still have 9 fingers
- Chocolate is the Universal attractant
- I need to use my small tripod if I crank up the camera to 18x
- Don’t eat cheap chocolate candy from Rite Aid – As the box was unopened, I tried it on the way home. Ugh. Good thing the hog didn’t’ eat it, probably would have ruined the meat!
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