just got back from an amazing father son weekend/ hog hunting trip, and i thought ide give props where props are due..
ok, so after alot of research, i booked a trip with tom willoughby and i cant say enough about how great the trip was.
First off Tom had to go out of town, so we hunted with his son blake, and a friend of his jim, both of which worked thier ass off to get us on hogs. they went above and beyond in my opinion to get complete rookies a great hunt, despite us not having a clue. on top of this, 2 weeks before the hunt, my dad was t boned at about 45mph by someone who ran a red light, and was on crutches with a broken shin. when i called tom about this he wasnt concerned, and said something like "well we will just try and find something from the truck then".
we met blake in san miguel, and no bs, within 45 min of meeting blake we were on a ranch and on hogs, me and my brother went with jim, and my dad and the other 2 guys jumped in with blake, off we go.
on the way out, i tell jim that we are rookies and will most likely have some stupid ass questions... no bs jim stops the truck and says " none of you have taken any game before?".. "no sir, ive hunted once, and by hunted i mean i carried a rifle around and looked for deer, my father used to hunt javalina and pig with his dad in the 60's, but nothing since then, and my brothers first time. at this point, me and my brother think uh oh, hes not happy... just the opposite, jim then goes into hog hunting 101, in his southern drawl, putting my brother and i at ease.
5 min later we are out of the truck and hiking into where jim spotted some hogs that morning, and jim is still telling us what to expect, where we are headed the whole 9 yards.. we hike within about 25 yard of where they bed down, jim glasses it and sets me up.. i think that i see an ear where he is telling me to shoot, he says steady up and shoot when ready.. i send one. and about 10 hogs scatter.. they slow down about 200 yrds, and both me and my brother send one, both hit the mark, 2 hogs down and roll down the hill.. or so we thought, they had a good trail, but after a mile or so we lost em.. by now its about 1830.. we haul ass for another ranch.. and by haul ass, i mean 50 to 60 down dirt roads, ive run the baja 500 and im having the time of life on this road.. we get the next ranch and jim has us out of the truck, but the wind is swirling and he doesnt like it, off we go again, back toward the entrance we see a group of hogs as it getting dark ( the whole time explaining it all to us, teaching as much as guiding... we park, and walk in, he sets me up.. shoot when ready.. D.R.T, hog down. we run up and he says stay here with the hog. grabs my brother and they go after the main group, about a min later my brother fires on on a hog on a run, and drops it from about 75yrds... 2 hogs down!
the other group, went to different ranch and took one, and my dad had one that was running, but he wasnt confident on it, so he didnt take a shot, 3 hogs the first 5 hrs.. awsome!
Day 2: we went a whole new area. an amazing 35000 acre ranch, the morning was slow, but about 8 am we got on em again, this time from the road, and the hog turned back toward us, so dad was able to stand on his good leg, leaning back against the truck , and sent one at 125 yrds down hill, droped it in its tracks, a boar that dressed out at 97 lbs
soo.. all in all an amazing weekend, and ide like to say thank you to tom, blake and jim for not only being patient with us, but teaching as well, my dad had such a great time, not only remembering the hunting trips with his dad, (who passed away in 1975, when i was just 2 years old, and my brother wasnt born yet), and as much as he was worried about the leg, you guys made the trip happen for him, my dad told more stories about his dad, than ive ever heard before... thank you!!.. and we cant wait for the next trip!
so, anyone looking for a guide on the central coast, go with Tom Willoughby, they worked their ass off, went above and beyond for us!
ok, so after alot of research, i booked a trip with tom willoughby and i cant say enough about how great the trip was.
First off Tom had to go out of town, so we hunted with his son blake, and a friend of his jim, both of which worked thier ass off to get us on hogs. they went above and beyond in my opinion to get complete rookies a great hunt, despite us not having a clue. on top of this, 2 weeks before the hunt, my dad was t boned at about 45mph by someone who ran a red light, and was on crutches with a broken shin. when i called tom about this he wasnt concerned, and said something like "well we will just try and find something from the truck then".
we met blake in san miguel, and no bs, within 45 min of meeting blake we were on a ranch and on hogs, me and my brother went with jim, and my dad and the other 2 guys jumped in with blake, off we go.
on the way out, i tell jim that we are rookies and will most likely have some stupid ass questions... no bs jim stops the truck and says " none of you have taken any game before?".. "no sir, ive hunted once, and by hunted i mean i carried a rifle around and looked for deer, my father used to hunt javalina and pig with his dad in the 60's, but nothing since then, and my brothers first time. at this point, me and my brother think uh oh, hes not happy... just the opposite, jim then goes into hog hunting 101, in his southern drawl, putting my brother and i at ease.
5 min later we are out of the truck and hiking into where jim spotted some hogs that morning, and jim is still telling us what to expect, where we are headed the whole 9 yards.. we hike within about 25 yard of where they bed down, jim glasses it and sets me up.. i think that i see an ear where he is telling me to shoot, he says steady up and shoot when ready.. i send one. and about 10 hogs scatter.. they slow down about 200 yrds, and both me and my brother send one, both hit the mark, 2 hogs down and roll down the hill.. or so we thought, they had a good trail, but after a mile or so we lost em.. by now its about 1830.. we haul ass for another ranch.. and by haul ass, i mean 50 to 60 down dirt roads, ive run the baja 500 and im having the time of life on this road.. we get the next ranch and jim has us out of the truck, but the wind is swirling and he doesnt like it, off we go again, back toward the entrance we see a group of hogs as it getting dark ( the whole time explaining it all to us, teaching as much as guiding... we park, and walk in, he sets me up.. shoot when ready.. D.R.T, hog down. we run up and he says stay here with the hog. grabs my brother and they go after the main group, about a min later my brother fires on on a hog on a run, and drops it from about 75yrds... 2 hogs down!
the other group, went to different ranch and took one, and my dad had one that was running, but he wasnt confident on it, so he didnt take a shot, 3 hogs the first 5 hrs.. awsome!
Day 2: we went a whole new area. an amazing 35000 acre ranch, the morning was slow, but about 8 am we got on em again, this time from the road, and the hog turned back toward us, so dad was able to stand on his good leg, leaning back against the truck , and sent one at 125 yrds down hill, droped it in its tracks, a boar that dressed out at 97 lbs
soo.. all in all an amazing weekend, and ide like to say thank you to tom, blake and jim for not only being patient with us, but teaching as well, my dad had such a great time, not only remembering the hunting trips with his dad, (who passed away in 1975, when i was just 2 years old, and my brother wasnt born yet), and as much as he was worried about the leg, you guys made the trip happen for him, my dad told more stories about his dad, than ive ever heard before... thank you!!.. and we cant wait for the next trip!
so, anyone looking for a guide on the central coast, go with Tom Willoughby, they worked their ass off, went above and beyond for us!
