Just made a batch of kalua pork with the little 75lb sow I got the other day with my M94 30-30. Turned out real good, I put onions in these batch which turned out really well. Heres the story of how I got her, sorry, no pics. I did try really hard to get you some pics but the hill was too steep of a climb to bring her back up.
I had just got back from 2 monthes in New Zealand and was aching to go hunt. So my first day back I loaded the Camelbak, grabbed my dads truck and charged up to the hunting area about 1/2 mile from my house. I drove up the trail about a mile and pulled off onto a small turnout. I parked at the top of a steep hill/cliffside that drops about 3/4 mile into the large valley. It is about a 500-600 foot elevation drop, complete with lush mountain apple flats, 100 year old mango trees, lilikoi vines, and all the guava you could sink your teeth into. The downside is that in between these nice places to hunt is uluhe fern, thimble berrys, lantana and costers curse. I started at about noon, and by about 1pm I had a pig down. I stopped in the first mountain apple flat about halfway down after crawling on my stomach for 50 yards (the pig tunnels were too small to crawl) and gave a real good listen. I heard a few noises to my right, but they werent very frequent or loud so I took it to be a rat or something and kept going downhill, the wind was blowing in my face so I had good hopes of being able to put a stalk on if I saw something. Really the only areas you can see more than 10 yards in the area are these mountain apple flats, they are covered with pig rootings and lava rocks underneath and there is very little other vegetation. There are also places where the guava forms an overstory, but there is lots of vegetation underneath as well making it hard to see. The mountain apples arent ripe yet, still small green grape sized fruit. There are mangos and guavas going off this time of the year however. In the third apple patch I got to I stopped and listen and heard definite footsteps a little to my front and about 50 yards in front of me but still couldn't see what was making them. There were more noises coming a little to the left. I stopped for a few minutes and gathered my breath thinking what to do, the wind was in my face still so I wasn't scared about spooking them. I was sitting on the top of a little cliff section that ran maybe 40yards total across the hill and I could see the small slide that the pigs used to get up and down so I stalked towards it and saw a glimpse of a reddish/brown object moving through the bush about 20yards away throught the ferns and costers curse. Then right behind it went a light grey object. The bushes were so thick I couldn't really make them out, just a color. So I followed behind them, I got to where I saw them move through the bush and the had circled downhill and to the right of me and were starting to head back uphill in a small drain sheltered by mountain apples. I could hear them eating so I knew they weren't on to me yet. Then to my right I saw a glimpse of something shaking, I could just make out a pigs ear shaking as it rooted. It was about 15-20yards away through a basketball sized hole in the brush. I could make out its ear, and about 5 inches on all sides. I watched it for about 30 seconds through my peep sight, and determined which side was the front and which was the back. I aimed a few inches behind the ear down in the neck and fired a shot. When I fired my left ear was ringing and I could hear something running straight down from where I shot, then they split one running down and the other turning left and running along the hill. I thought I had missed the pig but then heard something struggling where I shot. I waited a few seconds and walked over there. the pig was on its back in the exact spot I had shot it. My shot hit a little in front of the shoulder in the neck, went through the spine and then through the right shoulder, taking out the tops of both lungs in the process. It was dead by the time I got there. After the fun part always comes the hard part.
I wanted to carry the pig out so I gutted her and tied her onto my camelbak, she must have weighed about 50lbs gutted and was a pain in the ass to carry. I carried her about a 1/4 way up the hill and then tied her into a backpack and tried to carry her that way. The brush is so thick that its hard to carry a pig on your back through the bushes without getting snagged. So I ended up dragging her instead. About 3/4 of the way up the hill I was completely exhausted, Im still tired now in fact. So I tied her to a tree and took both back hams, the tenderloins and the backstraps. There was a little salvagable meat from the front shoulders but it was pretty torn up from the shot. Turns out the car was only maybe another 100 yards up the hill, but I had a hill so steep in between me and my car that it was hard to walk up without a 50lb carcass on your shoulder. I also forgot my meat bag so had to use my tshirt, I tied off the arms and neck and it worked fine.
alright, my hands are tired from writing. happy hunting guys
The picture is a little up the valley from where I was hunting, just to give you guys an idea of the terrain. We have a two night trip coming up tomorrow about 8 miles up the valley. Ill take lots of pics for you guys. It should be a really really good hunt. Im excited!
I had just got back from 2 monthes in New Zealand and was aching to go hunt. So my first day back I loaded the Camelbak, grabbed my dads truck and charged up to the hunting area about 1/2 mile from my house. I drove up the trail about a mile and pulled off onto a small turnout. I parked at the top of a steep hill/cliffside that drops about 3/4 mile into the large valley. It is about a 500-600 foot elevation drop, complete with lush mountain apple flats, 100 year old mango trees, lilikoi vines, and all the guava you could sink your teeth into. The downside is that in between these nice places to hunt is uluhe fern, thimble berrys, lantana and costers curse. I started at about noon, and by about 1pm I had a pig down. I stopped in the first mountain apple flat about halfway down after crawling on my stomach for 50 yards (the pig tunnels were too small to crawl) and gave a real good listen. I heard a few noises to my right, but they werent very frequent or loud so I took it to be a rat or something and kept going downhill, the wind was blowing in my face so I had good hopes of being able to put a stalk on if I saw something. Really the only areas you can see more than 10 yards in the area are these mountain apple flats, they are covered with pig rootings and lava rocks underneath and there is very little other vegetation. There are also places where the guava forms an overstory, but there is lots of vegetation underneath as well making it hard to see. The mountain apples arent ripe yet, still small green grape sized fruit. There are mangos and guavas going off this time of the year however. In the third apple patch I got to I stopped and listen and heard definite footsteps a little to my front and about 50 yards in front of me but still couldn't see what was making them. There were more noises coming a little to the left. I stopped for a few minutes and gathered my breath thinking what to do, the wind was in my face still so I wasn't scared about spooking them. I was sitting on the top of a little cliff section that ran maybe 40yards total across the hill and I could see the small slide that the pigs used to get up and down so I stalked towards it and saw a glimpse of a reddish/brown object moving through the bush about 20yards away throught the ferns and costers curse. Then right behind it went a light grey object. The bushes were so thick I couldn't really make them out, just a color. So I followed behind them, I got to where I saw them move through the bush and the had circled downhill and to the right of me and were starting to head back uphill in a small drain sheltered by mountain apples. I could hear them eating so I knew they weren't on to me yet. Then to my right I saw a glimpse of something shaking, I could just make out a pigs ear shaking as it rooted. It was about 15-20yards away through a basketball sized hole in the brush. I could make out its ear, and about 5 inches on all sides. I watched it for about 30 seconds through my peep sight, and determined which side was the front and which was the back. I aimed a few inches behind the ear down in the neck and fired a shot. When I fired my left ear was ringing and I could hear something running straight down from where I shot, then they split one running down and the other turning left and running along the hill. I thought I had missed the pig but then heard something struggling where I shot. I waited a few seconds and walked over there. the pig was on its back in the exact spot I had shot it. My shot hit a little in front of the shoulder in the neck, went through the spine and then through the right shoulder, taking out the tops of both lungs in the process. It was dead by the time I got there. After the fun part always comes the hard part.
I wanted to carry the pig out so I gutted her and tied her onto my camelbak, she must have weighed about 50lbs gutted and was a pain in the ass to carry. I carried her about a 1/4 way up the hill and then tied her into a backpack and tried to carry her that way. The brush is so thick that its hard to carry a pig on your back through the bushes without getting snagged. So I ended up dragging her instead. About 3/4 of the way up the hill I was completely exhausted, Im still tired now in fact. So I tied her to a tree and took both back hams, the tenderloins and the backstraps. There was a little salvagable meat from the front shoulders but it was pretty torn up from the shot. Turns out the car was only maybe another 100 yards up the hill, but I had a hill so steep in between me and my car that it was hard to walk up without a 50lb carcass on your shoulder. I also forgot my meat bag so had to use my tshirt, I tied off the arms and neck and it worked fine.
alright, my hands are tired from writing. happy hunting guys
The picture is a little up the valley from where I was hunting, just to give you guys an idea of the terrain. We have a two night trip coming up tomorrow about 8 miles up the valley. Ill take lots of pics for you guys. It should be a really really good hunt. Im excited!
