My way

[cak291]

I am a high tech person, whatever is new, if it sounds good, OK, I'll give it a whirl.
I bought a Game Finder Pro, once for chasing down elusive coyote.
Shootum once, know you hit good, no coyote and all the hassle if you can ever find the dead coyote.
I wasn't hog hunting one morning, just out flashing the Game Finder around.
I'd stop driving every few minutes and work the GF.
Bingo, all the lights went on. Oh I strained my eyes and restrained them
looking into the grass. I was about to give up and accidently madeout PIG.
Not 40 feet away - - - PIG!
One less piggy that will stray off Tejon Ranch.

Years ago watching deer hunters walk a canyon. We sat and watched deer walk
around a tree as the hunter passed within 50 ft., keeping out of view.
We were up high screaming our silly heads off, motioning and so on, didn't help.
Those deer never took flight as expected of a deer. I've heard many a hunter tell the same story over the past 60 years. That is why I bought the GF.

How often is it that we walk hunting and nearby smart game freezes?
Like a coyote after being shot dead. It can zip a short distance and become invisable to us. The GF to use as intended locates that critter in the thicket.
cak291

 

[Live2hunt]

cak,

Glad you find the gamefinder useful. To me I think the gamefinder is useless or maybe it's useful but I just don't know how to use it yet. I bought one from Cabelas a couple of years ago and everytime I tried to use it to locate animal I had all the lights flashed on and off not matter which direction I pointed. I tried it on a couple of dead pigs that I killed and got the same result. One of the dead pig laid 10 yards infront of me and I pointed the gamefinder at it. All the light flashed. I turned and point the gamefinder behind me and all the light flashed just like I was pointing it at the dead pig. With all these experiences I thought the gamefinder was a joke. Also I noticed that almost all of the demos on video that came with the gamefinder were sales act. In the video I can clearly see the hunters' arrow shot over the back of most of the deer and pigs. But when the hunters put the gamefinder on, the find the dead animal. There was a clip in the video where a hunter shot over the back of a sow. Then the hunter used the gamefinder and found a dead boar. That's what makes me think the gamefinder was a joke.



L2H

 

[cak291]

Yes, the GF is sensitive and does appear to give many false readings.
The more I use it the better I can tell a false reading from the real McCoy.
I have read of numerous complaints aligning exactly with yours.
As we chatted it was learned the people had boughten the cheapest version of Game Finder. Does cost matter, I don't know.

I carry it on my belt like all the other goodies I drag to the field.
Times like sitting on a treestand all day, pretty boring.
Good time to practice with the GF. I slowly learned as the instructions repeat,
not to be used like a pistol, aim and expect results.
I specialize in coyote, the GF has helped me locate them countless times.
Setup predawn or as the sun sets, these animals all move about without
making any noise. If the GF says one is there, I sit tight.
I always do a 360 with the GF before moving.
The GF alerting me to their presence, the waiting game begins.

I got the GF to locate shot critters. Everytime its, I know I got it.
They can crawl into a tiny thicket, behind a rock in a depression and we
literally can't see them. There goes bragging rights unless you can produce the critter. All I know is, since I got the GF my partner and I now find what we shot.

I have and my partner has done the same, walked right by beded down game on a hillside,,,,,,,,,not 100 feet from us. Stand and look at it talking, Is it or isn't it? Suddenly it explodes in flight and is gone before anyone can get a shot off.
Pretty embarrassing. GF takes the guesswork out of it.
It works for me.
cak

 

[cak291]

L2H
Concerning the GF and just a joke or not a joke.
I had a Peeping Tom neighbor once. He'd slip back onto his
side when I tried to catch him and stand in dark shadows behind a tree.
We were plagued with that problem for years.
GF found him when no spotlight would.
He had me arrested for pointing a Laser at him.
If you got a relative as a cop, anything can be done.
And we all know the story, he was innocent, just outside in the dark investigating a noise. It got to be a nightly ritual, him calling the cops on me but what was infallable, the GF located his body heat regardless of which tree he hid behind
from a distance of 200 feet. Finally the cops with egg on their face bigtime told him that if they came out again he was going to jail on a sex crime charge.
It cured the Peeping Tom.

Bear in mind, Game Finder is just a real cheapy version of the military and Police
thermo scanning devices. Not a multi-thousand dollar fine tuned instrament.
When I first got mine (3 years ago) like you, at first I thought it was a joke.
Another expensive brainstorm for the trashcan.
Now I have used it enough that I can pretty much tell if the signal is false or real.

Since I like to hunt problemsome coyote at night. The kind that every Tom Dick & Harry has drank six-paks yoddling too and gave up yielding to higher intelligence.
My gun is setup with one of those night shooting lights.
You can't see them in the dark of night.
You can't be turning that spotlight on for false signals or you will also yield to higher intelligence and quit. To me the GF has proven itself many times over.
For a cheapy 250 dollar thermo deal, it's OK.
cak

 

[tony270]

One season I walked to my tree stand, it was about a mile away from our Mississippi farm. After I got all set-ups my dog showed up and the hunt was over. On the way back home we jumped what turned out to be two deer. They were in a low spot that held oaks loaded with acorns.

Well I knew that I couldn’t get them, but I put old Bob on them anyway. Knowing that they wouldn’t come back to the road, I got to thinking, maybe they'll head to the open hay field that border the oak thicket.

I run to the open hay field and low and behold, both deer were bounding across the field, one sporting the 4x4 rack the other look like a doe.

So I squat low, and run down the road to where I thought the deer would cross a road that cut through the middle of the hay field. I stop where I though the deer would cross this road, when I eased up to see where they were, I spied what I thought was the 4x4's antler tips and nose, peeking through the hay.

So I squat back down and got the old 12 GA single shot long tong at the ready, I rise back up and place the bead on top of the tallest tine, at about 50 yards, and I squeeze off a shot. Boom, and all I see is this monster buck jumped vertically what seemed like 10 feet. Dang I missed; I reloaded the long tong with another 3” 00 buckshot Remington express.

I thought to myself what happened to the doe. I when back to the spot that where I thought the deer were, and low behold I had shot at a small forker. The big buck was smart enough to lay flat on its belly. That’s when I found out that old bucks could low crawl, who would have thunk.

All the buckshot hit him below the shoulder, broke his front and back leg with several buckshot hitting center mass, this tells me that the shots where falling. Old Bob showed up after everything was over.

Sorry for such a long story, I not much of the one to do a lot or writing.

 

[tony270]

How does this game finder work?

 

[MikenSoCo]

You're all over this guy for wanting to find his young brother a hog and you're out using a gamefinder which I believe is electric? You sound like a hypocrit to me. driving around with your butt in the seat of a truck looking for hogs with a gamefinder is pathetic in my book. I hope you can catch like you throw

 

[tony270]

In my opinion if it’s legal they should be able to use it. I personal like the physical aspic of hunting, but some people aren't physically able to plunge deep into the field like others. I see no reason why it shouldn't be used to fine downed or injured game of for that matter spot from a truck and then stalk it. It obviously doesn’t work well or it would be outlawed.

We are all hunters, right?
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Live2hunt]

Mike,

My intention of buying a gamefinder is to locate wounded animal in thick brush where it's sometimes not very visible. I have not used it to locate live animals and have no intention to. Before I bought the gamefinder I had a couple of incidents where I shot at big boars and they head for the thickets. I went after them in the brush and got greeted by a wounded and pissed off boar five feet infront of me. Two ocassions I was able to add a couple rounds of 30-06 to the boar before it touched me. One ocassion I jumped as high as I could as the boar charged and I found myself laying four feet in the air on top of thick chemise brush. I thought the Gamefinder would help avoid such encounter and bought one to try it out. Obviously it doesn't work the way I thought it would and I don't have the confident to use it anymore.


L2H

 

[cincoflatspirate]

Using an electronic device to locate game to kill is probably illegal, if not it sure is unethical. I read your response on hanginhog's post and after reading this stuff I can't believe it was writen by the same person. Don't judge a person by reading a post. Just because he has no master grasshopper to teach him, it's not his fault, sounds like you need to go back to your master grasshopper to get retrained.

 

[cak291]

tony270

GFs that the public can buy are a cheapy cheapy version of real thermo imaging devices. Like a $250 toy compared to a mega thousand dollar toy.
I wanted to stress that - - -let no one be mis-led that it is a do-all.

As one responce said, False readings, False readings - - - to the trash it goes.

That being said, my GF could easily be mistaken for a flashlight.
Handheld and slowly move it across the terrian in front of you.
IFFFFFFFFFF, any warm blooded animal is there, Red Lights flicker ontop.
Supposidly (if I can recall the advertising hype) mine will reach out to 1000 yards.

Does it work? Well it does and it doesn't.
To me in getting it was a case of something has got to be better than the way we are doing things. HELP!!!!!!
Doc (hunting partner) and I'd shoot coyotes, maybe find one out of four.
You know you got it. The shot was right on. If they don't drop where shot they can hide so fast.
Almost have to walk ontop of one to see it. Plus they jump into thorny thickets.
Did he go into this thicket, that one over there or any of the others?
I scan each with the GF slowly and it tells me which thicket.
We don't loose them anymore. Shootum and getum.
I have had 3+years of success with the GF, so I can't knock it myself.

I have read of more people throwing them away in disgust than I have of positive comments about them.

I got an elk with the GF in Oregon just after I'd bought it.
Predawn, right at dawn, borderline legal for shooting, mountin road, we stopped. Time to pee, get rid of some of that coffee we'd been drinking for the past few hours. Out stretching my legs, vehicle was running, headlights on, waiting on him.
I started fooling with my new toy, the GF. All the Red Lights went on, thing was going crazy. Right in front of me, not 50 yards away beside the road.
Oh man, I fetched my gun. Strained and strained looking, couldn't see anything.
Try the GF, thing was going crazy. Both of us were straining looking.
Suddenly herd of elk started getting up, stretching, WHAM, I nailed a big bull not 60 yards away - - - 20 feet off the road.
And that was the only elk we got that year. Matter fact we haven't got an elk since then. The average is, 1 every 5th year of Hunting.

I could be mistaken, a lot of states have made laws that such devices cannot be used like that. I never read Hunting Regs. until just before I hunt and the Regs that pertain to where I hunt.

Game Wardens and State Police (more glorified Game Wardens) have told me that they think the GF is a good idea. If it helps in locating shot Game, Good.
That is how I feel about the GF too.

cak

 

[cak291]

As L2H said, being greeted by one pissed off wounded BOAR in a thicket.
I think LH is lucky he didn't get gored severly myself.
Pig are lightning fast and extremely formidable if they turn to fight.

I seen them kill dogs. So fast cant' even get a shot off.
We used to always hunt them on horseback around Monterey County.
Wounded pig rushing out attacking a horses legs, no way anyone can shoot at anything. I have had some real moments with PIG.

Bear Hunting is another serious quarry to mess around with.
I've read of so many people getting mauled by a wounded bear.
They follow after the bear, even getting down on all fours crawling thru
and WHAM - - - face to face with the bear.

And people go after mountain lion too. Friend of mine was an ace, professional lion hunter. Too often the hunter becomes the hunted. He got tore up bad.
All his future hunting days stopped.
All those critters need to use extreme caution.
No game, everything is deadly serious.

If I had a pig run off wounded, no way in hell would I pursue it.
Leave it alone for a few hours, let it finish dying. Then,,,,,,, and with the GF start causiously looking for it.
One of us would be ready to shoot if anything moved.

Guy I know had a hell of a time with a pig at Camp Roberts a few weeks ago.
I think they shot it 30 - 40 times, ended up approaching in a 4WD and 44 Mag pistol shooting it dead. Veddy bad mess.

cak

 

[Lone Wolf]

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

think they shot it 30 - 40 times, ended up approaching in a 4WD and 44 Mag pistol shooting it dead[/b]

30 - 40 shots on a pig??? What were they using a .22?

 

[cak291]

CORRECTION

I mentioned a guy hunting pig at Camp Roberts in prior POST.
He don't go to CR. He has an innnnnnnnnnn with some adjoining property owners that he and his group hunt on. He (they) are the only ones allowed to hunt there.
He is not my hunting partner per se, no way I will ever be invited along.

Which is like all of us really. We guard our secret fishing holes with gusto.
Doc and I have two ranches that we can hunt on.
Pig, deer, turkey - - - all that we hunt is there.
Yet even that isn't all a rosery picture. We plant turkey chicks every Spring, grouse and so on. We go out at times on weekends helping on the ranch.
Roundup cattle every Spring for branding.
For exclusive hunting priveledges it is a trade off.

We will never invite anyone to come along with us either.
Each area can only withstand so much hunting pressure.
I get in a Bacon, Ham and Sausage making mood every six months, we try to rustle up a pig.

We put a feed on at a bar always. Can't keep real fresh sausage around.
Can't freeze it either. 150 - 200 Lbs pig, dresses out maybe 75 - 120 LBS.
More work to it than any of it is worth really.
We always hottank, scrape the hair off. Rest up for a couple days while it hangs in a cooler. Just a labor of love thing that we do.
Ranch lady needs a cut of the pie too. It goes quick.

I have been out of bacon for a month now...........
The old urge is coming back for a piggy hunt.

On the board here, some guy got five good sized ferral pig.
Ohhhhhhhh man, that is a ton of pork meat to dispose of.
I hope none of it ended up being trashed.
cak

 

[tony270]

I think the game finder would work well finding pigs on public land. Some hunters don’t want to pay a hunting fee to hunt on a ranch. These ranches plant feed corps like barley to attract pigs and they control the hunting so they can make money. I think that stinks, the pigs we hunt are not native but feral, escaped or planted wild bores. As a matter of fact most landowners don’t want them around until the find out that they can make $300.00 per pig.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hog hunting on public land and all the pigs were attracted to some hunting ranch by feed corps. What’s the difference, when you go on a guided hunt it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. I’m not saying that hunting ranches don’t have fair chase, but they do know where the pigs are at any giving time because the have feed plots and water to keep track of them. On public land I can put in 20 to 25 miles a day on foot hunting pigs and see very little sign. And the places that hold lots of pigs have raffles (Lake Sonoma, Santa Ana River Bottom etc,).

Hunting at Camp Roberts and Fort HL sucks, I was stationed at Fort HL for 6 months (1975), and I salvaged telephone wire and operated the switchboard at Camp Roberts in 1976 plus I've trained at both places for three years (Infantry). Know those places like the back of my hand the rivers included. I’ve also fished Fort HL, and the best place for bass is Upper Stony. But I don’t think they allow the public to fish there. Back them the camp was open and called Camp HL.

Sorry for being so long winded.

 

[cak291]

Lone Wolf

It always floors me, why do people always someone out lurking with smart remarks.

I doubt anyone would be let on CR proposing to use a 22 for pig.
All hunters I know got custom megga dollar rifles and all ammo is done by them.
Many are on or were on competitive shooting teams in Calif.
They all shoot very expert.

I am a firm believer, there are critters occasionally that just will not die.
I have had two deer like that in my life.
It is extremely embarrassing when it happens.

And the next smart remark from you isssssssssss

cak

 

[Hogskin]

They all shoot very expert, roll their own, shoot mega dollar guns and yet it takes 30-40 shots to bring down a pig. You're so full of it I don't even know where to begin. Find another board to troll if you're going to post this tripe.

 

[cak291]

tony270

I am with you AMEN, 500% Tony.
I hate those ranches with a passion.

Everything you said about them is true and then some.
I put a POST somewhere, we did some checking once.
Hunting Clubs, Game Farms and Guides contribute tons, millions of dollars annually to politicians to make ANTI-HUNT LAWS.
One easy way, get the Local Sheriff and County Council to declare NO SHOOTING
surrounding their properties.
Sure the state will gladly sell us a Hunting License. Money in the bank.
OK, where is it legal to shoot??? What was legal last year may not be legal this year. No signs are POSTED. We are supposed to know all this.

Even where my partner and I hunt, Game Farm started up nearby and had the entire area declared NO SHOOTING. One of these days we will get busted..

As for CR hunting, I tried it once, only once too. Not my cuppa tea either.

I hunt down small parcels of public land and I find that very worth it.
I hate to drive always so far to get to them but one I am scouting right now appears very promising. 900 and some acres, I plotted the grids on my computer TOPO map. Feed it to my GPS and take off scouting it.
Which takes a lot of time. Even 900 acres - - -seems so small but is a lot of ground up and down hills and so on to do.

I know we can't keep hunting where we are, just a matter o time until they bust us.
I can't afford to loose a gun, my rig and face Court costs with attorneys.
I am grasping at straws, looking for new ground myself.

In California there is a lot of public land, BLM lands and govt lands.
Today's Hunter just has to work a bit harder locating places.
You sound like a person willing to extend the effort. Welcome aboard.
cak

 

[arlow]

Cak291,

People who hunt where they are not supposed to shoot,<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Even where my partner and I hunt, Game Farm started up nearby and had the entire area declared NO SHOOTING. One of these days we will get busted..[/b]

use electronics to find game while hunting especially when you not sure if its legal shooting hours <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

I got an elk with the GF in Oregon just after I'd bought it.
Predawn, right at dawn, borderline legal for shooting,[/b]

are nothing more than poachers!!!!!!

Where do you think that puts you my friend!?!?!?!?

 

[Lone Wolf]

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

It always floors me, why do people always someone out lurking with smart remarks[/b]

Cak291

I've read your numerous posts in other areas of this forum as well as this one, and to be quite frank I believe you're full of crap. Is that remark intelligent enough for you.

Lets see, expert shooters with custom ammo taking 30 - 40 shots to kill one pig, yeah right. Chastising another forum member for looking for help with a novice hunter, how quaint. Killing hog with a .25 cal air rifle, and having numerous deer look at you after you shot them with a black powder rifle, and that being the same as when you shot them with a rimfire rifle. These stories sound familiar, too. Least we forget killing an elk, 20 foot off the road in a no shooting area after spotting it with a thermal imaging device. Aren’t you quite the experienced hunter / outdoorsman?

I think other forums would better benefit from your experiences. Please don’t let us keep you from departing.