North Fork Outfitters

[jb229]

Headed out in the morning for a hunt with this outfit. Booked a hunt at the expo, seem like nice guys and the place looks nice on their site. Will post up the trip while I am there if I get service.

 

[Grasslandhntr]

JB I have hunted that ranch 3 times all Archery and let me tell you it's loaded with hogs and they know that ranch so well they know all the escape routes so makes cutting off pigs easy. Beautiful ranch have a great time!!!!

 

[XDHUNTER]

Good luck Jason. Shoot the big one and post some pix.....

 

[jb229]

Thanks for the info Grasslandhntr, I plan on using my bow but I also have my rifle. Like they say if you want to kill one with your bow better leave the rifle in the truck. Will do XD, good to see you back on the forum.

 

[Dirtracer27x]

What area is thee ranch at,looking for something close to sac

 

[Grasslandhntr]

Coalinga

 

[KTKT70]

Any update??? Hope you had a fun trip.

 

[jb229]

Fun trip, weather had the hogs holed up the entire time which made for a very tough hunt. I got a nice sow on Saturday morning around 10:00 am. will post a write up and post pics a bit.

 

[XDHUNTER]

Fun trip, weather had the hogs holed up the entire time which made for a very tough hunt. I got a nice sow on Saturday morning around 10:00 am. will post a write up and post pics a bit.

Never disappoint !!! congrats J.....

 

[Bubblehide]

Fun trip, weather had the hogs holed up the entire time which made for a very tough hunt. I got a nice sow on Saturday morning around 10:00 am. will post a write up and post pics a bit.

Holed up hogs can be a real challenge; I'm glad you managed to connect with a nice sow. Can't wait to read your write-up. Congratulations!

 

[jb229]

On this trip was me, my dad, father in law, and 2 other friends. We got up the ranch a little before 2pm on Friday and unloaded our gear into the renovated lodge that used to be a school. Cool setup but they are still working on it, the nice part is it is right on the ranch so no long drives to the hunting area. While waiting for our guide to show up we glassed up some nice Tule Elk in the foothills and checked our rifles at the range they have next to the lodge. The rain was off and on the drive up Friday and then started back up while we were at the lodge around 3pm. We were supposed to start hunting at 4pm but we were waiting for the rain to lighten up a bit. We finally headed out just before 5pm, and saw nothing on the Friday hunt. The weather cleared late Friday and Saturday was a little cloudy but very nice weather. We drove around checking a bunch of areas around the ranch and again saw nothing. At about 9:30 the guide dropped me off and told me to walk down this ridge and he would pick me up on the trail below. I started heading in and noticed some fresh tracks and rooting, the hill side I was working down was pretty thick. I started following the tracks slowly keeping an eye out as I worked down the ridge to the bottom. I was about 40yds in when I looked up to my left to scan the opposite side of the ridge and I spotted a nice hog sleeping under a tree. I worked my way down about another 20yds to find a shooting lane through brush and trees. I found an opening in the brush of about 12x12in hole I could get a clean shot through. The hog was 76yds slightly downhill with its back facing me, I knelt down and was getting ready for my shot but started thinking about it way too much and the shakes started up. I pulled off put my head down and reset myself, put the crosshairs just behind the hogs head and squeezed it off. I love the sweet sound of impact and the hog started squealing and sliding downhill a little bit. I racked another round and put another in the shoulder just to anchor the hog right there. The first shot did the job but I am not a fan of tracking anything in thick brush, the second shot took out half the heart and the first liquefied the lungs. Worked my way down to the hog and it was a lot bigger that I thought it was. Live weight was probably 160-180, it weight 108 on the scale at the butcher. Not knowing how far from the road or when the guide was going to pick me up I gutted it and started dragging it out toward the road. Luckily the ridge bottom was not too thick, I was about 80yds into my drag and heard the truck so I walked to clearing and flagged them down. We loaded up the hog and kept on hunting for another hour or 2 not seeing anything. Back at the lodge we cooked up 1 tenderloin and half the heart for late breakfast/lunch, was very tasty. The Saturday evening hunt was a lot of driving and not seeing anything until about 7pm when we spotted a group of hogs on the other side of the hill about a 1000yds away. I stayed at the bottom road with my dad and the other guys tore up the road to get on the hogs. Light was fading fast and we saw them crest over the top of the hillside right on top the hogs, we were about 400yds below where the hogs were on the top middle of the hillside. 1 shot rang out and then 4 followed that first, the echo of report was a unique sound when it is coming in your direction. 1 hog down and another was not located that night. We searched the hillside for 2 hours and called it for the night. Sunday morning we drove around trying to fill our last tag but with the weather nothing was really moving. We went back to the hill where the hogs were the night before to look for the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] hog in the daylight. We started up the hill and I noticed a black and red blob below us, glassed it up and there was the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] hog about 80yds below. Unfortunately the yotes got to the back half and the shot through the shoulder destroyed both shoulders. My buddy was only able to recover the back straps. He started cutting off the bad parts and tried to get more but once we flipped it there was really nothing else to keep. Bummer but at least we recovered it, we hunted on the way back to the lodge and did not see any pigs on the way. All in all it was a good trip and good operation we just had the bad luck of weather coming in. The weekend before we got there a father and son got 5 and in the middle of the week 2 turkey hunter also got on pigs. One of the things I really liked about this operation is they left you alone at the lodge and did not make you feel pressured to leave once the hunt was over.

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[hunterdoug]

Cool stuff jb, great report and pics.

 

[Grasslandhntr]

That sucks the weather moved in on ya but isn't that ranch beautiful

 

[jb229]

Yes, the south side of the ranch is really nice. We saw quite a few Tule's that are going to be absolute monsters when their Antlers are done growing. I think we saw more Elk than pigs, but 3/4 is pretty good considering the conditions.

 

[KTKT70]

Looks like a good ranch. How long a hunt and at what rate? Was food and lodging all part of the deal?

 

[Bubblehide]

Nice write up and pics! Once again, congrats!

 

[jb229]

KTK, The cost was 600.00 as a Sac Expo special, they usually charge 850.00. Lodging is included but you have to bring all your own food. Basically you need to bring up everything you would bring on a camping trip minus a tent. The lodge has a sink, coffee maker, microwave and bbq on the patio. The wood burning stove in the lodge heats up the place nicely.

 

[THE ROMAN ARCHER]

Super congrats nice Russian, sounds like u guys had a great trip. Great write up and pics, great to see your dad in the pics. Miss hunting and camping with u guys for sure those where the best days sharing hunts together and always a great time... .tra