Live2hunt
Forever Hunting
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2002
- Messages
- 2,289
- Reaction score
- 20
Took last Friday off. Got up early in the morning and started packing. Left San Jose at 12:00 noon hoping to be at Lake Sonoma at 3pm. Thought I was gonna get through Bay Area before the traffic kicks in, but wrong. Got stuck on the Richmond Bridge for an hour due to bridge maintenance. Arrived at the Lake Sonoma Visitor Center, our meeting place, at 4pm. Got direction from Ken to our camp and he said we can do a little look around near the camp area. Rolled into camp at 4:30pm. Unloaded the quad, got my rifle and headed up a jeep trail just above camp. A quarter mile up the trail I stopped on a high point to glass. As I was getting off the quad some tiny black spots on a open hillside further back beyond the jeep trailhead where I came from caught my eyes. I put the bino on and there they are about 12 pigs milling around. I hopped on the quad and headed back. Stopped the quad about 300 yards from where the pigs were. Walked to within a hundred yards of the spot and slowly peaked over a knoll. The are still there milling around. The biggest one in the group had her nose up in the air and I felt the wind in my back. Suddenly they all bolted away. I took off running after them for another 150 yards. Somehow they stopped and bunched up in a tight group by a spring. I crawled to within 50 yards and the biggest one slowly stepped away. I raised the rifle and let one fly. I heard a splat and the sow rolled downhill. The rest of the pig scattered downhill into the timber. Light was fading away so I quickly drug her to the spring, went back to get the quad, came to pick up the pig, and headed back to camp at dark. I had brought a big 20 gallon pot and a high pressure propane stove so that night we boiled water and scalded the hog I killed. Then roasted some tasty ribs on the campfire.
Sat. morning Ken arrived at camp at 5:30am and took us to the part of the ranch where he had seen pigs and signs. He sent three guys up this canyon he referred to as the Bowl. One guy rode with him on his quad and my dad rode with me on my quad. We head up a canyon to where Ken thought the pigs would be. All morning long we saw nothing. I asked Ken if there is any pond in the ranch. He took us on a trail to the top of a ridgeline that formed a saddle and in the saddle was a pond. My dad and I got out and walked around the pond. We found fresh signs. We decided to come back for an evening hunt there. In the evening I hauled my dad and my brother in the quad to the pond. Then I headed out to another part of the ranch hoping to discover another spot. Right at sunset I looked through the bino from about 5 miles away I spotted two different groups of pigs up in the canyon where Ken referred to as the Bowl. A group of 10 on one hillside and another group of 6 on another hillside. I spinned the quad down the trail towards the bottom of the Bowl and hightailed my butt up the canyon to see if I can get in shooting distance within shooting hours. I got within about 400 yards and saw the bright full moon rose up above the pigs. With the bino I can still see them but legal shooting light pushed me away from the pigs. I hiked back down to the quad and heard my dad and brother on the radio that they need the quad to get a hog out. So I rode over the pick it up.
Sun. morning I hauled my dad in the quad on our way to the top of the Bowl canyon. The fogs moved in and we can only see 30 yards infront of us. On the way up we came into this patch of oak trees and right in the middle of the road was about 15 piglets 20 yards infront of us. They were about 7 or 8 pounders. My dad got off the quad and prepared just incase the piglets' aunts or uncles were around. We stood there watching the piglets for about two minutes then mama came out and they all headed for the brush. The mama was a good size 100 pounder but dad didn't want to orphan the piglets and let them go. As we were trying to hop back on the quad, two of the piglets' aunts came out of the oak brush. Dad jumped back off the quad and sent a .270 into the shoulder of one of the aunt. A good 120 pounder. The fog had cleared up after we gutted the hog so we headed up to the top of Bowl Canyon. We sat up there enjoyed glassing the beautiful country and took some pictures. Then head back to camp. In the evening I hauled another guy in our group to the top of Bowl Canyon for an evening hunt hoping to see those pigs I saw the evening before. We set up on one hillside of Bowl Canyon about 100 yards from a pond. Right as the sun set in the horizon, a group of pigs came out of the timber on the opposite side of the canyon from us about 300 yards away. We hightailed down ot the bottom and up the other side to where we last saw them. They were no where to be found. We sat there looking everywhere for the pigs. Then just as light was fading away we saw the rear end of a black pig disappeared into a thick patch of brush. The moon was bright and shining just right above us so it was time for us to head out of there. We came back to camp and Ken and his group that ran dogs in the ranch had dropped off two pigs in camp so two of our guys that didn't get a pig got there share of pork.
The pic below is the pig I shot. It was a too easy hunt for me. I'm the guy in the red cap.
L2H
Sat. morning Ken arrived at camp at 5:30am and took us to the part of the ranch where he had seen pigs and signs. He sent three guys up this canyon he referred to as the Bowl. One guy rode with him on his quad and my dad rode with me on my quad. We head up a canyon to where Ken thought the pigs would be. All morning long we saw nothing. I asked Ken if there is any pond in the ranch. He took us on a trail to the top of a ridgeline that formed a saddle and in the saddle was a pond. My dad and I got out and walked around the pond. We found fresh signs. We decided to come back for an evening hunt there. In the evening I hauled my dad and my brother in the quad to the pond. Then I headed out to another part of the ranch hoping to discover another spot. Right at sunset I looked through the bino from about 5 miles away I spotted two different groups of pigs up in the canyon where Ken referred to as the Bowl. A group of 10 on one hillside and another group of 6 on another hillside. I spinned the quad down the trail towards the bottom of the Bowl and hightailed my butt up the canyon to see if I can get in shooting distance within shooting hours. I got within about 400 yards and saw the bright full moon rose up above the pigs. With the bino I can still see them but legal shooting light pushed me away from the pigs. I hiked back down to the quad and heard my dad and brother on the radio that they need the quad to get a hog out. So I rode over the pick it up.
Sun. morning I hauled my dad in the quad on our way to the top of the Bowl canyon. The fogs moved in and we can only see 30 yards infront of us. On the way up we came into this patch of oak trees and right in the middle of the road was about 15 piglets 20 yards infront of us. They were about 7 or 8 pounders. My dad got off the quad and prepared just incase the piglets' aunts or uncles were around. We stood there watching the piglets for about two minutes then mama came out and they all headed for the brush. The mama was a good size 100 pounder but dad didn't want to orphan the piglets and let them go. As we were trying to hop back on the quad, two of the piglets' aunts came out of the oak brush. Dad jumped back off the quad and sent a .270 into the shoulder of one of the aunt. A good 120 pounder. The fog had cleared up after we gutted the hog so we headed up to the top of Bowl Canyon. We sat up there enjoyed glassing the beautiful country and took some pictures. Then head back to camp. In the evening I hauled another guy in our group to the top of Bowl Canyon for an evening hunt hoping to see those pigs I saw the evening before. We set up on one hillside of Bowl Canyon about 100 yards from a pond. Right as the sun set in the horizon, a group of pigs came out of the timber on the opposite side of the canyon from us about 300 yards away. We hightailed down ot the bottom and up the other side to where we last saw them. They were no where to be found. We sat there looking everywhere for the pigs. Then just as light was fading away we saw the rear end of a black pig disappeared into a thick patch of brush. The moon was bright and shining just right above us so it was time for us to head out of there. We came back to camp and Ken and his group that ran dogs in the ranch had dropped off two pigs in camp so two of our guys that didn't get a pig got there share of pork.
The pic below is the pig I shot. It was a too easy hunt for me. I'm the guy in the red cap.
L2H
