For those of you that have hunted the Tejon Ranch, you know it is a really special place. To say that the 3 of us were excited for this trip was an understatement. I used to hunt the ranch a fair amount, and would come home and tell wifey about the adventures that buddies and I had chasing hogs there with our bows. This trip popped up, and we jumped on it pronto!
We started out meeting most of the group Friday morning for breakfast and then it was off to the north end of the ranch. We met Ron Gayer, our Tejon Ranch rep there and got checked in and settled all of our gear. Since we didn’t go all that way just to sit around, we camoed up and hit the hills at about 2:30. I had a few spots I wanted to hit first thing, so we took the long bumpy ride to a good take off point. The plan was for wifey and I to walk a wet, cool creek bottom for a couple miles around to a point that we would meet up with our good friend Mike, who went the opposite way around the mountain. We walked for about 30 minutes to get to the creek area. As soon as it was in sight, I looked up and spotted 4 nice boars at about 90 yds. We slowly single filed it towards them but the wind was not good. The biggest boar, a 175-200 pounder, popped his nose up and hauled booty! The others stayed and wifey set up for the shot. She missed, and the game was over. We worked a little further up the creek where we split up and walked separate sides of the thick, wet creek. Slowly walking the creek edge, looking in the dark little holes, I peeked around the bend and noticed what looked like the hairy spine of a hog. I crept forward and could tell that it was a boar, and a nice one at that. He was dead asleep, lying in the mud in the creek bottom. I pulled back and took the 15 yd. shot. It was perfect. He ran about 25 yds. and expired. He’s a big, ugly old boar with no ears, about 230-240#. Cool! One down, could have been 2 down, and we’re an hour into the hunt!
Saturday morning started out pretty slow. Most of the group was up pretty late as we had a few extra guests at the cabin that night. I think their names were Jack, Captain and Patron, but I could be wrong. Most of the day was pretty uneventful for us. We did spot a group of 10 hogs up on a high ridge. Mike got pretty close, but couldn’t make it happen.
Sunday morning we headed out with a great plan, but the best plans have been known to fall apart. Sometimes that’s bad, but sometimes it turns out pretty good in the end. We had dropped Mike off at a point, and wifey and I were going to meet up with him mid morning at a set point. We started our hike and found a big group of cattle right where we needed to walk through. Normally, no biggie, but they started to bump through the valley that Mike was walking up. I didn’t want to have the cows scare everything out of that valley before Mike got to it, so wifey and I came up with plan B. I headed to a ridge I have walked many times. Over half of the times that I have been on this ridge, groups of pigs have crossed in front of me. We start our walk down the trail and we pause to look at a couple of small pig looking rocks about 200 yds. down the trail. When we put our binos down, I look right, wifey looks down to the left. PIGS!!! A group of about 20 crosses the trail at 42 yds. She pulls back, but the pigs just keep on coming and do not stop. Finally the last hog pauses for her shot. She had been at full draw for about 2 minutes and was getting a bit wobbly. Piggy pauses, wifey shoots just over his back! Dangit! Our hearts were pounding and we were a little bummed. While saying our %$(#’s and @#)’s, I spot a straggler coming up and over. She pulls back, and at 61 yds. whacks him! I could tell it was a little back. We gave him a little while and started looking for blood. Mike had joined us by this point. We looked for blood for about 3 hours without finding a dot. We were pretty bummed out, and as all of you know, if you can’t find any blood, your odds are not good, right? I had yelled across the canyon that it wasn’t looking good, and we should probably move on. Dejectedly she yelled back that she concurred. Back up the hill we go, heading for the main trail. I veer a little to the right just to take a look and when I get to the trail, look what I see. I yelled “arrow!” Wifey and Mike come over. We find blood and the game is on! We had seen the pig run down hill, but he had cut back to the road. We were way off! We take 10 steps down the trail and I look over to my right. There he was, stone dead and only about 120 yds. from the shot, and 10 yds. off the road! He’s a nice 150-160# boar. AWESOME!!! We won’t be buying any lottery tickets for a while. Our luck is used up for a while.
Sunday afternoon we headed back to the same ridge to see if we could get Mikes tag on a pig. We pulled up to the trailhead and chatted for a minute, had a soda and gathered our gear. The plan was that Mike and I would walk the ridge road a mile or 2 down, and then wifey would pick us up at the bottom. We got about 50 yds. away from the truck and heard pigs in the trees next to us not 30 yds. away! UNBELIEVABLE!!! There was not shot through the trees. We kept looking, and all of a sudden a nice boar pops up on the edge of the road. Mike pulls back, I call the range at 36. Mike told us he was just putting the pressure on the release trigger when the pig busted. Two more seconds and it was game, set, and match!
We had a blast and can’t wait to do it again. The Tejon Ranch is an amazing ranch. We saw pigs, deer, elk, bobcats, turkeys and raccoons. The JHO crew was a lot of fun to be with. Ron Gayer was outstanding, and made us some of the best grub you could ask for anywhere! Thank you Ron, and thanks to all the guys on the hunt for making wifey feel welcome in hunting camp!
Over and out………
We started out meeting most of the group Friday morning for breakfast and then it was off to the north end of the ranch. We met Ron Gayer, our Tejon Ranch rep there and got checked in and settled all of our gear. Since we didn’t go all that way just to sit around, we camoed up and hit the hills at about 2:30. I had a few spots I wanted to hit first thing, so we took the long bumpy ride to a good take off point. The plan was for wifey and I to walk a wet, cool creek bottom for a couple miles around to a point that we would meet up with our good friend Mike, who went the opposite way around the mountain. We walked for about 30 minutes to get to the creek area. As soon as it was in sight, I looked up and spotted 4 nice boars at about 90 yds. We slowly single filed it towards them but the wind was not good. The biggest boar, a 175-200 pounder, popped his nose up and hauled booty! The others stayed and wifey set up for the shot. She missed, and the game was over. We worked a little further up the creek where we split up and walked separate sides of the thick, wet creek. Slowly walking the creek edge, looking in the dark little holes, I peeked around the bend and noticed what looked like the hairy spine of a hog. I crept forward and could tell that it was a boar, and a nice one at that. He was dead asleep, lying in the mud in the creek bottom. I pulled back and took the 15 yd. shot. It was perfect. He ran about 25 yds. and expired. He’s a big, ugly old boar with no ears, about 230-240#. Cool! One down, could have been 2 down, and we’re an hour into the hunt!
Saturday morning started out pretty slow. Most of the group was up pretty late as we had a few extra guests at the cabin that night. I think their names were Jack, Captain and Patron, but I could be wrong. Most of the day was pretty uneventful for us. We did spot a group of 10 hogs up on a high ridge. Mike got pretty close, but couldn’t make it happen.
Sunday morning we headed out with a great plan, but the best plans have been known to fall apart. Sometimes that’s bad, but sometimes it turns out pretty good in the end. We had dropped Mike off at a point, and wifey and I were going to meet up with him mid morning at a set point. We started our hike and found a big group of cattle right where we needed to walk through. Normally, no biggie, but they started to bump through the valley that Mike was walking up. I didn’t want to have the cows scare everything out of that valley before Mike got to it, so wifey and I came up with plan B. I headed to a ridge I have walked many times. Over half of the times that I have been on this ridge, groups of pigs have crossed in front of me. We start our walk down the trail and we pause to look at a couple of small pig looking rocks about 200 yds. down the trail. When we put our binos down, I look right, wifey looks down to the left. PIGS!!! A group of about 20 crosses the trail at 42 yds. She pulls back, but the pigs just keep on coming and do not stop. Finally the last hog pauses for her shot. She had been at full draw for about 2 minutes and was getting a bit wobbly. Piggy pauses, wifey shoots just over his back! Dangit! Our hearts were pounding and we were a little bummed. While saying our %$(#’s and @#)’s, I spot a straggler coming up and over. She pulls back, and at 61 yds. whacks him! I could tell it was a little back. We gave him a little while and started looking for blood. Mike had joined us by this point. We looked for blood for about 3 hours without finding a dot. We were pretty bummed out, and as all of you know, if you can’t find any blood, your odds are not good, right? I had yelled across the canyon that it wasn’t looking good, and we should probably move on. Dejectedly she yelled back that she concurred. Back up the hill we go, heading for the main trail. I veer a little to the right just to take a look and when I get to the trail, look what I see. I yelled “arrow!” Wifey and Mike come over. We find blood and the game is on! We had seen the pig run down hill, but he had cut back to the road. We were way off! We take 10 steps down the trail and I look over to my right. There he was, stone dead and only about 120 yds. from the shot, and 10 yds. off the road! He’s a nice 150-160# boar. AWESOME!!! We won’t be buying any lottery tickets for a while. Our luck is used up for a while.
Sunday afternoon we headed back to the same ridge to see if we could get Mikes tag on a pig. We pulled up to the trailhead and chatted for a minute, had a soda and gathered our gear. The plan was that Mike and I would walk the ridge road a mile or 2 down, and then wifey would pick us up at the bottom. We got about 50 yds. away from the truck and heard pigs in the trees next to us not 30 yds. away! UNBELIEVABLE!!! There was not shot through the trees. We kept looking, and all of a sudden a nice boar pops up on the edge of the road. Mike pulls back, I call the range at 36. Mike told us he was just putting the pressure on the release trigger when the pig busted. Two more seconds and it was game, set, and match!
We had a blast and can’t wait to do it again. The Tejon Ranch is an amazing ranch. We saw pigs, deer, elk, bobcats, turkeys and raccoons. The JHO crew was a lot of fun to be with. Ron Gayer was outstanding, and made us some of the best grub you could ask for anywhere! Thank you Ron, and thanks to all the guys on the hunt for making wifey feel welcome in hunting camp!
Over and out………
