switch
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- Joined
- Aug 31, 2004
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Me and my buddies settled into camp on Friday and waited anxiously for the 12:00 start time. On the way into the south side camp we saw a huge sow crossing a field above the camping area.
Friday: We headed out in my buddies 4X4 4-runner and decided to do a little exploring. We followed Bear Trap road way up on top and started to get a little daring with some of the roads we took. Mistake. We dropped onto a ridge and saw about 20-pigs take out of the brush 200-yards down hill. We gave chase, but they disappeared. We return to the truck and decided maybe we should find another road. Trying to get back out was the problem. Too slick and we didn't know it at the time, but my buddies 4X4 was not clicking in (lack of use). We decided to go back to the ridge, have lunch, let the road dry a bit and make another attempt.
As we were eating, we heard shots below us in a steep canyon. I got the binoculars out and saw a large group of pigs on the far ridge (900-yards) running. The hunters, probably 300-plus yards away were tossing lead at them laike crazy. We counted 12-shots. The very last pig definitely looked wounded, but these bozos just turned around and returned to the truck. The herd kept running and likley didn't stop until they were in Oregon. The wounded one found a bush and disapperaed in it and didn't come out. I diecided to go get it, even though it was down and up a very steep ridge. LSS, I went all the way down, but couldn't cross to the other ridge and spent 2-hours in low gear walking back up to my buddies. I'm still in pain. That pig never came out of the brush and likely died in there.
We got the car unstuck and headed back to camp for dinner and a new plan.
Saturday, foggy, foggy, foggy. We would contend with the fog all trip. We slid out of camp in the AM later than we should. We found an area and saw a small group across a valley casually walking. Eric and I gave chase. We hiked straight up hill for 1.5 miles and found all sorts of wallows, sign and tracks. We split up and 30-minutes later Eric kicks up a group and drops a nice boar at 100-yards. The pig weighed about 220-pound whole.
We spent over an hour dragging an rolling the pig to the truck. I have some hilarious footage of the pig tumbling down the hill if anyone is interested.
We returned to camp, grabbed a quick lunch and headed out again. I got dropped off a few miles west of where Eric killed his pig and started hiking up the mountian. I clicked my GPS and started looking for pigs. The fog was bad and at times the viz was down to 30-feet. About 2-hours later, I made it to the top and found an old road. I crested the ridge and occasionally dropped down to check likley drainages and draws. At about 4:00 I knew I was to be picked up down at the main road at 5:30 so I thought I better head back. I found a nice draiange and dropped into it and followed it north towards the road for about 2-miles. I was seeing tons of sign and at times smelling pigs, but just couldn't bump any.
I turned a corner and there was this huge tree sitting in the drainage covering the creek bank to bank in shade. I stopped and listened for about 5-minutes. I heard one small twig break and I instantly crouched down. I took off all my gear and raised up just a bit to look into the drainage. I saw movement, but it was foggy, getting dark and anything in the shade was well hidden. I waited a little and raised up again and this time I saw what looked like fur moving around, but I had been seeing those grey squirrels around and had just about convinced myself that that is what it was. In fact I started to gather my stuff. I figured a pig moving around would be make lots more noise. I decided to take one last look and it was a good thing. I saw a single ear moving around. PIGS!
I decided that since it was getting dark, I was going to take the first one that presented a shot. I waited about 30-seconds and raised again. A big black back was moving and I could tell the pig was feeding either directly away from me or towards me, I couldn't tell. Just as I was about to dropped down again, two eyes appeared and looked my way, but not at me. There's your shot i said and I dropped the pig with a 150 grain, 30-06 right where the neck and the back meet at 20-yards!
The other pig took off and turned around at about 30-yards and just stood there. I swung the rifle on him to see what he looked like and he was a male of about 150-pounds. After he realized his buddy wasn't coming, he took off.
Sorry for the length, but my pig weighed about 160-pounds and was a female. I dragged it about 400-yards to an old road and was just about to leave her to get my friends when two hunters saw me and came over. They slung her up on the hood of their jeep and drove me back to camp. Once there, I put my pack down to grab my gutting knife and looked up and the two kind hunters already had her gutted (Thanks Brad and Joe). They even returned later with a congratulatory beer. Beer never tasted so good.
Of the four of us, we only took two pigs, but we saw many. Had a great trip and put in some miles. Oh yeah, my GPS said I hiked 12.5 miles to where I got picked up with my pig.
great hunt.
Friday: We headed out in my buddies 4X4 4-runner and decided to do a little exploring. We followed Bear Trap road way up on top and started to get a little daring with some of the roads we took. Mistake. We dropped onto a ridge and saw about 20-pigs take out of the brush 200-yards down hill. We gave chase, but they disappeared. We return to the truck and decided maybe we should find another road. Trying to get back out was the problem. Too slick and we didn't know it at the time, but my buddies 4X4 was not clicking in (lack of use). We decided to go back to the ridge, have lunch, let the road dry a bit and make another attempt.
As we were eating, we heard shots below us in a steep canyon. I got the binoculars out and saw a large group of pigs on the far ridge (900-yards) running. The hunters, probably 300-plus yards away were tossing lead at them laike crazy. We counted 12-shots. The very last pig definitely looked wounded, but these bozos just turned around and returned to the truck. The herd kept running and likley didn't stop until they were in Oregon. The wounded one found a bush and disapperaed in it and didn't come out. I diecided to go get it, even though it was down and up a very steep ridge. LSS, I went all the way down, but couldn't cross to the other ridge and spent 2-hours in low gear walking back up to my buddies. I'm still in pain. That pig never came out of the brush and likely died in there.
We got the car unstuck and headed back to camp for dinner and a new plan.
Saturday, foggy, foggy, foggy. We would contend with the fog all trip. We slid out of camp in the AM later than we should. We found an area and saw a small group across a valley casually walking. Eric and I gave chase. We hiked straight up hill for 1.5 miles and found all sorts of wallows, sign and tracks. We split up and 30-minutes later Eric kicks up a group and drops a nice boar at 100-yards. The pig weighed about 220-pound whole.
We spent over an hour dragging an rolling the pig to the truck. I have some hilarious footage of the pig tumbling down the hill if anyone is interested.
We returned to camp, grabbed a quick lunch and headed out again. I got dropped off a few miles west of where Eric killed his pig and started hiking up the mountian. I clicked my GPS and started looking for pigs. The fog was bad and at times the viz was down to 30-feet. About 2-hours later, I made it to the top and found an old road. I crested the ridge and occasionally dropped down to check likley drainages and draws. At about 4:00 I knew I was to be picked up down at the main road at 5:30 so I thought I better head back. I found a nice draiange and dropped into it and followed it north towards the road for about 2-miles. I was seeing tons of sign and at times smelling pigs, but just couldn't bump any.
I turned a corner and there was this huge tree sitting in the drainage covering the creek bank to bank in shade. I stopped and listened for about 5-minutes. I heard one small twig break and I instantly crouched down. I took off all my gear and raised up just a bit to look into the drainage. I saw movement, but it was foggy, getting dark and anything in the shade was well hidden. I waited a little and raised up again and this time I saw what looked like fur moving around, but I had been seeing those grey squirrels around and had just about convinced myself that that is what it was. In fact I started to gather my stuff. I figured a pig moving around would be make lots more noise. I decided to take one last look and it was a good thing. I saw a single ear moving around. PIGS!
I decided that since it was getting dark, I was going to take the first one that presented a shot. I waited about 30-seconds and raised again. A big black back was moving and I could tell the pig was feeding either directly away from me or towards me, I couldn't tell. Just as I was about to dropped down again, two eyes appeared and looked my way, but not at me. There's your shot i said and I dropped the pig with a 150 grain, 30-06 right where the neck and the back meet at 20-yards!
The other pig took off and turned around at about 30-yards and just stood there. I swung the rifle on him to see what he looked like and he was a male of about 150-pounds. After he realized his buddy wasn't coming, he took off.
Sorry for the length, but my pig weighed about 160-pounds and was a female. I dragged it about 400-yards to an old road and was just about to leave her to get my friends when two hunters saw me and came over. They slung her up on the hood of their jeep and drove me back to camp. Once there, I put my pack down to grab my gutting knife and looked up and the two kind hunters already had her gutted (Thanks Brad and Joe). They even returned later with a congratulatory beer. Beer never tasted so good.
Of the four of us, we only took two pigs, but we saw many. Had a great trip and put in some miles. Oh yeah, my GPS said I hiked 12.5 miles to where I got picked up with my pig.
great hunt.
