Kentuck
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- Mar 19, 2001
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We got the the call about 3 weeks ago that my son got drawn for the Canada de los Osos Preserve Junior Pig hunt hosted by DFW and the California Deer Association. I was excited for him. I had bought him a guided hunt for his birthday last year and we struck out so I was hoping this hunt would work out. They take 5 kids on the preserve and guided and jeeps are provided by CDA. The preserve is out of Gilroy and parts of it are right next to Henry Coe State Park. It's about 7,000 acres and each hunter is assigned an area of about 1500 acres to hunt.
After meeting and getting an intro to the ranch and pig hunting by DFW and CDA, we were treated to a great BBQ lunch and then the kis moved to shooting range to check their rifles. We met up with our guides then and started our hunt.
At first you basically check out the area you are assigned looking for sign and likely looking areas. The guides have all been there for numerous years so they know where to look. We found some sign around one pond and field that we decided to hunt the last part of the evening. I need to mention the hunt is basically Saturday afternoon/evening and Sunday about half day.
After checking all our area and only really seeing sign around one pond, we decided to try that during prime time. I need to also mention that we say umpteen deer with some really great bucks. Biggest buck was a 3X4 that was already a stud and still has three months of growth to go.
Driving to the pond the road went down into a dry creek bed. As we get to the bottom of the creek bed we all pretty much looked left and a pig was standing 11 yards (later ranged with a rangefinder) lookging at us. We bail out and my son and the guide start walking the road back up out of the creek. They couldn't see it but I could and it was just standing there looking for them at the top of the creek bank. It spooked into a hay field and I caught up with them and we started looking for it. The hay was about waist high so I stood on an old wooden fence to get a better angle when I looked down the fence and say it walking along the fence. We got in position and the hog turned and looked at us about 45 yards away. I told my son to just shoot it between the eyes since it was so close. Before he could shoot it turned and went throught the fence into a more open area. The guide and I whistled at it to get it to stop but that just made it trot off faster. We ended up missing out on that hog. I was bummed as they typically only get about one hog per 5 hunters on this hunt. Best they have ever done was 3 for 5. As with all hunting it's being in the right spot, right time.
Well, we decide to check out the pond where we saw some wallows earlier for the last hour of daylight. As we stop at the pond and check things out, not two minutes later my son sees a hog coming down the hill up and across from the pond. It crosses a fence and then walks down the dirt road above the pond. It gets above the pond and crosses another fence and works it's way donw to the water. My son is all setup and ready. The hog gets to the edge of the pond and walks into one of the wallows and flip some mud with it's snout. Just as I thought it was going to lay down, my son shoots. The hog hunches and takes off up the draw coming into the pond. We watch and don't see it any more. The guide walked up to the head of the draw to see if it went there. We waited a little and started to go look for it. We found it about 30 yards from where he shot it. It was good shot and a nice hog. I was estatic.
After meeting and getting an intro to the ranch and pig hunting by DFW and CDA, we were treated to a great BBQ lunch and then the kis moved to shooting range to check their rifles. We met up with our guides then and started our hunt.
At first you basically check out the area you are assigned looking for sign and likely looking areas. The guides have all been there for numerous years so they know where to look. We found some sign around one pond and field that we decided to hunt the last part of the evening. I need to mention the hunt is basically Saturday afternoon/evening and Sunday about half day.
After checking all our area and only really seeing sign around one pond, we decided to try that during prime time. I need to also mention that we say umpteen deer with some really great bucks. Biggest buck was a 3X4 that was already a stud and still has three months of growth to go.
Driving to the pond the road went down into a dry creek bed. As we get to the bottom of the creek bed we all pretty much looked left and a pig was standing 11 yards (later ranged with a rangefinder) lookging at us. We bail out and my son and the guide start walking the road back up out of the creek. They couldn't see it but I could and it was just standing there looking for them at the top of the creek bank. It spooked into a hay field and I caught up with them and we started looking for it. The hay was about waist high so I stood on an old wooden fence to get a better angle when I looked down the fence and say it walking along the fence. We got in position and the hog turned and looked at us about 45 yards away. I told my son to just shoot it between the eyes since it was so close. Before he could shoot it turned and went throught the fence into a more open area. The guide and I whistled at it to get it to stop but that just made it trot off faster. We ended up missing out on that hog. I was bummed as they typically only get about one hog per 5 hunters on this hunt. Best they have ever done was 3 for 5. As with all hunting it's being in the right spot, right time.
Well, we decide to check out the pond where we saw some wallows earlier for the last hour of daylight. As we stop at the pond and check things out, not two minutes later my son sees a hog coming down the hill up and across from the pond. It crosses a fence and then walks down the dirt road above the pond. It gets above the pond and crosses another fence and works it's way donw to the water. My son is all setup and ready. The hog gets to the edge of the pond and walks into one of the wallows and flip some mud with it's snout. Just as I thought it was going to lay down, my son shoots. The hog hunches and takes off up the draw coming into the pond. We watch and don't see it any more. The guide walked up to the head of the draw to see if it went there. We waited a little and started to go look for it. We found it about 30 yards from where he shot it. It was good shot and a nice hog. I was estatic.
