Suzmar1997
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2002
- Messages
- 191
- Reaction score
- 2
Just got back from the ranch today after a small group hunt. Myself, my Dad (Gnn961) and Kenny (Huntsndives) met up with 6 fellow JHO'ers and took the South side. After another breakfast at the Flying J we checked in at Barbara's house and set up camp. We decided to take a stroll up Bear Trap and after hitting the swtichbacks that were full of mud and snow we made it to the top. We took the fork that heads towards Geghis and after plowing through a 20' section of 2-3' deep snow we couldn't get much further. Backed up to the fork and before you knew it we were perpindicular w/ the icy road. Turned on the ARB's shifted to 4 L and we made it out and back down the hill.
We decided to head up towards Squirrel and glassed from the top. I spotted a big calico about 1 mile straight into the depths of hell and tried to describe to the others where it was. After about 2 minutes of them not seeing it Kenny finally saw where I was talking about only to find a bush (I don't think they believed me). We saw a huge boar down at the very bottom lazily walk through some brush only to plop down on his side and break out the Coppertone. The big boar lazily baked in the sun as we decided we were gonna go for it.
Kenny and my Dad returned from the Jeep w/ their gear and low and behold there were another 4 pigs in the area where I first spotted that big calico. We took the top of the ridge down and got to about 800 yards when we realized there were approximately 4 big boars (250+) and numerous sows and piglets in the area. We started descending down the steep ridge to get w/ in shooting distance. We finally picked our spot which was approximately 200 yards straight across from the pigs. Two of the big boars were up higher and about 400+ yards away. We spotted an additional group of 3 big sows bedded down, one being the big calico I originally spotted. 2 of the sows were nursing piglets.
As we were getting our shooting sticks out we looked to our right 90 degrees and saw 4 additional pigs on our ridge. Three of the pigs looked pretty damn hefty but the wind was coming from our left to our right and they winded us and moved on. Kenny started rolling the video while my Dad and I decided which pig to choose from. I chose the blonde and he chose a black sow that was on the other side of some brush. Kenny did the count down and on three we both fired. My hog immediately tipped and began rolling into the ridge while my dad's pig ran a few feet and also tumbled down into the depths. We high fived and realized a nice boar was still milling around after the commotion.
We talked Kenny into ditching his archery plans and handed him a rifle. My dad grabbed the camera and in the kaos pushed record which put it on standby. Unfortunately, the tape wasn't rolling but the good news was the hog Kenny shot was. We had three pigs down at 16:00 on Friday and were feeling good. After sliding down to the creek we located my dad's sow just above the creek, but mine was nowhere to be found. Kenny hiked up to where he shot his and after following the blood trail 40 feet his boar was down. We rolled him down to the creek and searched for mine for about two hours.
W/ no blood trail other than a few drops on each side of the creek, we gave up the search for mine and gutted and hung the 2 hogs for the night. After side hilling and go up and down each side of the creek for two hours I was in no shape to make the straight up climb to the jeep. We decided to follow the road up, which took us way out of the way of where the Jeep was but it was a gradual climb that paid off in the long run. We walked for two hours in snow, slippery mud and cold ass wind. My legs faded in and out of various cramps of every muscle (Calves, Quads, etc.)We saw a glowing light once on top every time we crested another hill and weren't quite sure what we were seeing. We eventually made it back to the Jeep only to figure out that the glowing light we were seeing from the distance was from a dome light that was left on.
It was a serious pucker factor when Kenny put the ignition key in and tried to start it up. The dome light looked kinda dim so we figured we'd be stuck on top w/ a dead battery. Luckily, the Jeep started right up and we were outta there. We got back to camp, had a good dinner and were enjoying drinks and watching the video at 9:30. We were pretty happy about having dinner before midnight for once. We hit the sack slept in till 0600 and headed back up to get the pigs.
After slowly making my way down and wondering how I was going to make it back up from the depths of hell when I could barely make it down, I finally reached the creek. We were amazed that the lower half of both pigs weren't eaten away after hanging all night. Kenny made short work of the pigs and we quartered them up. My dad and Kenny had a pack frame w/ the hind quarters of their pigs and the rest of the meat was thrown into the deer sled. We took turns rotating sides of the sled and walking without it. We slowly made our way back up with lots of mud and snow in the mix. 5 hours later we had our meat and feet back to the Jeep. We had no luck locating my pig and it wasn't for a lack of trying.
We did some driving up front w/ no more pigs seen that evening. We woke up early this am and saw a lone boar but no other pigs. Most of our usual spots weren't accesable due to snow/mud but we saw a good 20-30 on Friday afternoon. Our group of 9 guys ended up w/ 6 hogs, +1 not found and I'm pretty sure everyone had an opportunity at some point. It was great meeting up w/ the usual group and putting a few faces to guys I only knew by screenames. All in all a fun trip. We also met up w/ Onetrack and his group of bow hunters who got redirected to the South at the last minute. I know his group had at least three if not 5 when we last talked to him. Hopefully Carl or Kenny will post some pics and eventually we'll get Phil a copy of our video so he can edit out my f-bombs before throwing it on the internet. It's amazing to see how bad I cuss sometimes when the cameras rolling. I make Tony Montana sound like a choir boy.
We decided to head up towards Squirrel and glassed from the top. I spotted a big calico about 1 mile straight into the depths of hell and tried to describe to the others where it was. After about 2 minutes of them not seeing it Kenny finally saw where I was talking about only to find a bush (I don't think they believed me). We saw a huge boar down at the very bottom lazily walk through some brush only to plop down on his side and break out the Coppertone. The big boar lazily baked in the sun as we decided we were gonna go for it.
Kenny and my Dad returned from the Jeep w/ their gear and low and behold there were another 4 pigs in the area where I first spotted that big calico. We took the top of the ridge down and got to about 800 yards when we realized there were approximately 4 big boars (250+) and numerous sows and piglets in the area. We started descending down the steep ridge to get w/ in shooting distance. We finally picked our spot which was approximately 200 yards straight across from the pigs. Two of the big boars were up higher and about 400+ yards away. We spotted an additional group of 3 big sows bedded down, one being the big calico I originally spotted. 2 of the sows were nursing piglets.
As we were getting our shooting sticks out we looked to our right 90 degrees and saw 4 additional pigs on our ridge. Three of the pigs looked pretty damn hefty but the wind was coming from our left to our right and they winded us and moved on. Kenny started rolling the video while my Dad and I decided which pig to choose from. I chose the blonde and he chose a black sow that was on the other side of some brush. Kenny did the count down and on three we both fired. My hog immediately tipped and began rolling into the ridge while my dad's pig ran a few feet and also tumbled down into the depths. We high fived and realized a nice boar was still milling around after the commotion.
We talked Kenny into ditching his archery plans and handed him a rifle. My dad grabbed the camera and in the kaos pushed record which put it on standby. Unfortunately, the tape wasn't rolling but the good news was the hog Kenny shot was. We had three pigs down at 16:00 on Friday and were feeling good. After sliding down to the creek we located my dad's sow just above the creek, but mine was nowhere to be found. Kenny hiked up to where he shot his and after following the blood trail 40 feet his boar was down. We rolled him down to the creek and searched for mine for about two hours.
W/ no blood trail other than a few drops on each side of the creek, we gave up the search for mine and gutted and hung the 2 hogs for the night. After side hilling and go up and down each side of the creek for two hours I was in no shape to make the straight up climb to the jeep. We decided to follow the road up, which took us way out of the way of where the Jeep was but it was a gradual climb that paid off in the long run. We walked for two hours in snow, slippery mud and cold ass wind. My legs faded in and out of various cramps of every muscle (Calves, Quads, etc.)We saw a glowing light once on top every time we crested another hill and weren't quite sure what we were seeing. We eventually made it back to the Jeep only to figure out that the glowing light we were seeing from the distance was from a dome light that was left on.
It was a serious pucker factor when Kenny put the ignition key in and tried to start it up. The dome light looked kinda dim so we figured we'd be stuck on top w/ a dead battery. Luckily, the Jeep started right up and we were outta there. We got back to camp, had a good dinner and were enjoying drinks and watching the video at 9:30. We were pretty happy about having dinner before midnight for once. We hit the sack slept in till 0600 and headed back up to get the pigs.
After slowly making my way down and wondering how I was going to make it back up from the depths of hell when I could barely make it down, I finally reached the creek. We were amazed that the lower half of both pigs weren't eaten away after hanging all night. Kenny made short work of the pigs and we quartered them up. My dad and Kenny had a pack frame w/ the hind quarters of their pigs and the rest of the meat was thrown into the deer sled. We took turns rotating sides of the sled and walking without it. We slowly made our way back up with lots of mud and snow in the mix. 5 hours later we had our meat and feet back to the Jeep. We had no luck locating my pig and it wasn't for a lack of trying.
We did some driving up front w/ no more pigs seen that evening. We woke up early this am and saw a lone boar but no other pigs. Most of our usual spots weren't accesable due to snow/mud but we saw a good 20-30 on Friday afternoon. Our group of 9 guys ended up w/ 6 hogs, +1 not found and I'm pretty sure everyone had an opportunity at some point. It was great meeting up w/ the usual group and putting a few faces to guys I only knew by screenames. All in all a fun trip. We also met up w/ Onetrack and his group of bow hunters who got redirected to the South at the last minute. I know his group had at least three if not 5 when we last talked to him. Hopefully Carl or Kenny will post some pics and eventually we'll get Phil a copy of our video so he can edit out my f-bombs before throwing it on the internet. It's amazing to see how bad I cuss sometimes when the cameras rolling. I make Tony Montana sound like a choir boy.
