Tejon Ham Slam II 2005 Results

[wmidbrook]

Dang, that looks like it was a doozy~! Hope your left hand was okay afterwards.

And hearty congrats on all the hogs taken...looking forward to hearing all the stories.

 

[JDC]

Brent-

7mm mag?

WT heck?

 

[Speckmisser]

Just got home.

Very tired.

Awesome trip!

Congrats to all.

We went 50%!

 

[VHRAM]

way to go

looked like a fun trip

 

[One Track]

What the F? That's exactly what I was wonderin' after I pulled the trigger on the biggest hog I have ever seen!

I'm going to start another thread for my story. I don't want to hijack this topic. So, please let this thread continue with celebrating an awesome JHO Ham Slam.

Congrats to all you pig killers. And, thanks to PitDog, FF&F, and Bucky for their help.

 

[Savage300]

Way to go to!
Tom

 

[JDC]

Bernt-

Where's the story???

 

[joe90605]

How's your shoulder Speck? That was one long ass haul out of that canyon, thanks a million for packin' my pig out for me!

This was my first pig hunt, and luckily thanks to Speck it was a success!! We went out Sunday evening with Scott and Russ on one ridge and us on another. About 7:15pm Speck called me over to the end of the ridge were we saw a bunch of pigs working in and out of the bushes across the canyon. Speck told me we'd have to drag him up the canyon if I got one...how hard could that be I thought.

They looked all to be around the same size, all black with one red. I sat down and broke out the shooting sticks and took aim at the red one, putting the crosshairs just below the spine up towards the shoulder. I fired but we couldn't tell if I hit or not. We waited a few minutes, only to see the pigs come out on the other side of the bushes, and the red one was among them!

This time, they were all grouped up, so when a black one seperated out and offered me a shot, I aimed a little lower, took a deep breath and took the 250yd cross-canyon shot. Squeals follwed by seeing that pig roll down the hill was sweet!

Long story short, I went down into the canyon were Speck had already took the head off and gutted my pig. We hiked up that canyon in the dark for four hours with my out of shape ass following Speck who had my pig slung on his back.

Thanks for setting this up Speck, and thanks to all the great JHO hunters I met this weekend!

 

[One Track]

That's awesome! Congrats Joe.

Yah, you gotta remember, Speck is superhuman. He scares me sometimes.

 

[superduty]

Here he is. Speck was there any biger?

 

[superduty]

Here is Speck with his awesome find on display for us all.

 

[BuckFinder]

Joe, I don't know speck but it sounds to me like you owe him bigtime! I have helped others pack out game on more occasions than I can think of but a simple thank you and a courtesy gift will go a long way. Congratulations.

 

[superduty]

Here is our camp spot for the weekend.

 

[superduty]

The rest of camp.

 

[superduty]

me and pig

 

[superduty]

OK here it is. I hauled the rig in the ranch and we set up camp before heading out to take acouple of shots with my Brother-inlaws gun being he had a scope mounted on it Thursday evening and never had a chance to check it out. For some reason we just couldn't get it zeroed. Don't know if it was the gun or the shooter but we knew we had it close so off we go looking for fresh sign. They didn't seem to be tearing up the areas I know where some wild onions grow so we start looking in another hot spot. That evening we see everything from bobcat to those big birdies were not suppose to shoot at but no piggies yet. We are heading past this draw I know holds and I tell the boys lets get out and give it a try. Hoghunter, Shawn, and myself are side bye side and don't get thirty feet from the truck and 13 small piggies run out from under our feet. I look at the guys and say it's Friday evening and I'm not shooting something that I can put in my habachi at camp. The other two agree to let them go and keep pushing. I seperate from the boys and cruise up this canyon. When I get to the top I spot hogs on the other side and go for my radio to find out somewhere along the crawling and hicking I lost it.

I range them at 283yds and decide to try and relocate only to range them once again at 283. I couldn't believe I couldn't close the gap so the only thing to do was go down and try to climb the other side and cut them off. After taking a nice sweat shower along the way I cut there trail but never found them. Shortly after I hear two shots too rapid to be the same person then another and later a final pop from a pistol. I get back to the truck and there they are gutting Brian's/Hoghunter's nice sow using my headlights being he shot the pig on flat ground and right next to the truck. That's the way to do it Brian.

The next morning we head out in seperate trucks cause Brian wanted to get his pig on ice being it was still hanging in camp before it got hot but wanted to help us with out morning hunt. It's a good thing because we didn't just leave camp and head up the ridge when I spoted this lone boar on the move. The race was on between me and my Brother-inlaw Shawn on who could get into the back of the truck and load their rifle the quickest. I shut my door and opend the back door grabbing my 300 SAUM and drop one in the pipe while making my move I lock the bolt and place the crosshairs on the sweet spot and pull the triger, that's when it got interesting. I damb near threw my rifle over my shoulder and realized that the gun didn't shoot but I sure jerked it like it did. The safety was still on and now I know Shawn is going to shoot. I look over at him and throw the safety off and take aim one more time. Kablam

I take off runing towards where I knew I shot at him but he kept going. I threw my orange hat in the grass where I thought he was standing just incase I needed to look for a blood trail when I took the shot and tore out after him. He didn't go more than 30yds and was laying dead in the tall grass. He weighed 275lbs on the hoof back at camp. Deffinetly the largest I have taken too date. The three of us couldn't lift him into the back of the truck so we flaged down Speckmisser and between the four of us he was in. Thank's Speck for the hand and sleeping in for 10minutes longer than us.

Sat. evening comes and now it is Shawn's turn. I talk him into switching to my gun just incase he was still having problems and we took off with a plan. I set on one side of the mountain with Brian and Shawn on the other. I call them on the radio and tell them I can see pigs feeding but they couldn't get too them so be aware it's magic hour. Soon I see several nice size pigs heading directly at them and tell them to hold tight in the tall grass and they should pass bye them around 20yds just above them. I watch the lead pig drop and then I hear a Boom. I know he put her down for good so I jump in the truck and head over to their side. I drag in my game cart and acouple of hours later we drag her to the truck. We went three for three and I couldn't wait to get back to camp to have a drink knowing we get to sleep in on Sunday morning. The trip just couldn't have gone any better for us and we owe a big thanks to Speck for setting it all up for us all. Let's do it again next year.

 

[grtwythunter]

As usual, I took my hunt down to the wire. Friday night Speckmisser, DILPRXO, and I headed for the promised land where we have all taken hogs before. We all saw hogs, but none of us were able to connect. We started out later than planned Saturday morning but Speck was still able to connect on a nice boar. Later that evening DILPRXO dropped a hog pretty close to where Speck killed his.

Sunday morning rolled around and I was starting to feel the pressure. I had only seen four hogs all weekend and was starting to doubt my hunting abilities. I headed out to the area where I shot a really nice boar last year. After about four hours of working the ridge to no avail, I hear a cannon go off in the canyon below me. I glassed in the direction of the shot and saw Rancho Loco starting to dress out his hog about 500 yards across the way. Way to John

I hunted slowly down the ridge and back to the truck with no oinker sightings.

Sitting around camp Sunday afternoon I was debating not going out for the evening hunt. My bum knee was killing me, I was sore as hell and dead tired. A little encouragement from the JHo'ers around camp got my outlook squared away and I headed out with russman Speck and Joe. Russ and I headed down the infamous "Speckmisser Ridge". We split up a few hundred yards from the truck. I started working a finger ridge where I had seen 2 hogs on Friday evening. After about an hour of glassing I needed to stretch my legs, so I headed up to a saddle the hogs cross pretty regularly. All of the sudden hogs start popping out of the grass 30 feet in front of me. 1, 2, 5, 10, .....they just kept appearing. I was hoping for a biggun to show up when the wind shifted and they scented me. As they skeedaddled down the ridge 50 yards to my right I realized there were no "bigguns" and decided to pop the largest of the bunch which was the last in line. She stopped in a small clearing and my 06 dropped her like a bag of wet cement.

 

[superduty]

Congrats Scott.

I'm glad you managed to connect. Everybody worked their butts off so I know how it must have felt going into the ninth eaning with a bum knee. Scott, what was the final count?

 

[Rancho Loco]

Originally posted by HOGHUNTER714@Jun 5 2005, 09:33 PM
Last night sittin around that campfire you seemed REAL hungry for your hog.

More like DESPERATE.

Another great trip, although I wasn't feeling too great about it around 9:00 AM Sunday

To start out, the Tejon Ranch is just gorgeous this year. All the rain has left eye-popping wildflowers coating the hillsides in purple and yellow, tall grass up past my waist, and lots of fat, happy wildlife. I saw elk, bobcat, beautiful mountain bluebirds, hawks, and a few pigs. It was great to see the folks from JHO, some from last year, and new ones on this trip.

I had a tough hunt, I was getting frustrated by the swirling wind, and by the end of Saturday evening, I had been scented by two good sized hogs, one - a big black boar, literally shot up out of a bed twenty feet in front of me, his tusks flashing at me as he sprinted by me and shot down a hill to safety. Another teased me by looking around a stump at me, and then disappearing into thin air as I tried to come around him. To make matters worse, the pigs seemed to take delight in running in front of my truck on the way back to the camp at night.

I was seeing lots of good fresh sign, though - hot wallows where the mud was still wet on the rubs and grass lining the trails, fresh poop, and just past where the hog blasted out of his bed - at least a hundred more beds under low scrub oaks on a steep hillside. Some were red-hot, but all that was in them were mosquitos...A million hungry mosquitos. I knew there were pigs in the area, it was just a matter of time.

So Sunday saw me at first light walking and glassing the finger ridges, trying to play the wind, going up and down, up and more up and then back down. But by 9:00 and what seemed like five miles of hiking, I had not seen one pig. Feeling defeated and more than tired, I started driving back to camp to bust camp and blow, not even getting off one shot for the weekend. But I decided to check those beds out one more time for good measure. I parked, grabbed my Timber Carbine and took a short walk.

I came over the crest of the hill, zig-zagging, trying to keep the wind from blowing my scent into the beds, and as I just stopped where I could raise on my tip-toes to look over the knoll into the closest bed, I heard a snort, and saw the black back of a pig. I dropped to a kneel, and knowing the wind would swirl around soon, I crawled twenty-five feet down to where I knew I would have a clear fifty-foot shot into the bed under the scrub. As I popped up to my knees, shouldering my carbine, I felt the breeze at my back, and instantly a snort of alarm and two black pigs shot out of the bed to the left and right, leaving one standing right in the middle. This was the perfect situation for my timber carbine, light and small, I was able to crawl rapidly through the grass, and with ghost ring sights, I was able to quickly and naturally put my front sight on his shoulder. I knew I didn't want this one to run after the shot, because it was straight down into the canyon of despair below. The 300 grain bullet in .444 marlin knocked the boar down hard, cutting his spine in half just behind the neck, and leaving a 2" exit just behind his jowl. No running for him. As I stood up to see if he needed a finisher, at least four other hogs, all big and black, came out of their close-by beds to see which one got it. I put my front sight on three of them, just imagining having to buy another freezer. After a few moments, they trotted down into the canyon, safe for now.

The young boar was about 80-100 on the hoof, not big, but I know I didn't have time to be picky with the time I had and the place I was.

Once again, great trip everyone, I'm looking forward to next year - if my muscles are feeling better by then.

And, Scott - I knew you were going to get your hog, you just needed to get that extra drama by going to the final buzzer.

 

[Speckmisser]

Well, I had a little nap and even though I'm ready for another one here's a quick recap. A long story is probably forthcoming...

As I said, we have 12 recorded kills. If anyone sees Dirtpoor, I need to know where that key is, and if he or Monte scored.

Joe, you don't owe me anything, man. I knew it would be a rough drag if you got a pig over there. That's why I pointed out the little one for you to shoot.

It was a tough haul, but that's pig hunting... right? Wish we could have had some pics of you with your first hog, but it was getting dark down in that hell hole.

Scott, glad you got another one, and thanks again for helping me with mine.

One day, I'll figure out how everyone shoots them on flat spots and close to the road (nicely done, Chris!). In the meantime, I'll keep the packframe handy!

By the way...

I'm having a bit of conundrum over the pool. We have Superduty's hog... weighed in whole (guts and all) at 275#. Then we have MJB weighed in dressed, at 215. One of those hogs wins, but I'm at a loss how to settle it. Seems to me that the easiest thing would be to split the pot, half to each, and make more specific "rules" for next year. Any ideas or thoughts?