Tejon POR Updates

[beastslayer]

oneclearshot,

Did you get my e-mail yesterday as you requested? I was waiting all evening for your reply. And what do I get, an email from Sen. Boxer. I think my jinx is returning.

BeastSlayer

 

[ozstriker22]

Speck, that's such a great write-up!!! It's making me kind of Home Sick for Tejon. I guess you could call it TeHome Sick... haha

What a great story!!!

I had no idea you guys went through so much work... As my own Newbie hunt went exactly to plan, and was executed smoothly, and without any unexpected events, I can't even begin to imagine what you went through... except for when I forgot my knife... came back to borrow yours... and broke off the tip of the knife while dressing my hog - sorry about that!

Jesse

 

[beastslayer]

joe90605,

How about Joe De Mudio?

 

[superduty]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Nice work gents. Sorry I missed it....Superduty, how did you do? I didnt get a call...Come on bro, fill me in....[/b]

First off let me start out with there is no better place or group of guys I would rather hunt with than JHO brothers at Tejon.

You know it's called hunting not killing or catching and I did pleanty of hunting but it turns out the only thing that got tagged with me was my truck and I'm pretty sure I got a good Idea who the culprate was.

 

[beastslayer]

Ok this is my story. I hate that this is coming behind when Speck already set such a high bar in his writing.

Here it is anyway:

With the anticipated excitement of a pig hunt, I did not sleep very well despite 1:00 a.m. bedtime. I am already up and about 5:00 a.m. although I don’t intend to join the breakfast at Flying J.

I left the house about 6 a.m. anyway, thrilled that I would be able to meet and shake the hand of a hunting legend and outdoorsman par-excellence: Speckmisser. One whose place is already assured in the pantheon of all of America’s hunting greats. One who possess the spirit of the mighty mountains and wide canyons. One who can read the telltale sign from a bent blade of grass to know what animal passed the land. One who can discern the oracle of the seasons. One who converses with the great bull elk. Wild pig whisperer. Wind talker to the eagles and the hawks on the location of the prey. One who paints with all the colors of the wind… oops, not that one – that’s for Pocahontas.

Right around entering Highway 5, I am already trying to decide what to do in his presence. Would I bow and genuflect? Would I wash my hand afterwards in case he offered to shake my humble hand? I would not want to rub off any trace of his hunting magic on my hand, would I? Would he be offended if his shadow touches mine?

Soon enough, I met the legend. Magnificent in his cowboy hat. Standing proud and tallest among the milling throng of camouflaged hunters. All surrounding him in awe and vying to hoard the glow of reflected glory of this great man.

To be continued… (Why do they have to set a meeting about a big corporate developments on a Wednesday. Or at all. Don’t these people heard of e-mail yet?)

 

[SDHNTR]

Speck,
See if there is a way you could get us in early. The Dec hunt was great!

 

[oneclearshot]

Beastslayer...that's a BIG 10/4 Good Buddy! I got your email allright, but not until this morning when I came to work and checked. Last night "UpperEA" (Tom) and his lovely wife Holly and their two daughters(a couple of real darlins') came by the house to say goodbye on their way to L.A. and the airport for the trip back home to Michigan's U.P. (that stands for Upper Pennisula, for you West Coast "Locals", that ain't traveled much)! We all went out to dinner and it was late when I got home so I just showered and fell into bed....much like I did each night in camp at Tejon (except for the "shower" part)...I shot you a quick email this a.m. but I'll get you another later today with my home phone so we can talk! It was good meeting you in camp Mon, even if it was short! Next time you're gonna stay healthy and spend more time around the field AND the campfire!

Dave, aka:SuperD....Ditto to what you said, in spades my friend! We've got a pretty good bunch of "Regulars" in this "Jesse's" Outfit and I'm proud to hunt with all of ya'. I surely enjoyed meeting your Dad and hope we can get out in the field again real soon....and Jerry, give me a holler next time you and your wife get close to Temecula an' we'll do some of the Wineries, OK? Gotta git for now, but when I have more time I'll Post up my take on the whole Shebang....and believe me it was a real "Kick" even though I personally didn't bag a hog! But like Superduty said...."That's why they call it Huntin' and not Gettin' " If it was that easy, everybody'd be out doin' it....an' it's crowded out there enough already! "Oz"...I'm real glad you got on one especially....I couldn't be happier if I was twins, I know how hard you've been tryin' for the past two years to put some "Big Game" meat in the freezer! You're a steady son-of-a-buck, I'll give ya' that!
And it finally paid off for ya'. Good luck to all ya'll in yore future endeavors....I had a real good weekend.

Bob

 

[spectr17]

Don't fret about the mud Joe, I got nicknamed "Mudman" for a few months while in the service. We were recovering our Zodiak boats out at San Clemente island with a M880 (Dodge 1 ton truck) on the beach one day. I lowered the tire pressure like we had done many times before to get the truck down the beach to the boat and when I romped on it to get the trailer out I spun all four tires off the rims. The incoming tide then sunk the truck and trailer. The Lt. had the ass at me for weeks. We got out a couple hours later thanks to the Navy tire shop on the island and a lot of digging. We later found the tire gauge I was using to set the pressure to be off but that never helped my case.

Mudman was my name for many months after that.

 

[joe90605]

Thanks Jesse...that mud sure is stinky! I washed all my clothes and gear and added baking soda to the wash like you suggested, and I can still smell it!!

Gonna try running 'em through a few more times, hopefully that smell comes out

And "Baptism Under Fire" sounds alot cooler than JoeMud or Joe Del Mudio!!

 

[beastslayer]

oneclearshot,

Shot you another e-mail since I did not get your a.m. e-mail. Must be my old one with the previous employer.

Yeah, I miss the campfire. I remember that was my favorite part of hunting when I was still a small boy and tagged along with the 'ol man. That where I found out that alcohol level in the blood is directly proportional to the degree of exaggeration of the story. Example: The quail is so thick on where I hunt that I have to shoo them away before I can set the trap (this may not even be original, lol).

Looking forward to talking to you.

Mon

 

[gnn961]

We had a really good time as usual even though we didn't connect with the 200 yd shot on sat evening. both George and I took a couple shots each at a 200 lb or so Boar on Geghus Ridge. Friday afternoon we we're hiking this one valley Norm walked right next to a rattler, tried to get his picture but my flash wouldn't go off and illuminate the den he crawled into. Friday evening Norm and I saw about 40 pigs hightailing it up the next ridge across this valley we we're glassing. By the time we took the long hike back to the truck and drove over to where we last saw them they we're long gone. So later on that evening we ran into Beastslayer who looked pretty jacked up so we offered to drive his car back but he said he would follow us back. After we got down into Beartrap we ran across Scottosan dragging his pig so we stopped to help him. Sat morning we ran across Beastslayer again so we helped drag and load his pig up. Sat afternoon went to Squirrel Canyon ran into another Rattler got his picture though. Sat evening went back aroung Geghus and Tunis and only saw the lone boar about 7 or so. Headed back to camp down Beartrap saw Rancho doing his tree impersonation but it worked have to try that next year. Farther down the road ran into Rich waiting for a lift so we threw his hog into the truck and took it to camp. Handled a lot of pork just none of our own. This was Norm and George's first big game hunt so tried to go easy on them, obviously too easy.
Speck thanks for getting this all together again and can't wait till next year to do it again, only this time gonna ask for some advice.
Jesse thanks for all the free stuff that was really nice.
And to everyone that attended your all a great group and we'll see ya next year ( or sooner )
Congrats to all that connected the hunting god's we're smiling on you all.

 

[beastslayer]

gnn961,

Again, I would want to express my deepest appreciation for the help that you've extended to me. As I was telling the group when I got back to camp, I was dazed, disoriented and had suffered from temporary amnesia because of the accident. I also did not realize it was early evening -- 7pm when I looked at my watch -- so I would not have known if I would be able to make it back to the campground or will be lost along the Tejon roads on my attempt to drive back. Your escorting me made sure of my safe return.

On top of that, you helped me dragged my hog to the road the following day, interrupting your group's hunt. I kind of not help smile when one of your party (I'm not sure who) commented: "Oh no, not him again. This time with lots of blood in his hand."

Yeah, it can be ironic sometimes. As you most accurately put it, you "...handled a lot of pork, just none of our own."

Let get together sometime as I suggested in the earlier post.

Mon

 

[ozstriker22]

Hey Joe!!! What the heck is wrong with you, Man?????

Don't wash that stuff off!!! People tout "Scent-Lock" clothing all over the internet, but you can still smell the human... but if you walk around wearing your stinking muddy clothes I GUARRANTY not a pig or deer in the world will give you a second sniff. Heck, I imagine a few hogs will actually follow you around... Let the rule of "MUDLOCK" begin!

Jesse

 

[Jagermeister]

I am finally done processing the pig! This was a lot of work! The trophy shot: My pal Joe with our 25 pounds (over one hundred) bratwurst! Now that I won't be in the kitchen cutting and grinding at night, I'll have time to write my story all the way from Sunday afternoon to the bratwurst - once the offspring is in bed. Stay tuned ...

George

[attachment=30090:attachment]

 

[Rancho Loco]

heheheh....

 

[joe90605]

Mmmm....looks like some tasty Brats!! Any hey Oz, your right, should let that pig stink stay in my camos, roll in the muck with the pigs, smell like the pigs....they're gonna think I'm one of them, MUDLOCK!

 

[Jagermeister]

Here is my story, I hope you have 10 paid minutes at work to read!

I didn't see any hogs for the entire event. It was very frustrating. I saw a beautiful bull elk in velvet, countless deer of all sizes and literally thousands of cows. No surprise on a cattle ranch! We were hunting hard all weekend and if we were not in the field we either were eating or getting some sleep. We went to plenty places that were recommended by different well meaning people. Well, most of them were, I think. I am not so sure after reading Speckmisser’s side of the story?

We did everything from hiking ridges to road hunting in the morning … we even let the socializing slip quite a bit - too busy! It would have been nice to tag out Saturday and party? But we hunted our rears off - all for nothing, just a bunch of scenery, right?

I started getting nightmares, during lunchtime naps! One dream I shot a baby elephant by mistake, instead of a hog.

Let’s not get into that nightmare any deeper, as I am afraid that it will come back. But the worst one was that I dreamt that I finally saw a pig, threw the rifle up and to my shoulder and suddenly the crosshairs in the scope were gone! I was messing with the safety, thinking that if I turn it off, the crosshairs may re-appear, right? But nothing! Instead of getting a shot off, I woke up in a hot afternoon tent, last day of hunting, drenched in sweat from heat and exhaustion.

That's until that Sunday night. Speckmisser put me and my pal Joe on top of a ridge. We started out around 5:30 and worked our way down slowly, going separate finger ridge ways. There was tons of sign at the top of this ridge. But with the dry weather, this may have been a couple days or a couple months old. Who knew? Aside from the barnyard animals we saw at the skinning pole (yeah right, a 350 pound spotted beast?) there were no hogs at Tejon, as far as we knew!

At 6:30 I was down about a third of the way when on the opposite side a huge lone pig started walking across a small pasture at the top of the ridge. I didn't even need binos to spot it and had to look twice to make sure it wasn’t a small cow! We had been advised to spare wet sows, but if you’d err, it was indicated that they’d let it slide and you could keep the pig. I doubt they’d let you take veal home. Or a baby elephant for that matter.

From the distance it seemed too round to be a big bore – maybe a big grandma? No problem, I have a pressure cooker! I started running towards the next large tree downhill that had a nice big branch which would give me a good rest for this 400+ yard shot. Yes, 400 yards - hey, it was Sunday night – the pig was big - now or never!. I found the pig again in my binos, it was in some dense trees now but it worked its way up farther on the ridge! Did it hear me? How well do pigs hear anyway? I put the rifle - my brand new Savage mod. 114 american classic .300 win mag. – up on the branch-rest and could not find the pig in the bushnell scope sights any more. I think it must have slipped over the ridge!

Could I have landed the shot? I am unsure. My heart was pumping a lot from running for such a far shot, even with a rest. This waggin probably translated in 2 feet amplitude at 400 yards! It would also have been a potentially unsafe shot if the pig would have been close to the crest of the ridge! I estimated 10” drop at 400 yards, that’s about the top of the pig, easy to aim at, right? If the pig were still there, that is …

After I could not see the pig any more, desperately glassing the area for a few minutes, it dawned on me that there was no time to waste to see if I could catch up with the porker! It was over the ridge, so there was no worries making a big racket catching up, right? I went and ran down the canyon and ran up the other side to see if I couldn’t find it going down the other side. We are talking 300 feet or so of elevation sliding down and climbing up again, I mean running! I arrived at the ridgetop about half an hour later looking down the other side - and you guessed it – lot’s of couple foot high Tejon grass and pig sign, but no hog.

It was one of those cursed convex ridges, where you can only see 20 yards, no matter where you are on the ridge. By now it was 7:00, I was drenched in sweat and I was at the edge of a tall and steep ridge that runs straight down to Bear Trap – a main canyon. I just made huge racket coming through “my” canyon. I will name it the Jagermeister canyon. Jagermeister canyon happened to be the only canyon left for the day that I was able to glass. I thought I was screwed, every wild animal in Jaegermeister canyon probably fled to the next county, after hearing Jagerscheisster romp through there.

Since the day was over, I figured that I may as well do some glassing on the way down to the bottom of Jagermeister canyon. Maybe that pig was deaf and blind and went the other way and I missed it? Maybe there was time to work up another canyon starting from the Bear Trap Canyon road.

I glassed Jagermeister canyon hard, mainly while getting myself a well deserved rest. However, after a few minutes of examining the area that was only a few hundred feet from where I started running all over the place, I thought to see a pig fast asleep under a big oak tree! Had I gone over the edge? Yes, right in Jagermeister canyon! 400-500 yards! I am still amazed that I was able to spot it with my 8x42 binos. I had to put the 9x scope on it to positively ID it as a pig and to do a sanity check. All you could see were the legs and the belly! I must have looked in envy at plenty of hogs hanging at camp to spot the pig by just the pork belly!

I had about 30-40 minutes of daylight left to sneak up to this hog. Was this western mule deer aka pig hunting? Maybe some of the open country muley skills would apply? Not that I ever saw a mule deer buck in X zone last year but I had snuck up on all the does and read plenty of books! Down Jagermeister canyon again, slower and quietly this time, up the other side, keeping in mind certain features of trees as a landmark, so I could find the pig! I arrived around 7:30 and was in the exact area, that I thought the pig slept in. But while I saw it from half a kilometer away, I couldn’t see it now!

Problem was that I was low now, approaching the area from down hill, taking advantage of a cross wind. I thought my sleeping pig must have gotten up and walked off. Or was it still fast asleep? I knew it had either to be close or it was gone. I walked in despair now, physically scanning the area by walking zig zag, since I could not find the hog with binos or bare eyes. My rifle was handy.

Suddenly there was dust flying up, a large razorback pig jumped up about 20 yards from me, grunting really loud. A huge bore for sure, I thought! It stared at me for a split second waking up, but I was frozen, with the rifle up and safety off already. I was impressed with my reaction time. Except for the fact that I had left the scope at 9x mag! This was NOT a 400 yard shot! 20, maybe 30 at best. All I saw was blurry PIG in the field of view. If it could have been focused, I probably would have been able to count razorback hairs.

Was this my scope nightmare become true? Or was this going to be a good dream? I certainly needed no crosshairs at this distance, you needed no aiming help at all. I could have shot from the hip. Why didn’t I join the handgun pool? I thought I was aiming close to the front of the pig and wasted no time pulling the trigger. A head shot was planned, with some room for error, so the neck seemed a good place to go for without blowing the ribs or shoulders out. This pig was going to move any second.

The .300 win mag came alive with a beautiful boom, echoing through the canyon. There was no felt recoil, no loud noise, it all took place in slow motion! The 25 ft/lb recoil rifle suddenly shot smooth like a .22. What adrenaline will do to you is just amazing. Back to the pig, what did it feel? I doubt it was much. The bullet went right through it’s neck and it fell over dead in an instant. I hope it dreamt something nice, before I woke it? In any case, it died for a good cause, as you can see in the above sausage post.

The pig rolled towards me like a sack of potatoes, almost hitting me! I jumped out of the way, dropped my rifle and ran after it down hill, as it rolled and rolled. I had my hand at the holster, getting ready for a follow up with the .357 mag. Needless to say, it wasn’t necessary. There wasn’t a drop of blood left in it’s body when I slit it’s carotid artery in home slaughter fashion … a football size hole in the neck took care of that.

Gutting was no problem. It was nice to do so at a 45 degree angle, since it almost hung there in the hill side. Of course gravity also worked against me, since the pig wanted to roll further and I had to sit and stand on it at all times to restrain it. The unpleasant part was dragging it out after letting it roll down about a hundred feet into the bottom of this Jagermeister hell hole. You probably guessed that I wasn’t quite fresh by that time? But the adrenaline and downing a full quart of water in one shot helped.

And there were more helpers! I was able to contact Jesse and my pal Joe by radio to help me get out. It was dark when we had it across a large creek, in Jesse’s truck, heading back to camp. What a happy ending! To score an hour before the end of the event? No more nightmares of bare scope sights! And a great, healthy looking 110 pound (dressed weight) meat pig – a sow! No better eating than this!

My pal didn’t score this event, but we’ll share the meat and the memories over some beer and Jagermeister (he is a frequent guest at my house). If you look at it statistically, we hit the 50% success rate of the event between the two of us! Not bad for a couple of pig hunting rookies!

Thanks Speckmisser and Jesse for the great event and to everyone else we met! Rancho Loco donated his liver, I mean his pig’s liver to the good cause of Jagermeister Leberwurst and we were also able to meet Scott (grtwhthunter) in person. He delivered our beautiful bear skull mounts to us from last year’s bear season --- the last large large game animals that had fallen to the Jagermeister. If you have a skull to prep, you got to send it to Scott. His work is outstanding!

Let’s hope this hunt is a good omen for deer season – the only large animal missing in the freezer these days is the elusive CA deer ... Trust that I will make plans for next year as soon as the dates are set!

Weidmann’s Heil!

George

 

[Speckmisser]

Great tale, George!

Despite my foolishness in the write-up, I was really thrilled to see you three guys at the skinning pole when I got back to camp Sunday night. I will admit that I was pretty disappointed in my own lack of success, but to see you guys (especially the grin on OZ's face!) tag out really did ease the sting!

Congrats again to all the successful hunters!

 

[superduty]

Well, like I posted above I didn't manage to get a shot off from my 300SAUM or my 480SuperRedHawk.

My pop's arrived just before upperEA did at my house on Friday morning around 4:30 A.M. I had already packed the rig and had the stipper pole all waxed up and ready to go. We arrived early at the Flying J and noticed my transmission leaking when topping off the tank with diesel prior to going on the ranch. I had just had the truck serviced recently and didn't understand what the problem was. We checked the fluid and felt it might be overfilled and could have started to push out while making the pull up the Grapevine with the trailer. My brother-inlaw Shawn met us for breakfast and completed our group of four hunters. When we got on the ranch the tans fluid was pouring out of the truck and my stomach started to turn. I love driving the ranch and knew it wasn't to be so on this trip. We packed everything into Shawns truck and left mine hooked to the Warrior. Friday evening I decide to put on my way too heavy I don't know what the hell I was thinking puting all that crap in it backpack and tried out my rock climbing skills up this wall of a hill. Got to the top and felt good about the scenery. I range found all the spots I could just see a bunch of pigs coming out of and memorized the distances for the deadly shot but it never came. I saw one sow on a dead run from one thicket across a clearing into another thicket with all her little ones hot on her hams probably a mile away back in the direction we drove in on confirming I had the pig eye going. No one else saw any pigs in our group. We saw the usuall elk, bobcat, deer, turkey, eagles, hawks, and two youg condors. Saturday morning came quick after sitting around shooting the bull Friday night and we spotted acouple of hogs on the side of a ridge I know all too well so we took off on foot after them. Two of us coming in from one side and the other two dropping in from the top. No luck and no pigs the rest of the morning. Saturday evening we pull all the tricks out of the bag and set up my failsafe plan that has never let us down. You guessed it, no pork again. Shawn got a shot off but appeared to have missed. My knee for some reason gave up on me and confirmed my decision not to make a stock on the 50 or so pigs I was watching milling around on the other ridge across from me. I ranged them at 382yds and could have easly closed that distance to within 300 or better. The reall agrivation was watching RanchoLoco milling around above this heard of pigs around 150yds without a clue their was a pork convention going on right below him. Our radios apparently weren't on the same frequency. I had to wrap my leg and knee with rope to stiffen it for support just to pull myself out of that canyon. I couldn't imagine if I had to drag something other than my own fat but out of there.

Sunday came and my knee was throbbing and the guys with good knees didn't seem too eager to get out of bed either so I slept in. Turns out the truck was filled too much and hasn't leaked a drop since with it still reading alittle high on the stick. The guys at the dealer just didn't get it when I tried to tell them how it put the kabosh on my weekend hunt. I think I should make them pay for next years hunt.

Anyways, thank you to Speck for all the hard work and to Jesse for the opportunity to begin with along with all the great JHO gear. To all of you that have not experienced this majestic hunting place before or have not shared a campfire and bottle with these great people, all I got to say is your missing out on one of the great pleasures in life.

 

[beastslayer]

Jagermeister,

Nice write-up and exciting stories. Wow, bear and hog. Now you have the right justification to build a den -- the other half permitting.

Superduty - nice story. and that's the reason why I have a toyota; a nissan, honda, mitsubishi, toyota, mitsubishi, toyota, isuzu and susuki before my current 4runner.

Oneclearshot - Nice talking to you. I'll be in touch with Barbara today. I'll let you know. Thanks very much for the wise suggestion and the offer. I kind of getting to accept the loss.



Dnag, my priorities are all screwed up after the hunt. I go to JHO forum first before I open my office e-mails and read the post sdespite mountains of pending items and my boss screaming down my neck.

Oh, well...