Talking about FHL hogs, etc, is bringing back LOTS of memories.... Here is one of them.
Date: Sometime in July, about 4 years ago...
Left my friends house with high hopes, and in high spirits. Afterall, we are going pig hunting.....
Destination: Coalinga area
We drove what seemed like all night (was only abotu 4 hours!) and were in the area before sunlight... We decided to check out the Laguna Mountain, Condon peak, and Clear Creek areas. We arrived at the Laguna Mtn. access pt (one of), parked the car, and decided to give it a quick 'look over', then, decide if we want to hunt this area.... We started our short and light-scouting run. Hiked up, up, and away.... We each took (foolishly) just the bare minimums, and not enough water (about one quart each). At first light, we were on top of the rugged peak, looking at brush chocked canyons, with not much to look at. At a distance, in the next valley, we spotted what appeared to be a creek, which looked promissing.
Now the dilema: Do we hike ALL THE WAY down and get more supplies and hike back up again, and continue, or .... should we just head to the valley and check it out?
Well, we decided to give the valley a try with the supplies we had left (the quart of water nearly gone..... I Know.... that was stupid). There was no 'trail' per se... so the travel down the canyon was cross-country. The bush chocked canyon was hard to traverse, and one could not even clearly see the bottom contour.... Making headway involved using the rifle as a Machette, and a battering ram to push the brush apart to penetrate.
What seemed like a not so far valley, turned out to be quite challengine to reach. Especially when we would take turns 'falling and tumbling' frequently. Some part of the brush required us to get down to all 4, and crawl for quite a distance UNDER the brush to make way..... We were dirty, dusty, bloody, AND.... THIRSTY! By this time, the sun had come up high and HOT. Did I mention that we had LONG finished the quart of water?
Well, we finally go to the 'valley'. Not much going on, and not much sign. Not even old sign. Some deer tracks, and... just about it... nothing more.
So... We decided to head back to the car, get some supplies, and either scout elsewhere, or a different portion of this parcel. At this time, not wanting to go back the way we came (especially uphill), and not wanting to 'beat the brush', my buddy suggested for me to 'follow him' through the path of least resistance (definitely, definitely NOT shorter!).
Things were ok at first... after a couple of hours of THIRSTY zig zagging..... the 'easy path' got harder.... and harder..... and harder.... Well, now we have brush that is MUCH taller than us! It's dry, and it's thick. Once again, we are ramming our way through. Once again, we are down on all 4, but we don't know where the heck we are, or where the heck we are going.... A couple of hours more go by. I frequently thought that I had a piece of leather in my mouth.... but would quickly realize that it was nothing but my own tongue indeed. He kept saying... "Oh.. I know, I know, it's that way... follow me! I swear!"
Well, the country openned up some eventually..... but, NOTHING looked familiar. We were getting muscle spasms, and our situation was going from a bad-day to a real @#!!*#& one. We kept going UP some canyons, reaching the top, even more dehydrated, and tired, just to realize that we STILL don't know where we are.... We would then go down the canyon, and up another, taking VERY VERY frequent brakes.
Oh... I almost forgot about the 'nagging' voice in my head.... I believe it originated from the Bob Robbs pig hunting book.... It was about this area.... It went something like "a couple of years ago, the bodies of two dead hunters were found. They were pig hunting, and got lost and dehydrated and died".... BOY, this sounds like us!!!! Pretty soon, they will find 2 more pig hunters, dead and dehydrated !!!
At last, I told my buddy" ENOUGH! It's obvious that YOU don't know WHERE THE HECK we are !!! NOW, YOU FOLLOW ME FOR A WHILE. He refused, but I insisted, and failed to follow him.... He then said "Oh, so YOU think YOU know where we are?". I replied "Nope. But I know one thing. We WILL stay high from now on, we WILL use our head from now on, and we WILL wait until it is cooler if need be before proceeding. I WILL NOT follow you. I wish you would follow me now, but do as you must.... but I WILL NOT go down and up another canyon". Well, he decided to stick around. we kept high, on ridge tops for a couple of more hours, until, and finally, we spotted Lake Hernandez at a distance!!!! Then, having studied the topo maps previously, we know which direction to head to.... Eventually, we spotted my jeep at a distance!!! I got 'charged' with energy, and picked up the pace toward the car.... An hour or two later, we finally arrived at the Jeep, where 5 gallons of ICE COLD water were awaiting us! I drank a WHOLE GALLON, NO KIDDING! We thanked our creator for bringing us back safely, had a late lunch (it was about 6 or 7 PM at the time), and decided to quickly pre-scout other ares.....
So, we headed off toward the Clear Creek area. We went in a little bit, but decided that it would be too dark to scount in an hour or so... by this time, it was also getting chilly! (go figure, we were hot as heck a couple of hours prior). Upon crossing a stream on the way back out, SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of the stream (and now that we Dont' NEED water), the clutch linkage decided to pop out!!! The Jeep stopped dead in the middle of the creek!!! I had to take my clothes off, get down to my underwear, LAY DOWN UNDER THE CAR, with the COLD water RUSHING OVER my face, and use a wrench to loosen, pop it back in, and tighten the linkage.... I hesitated, and hesitated, and hesitated some more... but it was apparent that the problem wasn't going to fix itself.... So I proceeded to do as above, and get us out of there.... Of course, later on, I realized that I could have just used the low range, and put the gear box in the first gear, then started the engine with the car in gear, and gotten us out the dry and EASY way... But.... what the heck.... where's the fun in that!!!!
Wheew.... WHAT A DAY! But it's not over! As we were headded back, we still had just-a-tiny-bit of daylight left, so we decided to check out Condon Peak. We walked in just a bit, no more than half a mile or so, and just scouted it as best as we could, but did not find anything interesting, so we headed back to the car. At this time, it is PAST half-hour-after-sunset.....
We see an old car, like a Chevy Chevette or something like that parked next to my car....
We walk over to the car to see what's going on, and.... HOLY COW!!! There is a guy behind the wheel, with the engine running, and he has a scoped rifle (probably loaded?) IN HIS LAP!!! He also has a big-a$$ spotlight plugged into the cigarette lighter outlet (but off) on the seat next to him!
The conversation went something like this:
Him: "How you all doin? Did you all see sompin interesting?"
Me:"Nope... Did not see anything interesting. Not as far as hogs go anyway"
Him: "What do you mean? I got me 3 hogs out-o-here one night. Them buggers sometime run around at on the road after dark".
Me: "You.. You... You hunt them at night?"
Him: "Hell yea! that's the BEST time to hunt them hogs!!... I got me 3 hogs out-o-here one night (repeating himself, while pointing to the side of the road). "
He then continued "I live right down by the canyon. It's a hobby-o-mine to hunt em, so I drive up and down the road, sometime I see-um, sometime I don't. When I see um, I jump out and shoot them".
Me, being COMPLETELY in shock (and numb from what I'm hearing, and after having a HELL of a day) stand there asking him MORE questions, without thinking about getting his license plate, etc....
In amazement about him openly admitting to hunting them from the road, at night, etc, I ask "up and down the road? Most of this is private! and fenced! Dont you get into trouble doing that?"
"I grew up-round here, and know most them ranchers. They ain't gonna do noth'n.... I shoot-em when I see-um, then, jump the fence....."......
At this point, I went fully numb.....
At this point, it was dark, so I guess he wanted to get rid of us.... that is when he told us about the "Red Pig" down the road....
He said "My buddies and I keep seeing this heard of pigs running by the road at nights.... one of them is a HUGE RED pig.... but they are too fast for us, and they take off before we can shoot-em... if you folks hurry up, you might run into them!!!".
Being half brain dead after lack of sleep the night before, and all that we went through, and wanting to AT LEAST SEE a pig, WE ACTUALLY BELIEVED HIM !!!!
Rushed down the canyon in search of the "HUGE RED PIG".... How gullible ha? !!!
The whole experience that day was something out of The Twillight Zone.... Not to mention the 79 hour drive back home... (well, it was only 4 hours.... but after all that, it seemed like a 79 hours... THROUGH THE TWILLIGHT ZONE!"
Date: Sometime in July, about 4 years ago...
Left my friends house with high hopes, and in high spirits. Afterall, we are going pig hunting.....
Destination: Coalinga area
We drove what seemed like all night (was only abotu 4 hours!) and were in the area before sunlight... We decided to check out the Laguna Mountain, Condon peak, and Clear Creek areas. We arrived at the Laguna Mtn. access pt (one of), parked the car, and decided to give it a quick 'look over', then, decide if we want to hunt this area.... We started our short and light-scouting run. Hiked up, up, and away.... We each took (foolishly) just the bare minimums, and not enough water (about one quart each). At first light, we were on top of the rugged peak, looking at brush chocked canyons, with not much to look at. At a distance, in the next valley, we spotted what appeared to be a creek, which looked promissing.
Now the dilema: Do we hike ALL THE WAY down and get more supplies and hike back up again, and continue, or .... should we just head to the valley and check it out?
Well, we decided to give the valley a try with the supplies we had left (the quart of water nearly gone..... I Know.... that was stupid). There was no 'trail' per se... so the travel down the canyon was cross-country. The bush chocked canyon was hard to traverse, and one could not even clearly see the bottom contour.... Making headway involved using the rifle as a Machette, and a battering ram to push the brush apart to penetrate.
What seemed like a not so far valley, turned out to be quite challengine to reach. Especially when we would take turns 'falling and tumbling' frequently. Some part of the brush required us to get down to all 4, and crawl for quite a distance UNDER the brush to make way..... We were dirty, dusty, bloody, AND.... THIRSTY! By this time, the sun had come up high and HOT. Did I mention that we had LONG finished the quart of water?
Well, we finally go to the 'valley'. Not much going on, and not much sign. Not even old sign. Some deer tracks, and... just about it... nothing more.
So... We decided to head back to the car, get some supplies, and either scout elsewhere, or a different portion of this parcel. At this time, not wanting to go back the way we came (especially uphill), and not wanting to 'beat the brush', my buddy suggested for me to 'follow him' through the path of least resistance (definitely, definitely NOT shorter!).
Things were ok at first... after a couple of hours of THIRSTY zig zagging..... the 'easy path' got harder.... and harder..... and harder.... Well, now we have brush that is MUCH taller than us! It's dry, and it's thick. Once again, we are ramming our way through. Once again, we are down on all 4, but we don't know where the heck we are, or where the heck we are going.... A couple of hours more go by. I frequently thought that I had a piece of leather in my mouth.... but would quickly realize that it was nothing but my own tongue indeed. He kept saying... "Oh.. I know, I know, it's that way... follow me! I swear!"
Well, the country openned up some eventually..... but, NOTHING looked familiar. We were getting muscle spasms, and our situation was going from a bad-day to a real @#!!*#& one. We kept going UP some canyons, reaching the top, even more dehydrated, and tired, just to realize that we STILL don't know where we are.... We would then go down the canyon, and up another, taking VERY VERY frequent brakes.
Oh... I almost forgot about the 'nagging' voice in my head.... I believe it originated from the Bob Robbs pig hunting book.... It was about this area.... It went something like "a couple of years ago, the bodies of two dead hunters were found. They were pig hunting, and got lost and dehydrated and died".... BOY, this sounds like us!!!! Pretty soon, they will find 2 more pig hunters, dead and dehydrated !!!
At last, I told my buddy" ENOUGH! It's obvious that YOU don't know WHERE THE HECK we are !!! NOW, YOU FOLLOW ME FOR A WHILE. He refused, but I insisted, and failed to follow him.... He then said "Oh, so YOU think YOU know where we are?". I replied "Nope. But I know one thing. We WILL stay high from now on, we WILL use our head from now on, and we WILL wait until it is cooler if need be before proceeding. I WILL NOT follow you. I wish you would follow me now, but do as you must.... but I WILL NOT go down and up another canyon". Well, he decided to stick around. we kept high, on ridge tops for a couple of more hours, until, and finally, we spotted Lake Hernandez at a distance!!!! Then, having studied the topo maps previously, we know which direction to head to.... Eventually, we spotted my jeep at a distance!!! I got 'charged' with energy, and picked up the pace toward the car.... An hour or two later, we finally arrived at the Jeep, where 5 gallons of ICE COLD water were awaiting us! I drank a WHOLE GALLON, NO KIDDING! We thanked our creator for bringing us back safely, had a late lunch (it was about 6 or 7 PM at the time), and decided to quickly pre-scout other ares.....
So, we headed off toward the Clear Creek area. We went in a little bit, but decided that it would be too dark to scount in an hour or so... by this time, it was also getting chilly! (go figure, we were hot as heck a couple of hours prior). Upon crossing a stream on the way back out, SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of the stream (and now that we Dont' NEED water), the clutch linkage decided to pop out!!! The Jeep stopped dead in the middle of the creek!!! I had to take my clothes off, get down to my underwear, LAY DOWN UNDER THE CAR, with the COLD water RUSHING OVER my face, and use a wrench to loosen, pop it back in, and tighten the linkage.... I hesitated, and hesitated, and hesitated some more... but it was apparent that the problem wasn't going to fix itself.... So I proceeded to do as above, and get us out of there.... Of course, later on, I realized that I could have just used the low range, and put the gear box in the first gear, then started the engine with the car in gear, and gotten us out the dry and EASY way... But.... what the heck.... where's the fun in that!!!!
Wheew.... WHAT A DAY! But it's not over! As we were headded back, we still had just-a-tiny-bit of daylight left, so we decided to check out Condon Peak. We walked in just a bit, no more than half a mile or so, and just scouted it as best as we could, but did not find anything interesting, so we headed back to the car. At this time, it is PAST half-hour-after-sunset.....
We see an old car, like a Chevy Chevette or something like that parked next to my car....
We walk over to the car to see what's going on, and.... HOLY COW!!! There is a guy behind the wheel, with the engine running, and he has a scoped rifle (probably loaded?) IN HIS LAP!!! He also has a big-a$$ spotlight plugged into the cigarette lighter outlet (but off) on the seat next to him!
The conversation went something like this:
Him: "How you all doin? Did you all see sompin interesting?"
Me:"Nope... Did not see anything interesting. Not as far as hogs go anyway"
Him: "What do you mean? I got me 3 hogs out-o-here one night. Them buggers sometime run around at on the road after dark".
Me: "You.. You... You hunt them at night?"
Him: "Hell yea! that's the BEST time to hunt them hogs!!... I got me 3 hogs out-o-here one night (repeating himself, while pointing to the side of the road). "
He then continued "I live right down by the canyon. It's a hobby-o-mine to hunt em, so I drive up and down the road, sometime I see-um, sometime I don't. When I see um, I jump out and shoot them".
Me, being COMPLETELY in shock (and numb from what I'm hearing, and after having a HELL of a day) stand there asking him MORE questions, without thinking about getting his license plate, etc....
In amazement about him openly admitting to hunting them from the road, at night, etc, I ask "up and down the road? Most of this is private! and fenced! Dont you get into trouble doing that?"
"I grew up-round here, and know most them ranchers. They ain't gonna do noth'n.... I shoot-em when I see-um, then, jump the fence....."......
At this point, I went fully numb.....
At this point, it was dark, so I guess he wanted to get rid of us.... that is when he told us about the "Red Pig" down the road....
He said "My buddies and I keep seeing this heard of pigs running by the road at nights.... one of them is a HUGE RED pig.... but they are too fast for us, and they take off before we can shoot-em... if you folks hurry up, you might run into them!!!".
Being half brain dead after lack of sleep the night before, and all that we went through, and wanting to AT LEAST SEE a pig, WE ACTUALLY BELIEVED HIM !!!!
Rushed down the canyon in search of the "HUGE RED PIG".... How gullible ha? !!!
The whole experience that day was something out of The Twillight Zone.... Not to mention the 79 hour drive back home... (well, it was only 4 hours.... but after all that, it seemed like a 79 hours... THROUGH THE TWILLIGHT ZONE!"
