Mel Carter
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 10, 2001
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Well, we had a great hunt and went 4 for 4. I have some pics, but can't post my really good pics yet, walmart formatted my disk for a mac instead of a pc so I can't open it. The rest of the pics will have to wait until a little later.
We got to the ranch on Tuesday at about 3:00pm, unloaded the quads and headed out to check out the ranch. We seen some signs but nothing real fresh. We met up with Ken, the guide, on Wednesday at 6:00am, we discussed some options on where to start our hunt. I wanted to try an area where I have taken all my hogs in the past, so we headed over there the first thing. Justin and I went on our hike, and after about a mile or more, noticed we weren't seeing much sign. We hooked back up with Ken and decided to try another area. We drove the quads over to another spot to look for sign, by now it was about 12:30pm. Ken said the hogs have been bedding up in some manzanita and he wanted try a push through some to try and get something moving. As we were heading over to the area, I was in front, Ken was behind me and Jim was behind Ken. We came around a corner and I was pointing to Justin the manzanita that Ken was talking about were the hogs like to bed up. Just as I passed the manzanita, I heard Ken's quad speeding up. He pulled up next to me all excited and was pointing to my right. We jumped off and headed in the direction were Ken was pointing, we didn't see anything. Just as I turned around, there they were! About 25 hogs heading out, we ran back up to the top of the hill to catch them going through a huge open field, and the shooting started, they were about 100 yards out. I was watching were Justin was hitting, and told him he was shooting high, by this time they were about 200 yards out. I told Justin to settle down and put the crosshairs right on him. He layed out, bipod down and dropped a redish hog in his tracks. Here's where my first mistake happened
I seen the hog kicking and flopping around, I figured he was down and we would work our way back up after the group to get mine and Jims. We headed up the hill and caught up to the group, by the time I got there, Jim had already shot his hog and then Ken got into it as well, Ken dropped one for himself. I pulled up and dropped a nice sow in her tracks. We headed back over to where Justins hog was and you guessed it, he was gone. We looked for blood but it was difficult because there was a bunch of little red flowers and it was hard to pick out any blood. Ken had a dog with him, but it was very young and not good at tracking. We tryed to look for the hog but couldn't find it. By this time, Justin was pretty bumbed out, he just lost his first animal he has ever shot. We went back up to take care of the other hogs, got them in the creek to cool and went back for one more look. Ken decided it was no good and we would have to try for another hog for Justin. Ken was down in the bottom of the canyon, he was just checking to see if any stragglers were hanging around hiding in the brush. His guess payed off, we seen a hog bust out of the brush and head up the other side. Justin got his gun out, layed down using his bipod, and dropped the hog in his tracks at over 200 yards. We have no idea what happened to the other hog, I figured he wasn't going anywhere. Ken seen the hog on the ground and figured the same, just goes to show you how tough these hogs are, blew me away. We got all 4 hogs loaded up and headed for camp for the rest of the work. Here's a couple of pics, I'll try and get the rest out next week.
We got to the ranch on Tuesday at about 3:00pm, unloaded the quads and headed out to check out the ranch. We seen some signs but nothing real fresh. We met up with Ken, the guide, on Wednesday at 6:00am, we discussed some options on where to start our hunt. I wanted to try an area where I have taken all my hogs in the past, so we headed over there the first thing. Justin and I went on our hike, and after about a mile or more, noticed we weren't seeing much sign. We hooked back up with Ken and decided to try another area. We drove the quads over to another spot to look for sign, by now it was about 12:30pm. Ken said the hogs have been bedding up in some manzanita and he wanted try a push through some to try and get something moving. As we were heading over to the area, I was in front, Ken was behind me and Jim was behind Ken. We came around a corner and I was pointing to Justin the manzanita that Ken was talking about were the hogs like to bed up. Just as I passed the manzanita, I heard Ken's quad speeding up. He pulled up next to me all excited and was pointing to my right. We jumped off and headed in the direction were Ken was pointing, we didn't see anything. Just as I turned around, there they were! About 25 hogs heading out, we ran back up to the top of the hill to catch them going through a huge open field, and the shooting started, they were about 100 yards out. I was watching were Justin was hitting, and told him he was shooting high, by this time they were about 200 yards out. I told Justin to settle down and put the crosshairs right on him. He layed out, bipod down and dropped a redish hog in his tracks. Here's where my first mistake happened
