Pro953
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- Mar 21, 2010
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Sorry for the long post but being my first first hog hunt and first successful hunt, I'M Excited!
First off I want to give a big thanks to Mel Carter for coordinating this hunt and to George M for setting us up with a great ranch getting all of the hunter in the hogs.
We arrived Friday afternoon setup camp and we had a couple hours to talk and plan out hunts. Mel was fantastic and took the chance to show me the rookie the ropes and give me first shot on the hogs. We headed out about 3:00. Mel Carter Juantg RugerMac went out to Mel’s special spot. Let me tell you this is a cool ranch it was hard to visualize 20,000+ acres but all I can say is it is HUGE! We parked the car near Mel's spot and hiked in for quite a while then split off into two groups JuanTG and RugerMac went into one part of the spot and Mel and I into the another location with a plan to loop around and meet each other then glass and hike out. Mel and I were hiking along and he pointed to a ridge a few hundred yards away and said some thing like “I have taken twenty hogs around that ridge” shortly after he said that we were looking over and saw a group of about 10+ hogs running right across that ridge it looked like they bedded down into some Oaks so Mel took the lead and we booked it to try and close the distance and see if we could put the stock on them. Once we hit the spot they had pushed on farther. Eventually we caught them in another valley but they were moving fast Mel ranged them at 270+ yards it was a good group of sows and piglets we both got off a shot but it was not our day. On the hike out we were waiting for RugerMac and JuanTG and spotted another 20+ hogs a nice big boar and a few sows all out of range but this ranch was THICK with pigs! We hoofed it out and called it a day.
Saturday morning we headed out about an hour before sunrise to get deep in the ranch before sunrise and planned to work the area the same way we did the day before. We were about to split off when Mel saw some hogs bedding down a few ridges away JuanTG and RugerMac decided to move the direction they planned and Mel and I started to pursue the pigs he saw. On our way to the bedding spot we spotted a nice boar eating in one of the valleys and stalked in to about 190 yards. Mel loaned me his pack and set me up with a good shot. I was shaking like a leaf the boar was eating and giving a clean broadside but when I pulled the trigger it was a clean high miss. (Time to get back to the range.) At this point I was pretty bummed. I had just missed a great hog and felt a bit bad that Mel did not get a shot, as I am sure he could have closed the deal.
We hiked on walking the roads trying to find the group Mel saw in the earlier in the morning. About a half hour later we came into a nice group of about five hogs and they were down in a valley about 175 yards away we went around to a nice ridge and Mel setup for a shot it was a nice group and Mel got a nice shot into the largest black sow she stumbled on the first shot and Mel followed up with a quick second that put the hog down cold within a couple feet. Most of the group split off up a valley but one pushed off around the ridge we were standing on I was able to run out to the point of the ridge and pull off a running shot. Shot 1 Miss! Shot 2, Miss “Damn” shot three “shit I hit it!” the pig stumbled but jumped right back up and kept running. I pulled another shell out and dropped it right in the chamber and pulled off a final shot and it was a good hit the pig went down and did not get back up. We went down and gutted Mel's hog, as mine was closer to the road. After a nice long drag Mel helped me gut my first hog. I was stoked after missing that boar earlier I was bummed and doubling by 8:30 that morning had me running high. I have only been shooting for about six months and had only been out hunting for back tail a couple times to make a running shot like that was pure luck. JuanTG was nice and pulled off his hunt and grabbed Mel’s truck so we could haul the pigs back to the camp. George was nice and showed me how to clean and strip my pig unfortunately my first shot was to the back leg and my second shot was a Texas heart shot so both hams were totally blown out but I ended up with nice clean ribs and loins as well as clean shoulders.
I got back home Saturday night and broke the quarters into chops, ribs, roasts and some grind trim. So far I made about five pounds of ginger sage breakfast sausage and we had a nice dinner of wild pig carnitas.
Thanks again to everyone for making it a great hunt, last I heard it was up to 5 hogs I think two boars and 3 sows between the group of 12 and they still had a good day of hunting ahead. Everyone had seen lots of pigs and had taken shots. Now if I can convince my wife to let me go in November. Hope to see you all there!
First off I want to give a big thanks to Mel Carter for coordinating this hunt and to George M for setting us up with a great ranch getting all of the hunter in the hogs.
We arrived Friday afternoon setup camp and we had a couple hours to talk and plan out hunts. Mel was fantastic and took the chance to show me the rookie the ropes and give me first shot on the hogs. We headed out about 3:00. Mel Carter Juantg RugerMac went out to Mel’s special spot. Let me tell you this is a cool ranch it was hard to visualize 20,000+ acres but all I can say is it is HUGE! We parked the car near Mel's spot and hiked in for quite a while then split off into two groups JuanTG and RugerMac went into one part of the spot and Mel and I into the another location with a plan to loop around and meet each other then glass and hike out. Mel and I were hiking along and he pointed to a ridge a few hundred yards away and said some thing like “I have taken twenty hogs around that ridge” shortly after he said that we were looking over and saw a group of about 10+ hogs running right across that ridge it looked like they bedded down into some Oaks so Mel took the lead and we booked it to try and close the distance and see if we could put the stock on them. Once we hit the spot they had pushed on farther. Eventually we caught them in another valley but they were moving fast Mel ranged them at 270+ yards it was a good group of sows and piglets we both got off a shot but it was not our day. On the hike out we were waiting for RugerMac and JuanTG and spotted another 20+ hogs a nice big boar and a few sows all out of range but this ranch was THICK with pigs! We hoofed it out and called it a day.
Saturday morning we headed out about an hour before sunrise to get deep in the ranch before sunrise and planned to work the area the same way we did the day before. We were about to split off when Mel saw some hogs bedding down a few ridges away JuanTG and RugerMac decided to move the direction they planned and Mel and I started to pursue the pigs he saw. On our way to the bedding spot we spotted a nice boar eating in one of the valleys and stalked in to about 190 yards. Mel loaned me his pack and set me up with a good shot. I was shaking like a leaf the boar was eating and giving a clean broadside but when I pulled the trigger it was a clean high miss. (Time to get back to the range.) At this point I was pretty bummed. I had just missed a great hog and felt a bit bad that Mel did not get a shot, as I am sure he could have closed the deal.
We hiked on walking the roads trying to find the group Mel saw in the earlier in the morning. About a half hour later we came into a nice group of about five hogs and they were down in a valley about 175 yards away we went around to a nice ridge and Mel setup for a shot it was a nice group and Mel got a nice shot into the largest black sow she stumbled on the first shot and Mel followed up with a quick second that put the hog down cold within a couple feet. Most of the group split off up a valley but one pushed off around the ridge we were standing on I was able to run out to the point of the ridge and pull off a running shot. Shot 1 Miss! Shot 2, Miss “Damn” shot three “shit I hit it!” the pig stumbled but jumped right back up and kept running. I pulled another shell out and dropped it right in the chamber and pulled off a final shot and it was a good hit the pig went down and did not get back up. We went down and gutted Mel's hog, as mine was closer to the road. After a nice long drag Mel helped me gut my first hog. I was stoked after missing that boar earlier I was bummed and doubling by 8:30 that morning had me running high. I have only been shooting for about six months and had only been out hunting for back tail a couple times to make a running shot like that was pure luck. JuanTG was nice and pulled off his hunt and grabbed Mel’s truck so we could haul the pigs back to the camp. George was nice and showed me how to clean and strip my pig unfortunately my first shot was to the back leg and my second shot was a Texas heart shot so both hams were totally blown out but I ended up with nice clean ribs and loins as well as clean shoulders.
I got back home Saturday night and broke the quarters into chops, ribs, roasts and some grind trim. So far I made about five pounds of ginger sage breakfast sausage and we had a nice dinner of wild pig carnitas.
Thanks again to everyone for making it a great hunt, last I heard it was up to 5 hogs I think two boars and 3 sows between the group of 12 and they still had a good day of hunting ahead. Everyone had seen lots of pigs and had taken shots. Now if I can convince my wife to let me go in November. Hope to see you all there!
