Wild pig hunting Inc.

[sancho]

george is a nice guy. keeping 10 hunters safe and sound, would make me a nervous hen too. i respect that.

the one pig down, is HUGE! i am in for the next go-around too. muddy and i, know where they live, play and poop. i feel more confidence the next time.

muddy, thanks for piloting me round the ranch. if i forgot to say thanks in person, i am sorry. i was tired, and maybe forgot my manners.

 

[jb229]

Pretty much agree with what Mel, Sancho, and Muddy said. Would have like to stick around longer and BS with everybody Saturday but my Dad wanted to head out when Ken left.
Now where are the pics of the lonely pig!!

 

[Backcountry]

It really isn't a liability thing, he's covered on that.

That is true, he does have insurance so he's covered for most any accident... but that's for the first incident only... one major incident and it's likely his insurance policy would be dropped, or his rates would go up so high that he couldn't afford them. I have to say I totally respect his rationale that you can't be too safe.

What I acknowledge in context is that while George is a seasoned guide, he is still a relative rookie of being the head guide with ALL the ultimate responsibility. I hope he stays in this business for the long run as he will surely adapt what works for him and his clients as he becomes more comfortable with the very high amount of responsibility he has to his clients, the ranch, and the other guides that work for him.

As for the getting up and out early issue, in hindsight I think that's a bit of a shared responsibility between the guide, us (the hunters), Mel (who herded a lot of cats to set this hunt up), and maybe the other guys who have hunted this operation before (who could have told everyone what to expect, if anyone actually asked). I am pointing no fingers and placing no blame. I certainly didn't ask Mel and the guides what time I could expect to be in the field (I didn't ask any questions at all), so I have to take responsibility for that if I was unhappy (I'm not, as I need my beauty rest). No one told or guaranteed me what time I’d be in the field, so that is where I think the responsibility is shared… communication is a two way street.

One more point is that we were a pretty big group, with sub-groups of archers and gun hunters, and I believe we hunted this weekend at a moderate discount of what is charged to smaller (and more easilly managed) groups. I'm guessing that for smaller groups (and presumably an incrementally higher fee) that it's easier for the guide(s) to get everyone squared away and in the field with less time spent organizing radios and locator beacons.

Anyway, like everyone else noted, I wouldn’t hesitate to hunt this ranch and operation again. If I did anything differently, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask more questions or be more specific about what I wanted out of the hunt.

Mel, you did a great job organizing this hunt. Thanks a bunch!

Everyone else, great to meet you all and I wouldn't hesitate to hunt with any of you again (except maybe Muddy due to his deviant proclivities).

As for the lucky hunter… dude has issues! He needs to get that story and pics up NOW!!!!!!!!
<O
BC

 

[Backcountry]

I heard from the lucky bum that he's putting some effort into the story and there's also a small issue of finding the right cable to download pics... good things take time... and all that... ig-laughing:

 

[muddy_udders]

there's also a small issue of finding the right cable to download pics... ... ig-laughing:

Two words for him, "card reader"
Sakar All-in-One Card Reader with SIM Slot - RadioShack.com

 

[muddy_udders]

muddy, thanks for piloting me round the ranch. if i forgot to say thanks in person, i am sorry. i was tired, and maybe forgot my manners.

Your welcome.
Thanks for putting up with my goat trail type of hunting. I figure if you wanna find pigs you have to be in pig country.

 

[BDB]

Put yer purse down and pick up the keyboard and a camera cable!!!! Oh and the camera cable is old and been used to death, couldn't ya even come up with a new lame excuse :mooning:

 

[Backcountry]

Put yer purse down and pick up the keyboard and a camera cable!!!! Oh and the camera cable is old and been used to death, couldn't ya even come up with a new lame excuse :mooning:

So much anger... so little hunting... :smiley_yahoo:

 

[BDB]

So much anger... so little hunting... :smiley_yahoo:

What do you think causes so much anger :lol bashing sign:

 

[THE ROMAN ARCHER]

WOW, what an action packed weekend of hunting for sure!
I want to first thsnk Mel C. for all the leg work in putting this hunt together for us all, great job Mel! i already personally thanked Mr. Ken W. and George M. for hunting on such breath taking landscape of the ranch in Sonoma County and for providing the Rhino's for travel, they are great people and took good care into looking out for our safety and well being, with 22.000 acers you dont want to get lost there that's for sure.

NOW, for the Easter weekend hunt story!................I met up Fri. morning around 6 am with JB229 and his Dad at the visitors center at Lake Sonoma to do a little pre hunt before the Cooley Ranch hunt at L.S. it was the the last weekend to hunt there for the season. so hit up the No Name pt. parked and walked the hillside trails for about 3 hr's when J.B. spots a couple hogs on the other side of the ravine hillside running into a tree patch and one was real nice size, we wanted to do a stalk and strike but time was runnin out and had to head back to the viitors center to meet everyone.
it was great meeting everyone for the first time and then we followed Ken W. to the ranch and our camo spot, we all set up and headed out right away on the rhino's for the afternoon eveing hunt heading striaght up the high peak reaches of the ranch at what Ken refer's too as the million dollar veiw, and it is breathtaking!
anyone who ever plan's to hunt the ranch in the future better be in great shape because it consist of high peaks and canyon's and ravines and alot of springs and steams and creek's everywhere you look, but it is fantastic property. you also want great pair waterproof hunting boots for the moutian side climbing and steam crossing you might have to do ( ask 559hog:roll-wink-green.
so Ken drop's us off in a nice area and hooks us up with radio's and transmitters and me and Sancho pair up and take the high trail and Muddy and 559 pair up and take the low trail to try and meet up and drive towards each other. after a few hr's of hunting until sunset there was some sign but no piggie's to be seen on the first day, so we headed back to camp to settle in and chow on some good food and talk strattagie's and game plan for the next day hunt. BTW Muddy thanks :smiley-thumbs-up: for the zip lock baggy with fresh piggyig-laughingoo in it, i owe ya one, i am just jelous that i couldn't even find some warm poo, oh well next time!

the next morning came quickly and this was going to be and all day outing of hunting from first light to last light ( 14 HR'S ) no going back to the camp for a lunch time siesta thats for sure, so and me and 559, Muddy and Sancho were up and out on the rhino's headed back into the high peaks and valley's to explore and hunt for wild hog's with our bow' and arrow's. this time me and 559hog paired up and Muddy and Sancho paired up, they took the long low road down and around and up and we took the long and high road down and up hopeing to meet up some where by the end of the day.
me and 559 spotted a doe 100 yards away on the high ridge basking in the morning sun, so i asked 559 to hang back and let me do a practice stalk on the deer to with in my effective bow range, i made it to within 40 yrds before she stood up and started to blow the alert sound a few times and bolted off.
so we are on the knob of a ridge looking for a way down and i loose sight of 559hog so i am calling for him trying to whistle and i hear and see nothing, so i stared to look down the side of the ridge and thiers 559hog belly down trying to hold on so he would'nt slide down into the darkness of a ravine, i had to put my bow down and carefully work my way down to him without slipping myself ( it was wet leaves with soft soil 10% grade:skeered: ) i grab his bow and gave him a stong stick to climb his way back up with, almost lost my partner. i found a finger to work down to the bottom of the ravine to the stream which we hunted till we found our way to another familar drop of point after walking for miles and hr's, so that was cool we didnt get lost. so we called KEN on the radio he came and picked us up in the rhino and took us back up towards the top of another high peak about half way up droped us of with some direction so we could still try and meet up with Muddy and Sancho.
we stared our hunting journey again and started to find some fresh hog tracks and wallow's a long our route so hopefully we might bump into them along the trail, but no piggie's.( oh, i forgot to mention that i was already out of water and still had a few hrs of hunting to go, so i had to camel up into survior mode and live on spit.) after walkin for miles heading up we could not find away down or across the ridge to try and meet up with Muddy and Sancho and realized we were going to have to walk all the way back down to the bottom the long way and i mean the long way!
well another part to this story is that 559hog was carrying about a 15 lb. backpack and his feet developed blisster's and said he would not be able to make it back all the way to muddy's quad, it was a long journey for sure and i was hanging in there with no water, but i encouraged 559 to keep going and he did, at one point we could see across the canyon to an open meadow were muddys quad was, and it was faaaarrrrr AAAAAAAAWWWWWay! after hrs and miles i could not beleave we made it to the qaud, we were drianed and depleated and broken down but we made it!
i knew in my hart it how tough tuff it was for 559hog to make that journey, BRO, that was hard core manning up and thanks for not giving up that day! i found a nice tree to chill under for the last 3 hrs of the evening hunt and 559, was out for the count! i just hung out glassing the hillsides while he was dreaming of piggie's until the sun went down i tried to wake him up for prime time of the evening but he was out cold. the sun went down and Ken showed up to pick us up, we still had to wait for Muddy and Sancho to make back down and they did and we all headed back to camp with no sight of hogs now for 2 days, but their still was hope with all the sign we were finding. me and 559 were so happy to get back to camp and get them boots off, get some liquids and darn good chow! i know i was going to crash hard after this day of hard core miles of hunting and hiking.

next morning i was up at 4:30 am excited to get back out hunting for the last day of our hunt, made sure i had plenty of water some fresh hunting boots for this journey, even set up my target with a spot light and shot my bow just to make sure the sight and pins was all intune. everyone got up and ready and the 4 of us bow hunters took off in the rhino and quad for hills agian, muddy found a good area that the 4 of us could hunt with chances of success, so we piared up agian MUddy with Sancho and me with 559 and we spilt up and stared our hunt and game plan.
after about an hour of working our way to the bottom streams 559 spots a hog jetting across the opposite hillside into a grove of tree's and i saw it too . it was a good 250-300 lb. hog, so we watch to see if it would come out the other side and didnt so we knew once we got to the bottom we would have to do a little hill climbing agian which our bodies were not lookink forward too but we are there to hunt hogs so we went for the stalk and strike! got to the bottom and now we had to cross a 50 ft. wide stream with about a foot of water, nothing was stopping us now, i got water proof boots and some rivers west on, lets do this, and off we cross and now have to climb about 600 ft. to the trees the hog ran in, 559 went up one side i went up the other but once i got to the spot no hog it went into a ravine of thick pines probley held up in there, i was thinking of slidding in with just a knife to flush it out but it was steep and slippery, so it was a bust on that stalk. once we got back to the bottom i radioed Muddy a they were on 3 hogs and wanted us to meet with them but that was it for 5559 hog, his feet were badly blisterd from the day before and he could not continue with the hike back up towards Muddy and Sancho.
so i had to leave 559hog for the buzzard's and started the hike back up it was about 30 minutes all up hill and i dont now i even made it my legs just wanted to give up too but i would not stop or quit! i made it to the spot radioed muddy and just waited at the bottom for them with hopes of them scoring or pushing the hogs towards me. 30 minutes went by and Ken was on the radio ready to pick us up, it was time for our hunt to end, so Ken went to pick up 559 down at the bottom and then the 4 of us took our last rhino and quad ride back to the camp with out a hog but we did finialley got into them for a little action and excitement of our weekend hunt.
once we got back to camp there was one successfull hunter and that was Backcountry he scored a nice 240 lb. trophy hog with a rifle and dog's, that really exciting, everyone took photo's and then George and his boy's went to work on skinning the hog, i got that on video too with my mini bow cam, that was cool. supper congrats on the hog B.C.!
its always tuff to pack up and leave a place like this with over a fantastic 22,000 privite property to hunt on like the Cooley Ranch, it was breathtaking and very exciting! i did get my moneys worth sharing this hunt with other jho members who have the same passion to hunt wild pigs as i do, it will be great memories to always reflect on. so have a great day everyone and thanks for taking the time to read my story..................tra

p.s. Sancho and 559hog i look forward to sharing another bowhunt with ya guys in the future and Muddy we have to hook up and do some hunting ig-laughing: :archer green: together in the future for sure my friend!................tra

 

[muddy_udders]

BC has left me no choice

I just want to thank FMBC for being so kind. While pictures were being taken she must have seen the jealousy and envy on the other hunters faces and tried to make us feel better about not getting hogs this weekend.

 

[559hog]

^ lol:not-worthy:

 

[Backcountry]

I just want to thank FMBC for being so kind. While pictures were being taken she must have seen the jealousy and envy on the other hunters faces and tried to make us feel better about not getting hogs this weekend.

Touché!

I will forever be requesting you to accompany me on another hunt, and I will be bringing a camera, and I will be alert to every move you make. You have been warned...

Ok, since the cat is outta the bag now, guess I better finish up the story and post up... ig-laughing:

 

[sancho]

MUDDY! HAHAHAHHA

 

[muddy_udders]

Touché!

I will forever be requesting you to accompany me on another hunt, and I will be bringing a camera, and I will be alert to every move you make. You have been warned...

Ok, since the cat is outta the bag now, guess I better finish up the story and post up... ig-laughing:

Yes please do on both accounts

 

[Live2hunt]

Hmmmmm........there must be something wrong with the ranch after Ken Whittaker retired. I've hunted the Cooley Ranch 4 times and my group have not came home empty handed. Did anybody do an evening hunt in the bowl that Muddy_udders hunted back in the end of Jan.? And did anybody hunt the open hillside over the ridge from Buckeye Lake? Those two spots are good for and evening stake out right before dark. Another good spot is at the top of "No Man's Land" near the property boundary. It is at the top of a ridge covered with thick brush. Ken and his crew usually runs dogs on that thick brush ridge. At the top there are some opens with scattered oak trees and there are usually lots of rooting under those oak trees. I've seen and killed pigs up there before. Maybe I should join you guys on the next hunt and I will be glad to take some of you to the spots that have produce pigs for me.

Mel, I was expecting to see some pics of your hog on this trip. How did you come out empty handed on this one? Was there something different about the ranch after Ken stopped managing it?


L2H

 

[Mel Carter]

L2H,
I don't think anything was different, I personally think that they have had so much pressure that they were really brushed up. John hunted the bowl, and Buckeye lake was hunted as well. George said later in the year such as this it gets more difficult to find the hogs but they are there. He told me he has killed 96 hogs this year before our hunt.

He reopens in October, I want to set this hunt up again for his first opening weekend. I'll work out the details with George later, then post up again here on the dates.

You going to join us in October? By then you will probably have killed all the hogs on public land so you'll need somewhere to go.

 

[Live2hunt]

Mel, I believed lots of people that hunted the Buckeye Lake area usually just walk down to the lake and then down the canyon back to the river. The spot I was talking about is hidden over the ridge from the lake. The road up the west side of the hill from the lake has some very steep up and down as you head uphill. It T to the road on the top of the ridge and on the backside is a big grassy open hillside with some springs. From my past hunts, when there were no pig signs in the area from the barn to the lake, I found fresh wallows and rooting around the springs in that backside. It seemed like that one spot was almost untouch by any of Ken's hunters except guys from my group.

I was going to join you guys on this hunt, but while you were organizing this trip, I was in and out of the hospital so I didn't want to make the commitment and not show up. In October, if the dates does not overlap with any of the big game season that I may draw tag for, I will try to join you guys. But I would like the option to roam around the ranch on my own just like I used to have with Ken. I hope George is ok with that as well.


L2H

 

[Mel Carter]

L2H,
As far as roaming the ranch, George doesn't allow that. He has a real issue with people going off on their own, more of a safety issue then anything. He wouldn't even let me roam around, and I know the ranch pretty well. I know of the area your speaking of at buckeye lake, we didn't hit that spot, I was way too tired to hike that area after the beating I took on Saturday. I love that area, and in October it's where I will spend my time.

 

[hatchet1]

ROUGH HUNT BOYS..SOUNDS LIKE IT MAY HAVE BEEN OVER HUNTED A BIT..IN WHICH CASE YOU WOULD DEFINETLY WANT TO BE OUT EXTREMLY EARLY IN THE FIELD
CATCHING THEM HEADING BACK TO BED... THOSE HOGS GET EDUCATED REAL QUICK!! BUT AT LEAST YOU ALL WERE OUT HUNTING!! NOW WHATS WITH THE DUDE
HOLDING ON TO THE MONEY SHOT OF THE PORKER?? FIRE IT UP GUY!!:chainsaw: