Fugaloo
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So I know it has been quite a while since Zach was awarded the give away hog hunt. We went out to Parrey's ranch in April. Didn't really see any action, and I was going to wait to have something good to report before I told the story, but after somebody brought it up I thought I'd tell a little tale.
First of all, Parrey at just for hunting is an outstanding guide. The property we hunted is one of several he has access to, and it was huge. It was a cattle ranch, cows everywhere, and I'm guessing somewhere around 1500 feet of elevation betwee n the highest peaks and the lowest valleys. It is a diverse landscape, there's plenty of long flat open meadows and huge hills. And up until the day we got out there I guess it was crawling with hogs.
We left Santa Rosa pretty late and didn't get into town until after midnight. That 4:30 alarm came pretty quickly and we were up and waiting for Parrey who showed up right on time. We traveled about 30 minutes out to the ranch and were all geared up to jump shoot some hogs right at the front gate. But....there were no hogs to shoot at the front gate. I could tell he was really surprised they weren't there. That's OK, there's over 5000 acres on this ranch and we'll find them somewhere. So after a few more gates and a long dirt road we come to a corral, which has an old 30's or 40's Dodge truck that looks like it's been sitting longer than I have been living. We unload the Rhino, and start talking with the cowboy who had just arrives from Wyoming a day or two earlier. Parrey also had another guide whom he works with taking some other hunters out. Turns out they bailed after an hour or two, maybe they knew something? We hop into the Rhino and set out for hog heaven.
Zach had a great time bouncing around in the back of that thing. He has never done any four wheeling and it was a real thrill for him. There are tons of trails on this property with one hill climb in particular that was really steep. I'm sure you could spend a lot of time out there and still never see it all. There's also about a million ground squirrels all over this ranch which are kinda fun to watch and contemplate being out there for just a squirrel round up. It was also pretty cold and wet which I had not anticipated, I wore the wrong shoes, and only had a light jacket to keep me warm. This just reminded me how much of a challenge hunting can be, even if it's just weather that's the challenge, or the lack of preparedness to deal with said weather.
This was also my first hunting trip. I do almost all of my hunting within 30 minutes from my house. The experience of road trip, hotel, visiting a new town and living out of the trunk of my car was something I never equated with hunting before and it was really nice like I was on an adventure. And of course Zach has not done much traveling at all so it was a great trip for him too.
So we headed back out for an evening hunt which also turned into just a four wheeling ride up and down the hills. We really didn't see anything aside from a black bear that was at least a mile or two away, through the bino's it looked like a black dot moving up a hillside. We called it a night, headed back to the hotel room and ordered a pizza.
The next morning we went back out to the property, this time with another guide whose name I have forgotten, but was a really nice guy, and seemed to really know his stuff. Same deal, corral, rhino, hills, valleys,...no pigs. As we crested one hill that was set in tress and bushes the guide and I both smelled what we thought was a hog. We got out and looked around, trying to sniff this pig out. The scent would come and go, and at the end we narrowed it down to a tree rub that must have been visited recently. Got back in the rhino and kept going. A few minutes later we stopped at what the guide thought was a good place to find a bedded hog. No hogs to be seen, but a coyote was barking on the other side of a group of trees, must have been within fifty yards. I asked Zach what he thought about that coyote after we got back in the rhino. He says" That was a coyote? I thought that was a dog." It didn't dawn on me to do anything with the coyote at the time, we had left the guns in the rhino about 100 yards away and up a hill from our position. I brought a couple of predator calls too, but I at least should have pointed it out to Zach at the time. I probably could have kissed him in from that range but without gun in hand it just didn't reach my attention.
A short while after that we were cruising up a moderate hill when I spotted a hog lying down, ten feet off the road, and about thirty yards in front of us. I signal to stop, tell Zach to get the gun out, and the pig bolts. BIG PIG! The guide guessed him to be over 300 lbs. Zach caught a slight glimpse of him as he disappeared. We tried tracking him, the tall grass giving away his trail, but all it turned into was a steep hike to the edge of a steeper cliff. Either the pig jumped 600 feet down or knows of a different trail out of there. My moneys on the different trail.
Well, that's about it. Parrey insisted that Zach come back to get his pig. But it was already April and summer was fast approaching. I got real busy with work, and summer set in so the hunting wouldn't be very good any way. But I'm trying to get Zach's sister enrolled in hunter's safety so she can come back with us. When we do go back I want to buy a ground squirrel shoot for the three of us. I LOVE hunting hogs. But in all reality, walking around shooting all the squeeks on this ranch sounds like a total blast. They are everywhere. Hopefully Vol. 2 of my tale will end with a picture of two kids and their uncle, smiles a mile wide standing atop a mountain of dead squirrels with a hog hanging in the back ground. I'll let you know
Fug Out!
First of all, Parrey at just for hunting is an outstanding guide. The property we hunted is one of several he has access to, and it was huge. It was a cattle ranch, cows everywhere, and I'm guessing somewhere around 1500 feet of elevation betwee n the highest peaks and the lowest valleys. It is a diverse landscape, there's plenty of long flat open meadows and huge hills. And up until the day we got out there I guess it was crawling with hogs.
We left Santa Rosa pretty late and didn't get into town until after midnight. That 4:30 alarm came pretty quickly and we were up and waiting for Parrey who showed up right on time. We traveled about 30 minutes out to the ranch and were all geared up to jump shoot some hogs right at the front gate. But....there were no hogs to shoot at the front gate. I could tell he was really surprised they weren't there. That's OK, there's over 5000 acres on this ranch and we'll find them somewhere. So after a few more gates and a long dirt road we come to a corral, which has an old 30's or 40's Dodge truck that looks like it's been sitting longer than I have been living. We unload the Rhino, and start talking with the cowboy who had just arrives from Wyoming a day or two earlier. Parrey also had another guide whom he works with taking some other hunters out. Turns out they bailed after an hour or two, maybe they knew something? We hop into the Rhino and set out for hog heaven.
Zach had a great time bouncing around in the back of that thing. He has never done any four wheeling and it was a real thrill for him. There are tons of trails on this property with one hill climb in particular that was really steep. I'm sure you could spend a lot of time out there and still never see it all. There's also about a million ground squirrels all over this ranch which are kinda fun to watch and contemplate being out there for just a squirrel round up. It was also pretty cold and wet which I had not anticipated, I wore the wrong shoes, and only had a light jacket to keep me warm. This just reminded me how much of a challenge hunting can be, even if it's just weather that's the challenge, or the lack of preparedness to deal with said weather.
This was also my first hunting trip. I do almost all of my hunting within 30 minutes from my house. The experience of road trip, hotel, visiting a new town and living out of the trunk of my car was something I never equated with hunting before and it was really nice like I was on an adventure. And of course Zach has not done much traveling at all so it was a great trip for him too.
So we headed back out for an evening hunt which also turned into just a four wheeling ride up and down the hills. We really didn't see anything aside from a black bear that was at least a mile or two away, through the bino's it looked like a black dot moving up a hillside. We called it a night, headed back to the hotel room and ordered a pizza.
The next morning we went back out to the property, this time with another guide whose name I have forgotten, but was a really nice guy, and seemed to really know his stuff. Same deal, corral, rhino, hills, valleys,...no pigs. As we crested one hill that was set in tress and bushes the guide and I both smelled what we thought was a hog. We got out and looked around, trying to sniff this pig out. The scent would come and go, and at the end we narrowed it down to a tree rub that must have been visited recently. Got back in the rhino and kept going. A few minutes later we stopped at what the guide thought was a good place to find a bedded hog. No hogs to be seen, but a coyote was barking on the other side of a group of trees, must have been within fifty yards. I asked Zach what he thought about that coyote after we got back in the rhino. He says" That was a coyote? I thought that was a dog." It didn't dawn on me to do anything with the coyote at the time, we had left the guns in the rhino about 100 yards away and up a hill from our position. I brought a couple of predator calls too, but I at least should have pointed it out to Zach at the time. I probably could have kissed him in from that range but without gun in hand it just didn't reach my attention.
A short while after that we were cruising up a moderate hill when I spotted a hog lying down, ten feet off the road, and about thirty yards in front of us. I signal to stop, tell Zach to get the gun out, and the pig bolts. BIG PIG! The guide guessed him to be over 300 lbs. Zach caught a slight glimpse of him as he disappeared. We tried tracking him, the tall grass giving away his trail, but all it turned into was a steep hike to the edge of a steeper cliff. Either the pig jumped 600 feet down or knows of a different trail out of there. My moneys on the different trail.
Well, that's about it. Parrey insisted that Zach come back to get his pig. But it was already April and summer was fast approaching. I got real busy with work, and summer set in so the hunting wouldn't be very good any way. But I'm trying to get Zach's sister enrolled in hunter's safety so she can come back with us. When we do go back I want to buy a ground squirrel shoot for the three of us. I LOVE hunting hogs. But in all reality, walking around shooting all the squeeks on this ranch sounds like a total blast. They are everywhere. Hopefully Vol. 2 of my tale will end with a picture of two kids and their uncle, smiles a mile wide standing atop a mountain of dead squirrels with a hog hanging in the back ground. I'll let you know
Fug Out!
