Hog huntin

[BroadwayBill]

Had to share this so I thought this was the appropriate place.
Glad to see he is wearing his hunter orange.

http://vimeo.com/21181307

Bill

[MrStarnes1]

that brought a smile to my face... i guess that makes me sick?

Got to be done in some increasing cases. I prefer stalk and charge for thrills.

Not long ago I was on my way to Lake Sonoma, California to do some fall bass fishing out of my canoe, from my home (at the time) just south of there. As Tony Bennett sang many times "The early morning fog chilled the air". Lake Sonoma resides in a state owned parcel of land which extends some several miles around the lakes perimeter. The near wine country terrain is more than a little hilly in places, rising easily 500 to 1,000 feet in a matter of 100 yards or so. Most hills have a 30 - 60 degree tree and walk around boulder filled incline; rugged from the incline, not necessarily the ground content.

In my quarter mile approach to crossing the Bridge to the launch ramp I spotted a monster wild pig crossing the road 100 yards distant, and headed full bore – or would that be “Boar” up a hill overlooking the lake. This pig weighed maybe 300 pounds from my vantage point, and was traveling probably 40 miles an hour without breaking stride all the way up that 100 yard hill. The path the pig took angled away from me on the road. I must have scared him into a rush for life away from my truck. The second I saw him, I came to a stop and picked up my Nikon Action 16x50 binoculars just in time to pick up his image just before disappearing over the ridge into the now rising fog hanging near the top.

The distance was then 200 yards when I caught his disappearing act. The power on the Nikons I had with me were a bit severe for picking up fast moving game but with good fortune they came through for me. I didn't have time to focus them properly but what was there was clear enough to do an admirable job all the same. What that pig may not have known was the particular hill he climbed was one I noted from previous experience as having sheer drops on all sides except the one he went up. The plateau of the hill was maybe 75 yards square.

Like many nimrods of the world, I hunt as well as fish. At the time California had a five pig tag, good all year round, which I purchased every year. Then, because of the many wild pig opportunities of the area, I always kept a 12 gauge pump shotgun and slugs at hand; legally locked and transported in a case on the floor in the back seat of my truck. Not to interfere with passing traffic, I stopped the truck off to the side of the road where I saw the pig cross. Hurrying to unlock the shotgun and load it with three slugs, up the path I went after the pig.

Wild things are far more in shape than common suburbanites! Huffing and puffing near the top I stopped on a waist high bolder to catch my breath. My heart just came to the point of settling down from the climb. Sitting there, looking at all the possible routes the pig must have taken; there was an eruption of fall red and gold brush 30 yards to my left. The pig apparently found no escape except the path he came up there on. Of course, it so happens I was sitting on that path. In one motion of jacking a round into the chamber, swinging the 870 pump gun as I’ve done many times in sporting clays approaching birds coming at you, I put the bead a foot ahead of the pigs charging nose and pulled the trigger. The slug hit him between his shoulder blades and almost anchored him. I say almost because his momentum carried him past me tumbling – now standing on that bolder I was sitting on before - and over the edge of the hills ridge, tumbling him a third of the way back down the hill. I watch him laying belly up for several minutes and to be safe put another slug into his heart lung area before approaching to field dress and tag him.

Pigs are dirty things – “don’t cha know” – and not with just a few ticks and various other bug critters feasting on there hides. One hour later and with the help of a passing fisherman we got the pig up on my truck. With a small bout stout shovel, I went back up the hill to bury the entrails. Washing my hands with a canteen of water from the truck, I drove to the nearest Dept of Conservation stop, and registered the kill. Then I drove home to a wife who surprised me by saying “Not what are you going to do with it. It’s not coming in the house.” It took me about 3 hours of hard labor skinning and butchering the meat for the extra fridge we had in the garage. I donated most of the meat to the needy of the area.

[BroadwayBill]

That's a great story thanks for sharing.

Bill

[CollinLeon]

I'm in Texas... We have a serious hog problem here... They will seriously tear up the land... There's a few tearing up the land along the Brazos River near where I live and I've tried going out there during the day, at dusk, and at dawn, but I haven't been able to catch them yet... I've got a .45-70 that I recently bought that is just itching to get its first hog...

You only need a basic hunting license here and you can shoot as many as you want all throughout the year and at any time of the day or night. Even with that, we still can't even make a dent in the hog population.