The Hog Blog

On the road through Sunday… no live updates, so figured this’ll set the proper tone.

I hear a lot of folks say that Texans and Californians don’t get along, and the good people of the Lone Star State hate to see Left Coasters moving into their fine piece of the country.  Good thing I’m not really a Californian…

It’s been a while since I was in Texas, and I have to say that state really grows on me.  Fortunately, I’m about to head back down for a week and some change.  Kat and I are hitting the road tonight, and expect to be in camp by the Frio river with my brother (the bloodthirsty savage) and his wife, as well as my mom. 

Definitely gonna be doing some hunting for hogs and exotics while I’m there.  We’ll be hunting with Shane, from Borderbandit Outfitters.  I also hope to look around at some properties.  Yeah, I like it that much! 

I don’t know how much I’ll be able to post while I’m down there.  The campground has wireless, but last year I found the connection pretty danged sketchy.  Hopefully they’ve upgraded a little bit since then.  One way or another, I’ll try to get some pix and updates online.

Well, the little adventure this weekend didn’t really pan out… which is just as well, I suppose.  I’ve got a freezer full of meat, and a Texas trip coming up at the end of this week.  But it looks like I’m not the only one who’s been out in the field lately.

First of all, there’s my friend Bruce (a friend I’ve yet to meet in person) over in Hawaii.  Bruce has been living the life over there on the Big Island… hunting hogs, goats, and all sorts of birds at one moment, and then out pulling in big fish from the clear, Pacific waters.  Here’s a recent report…

Went up on Mauna Kea yesterday and took a nice pig and a sheep.  I shot the pig with a .270 Nosler Ballistic Tip, the third time I’ve used that particular bullet in the past several weeks to take a hog.  I think it is possibly the worst bullet in the world to use on big hogs and I can back up my claim.  Is there a section on your blog to post such commentary and if so, what is the protocol?

Going back up tomorrow [Friday] to try for a big ram.  We’re experiencing a terrible drought and many animals have moved down into the jungles on the east side of the island.  You need dogs to hunt there and that ain’t my bag.  It’s also turkey season, so I’ll bring along a shotgun.  I saw 50+ turkeys but was way too pooped after a tough hike at 8000 feet to stalk them.  I’ll take some photos or video this time if you’re interested in them.  That pig yesterday was my 46th since I started hunting here 3 1/2 years ago. 

Hope all is well.  I’m really enjoying your hunting site, slowly working my way through it.

There are a couple of interesting points here, beginning with Bruce’s comments regarding the Ballistic Tips… 

My own experience with these bullets hasn’t been great either.  On the one hand, everything I’ve shot with them died quickly, and they were extremely accurate out of my 30-06.  But they were also extremely destructive bullets, and I hate meat loss.  So Bruce, here’s your opportunity to tell us about your experience… 

But you should know we’re going to temper our empathy for your misfortunes with a hot stroke of jealousy… 46 pigs in 3 1/2 years! 

Of course, you should know that Bruce has been enlisted by several neighbors to help with porcine raiders hitting their gardens and yards.  That’s the mixed blessing of being a hog hunter in a place like Hawaii, I guess.  One of these days, I swear I’m going to take him up on the offer to show me around over there. 

Several thousand miles away from Bruce, regular Hog Blog reader and commenter, Brian (Carolina Rig) made a trip into the South Carolina swamps for sus scrofa, and it sounds like he did great too!

Got back last night from the annual public land trip down to SC.  This is the third year in a row I’ve made it down for the SC March hog season.  Its relatively inexpensive for a non-resident ($40 for 3 day license, $76 for WMA permit) since you don’t have to get a ‘big game’ license.  For a DIY’er its great.  26,000 acres of sandy pine ridges, oak flats, and cypress swamp bottoms offer plenty of room to get away from crowds.  The crew I convinced to come down with me managed numerous sightings, and have 10 on the board right now (two guys are still down there!)  Sizes ranged from 15lbs shoats to 150lbs boars. 

Yummy.  As always camping with friends, and wildlife sightings made the trip….including a scat trifecta.  You ever seen a deer, pig, and turkey shit so close to eachother?!  Got another trip planned with family for mid March with an outfitter.  Taking a couple first time hog hunters….I remember my first time…I haven’t been the same since.

Oh, and one last note from the East Coast.  Every week day, I try to keep up on the newspaper from back home, the Wilmington Star News.  The sports pages offer a small section of outdoor reporting, and it’s how I get a regular dose of homesickness remedy (you’d think after almost 16 years, I’d be over that, right?).  Right now is that slow time of year, with hunting seasons ended and still too cold for most offshore fishing… but I still check in.

One Star News feature I often enjoy is a column and blog by reporter Amy Hotz, called It’s Hotz Outside.  Amy isn’t a hunter yet, but it looks like she’s getting ready to change that on Wednesday, with a feral hog hunt in Brunswick County.  When I left NC, feral hogs really hadn’t come back into the area in huntable numbers, so I have to admit I’ve been reading her recent posts about the planned hunt with a touch of envy.

All this talk of jealousy… seriously, I’m glad to see folks out there doing it up, and really looking forward to hearing from more of you.

Heading out in about an hour to meet up with Holly, the NorCal Cazadora.  We’re going to take a look at some private property where the hogs have been making a nuisance of themselves (as they’re wont to do), and maybe help the landowner out by taking a couple of pests home for dinner. .. or at least come up with a plan to eliminate some of them later.   

I haven’t been out to this place before, so besides some basic reports from Holly and a little Google Earth scouting, I’m definitely going in cold.  We’ll see how it all pans out.  See ya’ll when I get home!

In the meantime, if you’d like to check out a great little fable about pigs, check this out.  (Sorry, they disabled the embedding for this one… and that’s a shame!)

A little while back I shared some info from my friend and fellow Local Field Director for the US Sportsman’s Alliance (USSA), Adam McInerny about a relatively new company, Bullets and Brass.  The company was offering a series of free reloading courses around the SF Bay Area.  

Well Adam dropped me another note the other day with a couple of updates.  Headlining the email was the company’s new policy about donating portions of proceeds from the sale of certain components and reloading equipment to Hunters Helping Soldiers.  Here’s what he wrote:

Hunters Helping Soldiers

As of 2/20/10 we are now sponsoring Hunters Helping Soldiers, a Non-profit organization started by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance’s Local Field Director, Scott, to take our wounded warriors out on hunting or fishing trips of a lifetime. Scott also runs Camp Hoorah for kids of soldiers killed in action or currently deployed overseas.

Bullets and Brass is now donating a portion of or proceeds from the sale of our Moly Coated bullets, SKB hard cases, ammo boxes, and range gear on our website.

To learn more about Hunters Helping Soldiers, visit the website at

http://www.huntershelpingsoldiers.org/

It looks like there will be some more reloading classes coming up in the near future as well. 

Reloading Education

Bullets and Brass will be offering classes again in March for anyone looking to find out if reloading is for them and we will start offering hands on classes for beginning reloaders as well at the 10th street Range in San Jose. We are also looking to form additional classes around the Central Valley and in the North Bay. Anyone who would like to volunteer their range facilities can contact adam@getbulletsandbrass.com to set up classes.

I am not affiliated with the company, but I do like what they’re doing… both with the Hunters Helping Soldiers program, and with the free reloading classes.  I wish them all the best!

It looks like there will also soon be some more free courses coming up as well.

Sitting around the Press Room at the SHOT Show, you always have the opportunity to talk to several authors, videographers, and other folks who have interesting products.  I always come away with a couple of things to review, and this past show was no different.

One such product was a DVD from Impressum Media, Inc., called The Firearms Multimedia Guide.  On the disc is a searchable database of over 41,ooo models of firearms and ammo.  They bill the Guide as “the most extensive firearms reference guide in the world,” and I don’t doubt it.  I know I’ve never seen anything quite like it… at least not in this format.

The search feature is really pretty well-designed, allowing the user to put in up to 14 search criteria.  You can search as detailed or as high-level as you want, depending on what you are trying to find.  The data set includes almost anything you’d want to know about a specific gun, right down to the current MSRP.  Also, for every gun you select, you can also find a list of available ammunition, complete with ballistics charts. 

At first, I gave a lot of thought to what use something like this would serve.  I mean, it’s really cool and everything, but what would I do with it?  I suppose if I were shopping for something fairly obscure or really high-end, it would be handy for that.  They do have some pretty cool stuff listed in there, including a bunch of bespoke guns that you won’t find listed in most of the gun books. 

The real value of this DVD and database would be for the writer who needs access to detailed info about various guns and ammunition.  Whether you’re writing a hunting article or a spy novel, you can get accurate and detailed information about all sorts of guns.  I have seen way too many novels, movies, and TV shows that could absolutely benefit from this kind of info as well. 

Overall, it’s a pretty neat tool.  If I had any concerns, it’s that as far as I can tell, the only way to update the database is to buy the new version every year or two.  With an MSRP of $29.99, that’s not a terribly big imposition, but it’s something to keep in mind, considering the never-ending evolution of the firearms industry.

In short, if you’re a hunting or shooting writer, or if you (or someone you know) plans to include guns and ammo in stories, novels, or scripts, this could be the perfect reference tool.  It’s simple to use, relatively inexpensive, and loaded with a huge array of guns and ammo.

I haven’t had a chance to do this in a while, but tonight I spent some time cruising through my news feeds to see what’s happening in the world of wild hogs, boar, and pigs.  There’s no way I can bring you all up to speed on all that we’ve missed, but here are a couple of tidbits that I had to share.

First, this is from ABC Rural News (ABC, in this case, is Australian Broadcasting Company), about the impact, or lack thereof, that recreational hunters are having on the overpopulation of hogs in that country.  I’ve mentioned before that hunters participating under fair chase principles simply won’t do what it takes to eradicate hogs, and that certainly seems to be the case in Australia. 

Recreational hunting is a favourite pastime of many people in regional areas, but Dr Carol Booth, from the Invasive Species Council, says unco-ordinated shooting does little to reduce feral populations.

“It’s been estimated for some areas that you need to reduce pig populations by something like 70 per cent to actually achieve a reduction in the population the following year,” he says.

It’s an interesting reality check. 

Another article from the BBC discusses the recent deaths of a couple of reintroduced wild boar in a Scottish forest.  The disease angle is interesting enough, but what really caught my attention was the rationale for reintroducing these beasts…  because they control the undergrowth and keep brush under control. 

The animals were released in a bid to aid the regeneration of ancient Caledonian woodland.

Trees for Life is keeping the surviving boar in a 30.4 acre enclosure in an area of ancient birch wood.

It hopes the animal will control the spread of bracken which shades out other wild plants.

Of course, in Scotland and Britain wild boar are, after all, native to that landscape.  It does make me wonder what the real impacts of wild hogs would be on US habitat.  Isn’t it possible that, in the big picture, they may actually offer some benefits?

That’s just a taste of what’s going on with hogs around the world.  Thought ya’ll might find it interesting.

First things first… a couple of weeks back, I posted up about a proposal floated around Montana to ban lead ammunition from State Wildlife Areas.  As of February 11, the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission voted against the ban.  As was reported in the Billings Gazette, it was a close vote.

HELENA — By a slim, one-vote margin, Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission on Thursday killed an effort to ban lead shot ammunition for upland game bird hunting on a series of state-owned hunting lands.

The commission voted 3-2 against banning lead shot ammunition at the Freezeout Lake and Canyon Ferry wildlife management areas. Earlier, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks had suggested banning lead shot on all the management areas. The commission never considered a total ban, the only two that came up for discussion at Thursday’s meeting were Freezeout Lake and Canyon Ferry.

That’s the good news.

The not-so-good news comes from California.  I received the following press release the other day, but was asked to hold it.  Well, it’s reported all over the place now… so much for being first out of the gate.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: John D. Mann

February 23, 2010

 (916) 718-7420
 
Nava Announces Introduction of Bill Banning the Use of Lead Shot in State Wildlife Areas
 
Nava Will Be Joined by Audubon California, Defenders of Wildlife, the Humane Society and other Environmental Groups
 
What: Press conference regarding Nava’s proposal to ban the use of toxic lead shot in all California State Wild Life Areas
 
When: Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 11 a.m.
Where: State Capitol, Room 1190
Who:  Assemblymember Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara)
            Audubon California
            Defenders of Wildlife
            The Humane Society of the United States
 
The bill will expand existing federal limitations on the use of lead shot to include all 627,000 acres of California’s most important wildlife habitat that host many species which are listed as threatened, endangered or fully protected under state law.  
 
“This is an important environmental issue for California wildlife,” said Assemblymember Nava. “The science is increasingly clear that lead shot poses a real danger to bird populations on these lands. With viable alternatives to lead shot – this is just a no-brainer.”
 
Two years ago, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Nava’s Ridley Tree Condor Preservation Act that banned the use of lead ammunition in California condor country. The ban has been instrumental in the recovery of the endangered California condor.
 
####

 It just makes me tired.  The arguments have all been made, and I don’t have much new to add.  I recognize that lead-free ammo is becoming more and more available, and that the lead ban juggernaut has worked up a pretty solid head of steam in this state.  Even so, statements like, “the science is increasingly clear that lead shot poses a real danger to bird populations on these lands,” really piss me off. 

At the same time Nava is making statements like this, the folks in Montana are saying that the science does NOT support a lead ban.  So which is it? 

Well, anyone who’s been paying attention knows it might be a little of both.  Research does show that carrion birds and even some raptors are picking up residual lead which may be coming from hunter-shot game.  But it’s also not showing a sharp increase in mortality.  In fact, bald eagles, golden eagles, and some hawks appear to be doing very well.  Ravens, crows, and buzzards are also thriving. 

The problem is that the real science here is being buried under emotions, politics, and agenda.  Statements like Nava’s only make it worse.  It’s not a “no-brainer”.  It’s just that some people apparently aren’t using their brains.

So over at Holly’s NorCal Cazadora blog this morning, she’s given us all a chance to get active in making positive change for members of the US military.  It starts with a fairly simple idea… let active military hunt any state on a resident tag.  Several states allow military to hunt as residents, as long as they’re stationed in the state, and that’s cool… but this takes it a step further by setting aside the expensive non-resident fee requirements, and allowing them to purchase resident tags. 

What do you think? 

If you like the idea, follow Holly’s lead by posting up with a link back to her article: http://norcalcazadora.blogspot.com/2010/02/soldier-and-hunter-with-brilliant-idea.html

On the blog post, Holly also has several other ways you can get involved to make this thing a reality.

What a difference a week makes!

After the previous weekend’s tough hunting at Tejon Ranch, with nine hunters coming away with only three hogs, I was a little concerned going into the past weekend’s hunt.  However, on this last hunt, there were a number of different factors involved.  

First, the weather turned cold and wet.  The beautiful, sunny days of the previous hunt quickly became pleasant memories when the rain and fog bored into the hills.  The persistent, icy rain turned the roads into sloppy goo and worked its way right through the best gear.  Even before the rain, the cold wind on Friday night nearly drove me off of my favorite ridgetop. 

The bright side is, the changing weather got the animals moving.  We started spotting pigs by 1130, right out of camp on Friday, and when the fog allowed any visibility at all, we continued to see hogs.  During the previous hunt, hogs were moving almost completely at night, leaving a frustrating amount of sign but heading back to their beds before first light.

The other big difference was the group of hunters on this trip.  The previous trip consisted of nine guys, only two of whom (myself and Ron Gayer) had any experience on the ranch.  Few of the others had much hog hunting experience, especially not in a place like Tejon. 

The group this weekend consisted of 12 guys, mostly long-time hog hunters who have been coming to Tejon for several years.  They came with “honey holes” already picked out.  They knew how to get to the good spots, how to hunt them, and in the end, it all paid off.  The group rolled out of the gates on the last day with a total of 10 hogs for 12 hunters.  Everyone had taken at least one shot (a couple of guys took more than one shot). 

For me, a big part of the pleasure this weekend was hunting with my friend, T. Michael Riddle from Native Hunt.  I’d told him for years about how much I loved hunting the Tejon Ranch, and he said he’d always wanted to get out there.  I think Michael quickly found that everything he’d heard about the place was true.  It’s simply a phenomenal piece of land, loaded with all the bounty and beauty Nature can provide. 

After a couple of false starts, we were able to hang both our tags on a couple of fat sows.  (I’ll write a little more about those false starts over on the Native Hunt blog.) 

And then there were pork chops, and there was much rejoicing!