The Hog Blog

Well, I had every intention of posting up this evening with pictures and tales of my latest hog hunting success.  Oh well, no pork, but the trip was still pretty successful. 

To begin with, this was my first trip to this property, so I didn’t really have too much in the way of expectations.  I figured in the day and a half I’d be able to hunt, I’d probably end up spending the majority of the time learning the lay of the land, picking good spots for later, and maybe I’d see a pig or two.

Well, I was mostly right…

The first morning, after heading for the highest point on the property (my standard strategy when I go to a new place), I spotted hogs on a distant hilltop.  I looked at the sketchy map provided by the hunting club, but couldn’t see any legal way to get to them.  A few hours later, a couple of club regulars asked how my hunt went.  I told them, and described the scene with the hogs.  Of course, their response set the tone for the weekend.  “Why didn’t you go after them?”

“I thought they were outside the club boundaries?” I replied.

“Of course not.  You could have driven practically right to them.”

It turns out that the map was my biggest nemesis all weekend.  Saturday evening I spotted a bunch of hogs as I drove out for the hunt, but since there was a fence between me and them, I thought they were off limits.  The guys following me stopped, jumped the fence, and shot four hogs out of the group.

My final hunt this morning almost broke the cycle.  I spotted four hogs about a half mile away.  I watched them, but with the fence between us I didn’t think I could go after them.  However, after reviewing the map several times I realized they might actually be on the ranch.  However, by that time all but one hog had disappeared.  I put the stalk on and after a very long walk, I closed to within rifle range. 

I leaned up over the edge of a berm and put the Bushnell rangefinder/binoculars on the hog.  As I watched, several tiny objects swarmerd around her feet.  I’d just stalked all the way across the ranch to close on a wet sow.  I watched her for a while, then went off to look for the other hogs.  No sign of them, and it was time to go home.

Anyway, I did get to try out my new video camera this weekend.  Hopefully, I’ll have some footage live online this coming week. 

In the meantime, I came home to find that the HogBlog had received a mention on The Wild Boar Hunting In California blog.  The site is run by a fellow California hog hunter, Peter Jaeckle.  Great info on hog hunting in general, particularly for those of us in CA.   If you like this kind of stuff, check it out.

Hey hey, time for a new look at porkchops in the news! 

OK, so there’s not a lot new to report.  I was kind of amazed when I checked the RSS feeds to find that the story about that wild boar in the Barcelona highway is still circulating.  That’s how slow the piggie news is right now.

Still, a couple of things are happening.  First, Pennsylvania is continuing to try to figure out how to deal with the spread of feral hogs in their countryside.  According to this article from the Tribune Democrat, the hogs are showing up in people’s yards, doing what hogs do (devastating the landscape) and breeding happily. 

One note from that article really stood out. 

Homeowners on Pindleton Ridge and nearby are reporting sightings in the evening, when the hogs come out to feed.
Others are seeing damage caused by the animals’ rooting: They are prone to digging up soil and going after food put out for deer or turkey.

I’m sorry…did that just say the hogs were eating food put out for deer and turkey?  So these suburbanites are feeding the wildlife, then complaining because the wildlife is tearing up their shrubbery?  Here’s a thought.  STOP FEEDING THE WILD ANIMALS!

Hmm… maybe I’ve had a touch too much caffeine today.

Earlier, I posted up the news that pseudorabies had been found in a domestic pig froma Wisconsin farm.  As a result, all of the hogs on that farm had to be destroyed.  The general concensus is that the disease was brought to the farm by feral hogs. 

Well, apparently there’s another case at yet another Wisconsin farm.  There were several articles about the situation, but this column from the Green Bay Press takes a look at the big picture. 

The columnist, Pat Durkin, says that it’s time the state take a look at many of the current practices that expose wildlife and domestic stock to disease outbreaks, and that they take a pro-active position. 

In particular, he targets the practice of baiting and feeding deer… a practice which has been clearly indicated to increase the spread of virulent diseases like CWD and tuberculosis.  This is a hot topic in many areas, as Wisconsin is one of the states being hardest hit by the CWD outbreak. 

As of right now, there’s no clear evidence that feral pigs were the source of the pseudo-rabies outbreak, and according to the most current articles, there are no other cases in the state.  However, as Durkin points out, the time to prevent these problems is before they happen. 

Anyway, it looks like while hunters may be cheering the spread of hogs across the country, there’s a downside coming along with it.  Stay tuned, and we’ll see what happens next! 

Not a lot going on this week since I’ve been pretty focused on my “real job”.  As a result, I’ve been kind of struggling to come up with titillating tales of tall trees, tough targets, and other alliterative miscellania. 

Anyway, I did find a cool new blog to visit the other day.  Jon Bryan sent me a note to mention how he enjoyed reading some of my stuff, along with an invite to come see his blog, Outdoor Odyssey.  I did, and I really found some great writing.  Check it out if you get a chance. 

Also got a kick out of Rex’s latest tall-tales over at the Deer Camp Blog.  I love his writing and his sense of humor, but I really would’ve thought he’d have killed one of those Mississippi long-beards by now.  Heck, his pops can do it!  All of his readers can do it!  But why can’t Rex kill a turkey?  And don’t buy his excuse of having to go help Othmar move right at the peak of the season! 

Hope I can offer a little more substance with my next post, but in the meantime…  hey, you got what you paid for. 

We’ve all had them, right?  It’s not a bad day, or anything like that… just one of “those” days. 

I’m sitting here, staring at this computer screen instead of doing what I really should/could be working on. 

I’ve got a brand new Konus Pro 3-10 x 44 scope I’m supposed to mount on something, so I can shoot it and write a review.  The scope looks nice, and the etched reticle is a cool concept.  BUT…  I need to get off my butt and go mount it.  I only get 60 days or so to try it and decide if I like it or not.  More to come on this one…

I’ve got two boxes of Barnes TSX bullets I need to load and test for the 30-06.  The new lead ban takes effect at Tejon Ranch in 2008, and I have little doubt that it’ll come into effect for the majority of this state before much longer.  The Barnes bullets are a good option, but as of now I don’t even know how my Savage rifle will shoot them.  I need to get moving here! 

I also need to get some information over to Winchester, so I can try out their new EtipT, non-lead bullets.  I think this is gonna be a good thing, and I already know my Savage 30-06 loves those new Accu-bond bullets… but if I don’t get the info over, they’re not going to send me any test ammo.  I’m such a slacker! 

I’m still waiting on my new Browning A-Bolt.   It’s been so long, I can’t even remember ordering it.  I’ve got a new Leupold scope, rings, bases, and even three boxes of ammo, and a box of 50 Barnes TSX bullets to reload for it.  I guess I could order a sling.  Sure wish the rifle would come on in.

I’m going hunting this weekend.  Heading down south to a little place called Cholame (nothing at all like it’s pronounced) to hunt one of the Golden Ram Sportsman’s Club properties.  If the barley is up, there should be pigs around.  I could stand to get some fresh pork in the freezer.  But heck, I couldn’t even motivate myself to clean up the camper or organize my gear.  What’s wrong with me?

I think I’m working too much.  Maybe this weekend will right the balance.  We’ll see.

I crack myself up… the Porcine Press.  Maybe that’ll be the header for all of these wild hog related news releases?  Whaddayathink?

So anyway, here it is in a nutshell. 

Besides reports of a wild boar in Barcelona stopping traffic on a major freeway, I didn’t find much of the strange or humorous in the RSS feeds today.  What I did see is a spreading concern among pig farmers that feral hogs pose a big threat to their industry, particularly as carriers of pseudo-rabies. 

In answer to that threat, states are cracking down on the importation and release of feral hogs.  In Kansas, according to this article from the Pratt Tribune, it is illegal to run a hog hunt for profit (guiding, fenced hunts, etc.) and a $5000 fine will be levelled against any operator for each day they hunt.  Likewise, importing or releasing feral hogs onto public or private property will result in a $5000 fine, per hog.  In the meantime, Kansas hunters can request a pig license which is free, and hunt year round with no limit on the number of hogs they kill. 

Michigan is also considering some fairly drastic measures, including requiring the removal of wild hogs from the state’s game ranches, and a ban on further importation or release…even on high-fence ranches!  You can read more about the joint commission’s recommendations in this article from the Michigan Farmer. 

A little while back, we read about a possible case of pseudo-rabies in a feral hog taken in Nebraska.  It turned out to be a false alarm there, but now it appears that feral hogs may be responsible for an outbreak in a domestic herd up in Wisconsin.  You can read more about this one here.

This is what they’ve all been afraid of, and the outbreak resulted in an order to destroy all hogs in a five mile radius of the outbreak.  Some farmers are gonna take a beating over this one. 

Well, the only response I have to any of this is to say, “hey!  Get out there and kill some wild hogs!  Not only are they great fun to hunt, you may be doing your state, the environment, and local farmers a big favor!”

Spring is the time of year when many big game hunters have to start planning for the fall season.  Most of the western states require hunters to draw tags from some variation of a lottery system, and if you don’t get your applications in by the deadline, you can forget about getting those premium hunts. 

This is great fun for me, because now I get to sit and daydream about the hunts I’d like to go on.  There are prime, late season hunts where I could try to tag one of the big, mule deer bucks that has migrated out of Yosemite.  Or I could do a late season trek into the Ventana wilderness in search of big hogs and a bruiser blacktail. 

Elk hunts are also available, and while the odds of being drawn are quite slim, I always put in my application with everyone else.  My usual preference is a cow Tule Elk at Grizzly Island Wildlife Refuge, since this one is within a couple of hours of my home.  But I sometimes think about a muzzleloader hunt for Tule Elk bulls up in the northern part of the state…or I could go even further north and try for one of the big-bodied Roosevelts, the largest members of the elk family (although the Rocky Mountain elk generally have bigger antlers…but I don’t eat antler). 

There are other species I could try to draw for as well, including antelope and bighorn sheep, but I don’t usually bother with those.  I could go to Wyoming to hunt speed-goats without drawing a tag, and bighorns just don’t seem to get me excited. 

I’m still considering an out of state hunt this year, probably for elk in Colorado again.  This time, though, I’m going to do an over-the-counter hunt instead, probably for a cow elk.  It’s pretty exciting to take a nice bull, though.  Here’s what my brother and I did last time we went.

Ahh…dreams of autumn!  It’s almost enough to make me push hog hunting to the back of my mind.

Almost.

It’s not something you can just scratch and make it go away.  You can’t spray Bactine on it, or take some antihistamines to clear it up.  It’s worse than mosquito bites on top of poison oak, and it never goes away.

I’m sitting here this morning, eaten up with it.  I know I need to get to work, but all I can think of is hog hunting. 

My thoughts drift from actually chasing the hogs, to all the preparation I could be doing right now. 

My “new” hunting vehicle needs some work, since the brake lights and turn signals appear to have come unwired.  I also want to look into replacing the springs on it, so it doesn’t rattle my teeth quite so bad on the slightest pothole.  And, as much as I’d like to delay it, I need to go see if it will pass the CA Smog test, so I can complete the registration process.  I also want to look into getting a vanity plate for her.  Her name is Petunia.

There’s a big part of me as well that just needs to get out of the bloody office and into the field.  I know that envy is one of those seven deadlies, but I can’t help being a little jealous of the folks who make their living in the outdoors.  Game wardens, biologists, full-time hunting guides and outdoors writers.  Here’s what I really wish my office looked like:

Anyway, I guess I’m not feeling too bad about it.  At my weekly chiropractor visit yesterday, I got to talking to the Doc.  I’ve convinced him to join me at Tejon over the Memorial Day weekend.  This’ll be his first hog hunt, and he’s gone all in about it.  Every time we get together now, a good part of the visit is spent discussing gear, hunting strategy, ammo, and anything else related to hunting. 

The itch is contagious, and now that I know I’ve passed it along, it makes my own case much more bearable. 

Politics – from the latin Poly for many, and Ticks for small, blood-sucking insects.

OK, so I know that’s not exactly right, but it sure does seem to fit…at least in my own opinion.  Someone asked me recently why I don’t get into more of the political discussions here on the HogBlog.  That’s an easy one to me, so let me explain real simply… I don’t like politicians and I don’t like politics. 

If folks want to discuss, read, or be exposed to that sort of thing, there are plenty of blogs out there where you can probably get your fill.  My problem is, no matter how much “free and open discourse” is encouraged, it almost always boils right back down to dogma and an all-or-nothing position and way too much of that “with us or against us” mentality.

There’s no room for that in my life, and since the HogBlog represents part of my life that I want to share with you readers, there’s no room for it here.

Of course, that’s not to say there’ll never be a politically charged topic discussed here.  The very sport of hunting, and the tools we choose to use are constantly in the political spotlight.  Since I believe in taking an active role in ensuring the future of our sport, I’ll speak up and encourage others to get involved to make a change (or to prevent one).  But you’re not likely to find much discussion of “libs” or conservatives here. 

Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got to say about that. 

As usual, I was browsing through my RSS feeds to see what’s happening in the world of the wild hog, and stumbled across this article in the Australian online version of the Courier Mail.  The article is a profile and interview with a couple of the helicopter-borne sharpshooters who are working to eradicate the wild and feral hogs from some of the most environmentally sensitive areas. 

An interesting sidenote to this article is this one, detailing the discovery of empty weapons crates that apparently once contained rocket-propelled grenades washed up on the beach near where they were working.  I don’t know about anyone else, but this kind of thing makes me a little nervous.  Hopefully it’s the product of some kind of legitimate military exercise… I’d hate to think these things are in the hands of the wrong folks.

Not a whole lot else of note taking place right now.  The discussion in Pennsylvania still centers around the likelihood that the release of feral pigs into the wild should be illegal, and in Kansas they’re still trying to figure out how best to eradicate the wily and resilient creatures.  Michigan will, once again, be promoting the harvest of feral hogs by all hunters in their “shoot on sight” program. 

Here in California, the lead ammo ban discussion is getting a little breather, as the Fish and Game Commission decided to postpone a vote on the subject.  Key questions right now seem to be how to enforce a ban, and the negative impact on hunters if non-lead alternatives aren’t readily available.  The next meeting of the Fish and Game Commission is scheduled for June 7, in Truckee, CA. 

The only other news of note about CA hog hunting is that I haven’t been out in a while and I’m getting the itch.  I hope to change that in the next week or so, and if all goes well, there’ll be fresh pork in my freezer before May! 

This weekend kept me out of the field, as my aunt and uncle from New Orleans are RVing around the country, and were going to be at a campground outside of Yosemite National Park.  Since that’s only a few hours from home, I figured I’d take the family and the camper and ride up to spend the weekend with them.   

I’ve done a bit of hunting in the country around Yosemite, but in the 11 years I’ve been in CA, I have never set foot in the actual park.  This would be a great opportunity.  Unfortunately, the weather report called for some bad weather, with rain in the lower elevations and snow up higher.  Not the best time for a family outing in the National Park, but at least it might keep the crowds down a bit.

The weather delivered as promised, but if anything, it made the country more beautiful. 

Anyway, back to the grind for this week.