The Hog Blog

Yupp, it’s true.  Don’t be jealous… but I’m heading back to Tejon Ranch tomorrow morning. 

This is another hunt I put together for some of the Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors (JHO) guys.  This time we’ll be hunting with archery tackle.   I’m hoping to finally break my jinx with the recurve.  But even if I don’t fill a tag, it’ll be a great hunt! 

Anyway, what this means is that I’ll be offline again until probably Monday.  I’m sure ya’ll will make do just fine without me, though.  If you absolutely can’t live without my wit and wisdumb, go ahead and read through my archives.  Or you can go visit any of the great sites on my blogroll…  just come back and see me next week.  I promise something worth seeing. 

In the meantime, here’s where I’m hunting!

Boy, I don’t think anyone ever expected this thing to blow up like it has.  Now, apparently, the Alabama state wildlife officials are investigating the owner of the hunting operation.  It’s against Alabama law to transport and release feral swine.  There’s also some question about possible violations of Alabama’s fair-chase law. 

You can read about it all in this article from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

In other news… well, it’s hard to find other wild boar/feral hog news right now.  But I’m persistent (hard-headed)…

Across the Atlantic Ocean, animal rights activists in Britain have made themselves look like idiots again by tearing down some fencing, allowing some fighting wild boar to kill a group of piglets and a pregnant sow.  You can read about this one in several places.  One source is the North-west Evening Mail. 

Back in the US, it looks like Iowa is having issues with the wild hogs now too.  It was just a matter of time, I suppose.  This article, on Radio Iowa dot com outlines the issues that feral swine present.  As we’ve heard in Wisconsin and Nebraska, those who are most concerned are the hog farmers, who fear that the wild hogs will spread disease such as brucellosis or pseudo-rabies to their herds. 

Texas is still going round and round about the hogs there, with agriculture interests complaining of crop damage, while the hunting operators continue to capitalize on the booming population (I don’t mean this as criticism…just an observation). 

Stay tuned, for more hogs in the news.

Most folks have, by now, heard about the Alabama kid who shot the 1000lb hog.  It’s even been on Fox News, CNN, and NPR.  Here’s what CNN had to say about it.  If you haven’t already seen them, you can find all the other reports with a simple Google news search.

I’ve received quite a few emails containing photos and links, and thanks to all of you who’ve sent those along.  Each of those messages has asked my opinion on the hog, the harvest, and the conditions of the hunt… even going so far as to ask if it’s real or a “Photoshop” job. 

All I know for sure is what I’ve read so far in the news sources.  It is a big hog, although as of the last time I looked there wasn’t a confirmation of the actual weight.  Apparently, the kid really did kill it himself, with one of the biggest handguns available on the commercial market, the S&W 500.  The ranch was a controlled hunting preserve, and the hog was definitely a feral animal rather than a “true” wild hog…not that that matters, but it does explain the size and appearance. 

Now for the opinion part…

I don’t think the pictures were necessarily “doctored”, although I think that proper angle was used which makes the animal look larger.  This is standard practice, and anyone who takes hunting trophy photos does the same thing.  It’s not dishonest, it simply highlights the trophy.  That said, from some of the photos I’d challenge the half-ton weight unless I saw it myself. 

I have already given my opinion on hunting controlled ranches.  It may not be for everybody, but hey, there’s nothing wrong with it as long as the animals are raised and slaughtered humanely.  Who is to judge another person’s experience…especially an 11 year-old kid.  I don’t know if they knew the youngster would shoot such a huge animal, but they wanted him to have a successful hunt and took him to a place where it’s practically guaranteed.  That’s OK.

Should the kid have been shooting that monster pistol?  Some folks think that’s a little too much gun for a kid to be using safely.  Personally, while I didn’t care for shooting that cannon, if the kid can handle it, then it’s fine that he used it.  The only person to make that call would be his parents.  If his dad thinks it’s OK, then who am I (or any stranger) to second guess him?

So I say, “congrats” to the young man, and good luck outliving his celebrity.  From some of the stuff I’ve read, it sounds like it may be more than he and his family were ready to deal with.  I hope it comes out well for him.

Thanks to all who offered up best wishes for my hunt.  You helped me out, as I was able to take a nice sow on the first evening of the hunt, even after a total Elmer Fudd moment. 

A little backstory…

My friend (and Chiropractor) Steve Carvin, after years of hearing my stories, finally decided he wanted to try a hog hunt with me, so I brought him along on this one.  I took him to one of my favorite spots, and sure enough, the hogs were right there on top of the hill.  There are little pigs everywhere, and it took us a while to determine which of the big pigs were “wet” sows, and which were dry.  We don’t shoot wet sows.

Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity, Steve got the shot.  It was a perfect hit, and his pig ran about 10 yards and piled up.  The rest of the herd scattered, as you might expect.  We set to work field dressing his pig. 

About five minutes into the process, I catch movement coming back up the ridge.  Sure enough, those hogs had circled right back around and were feeding right back into the same patch of wild oats.  My rifle is laying on the ground a few yards away, so Steve hands me his.  I decide that I’d like to try to make a kill with my .44 mag, so I draw it instead of taking the rifle, drop my pack and hat, and start crawling.  I didn’t realize Steve was dragging my video camera out of my pack during the stalk… and he caught the whole danged thing on video.  I’d be embarrassed if it wasn’t so funny.  How many different ways do you see where I blew this one?

You can read about the rest of the results of the Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors/Tejon Ranch hunt in the JHO forums.

Yupp…

The long awaited event has arrived, and I’m writing this from a motel about 40 miles north of Tejon Ranch.  Tomorrow night at this time, if all is well, I’ll be up to my elbows in pig blood as I finish skinning my first hog of the week. 

I hope to be back online Tuesday night or Wednesday, and will post up pictures and tales from the wild side then.

No, this is still a family-friendly hunting blog.  I just meant this would be a short blog entry… the real job has been a bear today, and I don’t have a lot of energy.

The main reason for posting up is to share a couple of new links I just got this week. 

The first one is from Robert Sadowski, operator of the Upland Feathers blog.  I had a chance to go have a read, and I have to say it’s good stuff. 

I couldn’t help but be swept up, though, since the first thing I saw there was a little history on the “Czar Parker”, a Parker shotgun that was supposedly made for Czar Nicholas of Russia, but never made it over due to the outbreak of one of those pesky World Wars (WWI).  While I don’t own any fine doubles myself, I’m a huge fan of the old side-by-side scatterguns, and do almost all of my shotgunning with an old Savage 311. 

The other link was sent to me by my friend Rex, over at the Deer Camp Blog.  Tom James writes the Tom James Virginia Outdoors site, and one of his recent entries is about hunting hogs with knives.  It’s a pretty widespread method, and I guess it’s not for the meek of heart.  I’ve tried it, and while I guess it would appeal to certain adrenalin junkies, it didn’t do a lot for me.  I’ll stick to my gun or bow. 

I did enjoy reading through Tom’s site, though.  A great variety of outdoors topics and some excellent photos.

Anyway, in two days I’ll be heading down south to Tejon Ranch for the JHO hunt.  The posts will be few and far between while I’m gone.  I hope to have time to get a couple online during the week next week, then I’m back to another part of the ranch where I’ll try to get an arrow into one of those big tuskers. 

Stay tuned! 

It’s been a heck of a day, and I wasn’t going to update the blog tonight.  But, just as I was knocking back the last of my evening glass of wine, I decided to flip through my RSS feeds and see what’s happening out there. 

This article, from The Jerusalem Post (no lie… it’s for real) is the first thing that jumped out.  OK, actually, the dateline from Haifa caught my eye, followed by the term “Animal Rights Group”.  What?  In Israel?  Read it and see for yourself. 

And while this really has nothing whatsoever to do with hog hunting (or any kind of hunting), it showed up in the Boar Hunting search and really got my goat…  Apparently those damned Aussie politicians and bleeding hearts aren’t happy enough to be taking away people’s guns…they’re after the knives too?  Read this, and be as angry as you like.  One day, someone is gonna realize that it’s not the tool that is dangerous… it’s the tool behind the tool.  Deal with the people, not the inanimate objects. 

Well, after one more read of that and trying to make sense of it, that’s obviously enough for tonight.  I need to go collect all the knives in my house and find someplace to turn them in. 

How do you think they might feel about my little toothpick?   

I may collect the spoons too, as my doctor is concerned about my cholesterol… and we all know that heart disease is one of the biggest killers out there. 

Some of ya’ll might remember my Texas hunt a couple of months back?  Anyway, on that hunt I took an Axis doe and a real nice Blackbuck antelope.  My wife and I have an agreement about not having dead animal heads on the wall, so I don’t usually go in for the full shoulder mounts.  If I want to save antlers or horns, I usually cut the skull cap and make a simple plaque to hang in the garage/gun room/wine cellar.  However, I decided to have the blackbuck done as a European Mount (bleached skull and horns).  It came out pretty good.

So, anyway… here are some pix of the finished work.  It was done by Droptine Taxidermy out of San Antonio, TX.  They do great work, and the turnaround was amazingly fast.  The prices seemed pretty competitive too. 

Here’s a closer look at the blackbuck.  He’d probably qualify for the Exotics Book, but that’s not something I care too much about.

I read through most of the sites on my blogroll pretty regularly, but once in a while I catch something that I just have to share here. 

One such piece was Jon Bryan’s little write-up about ”Froggin’”.  Jon’s down in Texas, but his story reminded me a lot of one of my favorite past-times as a kid in rural North Carolina.  I would spend a lot of time along the irrigation ditches and creeks with my Red Ryder, in pursuit of the elusive bull frog.  I guess I shot a lot of the smaller, leopard frogs too… mostly because I didn’t know the difference at the time. 

I’d bring ‘em home to mom, who would shiver in disgust and tell me to get those things out of her kitchen.  Later, my dad would come home and we’d skin the legs and try again.  Usually he’d end up cooking them, and he and I would feast on the delicacies.  I learned most of what I know about cooking from those early days with my dad. 

Another site I was just invited to is a new hog hunting and trapping discussion forum.  They’re still getting their cyber-baby teeth, but it does look like a good, focused group of hog hunters and trappers.  Check them out at HogGuts.com.  Kinda a graphic name for the site, but hey… it’s hog hunting, not butterfly collecting! 

And, of course, Rex at the Deer Camp Blog is up to his story-telling ways, and offers up a classic ghost story.  This is a great one, and I can only imagine how much fun it would be around the campfire with a little storytelling fluid to aid in the oration.  Definitely one of my favorite blogs.  By the way, Rex is always out exploring the Cyberspace, and comes back with links to all kinds of fun blogs.  Check out his blogroll sometime for a truly eclectic read.

More from me later, I promise.  I’m preparing for the 4th Annual JHO/Tejon Pig-O-Rama, and will be heading out this coming Thursday for not one, but two great hog hunts on the spectacular Tejon Ranch.  I’ll try to post up between hunts, but will definitely not have Internet connectivity for most of the time I’ll be there… unless, of course, someone wants to sponsor me with a Satellite phone and modem? 

Hope to come back from this trip with lots of photos and video, not to mention a cooler full of wild pork! 

More to come!

Well, as the California hunting seasons draw closer (our deer seasons actually start around mid-July), and the hog hunting is peaking for the spring, a ban on lead ammo is getting closer to reality, as AB 821, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act has passed the assembly and is headed for the next step on the path to becoming law.

You can read more about this latest activity in the California Chronicle, an online news-source.

Meanwhile, folks in Michigan are still raising Cain about the influx of wild boar in their area.  This article from Livingston Daily.com describes local concern.

And the Houston Chronicle sounds a lot like the HogBlog, in trying to round up issues in all of the states regarding wild hogs. 

Yupp, this is definitely one of those never ending stories.  In the meantime, next weekend and the one after, I’m off to do my part to at least remove a couple of wild hogs from the California ecosystem.  Updates will follow, and if all goes well, we’ll have a brand new photo for the top of this page!