The Hog Blog

I guess it’s obvious that this is my favorite time of the year.  Heading out again this weekend, taking the family, the hosses and the camper over across the hills for a couple of days. 

Hope to be back online by Monday, if all goes well and I don’t hit the Lottery. 

In the meantime, I’ve received one reader photo so far.  Sure could use some more, along with a paragraph or two about the hunt.  Don’t be shy.  Be famous!  Appear on the HogBlog! 

OK, so I need more pictures! 

Not MY pictures,  YOUR pictures! 

Send me some photos, or short videos of your successful hog hunts.  Tell me a little about it.  “I’ll make ye famous…” or so says that Baldwin kid on Young Guns.

Really, I’d like to see what ya’ll are doing out there.  Are you killing any pigs?  What’s the story?  Send it to me, and if it’s a good tale (tasteful and such…) I’d like to put you on my blog.

Otherwise, you’ll just have to “listen” to me droning on and on about my own experiences.  We wouldn’t want that now, would we?

I hope this one doesn’t come off looking like a bad advertising insert in your favorite hunting magazine, but it does seem like now is a good time to think about adding a few new pieces of gear to your kit… unless, like me, you’re already well into your hunting season.  Maybe I should’ve written this one sooner. 

Oh well…

I’ve had the opportunity over the summer to put my hands on a couple of new products. 

First is the Black Hole archery target. 

I received a press release announcing the release of this new target just as my older target, The Block, was breathing its last (so to speak).  I needed a replacement, but I wanted something that would stand up to the big, Magnus broadheads I shoot from my recurve. 

Most of the targets I’d tried so far, including the Block, withstood the heavy onslaught of field points I generally sling, but when I started putting those two-blade daggers into the foam, I’d remove slices with almost every shot.  I totally destroyed my 3-D Delta deer, cutting it clean in half in the first six months I had it.  The Block held up better, but the target face was completely gone after a year. 

I received a test sample of the Black Hole early this spring, and started shooting right away.  As I’d feared, big slivers of foam came out each time I retrieved one of the broadheads from the target.  Still, the foam compressed and “self-healed” over the cut as it is supposed to do.   I didn’t shoot as much over the summer as I’d planned, but the target seems to be in pretty good shape. 

One of the things I particularly like about the Black Hole target is that it has a bunch of small aiming points of various sizes scattered across the target face, instead of the consistently spaced and sized bullseyes on some other block-styled targets.  To me, this lets me focus on picking a spot every time, rather than simply relying on spatial relationships (just aim at the center of the box) and getting lazy.  With other targets, once you figure out where the bull is, it’s easy to just start point shooting… a big mistake when you switch from targets to live animals. 

You can order the Black Hole for under $70 for a 24″x20″x14″ target, which is about par for this type of target.

The other item I had a chance to play with a bit this summer was a Konus Pro 3-9×44mm rifle scope. 

I’d initially contacted the Konus press representatives in order to try out one of their scopes on a project rifle I’d planned to put together for a hog hunt and article.  For the project, I was planning to use a rifle in the new .480 Ruger chambering, so I wanted something that would withstand a serious recoil.   Konus has engraved their reticle directly into the glass of the scope, so it should be impossible to dislodge the crosshairs…making it a good choice for a hard-kicking rifle. 

Unfortunately, the rifle part of the deal never came together, so the scope sat in the box on my desk for quite some time. 

Finally, I decided to replace the old Tasco 3-9×50mm on a Browning A-bolt 270, since the Tasco seemed to have some fogginess at higher magnification.  I used to be a big fan of Tasco scopes, but the last two I purchased sort of let me down.

The Konus is in the same price-range as the Tasco, retailing in the sub-$200 range (MSRP on the unit I tested is about $149), so I figured a comparison of these two should be fair. 

I found the clarity and brightness of the Konus to be a bit above that of the Tasco, even though the Tasco offers a 50mm objective vs the 44mm on the Konus.  I also thought the Konus maintained that clarity much better than the Tasco as I increased the magnification.  I even checked it against a couple of other Tasco scopes in my cabinet, and found that it was consistently clearer and brighter. 

Finally, I pulled out one of my Leupold VX-II scopes, in 3-9×40, just to see how the Konus stacked up against a higher-priced competitor.  From my unscientific perspective, and to my surprise, it measured up very nicely. 

I really had no good way to test the recoil-resistance of the scope, since the .270 barely kicks at all.  However, Konus offers a great guarantee to anyone who breaks the reticle, but since it is engraved into the glass, it seems unlikely that anyone will collect on that one. 

Another new product, at least for me, is the Magnus Stinger, four-blade broadheads. 

I’ve been shooting Magnus two-blade broadheads since I started bowhunting, about three years ago.  They seem to perform well, although I’ve yet to harvest a big game animal with the bow.  The blades are very strong, though, and hold an edge through a good bit of abuse.  I actually shot one through a board and into a cinderblock wall, chipping the cinderblock without doing any damage to the blade.  That’s tough!

Anyway, I always liked the idea of the added cutting surface of a four-blade head, and the Magnus Stinger, with the bleeder blades looked like a good match.  I sent a trial packet to my brother, and after his success on a NC whitetail, I decided to try them myself. 

I had been shooting a 140 grain head, but the closest I could find in the Stinger is a 150 grain.  It wouldn’t hurt me to go up a little, since I’m planning to use these on elk next month.  That will take my total arrow weight up to around 549 grains (draw weight is 52lbs), and can only improve my penetration. 

In target practice so far, the Stingers have performed wonderfully.  I barely noticed a difference in the trajectory or impact over the 140 grain field points I have been shooting.  I also found that they don’t plane like the two-blades when I flub my release…as long as I don’t flub it too bad.  The two-blades were really sensitive to that, which makes sense, I guess.

Anyway, the true test will come in two weeks, when I will try to slip one of these broadheads behind the shoulder of a Colorado elk.  I’ll be sure and report back on that.

Finally, I just want to mention the products from Gun Safety Innovations. 

I don’t do a lot of treestand hunting since I’ve moved to California, but it was almost all I ever did back in North Carolina, and it’s what I do whenever I go back for whitetails.  Generally, I’d use a plain old piece of parachute cord to pull my gun or bow into the tree, and that seemed good enough.  But once the gun is up there, I’d untie it.  More than once, I came real close to dropping my rifle from the stand (particularly after nodding off on a slow afternoon).  My brother actually did drop his rifle once, muzzle-down in the mud.  It cost him a deer that afternoon, but could have cost him much worse.

Gun Safety Innovations has developed and is marketing the Gunslinger, a simple but innovative piece of safety equipment, designed to keep your rifle off of the ground.  It’s basically a shock-absorbing safety line that attaches unobtrusively to your gunstock. 

It’s a great idea, but one of the drawbacks is that many of us, especially in the southeast, hunt from stands that are waaayy up in the tree, and the Gunslinger is too short for our purposes.  Not to worry, now you can get the Gunslinger Extender. 

Read more about Gunslinger and the Extender on Kristine’s blog, Hunt Smart, Think Safety.

Well, that should keep your credit card busy for a little while. 

Before I move too far away from the Porcine Press, here’s one that deserves special mention. 

Mike Ansel, from Hunting with Mike recently published an article discussing the feral hog problem in Michigan in the Monroe News.   His lead-in certainly should catch the readers’ attention. 

Steve Davenport of Shiawassee County is a fairly typical Michigan deer hunter, but last November he shot something that was anything but typical.

If he had not been a seasoned hunter, his encounter could very well have cost him his life.

The article goes on to describe Steve’s encounter, with a very large feral hog, and to include some interview information from some Michigan veterinarians who describe the dangers these animals present to the swine industry, as well as to other agriculture and the environment.  His closing paragraphs set the stage for what the state may be facing:

Some believe that if we don’t soon get a handle on the feral swine situation, it could prove disastrous in more ways than imagined.  These domestic hogs gone wild degrade wildlife habitat and private property, compete with native wildlife for food, and can cause a threat to humans, pets, and domestic livestock through the spread of disease. 

Hogs spend a lot of time rooting and wallowing.  This contributes to soil erosion, reduces water quality, and damages agricultural crops.  They forage heavily on acorns, competing with deer and turkey for this important fall food source.  They commonly eat the eggs of ground nesting birds, and have been reported to kill and eat fawns.  Feral hogs have been known to carry diseases such as swine brucellosis, pseudo-rabies, trichinosis, and leptospirosis.  Statistically one sow and one boar could produce over 1200 breeding adults and 5000 piglets in a 5 year period.  This could well be what the future holds if this

Michigan invasion is left unchecked.

You can read the entire article on the Monroe News online.  You can also drop by Mike’s blog, Hunting with Mike for more information or just to drop off a comment or two. 

Around where? 

Whereever I can find it.

For example, how about a little boar hunt in Jamaica?  The Jamaica Gleaner online has a couple of great little tales about hog hunting on that beautiful little island.  The story of the actual hunt is right here.  It’s actually a pretty good story, even if it’s a little difficult to read the local dialect.   Of course, in addition to hogs Jamaica has some absolutely wonderful rums and coffee, and some great people.   What’s not to like?

I found this little bit on Agriculture online.  It’s not that interesting in general, unless you’re a hog farmer, but I was surprised to read that, in a test sample of almost 700 feral hogs, almost 20% of them tested positive for pseudorabies, and about 10% tested positive for swine brucellosis.  It sure makes it easier to see why swine producers are so concerned about the spread of feral hogs across the countryside.  Fortunately, according to the article, Texas commercial swine herds have remained disease free. 

US hunters aren’t the only ones gearing up for the 2007 hunting season, by the way.  According to this article in Panorama, Armenia is kicking off their hunting season as well.  I noticed though, that wild pigs may be off the menu for the “common man” there, as the special license to hunt wild boar is the most expensive of the bunch. 

In the Asia Times online edition, it looks like Turkey is gearing up for 2007-2008 hunting as well.  However, this article focuses more on the illegal shooting and associated fines than legitimate hunting.  Even so, the Turkish proverb that leads off the article made it worth the read. 

“However many types of hunting a hunter knows, a bear knows just as many escape routes.”

You could apply that to wild hogs too, in spades!   

Most folks are aware that feral pigs are a threat to the environment, as well as to agricultural efforts.  Many people are also aware that feeding any kind of wildlife usually creates more problems than it solves, no matter how “cute” the animals may be.  Feeding a prolific invader like feral pigs multiplies the risk.  So this story in the Honolulu Advertiser highlights a problem that we see all over the country.  One Hawaiian couple is feeding the feral pigs, maybe keeping as many as 1oo of the animals in groceries, while the neighbor deals with the damage these animals do to his property.  Of course, he does eat them when he can, and kills several to provide fresh pork to other locals. 

That’ll do for now. 

OK, so it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but everytime I dive in this part of the Pacific, I have to remember that I am in the heart of great white country. 

Actually, a more appropriate intro is, to paraphrase one of my favorite literary characters…

“Well, I’m back.”

And I am.  No great big fish pictures to share, although I did tie into a pretty good sized ling cod that I couldn’t get out of the rocks… but it’s a pretty boring fish tale.  He sat there and held on, and I sat there (in my kayak) and pulled on him.  After many minutes, the hook came free.  I cussed.  He cussed (in fish language).  And the story ends in heartbreak…

So anyway, when I got back there were several great comments and emails waiting for me.  Thanks to all of you who posted something, and I hope I was able to reply adequately to each of you.  If not, sorry… my clients have this unreasonable expectation that I’ll actually provide some sort of output in exchange for all the money they throw at me.

One of the cool things I found in my inbox was a note from the Suburban Bushwacker, regarding a hunt in France.  You’ve gotta read about this one.  I enjoyed his site so much I had to add him to my blogroll.

Oh, while I was there, I tried something tasty and new.

I had about a pound of wild pork backstrap in the freezer, along with some shoulder steaks. 

Saturday morning, as soon as I woke up, I dropped these into a ziploc(tm) bag with a bottle of Chimichurri marinade from World Marinades, and they soaked all day long.  About 6:00, I dragged them out and laid them high over a bed of mesquite coals and let them just slow smoke/cook for about 30 minutes.  It’s about as simple a recipe as I could ever offer, but man it was tasty! 

We also made up a big batch of fried abalone.  You can do this with clams too, but abalone is second only to conch as my favorite shellfish (they’re actually very similar).

So first you clean and cut your abalone.  It works best if you keep your slices between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick.  Then pound them until they’re nice and flat, but not until the meat starts to separate. 

Dredge the pounded slices in flour, then dunk in egg.  Finally, the last dredge is the secret, although you can do with it as you will… my friend Dave Allen, the one who turned me on to abalone diving in the first place, prefers a straight mix of crushed Ritz crackers with some salt and pepper, and maybe a little garlic powder and oregano.  Me, I like to mix in some corn meal, and some cayenne pepper. 

At any rate, once you’ve got them good and battered, they go into a cast iron skillet (no aluminum, please) about 3/4 inch deep in very hot olive oil (just before it starts to smoke is best).  When the pieces float, they’re done.

An important tip…  just do a few pieces at a time.  It’s tempting to dump the whole bunch in, but if you do the temperature will drop too far and you’ll end up with soggy, oily pieces.  They still taste OK, but it’s much better to cook in small batches.

Serve them hot, preferably with a dash of habanero sauce (or something milder for the weaker palates). 

It’s the perfect appetizer to a big, wild game dinner.

Heya folks,

Have a great weekend.  The HogBlog is gone up the coast to catch a few rockfish, maybe a salmon, and collect a handful of abalone (good stuff if you’ve never had it!).  See ya’ll when I get back!

So if you drop by, don’t bother ringing the doorbell.  Nobody’s home. 

I’ll try to keep this relatively short, although ya’ll know me… this is essentially a revision of the post I made on Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors (JHO) earlier this week.  I was just gonna provide a link, but hey… here’s a chance to edit and revise. 

A while back, I’d managed to get my friend (and chiropractor), Steve Carvin, all stoked up to go big-game hunting. He went with me on the JHO POR this spring, and had his first big game animal down within 45 minutes of his first trip. “Nothing to this,” he says.  Then he has to help with the recovery of my pig from an infamous hell-hole. By the time we got back to Petunia, the wonder-truck, he had a different impression of the simplicity of big game hunting. Irrelevant, you say? Get on with the story, you say?Ok, but just remember… Steve has heard my reputation for killing game in the deepest, most miserable holes I can find. He even experienced it first hand at Tejon. Even so, he agreed to join me for an A-zone blacktail hunt in hopes of tagging his first buck. Silly, silly man.So we rolled out Friday evening, with every intention of getting on the road between 1400 and 1500. With that plan in mind, I was elated to actually get out of town by 1645. That put me way ahead of schedule (for me), and I had high hopes of reaching the Hedgepeth Ranch before dark. Heck, we might even have time for an evening hunt.Those thoughts were pretty much history by 1800, as we were just crossing into San Rafael… less than halfway there and traffic was only getting worse.But ya’ll don’t want to read about the traffic, huh? Probably want to get right to the meat of things?OK, fine. About the meat. There’s an awesome little taqueria right there in Healdsburg, which is the last stop before we head west into the hills. I had a carnitas burrito, and Steve had one with pollo asado.Sorry… couldn’t resist.

Anyway, it was close to 1930 (without traffic, this is a two hour drive) or so when we pulled into the campground, only to find someone in the spot I was hoping for and a tree down across the road to the other site. We relocated to one of the other campgrounds (there are three at Hedgepeth), and squeeze in between a couple of other campers. I hated to camp so close to the other folks, but it was late, I was tired, and the Cazadores was calling to me.

Saturday morning rolled in bright and early, as it usually does when you didn’t get to bed until late the evening before. We started the day up on the ridge where Rancho Loco killed his hog during the archery season. I sent Steve up the north end, and I rolled on down south. Didn’t see any deer, although there was a good bit of sign. The hogs, though, as expected, were everywhere. Steve had a great show down where he was hunting, but that’s his story, so I won’t share it here.

Here’s part one of the video of the weekend.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve spoken several times about Coon Camp Springs, and the work that’s being done up there.  The stars finally aligned or something, and Dave Allen and I got our schedules coordinated enough so I could send him a few questions about the place and the project.

To set the stage, here’s what I know about the place.  Dave will fill in the rest in a moment.

First, I’ve known Dave Allen for about eight or nine years now, after meeting up via the JHO discussion forum.  We met for a pig hunt in a place I knew, and before long we were hunting together pretty regularly.  A few years ago, he mentioned this place his wife’s family owned up in the Eastern Sierra.  It’s a tough place to draw a deer tag for, but we decided to put in as a group hunt with another friend of ours. 

Anyway, we made a pre-season run up to the place and I was immediately hooked.  It’s a real challenge to describe the high desert country to anyone who hasn’t experienced it, because if you just picture it, you miss out on the whole thing.  There are the smells, alkali dust in the low country and sage drying in the summer sun.  Then there’s the air, so dry your skin cracks in a few days, but it’s so clean you can almost taste it… or maybe it’s the fact that you can’t taste it at all.

There are the thunderstorms that roll in, heavy and dark and ominous…nothing like those great thunderboomers we’d get back east, but wicked and fast.  You can see them coming in the distance, watch them boil up as the clouds stack up against the mountains and spill down in fire and rain across the thirsty country. 

There’s wildlifethere too.  Huge mule deer, and antelope roam the valleys and mountainsides.  Canada geese, mallards, and whooping cranes cross the sky.  Songbirds of all kinds sing from the branches of juniper, pine, and sagebrush. 

So anyway, I hope from all this that you get the picture… it’s a beautiful, and special place. Read the rest of this entry »

So, I can’t seem to get away from the recent news that hunters may be at some kind of increased risk of heart attack.  You can read this version on Yahoo news.

First of all, I say, “bunk!”

To begin with, what the heck kind of study only looks at 25 subjects?  And of those, almost all of them had heart problems or high risk factors going in! 

I mean, I understand that any time you’re doing something that elevates your heart rate, you’re at an increased risk of heart attack…especially if you already have heart problems or conditions that can cause them.  Big “duh” to that.  But I don’t understand why the report decided to focus on hunters, besides the obvious fact that hunting seasons are about to open across the country.

Anyway, without getting into any agenda the folks at Reuter Health (part of the Reuter news network) may have toward hunting, let’s just go with it for what it is.  Let’s pretend that the majority of hunters are dense enough not to understand that, “hey, if I smoke cigarettes, weigh a lot more than I ought to, and live a generally sedentary lifestyle, then getting out there once a year and busting my hump might raise my heart rate to a dangerous level.”

So now you’ve read the article and you know.  You’ve been informed (warned?).  What are you going to do about it?

The fact is, hunting is a potentially dangerous undertaking.  It involves getting out into nature, often in rugged terrain.  It involves dangerous weapons…whether archery or firearms… not to mention skinning knives, which, in my experience, are responsible for more hunting related injuries than anything else.  Accidents happen, often due to negligence but sometimes just due to pure luck. 

Like many hunters, I spend a lot of my time in the field alone.  I don’t like to be near the roads, because that’s where the majority of other hunters are, so I am not only alone, I’m usually in a remote place that’s generally considered inaccessible.  I climb cliffs, slide down scree slopes, and cross frigid creeks and streams. 

If something happens to me, I’m in trouble.  I’ve had some close calls, too.  I am very aware of the risk, but for most of my life that’s a risk I’ve been willing to accept.  As I’ve matured, and I have people who depend on me, I’ve needed to mitigate that kind of thing, though. 

There are the obvious and well-known strategies.  Always leave a hunt plan with someone responsible (e.g. a spouse, parent, or close friend).  That should let them know where you’ll be, at least in general.  It should also let them know when you expect to return.  If you can, include the contact information for the county law enforcement or other emergency personnel.  This can save someone the time of trying to look all of this up. 

You can also pack certain emergency supplies, which, in addition to a first aid kit, should always include some sort of signalling devices.   A small, signal mirror is a tiny little thing that fits in any fanny pack, or even the pocket of your hunting pants.  There are also several really great strobe lights you can use for nighttime signalling.  I used to carry signal flares, but in California that’s a good way to set the countryside on fire and barbecue yourself in the process. 

Radios can be helpful, although most of the handheld radios operate on line-of-sight, which has very limited ability in steep, rugged country.  The same goes for a cell-phone.  Satellite phones are an option, but they can be very expensive.  For an extended stay in the wilderness, however, it’s not a bad idea to rent a satellite phone for emergency use.

A few years ago, my girlfriend gave me a gift that really showed how much she loved me… a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB).  This is a device that sends out an emergency signal to the satellites which is then bounced back to military and civilian monitoring stations within seconds of transmission.  The signal provides a relative location (within about three miles) to help the responders determine who to send to the rescue (e.g. Forest service, local law enforcement, Coast Guard, etc.), and generally where to send them.  A secondary signal sends up a homing beacon that can guide the rescuers right to your location.  It’s pretty impressive technology…not new, but impressive. 

The unit I have slips right into my fanny pack.  It weighs about a pound, and is barely noticeable.  Since then, the PLBs have become smaller and smaller. 

Just a note, though.  There’s another kind of unit being marketed as a PLB.  However, these units transmit a radio signal only, and are subject to the same range and terrain limitations as any other hand-held radio.  If you’re shopping, read the fine print. 

The PLB won’t mend your broken leg, extract rattlesnake venom, or pull that broadhead out of your thigh.  It won’t stop a bleeding artery, or carry you back up that cliff you just fell off of.  But it will bring help, faster and more directly than any other means.  These things aren’t cheap, but if you spend any amount of time out in the wilderness, it’s a very wise investment.