So, in light of the recent tragedy here in CA,  we saw that despite the best technology on the market we are sometimes at the mercy of Nature.  It was a reminder to be extra careful and have a really good backup plan. 

But sometimes, technology can save us… and one of the most useful tools at our disposal is the ubiquitous cellular phone.  Most of the newer phones include an emergency feature that transmits GPS location when a 911 call is placed.  While this feature can be turned off, I’d strongly recommend leaving it intact.  This recent story from Idaho Falls explains why. 

While I’m out at Coon Camp Springs, I want to toss a few ideas on the table that you guys can chew on and discuss (if you’re so inclined).  Of course I won’t be here to throw my two-cents in right now, which is fine, because I’m kinda curious how ya’ll will respond, if you do at all.  I’d rather read your ideas without injecting mine. 

I hope these questions are “posers”, and that you’ll put some thought into them.  This is probably not a recommended practice in the blogosphere, but I’m gonna do it anyway.  Please be civil, as I don’t have a manners cop on hand to monitor the discussion

(If you are new to the HogBlog, your comments will be held pending approval.  Please bear with us, and I’ll approve them as soon as I return.  It’s the only way I can manage the SPAM attacks that are the bane of all bloggers.) 

OK, so here goes.  This first one is something I’ve been giving a lot of thought to, and my own conclusions right now aren’t exactly following “party lines”. 

What is “fair chase” and how important is it as a consideration, both to you as a hunter, and overall to the sport of hunting?  Where do you draw the lines and why?  I encourage you to think your responses through, not only from a personal perspective but from a bigger picture.  Consider the logical progression of your ideas.

Next is sort of a hypothetical point of view, brought on in some part by a discussion at the Thinking Hunter blog. 

How effective are sport hunters at managing game populations, e.g. wild hogs, whitetail deer, snow geese, etc.?  Are we doing the job we say we’re doing?  What does it mean to our justification of sport hunting as a management tool?  If you have specific details to support your responses, that would be a great addition to the discussion (and possibly save me some research later). 

I look forward to reading what you had to say, and hope this keeps things interesting in my absence. 

Off to Coon Camp Springs for our annual mule deer hunts.  This week will be spent scouting and doing some work around the camp to get ready for our clients. 

I’ve lined up a couple of posts to fill the space while I’m gone.  For those of you loyal readers, hang in there!  I’ll be back soon and we can get this thing rolling!  I’ve got some good stuff in the works, and if all comes together there should be some great news, gear reviews, and of course some hog hunting coming up for the rest of the year. 

Please feel free to continue to comment or carry-on discussions in the Comments area while I’m off.  I won’t respond, of course, until I get home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t chat amongst yourselves. 

Hasta luego, amigos! 

The wild hog invasion continues! 

My fellow Skinny Moose Network blogger, Mary Ward, the SledChick, shared the following article regarding a wild boar killed on the highway in Massachusetts.  The article, from the Worcester Telegram and Gazette said the boar was found in a place where there are no known populations of wild hogs.

Monte D. Chandler of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Amherst said there are no feral pigs, feral swine or Russian boar populations in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

“If they are present, they are something that escaped from someone,” he said.

Lisa Capone, a spokeswoman for the state Executive office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, agreed with Mr. Chandler’s assessment.

“There is no native population of boars or feral hogs in Massachusetts,” she said.

 Ms. Capone states the obvious, of course… as there is no “native” population of pigs anywhere in the U.S.  However, it looks like MA may now join the ranks of states that have non-native populations, as when there’s one, there are usually more. 

How much further will they go?  My money says, “look out, America, they’ll be in your state soon!”

Yeah, this is a real short one, but I’ve absolutely gotta spout off…

I have got a SERIOUS elk jones right now.  I’ve been reading the reports on Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors from the guys coming in, as archery season passes and rifle seasons are getting underway.  I’ve also been glued to MyOutdoorTV a lot lately, whenever I can get a break from work. 

I didn’t get my elk last year, and didn’t get a chance to elk hunt this year with everything else going on.  What makes it even worse is that I now have this Mathews Drenalin, and I’ve totally changed my attitude toward bowhunting…  the memory of that bull bugling in my face last year has me totally flashing back to that Colorado scrub oak last September. 

Anyway, I have no choice but wait until next fall.  At this time next year, I should be wrapping up a CO rifle hunt with my brother and a couple of friends back at Dark Timber Outfitters in Montrose.  But man… that sure seems an awful long ways off! 

Wow.

I just realized we’re into the last week and a half of October.  Samhainn is right around the corner, and the season of darkness is following right behind it.  Not that the season of darkness is quite as bleak as it sounds, particularly for hunters.  With it comes the rut, waterfowl migration, and here in CA… the rains.  Yeah, while most of the country is dreaming of a white christmas, we’re dreaming of enough rain to green the hills. 

But I’ve slipped off on a side trail here…

Point is, it’s almost time for me to take off for three weeks.  I’ll be guiding a handful of mule deer hunters at Coon Camp Springs.  That’s cool and all, and I’m really looking forward to it.  At the same time, the sudden realization of how much work I have to get done (my real job) between now and then has really set in hard, and I’m a little stressed.  I hate leaving loose ends, especially for such a long time.

Of course, besides my paid work, there’s a ton of stuff to be done to get ready for the trip.  I need to dig out my cold-weather gear, figure out which guns and gear to bring, and get the horse trailer cleaned up and ready for the long trip. 

Also, I need to make sure the Hog Blog is ready for a minor hiatus.  While I won’t be totally out of reach of modern conveniences, cell phone and computer access will be pretty danged limited.  There are a couple of “phone booths” on the property, so I can take care of critical voice mails and such.  There will only be a couple of intermittent updates to the Hog Blog while I’m gone, and I won’t be able to respond to your comments.  Please bear with me while I’m gone.

Anyway, more posts to come this week, and then I’m hitting the road on Sunday. 

Hang in there… 

Wow, so I asked for first-hand stories from folks who are using non-lead ammo, but I really thought we’d hear more from the folks who’ve had good experiences.  I guess like anything else, there’s not much interest in the good… only in the bad.

But anyway, here’s another one from Don Hutchison. 

A friend of mine shot a buck on our ranch in D8 Sunday morning. Using 300 Win. Mag, Ammo was Federal 165 grain Barnes X (TSX), shot was taken from about 50 yards. Placement was mid point on the shoulder,  deer was not knocked down at impact, simply ran off, traveled approximately 60 yards, jumped a fence and collapsed. When dressing the deer we discovered the exit wound was not much larger than the entrance wound. Bullet traveled through the  both shoulders and took the top of the heart out.  Meat damage was minimal. After viewing this I am not sure if anything other than a should shot will be effective with these bullets. There was no blood at point of impact or where the deer fell.

So what I’m taking away here, is that the non-lead bullets are quite lethal (every story has included at least one dead animal), but they don’t leave enough blood trail.  I really haven’t had to trail anything I shot with non-lead ammo, so I can’t say… although, of course, the fact that I haven’t had to track anything that I’ve shot with non-lead ammo says something in itself, doesn’t it? 

Keep ‘em coming folks.

I just read the latest post over at Holly’s NorCal Cazadora blog, and gotta say it left me a little off-balance. 

Some of you who read these blogs regularly know Holly teaches journalism.  Well, one of her recent students, a sharp young lady, apparently, recently succumbed to a fairly short battle with cancer.  Holly’s a little shook up over it, and I can hardly blame her. 

Anyway, they’re trying to make something positive come out of all this, and I think it’s a great idea.  Head on over to the NorCal Cazadora blog and read what she has to say. 

Just saw the following making the rounds of the newspapers, and it was too good not to share it with the Hog Blog readers: 

Note to self: Taser no good on wild boars

 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

(10-15) 14:32 PDT Brooksville, Fla. (AP) –Information from: St. Petersburg Times, www.sptimes.com

While normally effective on people, a Hernando deputy learned the hard way that Taser stun guns do not work very well on wild boars.

The sheriff’s office reported that Deputy Joseph Tibor responded to complaints of an “extremely large pig” tearing up a resident’s yard in a Brooksville neighborhood Tuesday morning. He quickly found a 450-pound boar rooting up shrubbery and threatening a water fountain.

The animal then flashed his tusks toward onlookers. Tibor tried to stop it with his Taser, but the 50,000 volts had no effect on the animal.

The boar was eventually corralled into a neighbor’s trailer.

__

 

I really love the line, “The animal then flashed his tusks toward onlookers.”

Since a big boar’s tusks are generally exposed, it’s pretty hard for him NOT to flash them.  It’s kinda like saying a deer “flashed his antlers” at onlookers, you know?  But hey, what’s a good news article without a little sensationalism.  That boar was an imminent danger and non-lethal force had to be used!  (My eyes can’t roll any further up in my head right now.) 

A week or so ago, I got a kind of strange email.  OK, it wasn’t really “strange”, in the sense that it was wierd or anything.  It was just kinda out of the blue and totally unexpected.

In short, I got an email from a reader named Rita, from Texas, who apparently had a BIG boar hog eating up her fields.  By her estimate, this sucker was over 400 pounds.  In the email, Rita told me she wanted to kill him, and she had two choices of weapon, a .270 or a .300 Weatherby Magnum.  She figured the situation would be a 50 yard shot, tops, and she wanted to make sure he went down clean and fast because, as she wrote:

Me 120 pounds – Him 420 pounds or up..

I have to win or he eats ME!!!

I got a kick out of that, but I could see where she might be coming from. A big boar can be pretty intimidating, especially if you read or listen to much of the outdoors media… or some old timers.  They make a hog sound as dangerous as a cape buffalo or something. 

So anyway, I offered the advice she asked for, recommending that she shoot the rifle that suits her best, as both offer plenty of “oomph” for the job.  I also recommended a neck shot, if she felt confident, as it would offer a quick kill… I think I said it would, “flip him over like a turtle.”

I also told her that a boar’s reputation for aggression is a little over-rated, especially when you just shot him with a high-powered rifle at close range.  “Relax and make a good shot,” I wrote, “and you won’t have to worry about getting eaten.” 

I sent the reply, and pretty much forgot about it.  But to my surprise, when I returned from my weekend of hunting on Sunday, I had several emails from Rita.  Here’s the text from the first one:

Phillip:

Last night was the most exciting hunt….

The Boar didn’t come out at 4:30..he came out just a dark!

I’ll send you some pic’s.

Well! I got him…

300 Weatherby, 9mm, backhoe, tractor, we finally brought him in.

Weight 376.

Thanks for your help.

I tried to get a neck shot… but he just kept running close to the fence. When he turned to gore the fence I took a heart shot! Rolled him over like a Turtle. Like ya said. Then he got up and Ran in the thicket.

Milton, the Farm owner, ran out 1st. He and I went after him while my sister Trish filmed. The brush was just to thick. We all got on the backhoe and found him.

He was Down but huffing & puffing. I gave him some 9mm.. He Really wasn’t happy then!

You can see the picture.

I wanted to say Thanks for helping me calm myself and make a great decision. The 270 just wasn’t the rifle for me last night.

Thanks,

Rita

Here are a couple of pix!  You can click them to see bigger versions.

Holy cow, Rita…that was a BIG hog!  Congrats on taking him out clean, and glad t hear it was an exciting hunt. 

I gotta say, they raise ‘em up right in the Lone Star State!  Rita got it done!  I guess that hog didn’t pay attention when they told him, “Don’t mess with Texas!”