The Hog Blog

Wow.  So here we stand, not only at the end of another year, but at the turning of the first decade of the 21st century.  It seems a little momentous, even if I can’t quite put my finger on why. 

Maybe it’s because the new year always brings the promise of change, of challenges and rewards.  For me, that’s particularly true as I look ahead into the coming months and the rising decade.  2009 brought some significant revisions to my personal life, and I think that was the impetus for what’s coming next.

The immediate future doesn’t look all that different.  In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading out for the SHOT Show for my seventh (or eighth?) consecutive year, with hopes of putting my hands on some of the new products for the coming year.  As always, I’m really looking forward to it.   And, of course, I’ll be reporting back to all of you with the news and product reviews. 

February will see me heading back down to the Tejon Ranch for a couple of hog hunts.  Tejon is one of my favorite places in California, and it’s definitely my favorite hunting spot.  February weather can be a real challenge down there, with fog, mud, and occasional heavy snow…  but that only makes the hunt more exciting. 

March has a whole lot of potential this year.  I’ll be heading back down to the Texas Hill Country with my brother, Scott, to hunt exotics again in what has become an annual trip.  That, in itself, is going to be a blast.  I always enjoy hunting with my friend Shane Hearn, of Border Bandit Outfitting, and I always come home with a freezer full of tasty meat. 

But this year, exotics won’t be our only target in Texas.  After a lot of conversations, and some really deep soul-searching on my own part, my brother and I are seriously considering making the move to Texas.  Some of you regular readers may remember my little April Fool’s joke last year, where I pretended we’d bought a hunting ranch.  Well, if we can pull things together, this joke may become a reality… in one form or another.  We’re not rushing into it, but we’ll be using some of our time on this trip to look over some of the options.  More on this as it develops, I promise.

Moving along… April will bring turkey season.  Not sure if or where I’ll be guiding this year, but I’ve got to get some redemption on the feathered demons.  I didn’t put one in the freezer last spring, and I didn’t even get out and try during the fall season. 

In May, I’ll be running another big group hunt at the Tejon Ranch.  I’ll be posting up more details on this soon, but any Hog Blog readers who are interested in joining this hunt are more than welcome. 

Hard to imagine with the grey, cold, and rainy winter settled in so deep, but June is right around the bend.  The barley will be high, and the pig hunting should be hot and happening.  I’m hoping to be busy with Michael and the guys at Native Hunt, since this is high season for hog hunters in the Central Coast. 

The second half of 2010 is a little vague to me right now.  A lot depends on what happens with our Texas plans.  July brings the archery deer opener, and things seem to roll pretty fast from there.  We’ll be running our hunts at Coon Camp Springs again this year at the end of October and beginning of November, which is something I always look forward to with a lot of anticipation. 

Anticipation, actually, is the word that sums up 2010 for me.  There’s a lot on the horizon, and I’m steering dead into it with both hands on the wheel and a grin on my face.

OK, so I spend a good bit of time trying to defend hunters and our actions, both on this site and off of it.  I work hard to explain to non-hunters that there’s so much more to hunting than killing stuff, and that most hunters actually live by a pretty strict sense of ethics.  I talk and write about the idea that the negative crap we read in the papers or see on the TV news represents the anomalies in the sport… the poachers and scofflaws are the exceptions, not the norm.

But there are times when I just want to throw up my hands and say, “the hell with it.” 

Today was one of those times. 

Someone sent me an email containing this article from the Seattle Times. 

In summary, the State opened a special archery elk season in order to reduce the population of elk in a relatively small area.  The animals had been wreaking havoc on local farms and residential properties. 

According to the article, word got out about a herd of elk feeding on a private pasture and several hunters (over a dozen by some reports) gathered and tried to surround the herd.  It’s not clear in the article if there was some kind of barrier penning the animals in, but regardless, things apparently turned ugly fast.  When everything was done, seven elk were dead, and non-hunting observers (as well as many hunters) were crying foul.

The details are really fuzzy, and I try real hard to keep my mind open to the possibility that I’m not going to get an objective picture from “eyewitnesses” and news reporters.  But this is the kind of thing I read.

Walter Gillespie, 82, of Sedro-Woolley, agreed. “I think it was an atrocity,” he said. “It’s not a sportsman’s way.”

He said the hunt wasn’t fair, with the elk penned up and hunters coming from both sides of the herd.

Gillespie said the worst part wasn’t the elk that died and were hauled away.

“How many more were shot … ” he said. “That’s what bugs me. If one didn’t fall down, they’d shoot another one. The whole thing was like a comedy — a bad, bad comedy.”

The consistency in some of what I read leads me to think there’s at least signficant truth to the reports of folks shooting indiscriminately and wounding animals without following up, and that bugs me more than the fact that they apparently cornered the animals before the shooting started. 

The article does point out, more than once, that the game wardens were on hand, and while they didn’t approve of the activities, no laws were broken.  But the public spectacle was pretty harsh, handing us one more big, PR black-eye. 

Of course, several folks have been quick to point out that this hunt was meant to reduce the population, as if this explanation justifies the behavior.  I do agree that population reduction justifies certain hunting methods that we might not otherwise care for, but I don’t think there’s any good excuse for the scenario described in this article.

I’ve mentioned before, many, many times, that I enjoy reading the Field and Stream Field Notes blog, co-written by Chad Love and Dave Hurteau.  Sometimes, I’ll find that the entries aren’t all that exciting, and sometimes they are, but I check in almost every week day just to see what’s new.

Well, checked in this morning to find that they’re talking about one of my pet topics… the spread of wild/feral hogs across the U.S., and what’s being done about it.  The post (read it here) is derived from a recent article in the Naples News, but the discussion it’s generating is worth checking out (they get a lot more blog responses than I ever will… not that I’m envious or anything). 

Anyway, go check it out if you’re of a mind.  It’s pretty much the same stuff I’ve been posting over here for a while, but it is interesting to see the variety of responses it’s generated so far.

I like my little pig truck, Petunia.  I’ve put a lot of money and work into her, and I guess that hasn’t gone unrecognized.  When I opened up my Christmas gifts this morning, there was a whole pile of stuff for the little Samurai. 

Kat’s son, Justin, hooked me up with a nice set of camo seat covers, and a matching steering wheel cover.  (I tried a photo, but it just doesn’t show up all that well.)  The seat covers were pretty badly needed.  Kat’s mom bought her a new bikini top, to replace the one that’s on her now, before the tiny holes get any bigger.

 Then there was this fairly small box, marked with a U.S. Customs stamp.  What the heck?  I opened it slowly, carefully, feeling the weight.  It was well wrapped, and took a few moments to get to it.  Then it fell out into my hand…  

It’s a chrome boar, hood ornament! 

Pretty cool, huh?  I sure thought so!

It’s here!  Santa has come and gone, bright eyed kids are bouncing off the walls, and the eastern sky is lit, not by the rising sun but by the flood of smiles coming across the country! 

Anyway, wanted to share this Christmas song with all my blog friends.  It’s something I wrote a while back, but finally, thanks to Michael Riddle for the use of his new studio, I was able to actually record it.  Ignore the video… maybe next year I’ll have the time to put together a real video for it….

I doubt many of you are sitting around your computers, browsing blogs right now… but if you are, here’s a clip from one of my all-time favorite television programs, Northern Exposure. 

Enjoy… if only for the beauty of the moment.  And if you get more out of it than that, that’s even more better.

Merry Christmas Hog Blog readers, and thank you all for dropping in from time to time.

Well, here we are.  It’s Christmas Eve, a big night for kids and grown-ups alike all over the world.  The celebrations vary, but the hopes and dreams of every celebrant… Christian, pagan, or whatever else, are pretty much the same.  “On earth peace, and goodwill toward men!”

Of course, it doesn’t mean exactly the same thing to everyone.

So wherever you are, whatever you celebrate (or don’t celebrate), I offer you my sincerest merry Christmas. 

Buon Natale! 

Feliz Navidad! 

Fröhliche Weihnachten! 

Krismasi njema!

Etc. etc.

Oh yeah!  We don’t need sparkly lights and fancy malls to get some Christmas spirit!

So a couple years ago, I was on the fence about heading back to NC for the archery opener. My little brother tossed the last straw on the load with a game cam photo of a really nice buck.

Well, there are only about two weeks left in the season this year, and no way I’ll make it back… so when he sent me this pic from his food plot, I think he was just being mean. What do you think?

Some folks like the summertime… 

Enjoy a little Bill Monroe, even if there’s no snow where you are!