The Hog Blog

Well, first of all… I didn’t get sprayed by a skunk. I’m a little gun shy of those things. In the last video, when he raises his tail I think there was a coyote down in the draw with him. He had no idea I was there.

For those who haven’t been keeping up, I was bowhunting blacktails during the California A-zone archery season. This was my first outing with the new Mathews Drenalin compound, after many years shooting a recurve. The hunt took place on the Hedgepeth Ranch, which is leased by the Golden Ram Sportsmen’s Club. It’s a great place, and I had success there with a hog and a deer last year.

Anyway, once again as in so many of my hunting videos, there won’t be any kill shots or spectacular close-ups with trophy game (except that skunk). But I hope you enjoy it anyway…

Well, only a few more days until my first blacktail deer hunt of the 2008 season, and my first bowhunt with the new Matthews.  This will be my first outing, ever, with a compound bow… something I’ve avoided for several years through my hard-headed insistence on doing it “the hard way” with traditional archery tackle. 

So how do I feel about it? 

Here are a couple of representatives of my current groups at 20 yards with the new bow.  I realize it’s not much compared to folks who’ve been shooting a bit longer, but I’m pretty happy with it.  That’s six arrows in there, four of which are in the yellow and two of them on the X.  I actually shot several groups that were even better than this, like the one below. 

The average groups at 40 yards aren’t quite as tight, but they’re still all going into the red and yellow when I don’t cant the bow (a bad habit from shooting the recurve) or jerk the shot. 

Point is, I’m feeling pretty good about the decision to adopt the compound bow.  Training wheels or whatever, it was the right and ethical thing to do. 

So this weekend, when I’m up there in Sonoma County hunting deer (or hogs), I feel very confident that I can put an arrow into the kill zone at reasonable ranges, and that the arrow will do what it’s intended with plenty of precision and energy. 

We’ll see, of course.  There’s no guarantee, and heck, if I can miss with a rifle I can sure miss with a bow.  But I now feel that I’ve done what I can to make sure my kill is as clean and humane as possible… a confidence I no longer have with the recurve. 

Last fall some of you may remember the “Spur of the Moment Buck“, the blacktail deer I took on my last-minute run out to my favorite public land spot , the place I call Kokopelli Valley (and no, it’s not on any maps). 

Well, this buck is one of my best in CA, and while I don’t go in for full-head mounts, I wanted to something a little nicer than just cutting off the skull plate and hanging him on a board in the garage. 

Well, it happens that my friend and hunting buddy, Scott Plunkett, has a little side business called “High Desert Skull Works“.  He uses dermestid beetles to clean skulls and create some really nice european mounts.  For those folks who want to go a step further, he can also add a metallic finish to the skull.  This makes for a really unique and nice-looking trophy.

I contacted Scott and told him about my deer, and then he and I worked it all out.  I sent the deer head to him, and told him to use his own discretion on the type of metal-finish to use.  I’d seen several of his other pieces, and they all looked so cool, there was no way I could decide which one I wanted. 

Anyway, after a few months to do the work (he’s got a busy queue and the beetles work at their own pace) he dropped the finished product off to me last weekend while I was down at Bryson Resort.   I expected it to be cool, but I didn’t expect it to come out as awesome as it did!  It’s a really nicely done piece of wildlife art! 

You can click on the image for a slightly larger picture with better resolution.  The thumbnails below offer a couple more looks. 

For more information, or to contact Scott on your own project, go to his website at www.hdskullworks.com.  Scott does skulls for all sorts of game, including wild boar, bear, antelope, and exotic species. 

OK, so let’s have a go at this.  I’ve started and stopped this post several times already, so apologies in advance if it seems a bit scattershot.  It’s something that’s been itching to come out for a long time, but finding the right words has been quite a challenge.  I doubt I’ve pulled it off here… but I had to write something.

To preface, let me be clear.  On this blog I often write from a factual position… the voice of authority.  I know what I’m talking about and there is clear, empirical evidence to support my knowledge.  There’s not a lot of room for argument there, although my facts can always be disputed.   I’m fallible. 

I also often write from my own perspective, in my own opinion, and there aren’t always facts to back me up.  It’s just what I think about something, or even what I’ve seen from my own point of view.  But I recently realized that I don’t always differentiate between factual posts and opinion…  I don’t provide disclaimers, nor do I document my sources.   So that may make it seem as if I think my opinion is always fact… and let me assure you now that I know better than that. 

So…

The following is the latter case… What I’m about to write is primarily based on my own opinion.  I welcome and encourage rebuttal of my position.  Although you may not change my mind, I like to think folks who are reading stand to benefit from seeing different sides of the discussion… rather than just mine (which is always right, of course, but I like to humor those who would disagree). 

And on we go… 

I’ve had the current poll online now for several weeks, in which I ask you, the readers, what you prefer when it comes to deer hunting.  Are you out looking for Mr. Big, only, or are you just looking to fill the freezer?  Do you pass all shots at small bucks, and hold out for a mature buck or doe?  Does it matter to you at all?  Would you rather go home empty handed than shoot anything below Boone and Crockett (or Pope and Young) minimum? 

In the poll, it looks like most of you (38% at the time I’m writing this) are primarily interested in filling the freezer… you’re meat hunters.  Buck, doe, spike or record-book, the only thing that matters is that it’s made of venison.  The next largest group of respondents would pass on a small buck in order to take a mature doe or buck (my pick too…although antlerless hunts are a rarity here in CA).  Following very closely to this group are those who aim to kill only “trophy” bucks.  Bringing up the tail end of the list are those of you who don’t care one way or another… if it’s brown, it’s down. 

This is an extremely unscientific poll, and while I gave some thought to the wording of the questions, they’re hardly ironclad without wiggle room.  But the poll results were fairly enlightening to me.  Here’s why…

Early this fall I took a weekend and a friend and went up to Sonoma County for a deer hunt.  On that hunt I spotted and killed a pretty small deer (I wrote about it here).  In California, with a couple of exceptions, a deer must have forked antlers on at least one side (brow tines don’t count) to be legal.  You can’t shoot does or spikes.  My deer was legal, but despite the small forks, he couldn’t have been more than a year and a half old.

So I posted a little write-up about the hunt on a couple of forums, including Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors.  Most of the folks who saw it were congratulatory.  Meat in the freezer and everything… but there were a few who wanted to take me to task for shooting such a small deer. 

To them, and to others, I ask… what’s the harm? 

Since when did a hunter have to live up to the TV shows and magazines with every hunt, and harvest only the biggest, baddest buck in the woods?  Is the trophy the only measure of a successful hunt?  Not to me, and according to the survey, it’s not to the majority of you folks either. 

There’s nothing new about the quest of deer hunters to take a real bruiser of a buck.  I don’t think I know anyone who wouldn’t get a big thrill from putting a “Book” buck on the ground, even if they would never bother to actually put the buck in the “Book”.  For most of us, a true “trophy” deer epitomizes the deer hunting experience, and to take one under fair-chase conditions represents the ultimate challenge.  The truest value of a “trophy” deer comes from its rarity… from the fact that a real bruiser buck is not an everyday occurrence. 

But, over the past several years, it seems like the emphasis on “trophy” deer has rapidly outpaced the emphasis on the hunting experience itself.  In fact, a term that is gaining popular use is “quality” deer.  This trend disturbs me for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the implication that, if a deer isn’t a trophy then it (and the hunter who bagged it) is not “quality”. 

When we start to value our hunting experiences based on someone else’s appraisal of our quarry, then the whole spirit of the hunt will degrade into yet another pointless competition.  I don’t hunt for a “score”, and I don’t give a damn if my deer meets or doesn’t meet the standards of some committee.  

Any successful deer hunter has accomplished something that the majority of deer hunters could not do.  I don’t know all the statistics, but  even in states with an over-abundance of deer, I don’t think you’ll find overall hunter success over 50%.  In many states, it’s far, far lower.  Anyone who manages to find and kill a deer has reason to feel a sense of accomplishment.  That shouldn’t be demeaned simply because the deer wasn’t a “trophy”.

The true value of a hunt should be in the experience.  The time outdoors, the skills applied and lessons learned…  these are the rewards of a hunt.   An animal on the meat pole is a bonus, and a big, mature buck can make it even sweeter, but that shouldn’t demean the value of a smaller animal, if the hunt and experience were still as good. 

But let’s move away from the emotional and personal aspect and look at it from a different perspective.  What about the biology?  Read the rest of this entry »

Not for the first time, I consider breaking loose from here and heading back to camp. 

The camper is cool, and with this great breeze blowing, it would be perfect for a nice nap.  It’s hotter than blazes up on top of this ridge.  The sun is baking directly down, and there’s no cover here to provide shade.  The rocks are soaking up the heat, and radiating it right back out on me.  I’ve been up here for over three hours, and there are at least four more hours before the sun drops low enough to give me relief. 

The only thing keeping me here is the fact that I’ve got no less than 12 deer bedded under the oaks downhill to my west.  There are four or five more stretched out down in the chaparral on the east side.  I haven’t seen any horns yet, but with the rut just around the corner, I’m pretty sure there must be a big boy or two nearby.  Every few minutes I glass the hillside, dragging my gaze slowly through every opening, wary for the flick of an ear or a twitching tail… or better, waving antler tips. 

I sit and glass until my head starts to nod, then I get up and glass the other side for a while.  Finally, I lay my over-shirt out on the rocky ground, and roll my jacket up for a pillow and stretch myself out in the sun.  With my Stetson pulled over my face, I can almost fall asleep.  The buzzing flies and the blazing heat keep me just at the edge for a while, until finally, I’m dreaming. 

I wake about an hour later.  Sweat has soaked my back, even as the sun has dried the front as fast as my pores can wet it.  I sit up, and am briefly chilled by the breeze as the sweat evaporates.  Then I’m hot again.

I look around carefully, then slowly stand up. My binoculars sweep the thickets, and drift across the canyon and up the road to my truck, parked less than two miles distant.  I could be there in under an hour.  There’s a cold soda there, and some food besides these Nutrigrain bars I’ve got in my pack.  But if I pull out of here now, it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to motivate myself to climb back up this ridge by evening.  All these does… there’s gotta be a buck somewhere.

I force myself to start glassing again.  My head starts to nod.  I’ve been up since 0315, and this sitting in one place is boring.  I glass until I can’t keep my eyes open, then I stretch out on my rocky bed again.  Read the rest of this entry »

First, thanks to all for the kind comments regarding the videos.  They’re a blast to put together!  The next part will have to wait a day or so, since Thursday night is “movie night” with my daughter, an inviolable evening of family time.  Once the movie is over (now), it’s a little late to try to put a video together.  Time for a nightcap and beddie-bye. 

But in the meantime, I’ve got time for this quick update. 

I’ve mentioned that things are pretty busy, hence the slowdown on HogBlog posts.  Well, besides my real job, I figured it’d be worthwhile just to let you all know what kinds of things are keeping me so busy around here.  I know it came as a shock to me, when I looked at my calendar and found myself booking and turning down hunts as far out as April, 2008!

This weekend is a light one.  I’ve gotta move a horse to a new stable on Saturday morning, then thinking I might take advantage of a B-zone deer tag to slip out for an evening and a morning hunt up in my old stomping grounds, Kokopelli Valley (not its real name, and not on a map).  Haven’t been there in a few years, and really miss the old place.  Who knows, but with the changing weather and some reports I’ve been hearing… there could be some swollen-necked bucks wandering around this weekend. 

October 19-21 I’ll be hunting hogs with Deedy Loftus and crew at the Bryson Hesperia Resort down in central CA.  In addition to trying to get a little hog blood on the new rifle, we’ll be filming some bowhunters there as well.  Hopefully we’ll see some really good footage, and who knows where that stuff might end up.  My little You-Tube site probably won’t be seeing much of this video… although I promise there’ll be some to share with any of you who want to see it.

As soon as I get back from Deedy’s it’s time to switch from my hunting hat to my guide hat, as I head up to Coon Camp Springs for a couple of weeks of guiding mule deer hunters.  Week one will consist mostly of scouting on horseback while my buddy, Dave, guides the first pair of hunters.  Should be a lot of good pictures and video from that.  The second week I’ll be in high gear, trying to get a father and son hunting team on a big, eastern-Sierra muley. 

After that, it’s off to Texas for a wedding.  Ya’ll won’t care much about that, although it sure would be cool if a hog hunt or something was to come out of that trip.  One never knows, does one? 

The holidays will be on us pretty quick after that, with Thanksgiving rapidly rolling into Christmas.  Holy cow!  Is anyone else as shocked as I am at how fast this year has gone by? 

I’ll squeeze in some waterfowl and pheasant hunts in that interim, and there’s currently a hog hunt at the Tejon Ranch planned too, if nothing comes up between now and then. 

Weekends have become a precious commodity, though, and there are some loved ones who are starting to have a hard time recognizing me when I come through the door. 

January brings more waterfowl, and a JHO hog hunt at Tejon Ranch later in the month.  I didn’t realize how much I had going on already when I scheduled that one, but it’s on the books now and I’m running it, so I guess I better go.  Dang. 

The first of February brings the 2008 SHOT Show, something I haven’t missed in about six years now.  It’s an opportunity for me to put my hands on all the new toys for the upcoming seasons, and a chance for you all to get a preview of what’s coming up in the hunting and shooting world.  I can promise pretty thorough coverage…or as thorough as one guy can provide.  It’s a BIG show.

I’ll be bowhunting Tejon again in February, then down to Texas in late March for exotics and hogs.  That takes me clean into the spring, and I haven’t even considered “local” hunting. 

Anyway, all that is somehow balanced with family life.  Fortunately for me, my loved ones recognize what an important part of my life this hunting thing is to me.  I’m also lucky enough that they will join me on occasion. 

So, yeah…. I’m busy.  But it’s a good busy, I suppose. 

As you may have noticed, I put up a new poll this morning. 

The old poll definitely generated some interesting responses.  Seems like opinions were pretty evenly split, with about half of you agreeing that it’s OK to take a kid on a “guaranteed” hunt for a taste of success, versus the other half who thought a kid should have a “real” hunting experience and learn that killing something is a rare reward.  The final tally, for those who like numbers, was 23 in favor vs 22 against. 

As I said before, I am still a little ambivalent.  I’d hoped for some overwhelmingly convincing argument one way or another, but there ya go… that’s what makes it fun. 

I don’t think the new question is quite as tricky… more of a personal preference.  Do you “hunt horns”, or are you just out to fill the freezer?  Shoot the little ones or let them grow?  I’d love to hear if someone has an ethics aspect to their argument, one way or the other, though.  That should be interesting. 

As usual, I’ll let the poll run a while before I chime in with my own opinions.  Thanks, in advance, to all who participate! 

Well, I got home from my camping trip, a little sunburned, a lot tired, and very dirty.  It was 107 degrees when I broke camp yesterday.  Yeah, but it’s a dry heat.  Right. 

Anyway, I came home and as I relaxed on this holiday day, I got a phone call from an unfamiliar area code.  Turns out, it was John Martin, a fellow California hunter and Skinny Moose Network blogger.  John writes the Western Wanderer blog, and like me, he’s been taking advantage of the early CA hunting season to chase blacktail deer. 

Ya’ll may remember my recent post about my little-bitty blacktail a couple weeks ago.  Of course I’m not a trophy hunter anyway.  I prefer the meat, so small bucks are as welcome to me as a larger one.  Point being, yeah, I shot a bitty buck… but it was tasty.

Well, John informed me that he’d just taken his A-zone buck this past weekend.  I waited for the news that he’d just smoked a bruiser.  Surprise!  He informed me that, as of now, I retain the Big Buck honors for the entire Skinny Moose network.  No one else on the whole network has killed a deer as big as mine for the 2007-2008 season. 

Hmmm.. I wonder if I can hold this honor for the whole year?

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. 

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 »