The Hog Blog

Still catching up with my friends’ blogs out there, and saw that the guys at Cypress Creek hunting lodge in South Carolina are running hog hunts all summer long.  Now I know they have some good pigs down there, but I didn’t expect anything like this sucker they took back in mid-May! 

My friend, Jeff, writes in the Skinning Shed blog that the folks at Cypress Creek are busy getting ready for the August 15 deer season opener too.  They’re hanging stands and scouting, in between summertime hog hunts.  They just wrapped up a long-range rifle clinic as well, and are considering a second one in September.  Check ‘em out and schedule a hunt.  Tell Jeff I sent ya!

Personally, I’m not all that enthused about an August deer hunt or long range rifle shooting… but man, I’d love to get a whack at a big boar like that!  I do love some hog huntin’!

Got a call yesterday from my friend Shane, owner/operator/chief bottle washer at Border Bandit Hunting Services.  After rehashing our recent hunt, he mentioned he had a new hog hunting property coming available and wondered if I’d pass it along on the Hog Blog.  Well, I’m always happy to help out a friend, especially one who takes such great care of me when I’m down in Texas, so here goes.

The new place is a 10,ooo acre ranch, about 30 miles or so, southwest of Uvalde, Texas (less than two hours from the San Antonio International Airport).  This is the Texas Brush Country, not the Hill Country, but it’s loaded with hogs and deer, as well as the occasional javelina.  There are 28 blinds on the place, with feeders set up strategically around the area. 

The hunt would be for three full days of hunting (e.g. arrive Thursday evening, hunt all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and depart on Monday morning).  There’s a large, and very comfortable lodge on the ranch that can accomodate up to around 20 hunters, although Shane is looking for groups of 8 to 12 hunters.  This should allow folks to pick and change blinds as needed without getting too crowded. 

Cost for the hunt is $850/hunter, and that includes everything except food.  However, there is a big kitchen area, as well as outdoor cooking facilities, so with a little planning, a group could pick up groceries in Uvalde, and do it up in grand style. 

The hunt also includes one hog per day, per hunter.  If three hogs aren’t enough, you can add more at $100/ea. 

Remember that Texas has no tag requirement and no limit for wild hogs.  Non-residents simply have to buy a short-term hunting license to shoot as many hogs and exotics as they want.  A five-day non-resident license will run you $48.  (As I understand it, TX residents don’t even need a license to shoot hogs on private land. )

It’s a pretty good deal for a lot of great hunting.  Give Shane a call at:  830-275-2199 if you’re interested in setting something up.

Michael, over at Native Hunt is offering up a pretty sweet deal for hog hunters this spring. 

For the regular price of $975.00 (a standard Feral Hog Hunt) we will allow you to take a second Feral Hog for FREE!  You read that right.  At no extra charge you will be able to take home DOUBLE the amount of MEAT!  This deal was originally available only to the first 10 people that contacted us. We are going to open it up to ten more people, so stop what you are doing and call 1.888.HUNT.321  now!

This is fully guided, one-on-one hunting, complete with all the trimmings of a real, first-class operation.  Pop on over to the Native Hunt blog to read more about this opportunity.

Well, I’m back.

It was an eventful couple of weeks at Coon Camp Springs… too eventful, in fact, for me to simply summarize the hunts in a single post. Instead, I’ve decided to write up each hunt separately (although there’s a great connection between the first two).

Click Here to view Part 1

Click Here to view Part 2

Here’s the final part, then… hope you enjoy it!

The waxing moon was the biggest concern for our next hunt.  David Brown would be arriving on November 1st, and the moon would be completely full on the 2nd.  Way up in that country, a full moon lights up the night like daytime, and the deer stay active all night long and then bed up during the day.  The only bright spot was my hope that the moon would also help kick off the rut.  Nolan’s buck had been chasing does three days earlier, and on the Saturday before David’s arrival I glassed up a really nice 4×4 leading a harem of does, so things were looking really positive on that front.  As long as the moon didn’t screw us up, I had hopes that we’d see a pretty good hunt.

I was in Reno when David arrived on Sunday, so Dave (Allen) would take him on the tour, and go over to the shooting bench to check out his rifle.  I thought they’d also go ahead and hit the field for a little while before I got back, but they decided just to relax in camp and wait for me.  The hunt would start Monday morning.

Over dinner, we talked about the last couple of hunts, and I told David about the big 4×4 I’d seen.   I described what I thought was the best strategy to get on him, just sitting on a glassing point and waiting as long as we could stand to sit there.  A lot of western hunters can’t sit still for hours, but with the deer moving consistently over the same area, the longer we could stay put, the better our odds of getting a shot on that buck.  David assured me he loved glassing and sitting, so the plan was made.  We had a great dinner of elk and pheasant, and headed off to bed with visions of big bucks dancing in our heads.

Monday morning’s hunt was a guide’s dream come true.   Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I’m back.

It was an eventful couple of weeks at Coon Camp Springs… too eventful, in fact, for me to simply summarize the hunts in a single post. Instead, I’ve decided to write up each hunt separately (although there’s a great connection between the first two).

Click Here to view Part 1

Here’s the second part, then… hope you enjoy it!

When Nolan left with his father on Tuesday night, his plan was to get home, visit with his family a little bit, and then come on back out to the ranch on Thursday afternoon.  Tom said he might come back as well.  Even though he already had his buck, he wanted to be there when Nolan tagged out.  In the wings of the plan was the possibility that Nolan may bring his six year-old son back up with him to enjoy the hunt and camp, and possibly to see his father take a buck, just as Nolan had been there 35 years earlier to see his own dad tag out. 

With these plans in our minds, Dave Allen (President of the Coon Camp Springs non-profit org), Kat (my girlfriend and camp cook for the week), and I decided to take our downtime on Wednesday to get out to town and pick up some supplies.  We did some work around camp and headed up the hill to the highway.  Just before we topped the last ridge, a black truck came up the road toward us.  Nolan just couldn’t stay away!  I bailed out and let Dave and Kat go on to town.  I’d spend the evening hunting with Nolan and his son, Tommy, and see what we could do to fill that tag. 

With a six year-old in tow, the cards were stacked against us on this one.  On this property, there are a couple of ways to hunt.  One is to sit tight on a high spot and glass, and then either shoot or stalk for the shot.  That requires quiet, patience, and sitting still… none of which are exactly common traits among the first grade set. 

The other method is to still hunt slowly through the juniper thickets.  This is slow, silent going, and is difficult enough for a solo hunter.  With a couple of experienced hunters, getting close to a buck is a real challenge.  With two hunters and a youngster, it’s almost a guarantee we wouldn’t see anything except tracks. 

There is a third method, of course… road hunting.  While I’m not against the practice, and will do it from time to time, it’s not really something we encourage at Coon Camp Springs.  The terrain is pretty friendly, and there’s almost no place the most out of shape hunter can’t go on foot.  Besides, riding around in the truck isn’t the kind of experience most mule deer hunters are paying for. 

I had some decisions to make, and none of them looked promising.  This was gonna be tough and no way around it.  Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I’m back.

It was an eventful couple of weeks at Coon Camp Springs… too eventful, in fact, for me to simply summarize the hunts in a single post.  Instead, I’ve decided to write up each hunt separately (although there’s a great connection between the first two).  Here’s the first part, then… hope you enjoy it!

The huge mule deer stood broadside… not 40 yards from where I crouched with my hunters, glassing the thick brush.   “I can’t see his head,” said Tom Henry, the senior of the father-and-son team.  “Is it a buck?”

His son, Nolan, whispered back.  “It’s huge, that has to be a buck’s body.”

“Does anybody see horns,” I asked? 

It seemed like we were standing there for several minutes before I was able to spot antler tines protruding well above the juniper branches that obscured the deer’s head.  Once I saw that, I was able to piece together the rest of the rack and head.  I had been looking too low… this sucker was big!  It was definitely what we were looking for. 

“It’s a really good buck,” I hissed. “Kill it!”

“Did he say it was a buck,” queried Tom?

“It’s a buck,” answered his son.  “He said, ‘kill it.’” 

“What,” said Tom?

“SHOOT IT!”

At the crack of Tom’s .270, the buck hopped and kicked out his back feet, then tore out through the brush.  His right leg was flopping.  To all appearances, it looked like a textbook shoulder/heart shot.  I breathed a sigh of relief, and started out to follow what I expected would be a really short blood trail to a really dead deer. 

The last time the elder Henry killed a buck with his son was almost 35 years ago, when Nolan was a youngster of around six.  They’d hunted together since then, but it seemed that Tom was destined to go home empty-handed every time he joined Nolan in the field.  This year he’d bought two of our PLM tags at Coon Camp Springs as a birthday gift for his son, both as an opportunity to spend that time together, but also as a chance to break that long, unsuccessful streak. 

This was the first full day of hunting with these guys, after spending the previous evening checking the zero on their rifles, touring the property, and scaring the coyote population with a few long shots.  Since we had a little daylight left, we even sat and glassed for a while before heading back to camp for a big dinner of wild boar sausage with apples and wild rice. 

At first light, we were back on that rock. Shortly after we settled in, I spotted some does off in the distance.  They were way off the property, but we watched them as they slowly worked their way toward our fenceline.  There were about eight or nine deer in the field, but no bucks that we could see (they were over 1000 yards away).  Suddenly, Nolan hissed, “deer!”  Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I’m off! 

Heading up to Coon Camp Springs to see if I can’t put a few clients on some more big mule deer.  We’ve got two hunters coming to camp on Sunday, and another one coming in a week later.  With the weather as it is, I’m hoping to see some rut activity, but we’ll be fighting with the waxing full moon.

Anyway, I’m gonna be offline for the entire two weeks.  I’ve left a little something behind to occupy your minds, should you be really, really bored and just have to drop by. 

I sure hope to have some great photos and stories when I get back, and look forward to reading what you’ve all been up to in the meantime.

My friend, Shane Hearn who runs Borderbandit Outfitters just shot me this latest deal.  He said the deal is pretty much open for now, with no deadline.  He figures he’ll end it when the time is right, but from the looks of things in the outfitting and guided hunting world, now’s the time to offer a deal.  And brother, let me tell you… this is a DEAL!

Here’s what he sent me.

$500 – 2 axis doe, hogs and varmints. Lodging included

 $300 – Hog hunts …. bow/crossbow only …. 3 hogs … no size limit or trophy fee. Lodging included.

 All hunts are per hunter and hunter must provide 2 bags of corn each.

You read it right…  $500 for two axis does, lodging, and all the hogs and varmints you want to shoot.  Or you can do an archery-only hunt for hogs… three hogs for $300.  You won’t find a bargain like that in CA! 

If you’re looking for a hunt to hold you over ’til the late deer season, or if you’ve already filled your tags and are looking for something else to do, this is an excellent option.  Shane’s a great guy, and I can just about guarantee you’ll have a lot of fun and a great hunt at the same time. 

Give him a call at:  830-275-2199

Remember, to hunt feral hogs in Texas, non-residents must buy the basic hunting license.  I think my short-term license this year was less than $50.  You can buy online at the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

Again?  Yeah, I know… but hey, it’s that time of year.  I can’t sit in here and type on this computer all the time.  I need that time afield… the experiences feed my mind, and that, in turn, feeds this blog. 

This trip is down to the central coast area again, this time hunting with Hank Shaw, the Hunter-Angler-Gardener-Cook.  Hopefully we’re gonna find a good blacktail buck for Hank, and then look out!  Once venison gets into his kitchen, he’s got a whole world of magic that he can work on it. 

So bear with us, and I’ll be back soon.

Yes, this is an “ad”. But, hey… if you can’t use your blog to your own ends, then what’s the point of having one, right?

Seriously, here’s the deal. As some of you probably have read, Coon Camp Springs gets four PLM (Private Land Management) deer tags every year. In order to fund our habitat restoration projects, we sell those tags as fully guided, outfitted hunts. We’re able to set our dates late in the year, so that our hunts generally coincide with the local rut.

We’ve done pretty well so far, with 100% shot opportunity for our clients, and this year is looking like a real good one.  The work we’ve done on the place is paying off with a big increase in water sources and native plant life, and we’ve already seen some really nice bucks on the place. 

What are the details?

First of all, this is up in the eastern Sierra, in the X3A hunt zone of Lassen County.  No draw is required.  Just bring in a regular, over-the-counter deer tag (e.g. A zone) or a completed tag application, and we’ll exchange the PLM tag for it.  There are two tags left, and we’re looking for $3000/tag.  The hunt will be the first week of November, from Sunday , November 1 through Sunday, November 8.  

The hunts are fully guided (2-on-1) and outfitted.  All you really need to bring is your deer tags, gun and ammo, and personal effects.  We’ve got lodging, hot meals, hot showers, and a comfortable camp.  Travel around the ranch will be provided, as will basic field care.  We can recommend local taxidermists and meat processing if needed.  We’re on the place several times a month, and will have it scouted out prior to your arrival. 

And here’s one of the best things… because of our 501(c), non-profit status,  the cost of the hunt (less the $62.50 for the tags) is tax deductible!  That’s right, you’ll get a write-off for going deer hunting! 

If you’re interested, you can contact me directly at the Hog Blog, and I’ll get things rolling.

Oh yeah.. and if you didn’t know already… your guide on this hunt is none other than your’s truly!