Today I had the pleasure of guiding Jim and Joe Thomas from Arbuckle, California on a pig hunt. We started the morning by sitting on a point over looking the wheat field. Within 10 minutes of sitting we caught a glimpse of 2 nice boars leaving the wheat and heading back up into the hills. I thought I knew where they were headed so we took off to get above them and get set up before they got to the ambush spot. Unfortunately they must have chosen to bed down closer to the wheat or slipped up another small wash never to be seen again. We continued to move throughout the ranch and glass in the shady spots, but were un able to turn up and more pigs. After a short break for lunch we were back at it. This time I took the guys to some of the brush patches that usually hold pigs and got them set up. I then went around the other side of the patches and began to try and push the sleeping pigs from their beds and out into harms way. This tactic proved to be in effective as well so we headed back to the wheat to get set up for the evening hunt with hopes that some pigs would come down into the wheat to feed. At 7:30 PM I spotted a group of 4 hogs over on the neighboring ranch that looked as if they were headed into the wheat, however, they hung up in a small gully and did not come out. As I was looking back over to where we lost sight of the group of 4 pigs Joe said "here comes one". I turned around and looked west and sure enough a lone pig was headed right to us down the fence line. We positioned our selves right next to the fence and let the pig come to us. At a mere 20 yards Jim and Joe doubled up on the pig hitting her right in the ear. Once she was down we continued to glass until the end of shooting light but that was our only oppertunity and the guys made the best of it. The sow was roughly 175 pounds and will be a great eater. Another successful hunt for a couple of great client's. Hopefully they will be back again, as they were great guys and a lot of fun to hunt with.
Jake
I have attached a email that I recived from Jim Thomas following their hunt and have posted it here as I believe that it is a great testimonial to the level of professionalism and effort our guides put fourth to make your hunt a success. I hope you all enjoy.
Thanks, Casey
Hi Casey
I just want to take a minute to express my appreciation for the great job that Jake did on our pig hunt on 5 June.
We met Jake at 4:15 AM as scheduled and he immediately impressed us.
Jake had us follow him the ranch, checked our licenses, tags, filled out the required paper work, asked us if we had any limitation on what we could do and then provided us with snake chaps as he highly recommended that we put them on. After loading our equipment we headed out just before the sun came up and went to the first of many spots to watch for the pigs, we saw one immediately, it was at 289 yards and moving away quickly. We did not take a shot as the animal was moving quickly and I hesitated. We saw a couple more great looking animals heading in the same direction and the game was on. We were unable to head those animals off and spent the rest of the day covering every nook and cranny looking for more.
We saw some amazing things and enjoyed talking with Jake who had some great stories and provided great advice and information. It is obvious that Jake truly loves doing his job and has great respect and admiration for you. Throughout day Jake impressed us in many ways as he ensured our safety, provide the required information to the local Game Warden that just happened to be in the area (good thing Jake had taken care of the paperwork before we were able to drink our first cup of coffee) and that we were having a good time.
Jake worked very hard all day and never gave up. At 7:59 PM Jake asked me what time it was and that is when my son Joe saw a nice pig coming our way, Jake immediately checked the wind, put together a ambush plan and started getting us into position for a shot. When the pig came into view Jake told us to wait for a second so we would have a better shot then told us to shoot, the pig dropped in its tracks at 20 yards. As we all shook hands and slaps on the back Jake informed us that we still had time to possibly get another chance and that we needed to pay close attention to the hillside. Jake took care of the animal, made sure all paperwork and tagging was completed, led us to the shop where he skinned and helped us wrap the carcass so we could get it home and was still working at 11:00 PM. when he suggested that we go ahead and leave so we could finish caring for the carcass and get to bed before daylight.
Jakes attention to detail was very impressive and made this our trip of a lifetime. I have only written about 10 letters in my entire life and knew that I was going to write one now to let you and Jake know just how impressed we were with every aspect of our hunt. This was the first guided hunt that we have ever been on and I am glad that we are fortunate enough to have you as our outfitter and Jake as our guide. We are already talking about our next trip as my son told me that he is now definitely hooked on Big Game hunting.
Thank you very much.
Jim Thomas
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