7-29-11

This morning I guided Scott Seidenstricker from Reno, Nevada on a pig hunt. We headed up to the ranch and decided to take a walk in the north wheat field to see what was out there. We parked the ranger and began making our way towards the hills that are in the middle of the wheat so that we could get a better view of the field. As we topped out on the first small rise I looked down and spotted a group of 15 pigs making their way across the field. I ranged the pigs at 200 yards and Scott got on the sticks and ready to shoot. As soon as he was ready I stopped the pigs and he sent a round down range. The bullet went right over the lead pigs back and as they turned to run he gave them a couple more but never managed to connect. With all of the noise we had made we figured we would hop back on the ranger and see if there were and pigs left in the South field. We rode to the top of the ridge and glassed but could not locate any pigs so I decided to make my way south with hopes of spotting some pigs that may have left the wheat earlier. We had gone about a mile when I looked down and saw a boar making his way in our direction. I had no more then stopped the ranger and pointed the pig out to Scott when the boar stepped onto the road 15 yards from us. It did not take Scott long to get on the pig and touch the trigger. The pig fell dead in his tracks, and the only dragging we had to do was right into the back of the ranger. Scott had 3 of his boys in route from Reno to come and hunt with us on Saturday so we loaded up his pig and headed to the shop to get it skinned and hung in the cooler.

Two of the boys showed up early, so I grabbed Andy and we headed up to the ranch to see if we could get another pig killed. Andy decided to take Scott and Travis with him and head south and I took Andrew with me and headed north. We were going to make a big loop around the ranch towards each other and meet up in the middle. We had been hunting for a couple of hours when Andrew and I both spotted what looked like legs under a manzanita bush. I stopped the ranger and as soon as I threw up the binoculars I knew it was a nice sized pig. Andrew got on the sticks and prepared for the shot. As he was getting set to shoot we could hear the other ranger coming down hill towards us. Andrew got set and took the shot dropping the pig in it's tracks only seconds before the other guys came around the corner. The guys heard the shot and stopped to congratulate Andrew before continuing down the hill in search of a pig for Travis. They never did see a pig but it was so hot out that I think they were sticking tight to the brush and Andrew and I just got lucky. However,I have always said "I would rather be lucky than good". We headed to the shop to get Andrew's pig in the cooler and try to get a few hours of sleep before we had to be back at it again.

Casey