2-8-11

Today we had the pleasure of guiding Paul, Jarrod, and Al on a pig hunt. We met in Maxwell at 5:30 AM and all had a comment about the lovely 35 MPH North wind that was howling. We all knew that the hunting was going to be tough but I assured them that we would get our animals. We started the morning by splitting up and Jake headed South with Al, while I headed to the North end of the ranch with Paul and Jarrod. These guys were in good shape and willing to work so we took off on foot and began searching for some hogs. The early morning hours were pretty un-eventful but around 8:30 we spotted a couple of big pigs up on a side hill feeding and off we went. We stalked to within  250 yards and Jarrod got ready to take the shot. As soon as he flipped his safety off the pigs walked into the brush never to be seen again, Strike 1!! We then headed downhill and began to work our way back to the ranger. About half way back we crested a ridge and  took a peek into another small brush patch. We had been standing above the brush throwing rocks for a couple of minutes when a 150 pound boar trotted across the hill below us. The boar proved to be lucky and he bailed into a creek bottom where we could not see him to get a shot, Strike 2!! We then met up with Jake and Al who had seen some pigs but were unable to get a shot as well. We put together a game plan and we all headed South to see what was hanging out on that end of the ranch. We glassed for awhile and then headed over the hill to check out some other country. As we rounded the corner I looked down and spotted a group of pigs feeding on the edge of the brush line 300 yards away. We jumped out of the rangers and the stalk was on. We quickly closed the distance to 180 yards and Jarrod was the first to fire dumping a 200 pound sow in her tracks. As soon as Jarrod shot Al lined up on the next sow dropping her as well. Then Paul got ready but the pigs walked over the ridge and out of sight before he could get a shot off. By the time that we had the 2 pigs gutted, tagged and loaded it was 4:00 PM and was approaching prime time for the afternoon hunt. We loaded up in the rangers and began hunting our way back towards the parking lot stopping to glass all of the shaded canyons. We saw a couple of more groups of pigs that eluded us but as we made our way out of the ranch we spotted another group of pigs feeding in the bottom of a draw. With only minutes of legal shooting light left Paul got into position and smoked a nice 150 pound sow. She dropped in her tracks a mere 20 yards from the road making for a great ending to a long windy day. These guys were great hunters and willing to work for their animals. We had a great time and I hope they did as well.

Casey