3-30-11

Today I guided Jeff Ralston on a pig hunt. We met in Maxwell and headed to the ranch. After filling out the necessary paperwork we headed into the ranch to see what we could find. As we went through the second gate on the ranch I looked up hill and spotted a big black and white boar just up hill from us. We bailed out of the ranger and tried to close the distance but the boar winded us and circled around below us and crossed onto the neighbors ranch before we could get a shot. We re grouped and got back to the ranger and went in search of another target. As we crested the next ridge I spotted a lone boar feeding down in the flats so we took off in hot pursuit. We drove doen into the valley and as we crested the first hill the boar came walking out in front of us. Jeff bailed out of the ranger cracked a shell into the chamber and took a shot. His first shot went high and as the boar started to run he hammered him with his second shot. The shot was a little far back and the boar kept moving but did not make it too far before he stopped in the bottom of the creek bed. Jeff snuck up to where he could see the boar and gave him a final shot to the head ending the chase. We drug the boar back to the ranger and got him gutted and loaded up to head for the skinning shack. This was Jeff's first pig and he assured me that it would not be his last! As we made our way back to the truck we spotted another boar up on the ridge that will make a nice trophy for one of our clients in the near future.

Casey

3-28-11

Today I guided Brett Nystrom on a combo hunt. He was in search of a turkey and a pig so we started the morning near the Sacramento River looking for a gobbler. Right at first light we heard a gobbler in the roost tree and moved in to get set up. We got the decoy out and started the waiting game. The gobbler was calling back but would not come to us, so we went towards him. We snuck in as close as we thought we could and got set up and started calling again. Immediately the gobbler answered back and he was headed our way but hung up in a brush line before he got to us. We sat tight and waited awhile but the gobbler just would not come through the brush. We made another move and started calling again. The gobbler answered back and was very close, but just as soon as we thought we had him a deer winded us and took off in a dead run straight at the gobbler and and we never saw the gobbler again. After the blown chance we decided to head up to the hills and see what we could find. We loaded up in the ranger and were on our way to the back valley in search of some turkeys when we ran across a group of 30 pigs and decided to switch gears. The pigs crossed the road in front of us and Brett grabbed the rifle and we took off on foot. We followed the pig tracks a couple of hundred yards and could hear them in the brush ahead of us. We slowed  down and kept creeping along and looking into the creek bed when we spotted the group of pigs feeding on the creek bank. Brett got ready for the shot and I kept trying to pick out a nice boar for him to shoot. After a couple of minutes the sows moved through an opening and a nice sized boar stepped in to the shooting lane. I gave Brett the go ahead and he made a perfect shot on the boar rolling him down into the creek. We immediately walked up the bank and saw that the boar was dead, and began the task of gutting the boar and dragging him back to the ranger. We got the boar loaded up and took him back to the shop and caped him out as Brett wanted him for the wall. It was a great day in the field and we will just have to get the turkey on the next hunt.

Casey

3-13-11

Today I guided Clint Copeland from Lodi, California on a pig hunt. Minutes into the hunt we spotted 2 boars in the flats and the race was on. We closed the distance to 150 yards and just as Clint got ready to shoot the pigs disappeared into the brush. We walked back to the ranger and took off in hot pursuit down the valley hoping to spot the boars again. We had gone several miles and had not spotted them again so we just kept on going. As we crested a hill I looked in an opening between 2 brush patches and spotted a lone boar feeding, so off we went. We snuck to within 100 yards of our un-suspecting target and Clint got on the sticks and ready to shoot. At the sound of the shot the boar dropped dead in it's tracks and the rest is history. The boar weighed around 175 pounds and Clint was very happy with it as it was his first pig ever. It was a great morning  in the hills and in total we saw around 20-25 pigs. Another successful hunt and another client that now has the "pig fever", a sickness that most of us pig hunters have!!! 

Andy

3-3-2011

Today I guided Steve Tamburelli from Napa, California. We have been trying to get together for a couple of months now but the weather has been messing up all of our planning. We finally hit the weather right and it looked as if it was going to be a nice day. We met in Maxwell at 5:30 am and headed to the ranch, to get all of the necessary paperwork completed before heading into the hills. We waited until legal shooting hours and began our way into the ranch. We had just went through the second gate and started to climb the first hill when I looked up and spotted a nice group of pigs. They were about 200 yards up hill and looked as if they were making their way down towards us. We drove another 100 yards and got out of the ranger and waited to see what trail they were going to come down. Steve got set up and was watching the trail above us when I looked back down the road and spotted the group coming down the trail behind us. I got Steve repositioned and he took aim. At the crack of the rifle the pig dropped right in the middle of the road, with a perfect shot to the head. We both looked at each other and decided we would rather be lucky then good any day. We were a total of 10 minutes into legal shooting time when he killed his pig. It was a 120 pound boar that I am sure will be great for the table. The hunt was short and sweet, but I sure like to get an easy one once in awhile.  

Casey