This evening Andy and I guided a group of 3 hunters on a pig hunt. We arrived at the ranch at 6:30 loaded up in the rangers and headed in separate directions. Andy was going to head into the big canyon south of the wheat field and just sit, while I took the other 2 hunters for a ride in the canyons to the north. I started up the center of the ranch and stopped in a couple of locations to glass. As we made our way into a big shaded canyon I spotted a big black and white boar and we headed down towards the bottom of the canyon to see if we could get in front of him. We got set up and waited about 20 minutes but the boar never showed, so we loaded back up in the ranger to make our way further into the canyon. Before we could take off Neil realized that he had lost his I-phone, so back up the hill we went to try and find it. Sure enough it was sitting on the ground at the first place we had stopped to glass. At this point it was nearing prime time and we did not have enough time to get back into the big canyons so we headed towards the wheat field to see if any pigs were out feeding yet. As soon as we got to the wheat I noticed a lone boar feeding along the edge in the shade, so off we went. We covered alot of ground fast and were soon within 200 yards of the unsuspecting target. I wanted to get closer but with the wind blowing the direction that it was we had no choice but to shoot from where we were at. Neil got set up on the sticks and started throwing lead. The first shot went a little high but the next 2 connected and Neil had a 175 pound boar down. We loaded the pig and headed back to the trucks to see what Andy and Jay had done. The guys had sat and watched the main trail that comes into the wheat but no pigs ever showed. We headed to the ranch and hung Neil's boar in the walk in and headed home to get a couple hours of rest before hitting it again in the morning.
The next morning we came up with a plan, and Andy headed to the South wheat field with Jay, while I took Brian to the north field. Brian and I had not gone 100 yards from the ranger when I spotted a lone pig making his way up hill. I ranged him at 200 yards and Brian got set up to shoot but a good shot never presented its self. As Brian was watching the lone pig another 10 pigs walked up on the same trail but I could not get them to stop and Brian was not comfortable with the shot so we decided to keep walking. Just over the next rise we saw a group of 8 pigs, but they had already made it to the neighbors property so they were safe. We glassed for another minute or 2 but did not see any more pigs so we headed back towards the ranger. Just as we were getting to the ranger Andy called and said that there was a lone boar in the flats feeding 1000 yards south-east of us and he did not look to be in a big hurry. Brian and I decided to go for it and the race was on. We could not see the pig but I had an idea of where it was at and we checked the wind a set off in that direction. As soon as we gained a little elevation I spotted the pig but he was still over 500 yards away. Brian and I came up with a plan and the stalk was on. Pretty soon we were 300 yards and closing. At 150 yards Brian said we were close enough but I knew we could do better so we pressed on. When we finally got ready to shoot we were within 50 yards of the boar and Brian smoked him. The boar ended up being 150 pounds.
After a couple of quick photo's I called Andy to see if they had seen any pigs. Andy was watching our stalk when he looked down the hill and saw a group of pigs making their way towards him. His focus immediately switched from watching our stalk to putting on a stalk of his own. They closed the distance to 200 yards and Jay got set up and ready to shoot. As soon as Jay was ready Andy stopped the pig and Jay took the shot. He ended up hitting the pig in the neck dropping his first ever wild pig. The boar weighed in at roughly 150 pounds and had some nice sized cutters. We then met up and compared stories and took a few photos before heading back to the shop to start skinning. The group of guys had killed all 3 of the pigs that they had shot at and they couldn't have been happier. It was a great hunt and the group has already booked a fall turkey hunt so I am sure you will see them again this fall.
Casey
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