Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Hog Hunting At The Earthquake Capital Of The World

This was a hog hunt at RNJ Wild Hog Hunts near Coalinga CA Sept 26-27 2008 with Rick (Westy), Eric (cahntr) and his dad Jim. Eric bought the pig hunt for his dad as a birthday present. How cool is that?

Temps were in the mids 90s which made for late evening and early morning hunts. We spotted a big boar Friday night but he got over a ridge before we could cut him off. Saturday after a morning hunt and siesta the other 3 and Randy the guide took off without their cameraman to check a close waterhole. They ran into a good group of hogs and ended up with 2 meat sows weighing about 140 lbs each.

Oh well, Rick got his new nickname "Dryfire" out of the debacle of him trying to kill a pig, AGAIN. It may have been a good thing the cameraman wasn't there to document his misses, scope on 10x for a 40 yard shot, dryfires, short stroking of rounds etc. The group said Rick was shaking like a hound passing a peach pit trying to hammer that pig. The Rookie Jim did just fine though.

Sunday we hit the world famous Parkfield Cafe in Parkfield CA for a tasty tri-tip sandwich lunch. Parkfield is the Earthquake Capital Of The World. "Be Here When It Happens!" is their motto. Well, we were there and it didn't happen. They also have a huge sign inside that says "If you feel a shake or quake, get under your table and eat your steak."

Camcorder was a Canon GL-2

Huge thanks to Randy Mapel of RNJ Wild Hog Hunts. Randy worked his butt of to get us on hogs and then skinned them out to boot. More info on RNJ Wild Hog Hunts at
http://rnjwildhoghunts.com/

More info on hog hunting in our Hog Hunting Forum

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Big Boar Taking A 7mm Rem Mag In The Boiler Room

This was a hunt at Fort Hunter Liggett in March of 2005 with Rick (Westy). We were actually trying to roost some turkeys when Rick spotted some hogs down below us. Another turkey hunter spotted the same hogs and stalked them for a shot below us. He missed and the hogs ran up the ridge to Westy where he wacked the boar.

On the slo-mo you can see two puffs of dirt from the 7mm Rem Mag hitting the hog and then exiting the hide on the far side.

Boar weighed 275 lbs. on the Fort scale and didn't have much for ivory, maybe an inch.

Rifle was a Ruger 700

Camcorder was a Canon GL-2.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Chasin' The Albacore in Mexico Part 2

Cleaning the house can sometimes turn up long lost gold. The last much needed purge here produced a fishing video tape I have been looking for the past 3 years. The tape had fallen down in between the headboard and mattress on the bed. Ah, the life of a bachelor, I guess that gives away how long it's been between thorough cleanings here in Camp Happyland.

The video is of my albacore fishing trip with Rick (Westy) and Mike (FF&F) to Mexico on the Pacific Queen in June 2005.

It was a little early for a WFO (Wide Freakin Open) bite but we were antsy and wanted some rail time to cure the long off season blues. We lucked out and had pretty calm seas the 2 days we were on the water. We launched out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego, the heart of the tuna fleet for SoCal. The regular Captain of the Pacific Queen, Bill Cavanaugh, was not going with us due to a new baby coming so we set sail with a substitute captain manning the boat.

It wasn't long until albacore were boiling on our chum line.

Part 2

Saturday, September 13, 2008

9-11, Never Forget

The students at Redlands University near my home set up a memorial to the folks who lost their lives on 9-11 by placing 3,000 flags in the lawn near their dorms.

I stopped by to have a quiet moment at the memorial and reflect back on that fateful day.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Fourth stanza of "For the Fallen" by Lawrence Binyon


Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Chasin' The Albacore in Mexico Part 1

Cleaning the house can sometimes turn up long lost gold. The last much needed purge here produced a fishing video tape I have been looking for the past 3 years. The tape had fallen down in between the headboard and mattress on the bed. Ah, the life of a bachelor, I guess that gives away how long it's been between thorough cleanings here in Camp Happyland.

The video is of my albacore fishing trip with Rick (Westy) and Mike (FF&F) to Mexico on the Pacific Queen in June 2005.

It was a little early for a WFO (Wide Freakin Open) bite but we were antsy and wanted some rail time to cure the long off season blues. We lucked out and had pretty calm seas the 2 days we were on the water. We launched out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego, the heart of the tuna fleet for SoCal. The regular Captain of the Pacific Queen, Bill Cavanaugh, was not going with us due to a new baby coming so we set sail with a substitute captain manning the boat.

It wasn't long until albacore were boiling on our chum line.

Part 1

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Dove Hunt Opener In Arizona & California

I hunted at Cibola Sportsman's Club with the Corbett family, it was their 10th annual dove hunt and steak dinner the night before the dove opener. About 60 shooters with many limits early. Lots of whitewings. I manned the camera until about 9am and then knocked a few down. The shooting was small groups of doves that were fairly steady all morning. I saw one big flight of about 25 birds that our group knocked 2 out of.

I saw 2 Eurasion Collared Doves at the cleaning station. Didn't hear much shooting at all from the Cibola NWR nearby. In fact, the valley seemed kind of quiet compared to past years on the dove hunting opener. I can say the weather and nice breeze was a change from the usual furnace like 115F that Cibola is famous for. It was 84F when we started shooting and with the cloud cover it was perfect shooting. When I left at noon it had just hit 100F. Lots of white 50 gallon barrels with "NO TRESPASSING" marking fields. One group said they scouted all day Sunday only to find 2 fields they could shoot.

I stopped by Yellow Mart in Blythe on the way home and most of the hunter there shot limits early that morning. One dad and son said they had 10 shooters in their group who all got limits. 2 older gentlemen said their long time favorite spot down near the river was a dud, they had one bird each they said. Lots of folks coming in there to check out the sales and pick up more shells and licenses for those just getting down to hunt. Yellow Mart has a big map of the area posted in their store that shows the good spots to hunt. They also had a Dove Hunter paper that had lots of good info in it. The big "Welcome Dove Hunters" banner hanging over the main drag was kewl to see.

Traffic home on the I-10 was light, looked like mostly river rats. Saw a a few pickups with dog crates in the back.

Cam was a Canon GL-2

More info on dove hunting in our Upland Hunting Forum