Hi fellow hunters and W.U. friends!\r
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I would like to share with you my most recent success story. This last minute hunt was motivated by Wilderness Unlimited winter pig season winding to a close in three days.\r
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I booked the three day hunt on Mosby ranch which consists of your typical open rolling hills with scattered oak trees, canyons chocked with sporadic manzanita bushes, chemise, and other vegetation making for the perfect hog ranch. With the recent rain and numerous water holes and small run off creeks located all over the ranch, sitting over water was out of the question. This was going to be a hike, glass, move, hike, glass, move type of hunt. A well broken in comfortable pair of boots was going to be the means of my search for the ever elusive wild hog.\r
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Day 1: I was up and out of camp by 6:00 a.m. heading towards an area that I have had good luck in the past. Trying to stay high on the ridge lines glassing down into the canyons and opposite hillsides the morning was moving right along with lots of hog tracks keeping me on high alert but no sightings. It was a little after 9:00 a.m. still filled with high hopes I continued my quest thinking everything was more than likely bedded so I would spend more time glassing brush areas.\r
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As I made my way towards the point of this ridgeline finger I notice it would give me a good 240 degree view of the canyon below that horseshoed around my vantage point and hillside across the way. With that thought still fresh in my head the sound of a snort froze me in my tracks, looking and listening trying to identify the location of the sound. I caught the movement of a black hog underneath a large patch of manzanita bushes directly ahead of me.\r
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I quickly drew yet quietly my Ruger .44 Blackhawk single action revolver and drew a bead on him. Within seconds it was all over. A 62 yard shot, broke both shoulders dropping him where he stood. A follow up shot to the back of the head claimed my trophy. The rest of the day was spent getting him out of the back country back to camp, scale weight, skinned, and quartered in to coolers. By 6:30 p.m. with the meat care task completed I broke camp and headed home. By 11:30 p.m. I was sending out pictures to all my friends and posting on Facebook.\r
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Scale weight 214 plus roughly 15 pounds of innards for a 229 pound wild Boar. :) :) Being a taxidermist I skinned him out for a full body mount looking forward to adding him to my ever growing collection of hard earned trophies.
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