My 10 year old daughter wanted to take some friends up to the Ranch for her Birthday this year...
Of course living in Huntington Beach most of the girls do not have a lot of experience in the outdoors and you never know what to expect when you take city girls "hunting".
The trip started out Friday July 10, we arrived at the Ranch at about 1600, we immediately spotted 4 does and a fawn just past the gate. Even Dad likes watching fawns play and the girls were oohing and awing over the fawn and taking pictures. The trip was already a success!
We had a conversation on the way to the cabin that hunting was not about killing animals but about conservation, seeing animals in the natural habitat, and knowing where your food comes from, as well as the health benefits from the meat as well as the exercise. Just tell a So Cal girl it is free range, non GMO, and lean and they will eat it. Every meal we had while we were there had some type of wild game meat in it. Wild pig chorizo, venison sausage and mac n cheese, Antelope burgers, wild pig salami, smoked wild pig ham and bean soup, and fresh BFT sashimi... S'mores do not qualify as a meal....
We arrived at the cabin, unloaded the truck, and began getting ready. Just before we got into the truck my wife and I held a gun safety course with my daughter, her friends, and my 6 year old son. We went through basic gun safety as well as detailed safety precautions with each gun we brought as well as my daughters bow. My son received his first gun on this trip and was super exited! I explained to all of the kids that we would be spending the evening driving around looking for pigs, we would get out and glass from time to time, but mostly we were going sight seeing. I did bring a rifle just in case we saw a pig or a coyote. They all asked if they could have a coyote pelt since they like my daughter's so much...
That evening we saw 15 deer, including 3 more fawns and 4 bucks. We also saw on sounder of pigs that had about 30 in the group. The girls wanted to go after them, I explained they each had to participate in packing it out of the canyon that was below them. they decided we should pass...
The next morning I woke the girls up at 0445, My wife and son wanted to sleep in and my son was excited to shoot his new gun when he woke up. That morning we saw a ton more deer, one nice bachelor group of bucks with 1 of them being a real stud. They all posed well for pictures for the girls. We also saw a few cow elk and a couple of calfs, and 1 dandy of a bull. We saw 8 pigs that first morning but they were all either wet sows or too small.
After breakfast we repeated some of the gun safety and had an archery competition. Each of the girls got to shoot a gun for the first time which was awesome. They even shot my Glock .40, I figured out a while back with my daughter that for weight and safety reasons if I jack a round into the chamber and then drop the clip, it makes it much lighter and much safer.
We went to one of the ponds after that and the girls caught Bluegill, Catfish, and a couple of really nice bass. most of them had never caught a fish before. One of the girls hooked a little bluegill on a mini jig and a bass ate it, the mini jig pulled out of the Bluegill and went into the corner of the bass' mouth. she landed the fish on 2 pound test and it was an easy 5 pounder. My wife got the whole thing on the GoPro.
After fishing we headed back to the cabin to have a snack and get changed to go hunting. On the way up the canyon to the cabin we had a bear cross in front of the truck, he stopped for them to take photos.
about another mile up the road a big sow came out of the creek bottom next to the road, she was just lazily walking towards the hills and thick stuff. As you can see in my Avatar she did not quite make it. she did pose for quite a few pictures though! And the tag is attached to the left ear if any one was wondering...The girls were giddy with excitement, I was very thankful that the shot was perfect. I took out the lungs, heart, and clipped the spine. She dropped where she was standing and never made a sound. I was a little nervous how the girls would react if I shot a pig and it made a death cry.
After the pictures I began gutting the pig, my wife tried to get the girls to go for a walk so they didn't have to see it, of course my daughter wanted to help since she is used to holding the legs open for me, so they all decided to help. We threw her in the truck and headed for the cabin. Once back at the Cabin I hung her up and began to skin her out. the girls each helped skin it with me. I shot her at 1530 and we were loaded up and heading back out to look for coyote pelts at 1800.
We saw one coyote that night and a bunch more deer. we also saw 2 Golden eagles and watched a falcon dive bomb a squirrel.
The next morning the girls woke up at 0445 again and were ready to go. I made hot chocolate for them all and off we went. we covered a lot of ground that morning. One of the things my kids love to do at the ranch is sit in my lap and "drive" while we are on the dirt roads. all of the kids took turns "driving" yesterday! when we got back to the cabin they had another archery competition while my wife and I packed up the truck. when I was done I broke out the rifles and the girls all depleted my stock of lead free .22 rounds.
We hit the freeway at 1300 and at 1305 there were 3 girls passed out and snoring in the back seat of the truck.
When the girls were picked up last night my wife had made them all a thumb drive with the pictures and videos from each of their phones as well as the GoPro. One of the girls fathers Gave me a big hug and thanked me for providing her with an experience that he was not capable of providing.
I must say this was by far the most successful hunting trip I have ever been on, and by far the most satisfying. My daughter thanked my wife and I last night for the best birthday ever. I couldnt have made this happen without Jodi, Mike, and Tony [/img]from Tejon, They are such amazing people!
Now I have to figure out how the hell I am going to top it next year...
I will post some pictures as soon as I get the OK from all of the parents.
Of course living in Huntington Beach most of the girls do not have a lot of experience in the outdoors and you never know what to expect when you take city girls "hunting".
The trip started out Friday July 10, we arrived at the Ranch at about 1600, we immediately spotted 4 does and a fawn just past the gate. Even Dad likes watching fawns play and the girls were oohing and awing over the fawn and taking pictures. The trip was already a success!
We had a conversation on the way to the cabin that hunting was not about killing animals but about conservation, seeing animals in the natural habitat, and knowing where your food comes from, as well as the health benefits from the meat as well as the exercise. Just tell a So Cal girl it is free range, non GMO, and lean and they will eat it. Every meal we had while we were there had some type of wild game meat in it. Wild pig chorizo, venison sausage and mac n cheese, Antelope burgers, wild pig salami, smoked wild pig ham and bean soup, and fresh BFT sashimi... S'mores do not qualify as a meal....
We arrived at the cabin, unloaded the truck, and began getting ready. Just before we got into the truck my wife and I held a gun safety course with my daughter, her friends, and my 6 year old son. We went through basic gun safety as well as detailed safety precautions with each gun we brought as well as my daughters bow. My son received his first gun on this trip and was super exited! I explained to all of the kids that we would be spending the evening driving around looking for pigs, we would get out and glass from time to time, but mostly we were going sight seeing. I did bring a rifle just in case we saw a pig or a coyote. They all asked if they could have a coyote pelt since they like my daughter's so much...
That evening we saw 15 deer, including 3 more fawns and 4 bucks. We also saw on sounder of pigs that had about 30 in the group. The girls wanted to go after them, I explained they each had to participate in packing it out of the canyon that was below them. they decided we should pass...
The next morning I woke the girls up at 0445, My wife and son wanted to sleep in and my son was excited to shoot his new gun when he woke up. That morning we saw a ton more deer, one nice bachelor group of bucks with 1 of them being a real stud. They all posed well for pictures for the girls. We also saw a few cow elk and a couple of calfs, and 1 dandy of a bull. We saw 8 pigs that first morning but they were all either wet sows or too small.
After breakfast we repeated some of the gun safety and had an archery competition. Each of the girls got to shoot a gun for the first time which was awesome. They even shot my Glock .40, I figured out a while back with my daughter that for weight and safety reasons if I jack a round into the chamber and then drop the clip, it makes it much lighter and much safer.
We went to one of the ponds after that and the girls caught Bluegill, Catfish, and a couple of really nice bass. most of them had never caught a fish before. One of the girls hooked a little bluegill on a mini jig and a bass ate it, the mini jig pulled out of the Bluegill and went into the corner of the bass' mouth. she landed the fish on 2 pound test and it was an easy 5 pounder. My wife got the whole thing on the GoPro.
After fishing we headed back to the cabin to have a snack and get changed to go hunting. On the way up the canyon to the cabin we had a bear cross in front of the truck, he stopped for them to take photos.
about another mile up the road a big sow came out of the creek bottom next to the road, she was just lazily walking towards the hills and thick stuff. As you can see in my Avatar she did not quite make it. she did pose for quite a few pictures though! And the tag is attached to the left ear if any one was wondering...The girls were giddy with excitement, I was very thankful that the shot was perfect. I took out the lungs, heart, and clipped the spine. She dropped where she was standing and never made a sound. I was a little nervous how the girls would react if I shot a pig and it made a death cry.
After the pictures I began gutting the pig, my wife tried to get the girls to go for a walk so they didn't have to see it, of course my daughter wanted to help since she is used to holding the legs open for me, so they all decided to help. We threw her in the truck and headed for the cabin. Once back at the Cabin I hung her up and began to skin her out. the girls each helped skin it with me. I shot her at 1530 and we were loaded up and heading back out to look for coyote pelts at 1800.
We saw one coyote that night and a bunch more deer. we also saw 2 Golden eagles and watched a falcon dive bomb a squirrel.
The next morning the girls woke up at 0445 again and were ready to go. I made hot chocolate for them all and off we went. we covered a lot of ground that morning. One of the things my kids love to do at the ranch is sit in my lap and "drive" while we are on the dirt roads. all of the kids took turns "driving" yesterday! when we got back to the cabin they had another archery competition while my wife and I packed up the truck. when I was done I broke out the rifles and the girls all depleted my stock of lead free .22 rounds.
We hit the freeway at 1300 and at 1305 there were 3 girls passed out and snoring in the back seat of the truck.
When the girls were picked up last night my wife had made them all a thumb drive with the pictures and videos from each of their phones as well as the GoPro. One of the girls fathers Gave me a big hug and thanked me for providing her with an experience that he was not capable of providing.
I must say this was by far the most successful hunting trip I have ever been on, and by far the most satisfying. My daughter thanked my wife and I last night for the best birthday ever. I couldnt have made this happen without Jodi, Mike, and Tony [/img]from Tejon, They are such amazing people!
Now I have to figure out how the hell I am going to top it next year...
I will post some pictures as soon as I get the OK from all of the parents.
