Now that my life has settled a bit since the Wild Pig Management Hunt at Tejon hunt two weekends ago, I finally found some time to sit down and share the experience! Here's the short version: My hunting buddy and I both put down pigs on the first day. Of course, that is not the whole story though...
After hunting San Diego HARD for wild pig, and not seeing ANY sign, my hunting buddy and I decided to suck it up and pay the $500 to hunt Tejon for their Pig-o-Rama. Going into it, we heard many mixed reviews. Some said that there were lots of pigs on Tejon. The majority of people we spoke to said that the Pig-o-Ramas were not very successful in the past few years (one guy said there were 26 pigs for 76 hunters last Fall). One guy said it was a rip-off because there were too many hunters and he didn't even see any pigs. We were able to gather some beta about good places to start searching.
So we found ourselves on Friday, waiting in a long line of 4x4 vehicles, for the gate to open at 12:00. There was a lot of excitement as we tore down the roads. Tejon provided a map of the huntable area, but there were many small turnoffs and small roads that were not on the map. We were driving the fastest route to the best huntable area we could find. It was kind of like navigating a hunting "ski-area", looking for powder.
As we crested a ridge, I spotted a boar take off from a small meadow in front of the truck. We both hopped out, rifles in hand within seconds. After clearing a hillside, we didn't see the boar, but we did notice an increase in pig sign. We decided to take our time and glass as we moved along that ridge.
We spotted a watering hole, and a large open hillside. We parked the truck and started out on foot from there. Our plan was to each walk the top of a ridgeline down the valley for about 10 minutes, and meet back together in the bottom of the gully. After about 5 minutes, a boar bolted from some bushes in front of me. Extremely caught off-guard, the boar took off, high-tailing it across the hillside (butt shot at best, on the run = passed on that shot). I chased him into a creek and lost him there. I got back to the top of my ridgeline to shout to my buddy for backup.
BOOM!
I heard him shoot. I saw a drove of about 20-30 pigs running away from where my hunting buddy was (other side of a ravine), as well as some bull elk take off down the hillside. That's when I heard a boar break from some bushes right next to me! This time I was not caught off guard. I raised the rifle, got him in the crosshairs, and fired. One shot put him belly up, legs twitching in the air. I got him in the jugular. The Barnes Tipped TSX made a through and through without expansion. I still don't understand how that put him down so quickly. I walked up to him, threw a couple of rocks at him, kicked his hooves. Dead. (all of this paragraph happened in about a minute)
I shouted over to my buddy. He got a pig too! It was 3:00 by the time we made it back to the truck to get our field cleaning kits.
All said and done, I ended up with a 208lb boar (on the hoof). We were both very fortunate to be so successful! I heard that the final tally for the weekend was 12 pigs for 78 hunters. I am not sure that I will pay $500 again for those kinds of odds, but it sure worked out well for us this time.
I spent all day Monday (President's Day) doing my own butchering. I like learning how to do it (and I like saving $150). I ended up taking 25lbs to T&H Meats for sausage, and I put about 45lbs of cuts into my freezer (including ribs).
I'll try to attach some photos...
After hunting San Diego HARD for wild pig, and not seeing ANY sign, my hunting buddy and I decided to suck it up and pay the $500 to hunt Tejon for their Pig-o-Rama. Going into it, we heard many mixed reviews. Some said that there were lots of pigs on Tejon. The majority of people we spoke to said that the Pig-o-Ramas were not very successful in the past few years (one guy said there were 26 pigs for 76 hunters last Fall). One guy said it was a rip-off because there were too many hunters and he didn't even see any pigs. We were able to gather some beta about good places to start searching.
So we found ourselves on Friday, waiting in a long line of 4x4 vehicles, for the gate to open at 12:00. There was a lot of excitement as we tore down the roads. Tejon provided a map of the huntable area, but there were many small turnoffs and small roads that were not on the map. We were driving the fastest route to the best huntable area we could find. It was kind of like navigating a hunting "ski-area", looking for powder.
As we crested a ridge, I spotted a boar take off from a small meadow in front of the truck. We both hopped out, rifles in hand within seconds. After clearing a hillside, we didn't see the boar, but we did notice an increase in pig sign. We decided to take our time and glass as we moved along that ridge.
We spotted a watering hole, and a large open hillside. We parked the truck and started out on foot from there. Our plan was to each walk the top of a ridgeline down the valley for about 10 minutes, and meet back together in the bottom of the gully. After about 5 minutes, a boar bolted from some bushes in front of me. Extremely caught off-guard, the boar took off, high-tailing it across the hillside (butt shot at best, on the run = passed on that shot). I chased him into a creek and lost him there. I got back to the top of my ridgeline to shout to my buddy for backup.
BOOM!
I heard him shoot. I saw a drove of about 20-30 pigs running away from where my hunting buddy was (other side of a ravine), as well as some bull elk take off down the hillside. That's when I heard a boar break from some bushes right next to me! This time I was not caught off guard. I raised the rifle, got him in the crosshairs, and fired. One shot put him belly up, legs twitching in the air. I got him in the jugular. The Barnes Tipped TSX made a through and through without expansion. I still don't understand how that put him down so quickly. I walked up to him, threw a couple of rocks at him, kicked his hooves. Dead. (all of this paragraph happened in about a minute)
I shouted over to my buddy. He got a pig too! It was 3:00 by the time we made it back to the truck to get our field cleaning kits.
All said and done, I ended up with a 208lb boar (on the hoof). We were both very fortunate to be so successful! I heard that the final tally for the weekend was 12 pigs for 78 hunters. I am not sure that I will pay $500 again for those kinds of odds, but it sure worked out well for us this time.
I spent all day Monday (President's Day) doing my own butchering. I like learning how to do it (and I like saving $150). I ended up taking 25lbs to T&H Meats for sausage, and I put about 45lbs of cuts into my freezer (including ribs).
I'll try to attach some photos...
