Cali pig hunt

[starbailey]

The cousin and I had a great pig hunt in California this last weekend. This was a hunt bought at the WA Wild Sheep banquet last year. We hunted with Lockwood Hunting Services out of Hopland Ca. We took the slow way down Hwy 101 stopping to see the red woods and ocean beaches. We were even rewarded with seeing a bunch of elk. Two groups of Tule and 20-30 Roosevelt.
 Tim showed us to our wall tent and very comfortable cots Friday evening and let us know we'd be guide by his good friend Charles the next morning. The temperature was in the 50s as we headed out at first light. We drove on one of the many ranch roads till getting to a good spot to start hunting. This area had gotten some rain a few days ago and Charles had said these pigs would be up under the oak trees eating so thing should be fairly quiet for stalking. The tree of us hiked a couple ridges without seeing much. But a short time later while we slowly crept through the oaks we caught movement up ahead. We quickly set up and glassed the group of seven pigs. They were feeding 240 yards down hill from us totally unaware. We let them feed out of sight then made our move. As we closed the distance Charles suddenly stopped and pointed out a lone pig on the next hill. He said a lone pig always means a boar so we changed plans and closed in on this lone pig. We crept within 125 yards and Clint lined up as he continued to feed. One shot later the trophy boar was down. This turned out to be a hug old boar! Charles was extremely excited in killing one of this size. Trophy boars are almost always killed randomly in this fashion but seldom are of this size. Pics and skinning done we packed the old boar to the road and hiked back to get the side-by-side.
 After a short rest and some lunch we were back out looking to fill my pig tag. I knew there was little chance I'd find one the size of Clint's but we'd have a good time trying. Clint glimpsed what looked to be a single pig going into the oaks a couple miles away on a hill. We hiked up and over to the draw but couldn't locate anything. We decided to hike up the other hill and make a wide circle around while glassing into the oaks. We had almost reached the top when I looked over and spotted pigs coming out of the trees. We quickly backed up and closed the distance using one old huge oak tree. We kept evaluating the pigs as more feed out. With a total of seven pigs in front of us we determined there wasn't a boar in the group. We talked it over for several minutes before I decided to go ahead ant try for a BBQ size pig. I'd decided to take my 416 Wetherby and at 190 yards the pig was out at the edge of my comfort range. At the shot you could definitely tell the pig had been hit by the 400 grn Nosler as you could see the blood trail from where we were! A short hike later the 125 sow was mine. Again we took some pictures and packed her out to be hung in the skinning shed.
 This was a fun hunt I was sure glad Clint and I had the chance to go on. We had a great trip down hunting with the Lockwood team. It wont be long till we return.

[starbailey]

How about one of the blood trail

[Machias]

Awesome write up and photos!!!!  Heck of a blood trail!!!!

[DOUBLELUNG]

Love the look of that country!

[Timberstalker]

Awesome.  Thanks for sharing.  And that blood trail, wow.

[Craig]

Looks like a fun hunt. I think about pig hunting in CA all the time. I should just do one.

[carpsniperg2]

Great stuff everyone knows I love smacking some cali hogs

[Whitpirate]

Looks like a good time.  Thanks for buying this at the auction.  Looking forward to this year.

[follow maggie]

I hunt with them down there. Tim is good people.

[pianoman9701]

Great story and pics, thanks.  That boar is amazing. Will it be mounted? I'd love to do a pig hunt in California. Is it far enough away from towns so you can't hear the constant whining and screaming at the sky? That's my only concern (other than cost).

[follow maggie]

The ranch he hunts is well away from anything more than a small town. It’s quiet out there. I went ther last year and th cost was reasonable: I went by myself & was all in for $2,000- license, 2 tags, 2 hogs, food, beer & gas for the round trip with my camper. If I had a friend to go and just shot one, it would have reduced the cost by about $800

[scree]

Congrats Bryan and Clint; nice work!  I bet WA WSF will have another hunt form Lockwood at the March 10th Banquet again next year.