Ranch Dog
05-23-2004, 06:50 AM
On Friday, MikeG and I took the opportunity to meet face to face after talking about a visit for many months. I needed some help filling my feeders and we both thought it a great opportunity to give Mike a look at my corner of South Texas.
This traveler knows how to visit! Not showing up with just hat in hand, this young fellow stopped at several small town tire shops dumping wheel weights in the back of his truck. The stack of lead was a gift that will keep giving for years to come!
After a leisurely dinner with my wife at a local Mexican establishment and because of an invite, we hit the Lost Creek Ranch, a thousand-acre pasture located behind my house but across the Guadalupe River. It’s a real special place but this is also a tough time of the year to hunt. It’s hot and the brush is extremely thick because of the recent rains. No luck with the hogs here but the invite to visit was a welcome treat.
On Saturday morning, we met Lost Creek Ranch Joe for breakfast at another local establishment. With out bellies about to burst, we put 950 pounds of grain in the bed of MikeG's Ranger and headed to Hondo Creek Ranch. My place is only 100 acres but it is remote and beyond the end-of-the-road. After filling the feeders we decided to do a little shooting but went hog wild laying out a 250-yard range. After mowing, measuring, and marking we got down to some serious shooting that lasted several hours. My ranch hands are going to start work this week on the actual work for making this a nice facility. I’m going to make my target backstops out of the one renewable resource I have plenty of… stacked mesquite. Nothing penetrates that material. I will set 4 metal T-posts in a 2’X4’ pattern to help stack the wood at each range and then set two cedar posts 2’ ahead of the backstop. On the top of the posts will be hooks that cut bull panels will hang from. The appropriate squares of the panel will be removed to allow targets to be hung and a container of clothespins will be at each backstop to hang the targets. We outlined backstops at 25, 50, 100, 200, 225 and 250-yards.
We ate a late lunch and then prepared to do a little sitting over feeders. I took a tripod that looks down a sendero in one direction and from another, down into Hondo Creek. Mike took a tower blind overlooking bottom country and a mesquite flat. Sheila, the Ranch Dog took up post on in the bed of Mike’s Ranger on top of the toolbox.
Never sit on a tri-pod eight days after knee surgery! I was really enjoying the cool of the afternoon but was experiencing some really bad leg cramps because of the injury to the knee. There was a sapling nearby with a limb in the right location so I placed Lost Creek Joe’s 44 Trapper on cross-bolt safety and stretched out across the limb and leaned back as far as the tripod would safely allow. Much better now!
About 45 minutes before sundown I heard a bunch of Mockingbirds scourging something. I have long ago learned to pay attention to what critters in the woods have to say. Many don’t make a noise; their lives depend on it, unless they truly have something to say. Very soon I heard something slurping water out of Hondo Creek just out of sight. I’ve heard a lot of cattle take a drink and this wasn’t bovine. I’ve never heard a deer drink but figure they might tend to be quite about the process. I pulled my leg back across the limb and turned to face the shooting lane down into the creek. In seconds, I heard foots steps in the creek channel walking towards my shooting lane, and soon a real nice red feral hog appeared. I placed the white front bead of the Winchester just behind the front shoulder and squeezed the trigger. Splat, the hammer struck the cross bolt safety! The hog heard the sound and bolted but I was quicker to recover and the 265-grain Lee home cast bullet was outbound. I struck the hog in the ham and it spun around to return to it’s bed and I shot again, and again before it was out of sight and the woods fell quite.
I slowly eased out of my stand and started down the bank of the creek. When I got to the creek, I had to stand several minutes as I was really experiencing some tough leg cramps. When they subsided, I crossed the creek and soon found a nice blood trail. The hog joined the trail and at the top of the other bank was laying dead in it’s tracks.
This was the first kill for a bullet I recently designed and had Lee (http://www.shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?p=78848#post78848) make as a mold and I can tell you what a great feeling it was to kneel and see the project completed before me. I said a prayer of thanks to my Lord, offer a blessing for the food his fine critter will provide. I went to get MikeG to help me retrieve the hog from across the creek.
When I got back to the truck. The Ranch Dog was a full point having heard the shots and with Mike back we headed for the front corner of my property. We let Sheila work the blood-trail as that is what she lives to do and soon was standing over the kill. We cleaned the hog and let it wash out in the cool flowing stream of Hondo Creek. I had originally guessed the live weight at 110 pounds but as we looked for a good place to cross the creek and started the tough climb back up to the truck, feel that I missed that weight by at least 40 pounds! The first bullet struck the ham breaking the bone at the socket and severing the femoral artery. The second bullet actually struck the pig in mid turn, at the back of the rib cage cleaning out the right side of the vitals and lodging in the brisket on the same side.
Always hunt with a younger partner and I feel that Mike pulled more than his share. He also faced the drive back to my house and on to Austin. The back of the Ranger was stuffed with guns and the Ranch Dog passed out, well satisfied with her part of the day. My hands came over to pickup the hog and will recover the bullet for further study. Mike started his drive back home.
MikeG is a prince of a fellow and a great person to share the outdoors with and I’m sure we will share many a venture together. Wouldn’t have met him without Shooter’s Forum!
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/hunting/44 Trapper Kill 01A.jpg
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/hunting/44 Trapper Kill 01B.jpg
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/hunting/Happy Ranch Dog.jpg
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/casting/beast.jpg
This traveler knows how to visit! Not showing up with just hat in hand, this young fellow stopped at several small town tire shops dumping wheel weights in the back of his truck. The stack of lead was a gift that will keep giving for years to come!
After a leisurely dinner with my wife at a local Mexican establishment and because of an invite, we hit the Lost Creek Ranch, a thousand-acre pasture located behind my house but across the Guadalupe River. It’s a real special place but this is also a tough time of the year to hunt. It’s hot and the brush is extremely thick because of the recent rains. No luck with the hogs here but the invite to visit was a welcome treat.
On Saturday morning, we met Lost Creek Ranch Joe for breakfast at another local establishment. With out bellies about to burst, we put 950 pounds of grain in the bed of MikeG's Ranger and headed to Hondo Creek Ranch. My place is only 100 acres but it is remote and beyond the end-of-the-road. After filling the feeders we decided to do a little shooting but went hog wild laying out a 250-yard range. After mowing, measuring, and marking we got down to some serious shooting that lasted several hours. My ranch hands are going to start work this week on the actual work for making this a nice facility. I’m going to make my target backstops out of the one renewable resource I have plenty of… stacked mesquite. Nothing penetrates that material. I will set 4 metal T-posts in a 2’X4’ pattern to help stack the wood at each range and then set two cedar posts 2’ ahead of the backstop. On the top of the posts will be hooks that cut bull panels will hang from. The appropriate squares of the panel will be removed to allow targets to be hung and a container of clothespins will be at each backstop to hang the targets. We outlined backstops at 25, 50, 100, 200, 225 and 250-yards.
We ate a late lunch and then prepared to do a little sitting over feeders. I took a tripod that looks down a sendero in one direction and from another, down into Hondo Creek. Mike took a tower blind overlooking bottom country and a mesquite flat. Sheila, the Ranch Dog took up post on in the bed of Mike’s Ranger on top of the toolbox.
Never sit on a tri-pod eight days after knee surgery! I was really enjoying the cool of the afternoon but was experiencing some really bad leg cramps because of the injury to the knee. There was a sapling nearby with a limb in the right location so I placed Lost Creek Joe’s 44 Trapper on cross-bolt safety and stretched out across the limb and leaned back as far as the tripod would safely allow. Much better now!
About 45 minutes before sundown I heard a bunch of Mockingbirds scourging something. I have long ago learned to pay attention to what critters in the woods have to say. Many don’t make a noise; their lives depend on it, unless they truly have something to say. Very soon I heard something slurping water out of Hondo Creek just out of sight. I’ve heard a lot of cattle take a drink and this wasn’t bovine. I’ve never heard a deer drink but figure they might tend to be quite about the process. I pulled my leg back across the limb and turned to face the shooting lane down into the creek. In seconds, I heard foots steps in the creek channel walking towards my shooting lane, and soon a real nice red feral hog appeared. I placed the white front bead of the Winchester just behind the front shoulder and squeezed the trigger. Splat, the hammer struck the cross bolt safety! The hog heard the sound and bolted but I was quicker to recover and the 265-grain Lee home cast bullet was outbound. I struck the hog in the ham and it spun around to return to it’s bed and I shot again, and again before it was out of sight and the woods fell quite.
I slowly eased out of my stand and started down the bank of the creek. When I got to the creek, I had to stand several minutes as I was really experiencing some tough leg cramps. When they subsided, I crossed the creek and soon found a nice blood trail. The hog joined the trail and at the top of the other bank was laying dead in it’s tracks.
This was the first kill for a bullet I recently designed and had Lee (http://www.shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?p=78848#post78848) make as a mold and I can tell you what a great feeling it was to kneel and see the project completed before me. I said a prayer of thanks to my Lord, offer a blessing for the food his fine critter will provide. I went to get MikeG to help me retrieve the hog from across the creek.
When I got back to the truck. The Ranch Dog was a full point having heard the shots and with Mike back we headed for the front corner of my property. We let Sheila work the blood-trail as that is what she lives to do and soon was standing over the kill. We cleaned the hog and let it wash out in the cool flowing stream of Hondo Creek. I had originally guessed the live weight at 110 pounds but as we looked for a good place to cross the creek and started the tough climb back up to the truck, feel that I missed that weight by at least 40 pounds! The first bullet struck the ham breaking the bone at the socket and severing the femoral artery. The second bullet actually struck the pig in mid turn, at the back of the rib cage cleaning out the right side of the vitals and lodging in the brisket on the same side.
Always hunt with a younger partner and I feel that Mike pulled more than his share. He also faced the drive back to my house and on to Austin. The back of the Ranger was stuffed with guns and the Ranch Dog passed out, well satisfied with her part of the day. My hands came over to pickup the hog and will recover the bullet for further study. Mike started his drive back home.
MikeG is a prince of a fellow and a great person to share the outdoors with and I’m sure we will share many a venture together. Wouldn’t have met him without Shooter’s Forum!
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/hunting/44 Trapper Kill 01A.jpg
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/hunting/44 Trapper Kill 01B.jpg
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/hunting/Happy Ranch Dog.jpg
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/casting/beast.jpg