This Piggly Wiggly adventure starts on a cloudy day in mid-March when our toy hauler rolled in to our friend�s, Nick, ranch. We started setting up camp late in the afternoon by moving out both of the ATV�s, unhooking & leveling the trailer, finding a electrical hook up and unfurling the awning. By then evening was sneaking up on us and out came the barbecue. A couple hours later my cousin Bill and his son Darren along with Nick�s son Casey arrived to watch us burn up some hamburgers, fries and beans. After supper a bon fire was built in the fire ring and the lies (stories) started only to come to a quick end when it started raining. It came down like a cow pissing on a flat rock all night and well into the next morning. After the rain let up Bill went back to work, Darren took a ATV, Casey took the ranch�s Polaris Ranger and I crawled up on a ATV and we all took off scouting. Darren and me went in opposite directions looking around the perimeter of the ranch and Casey zig zagging between the Orange, Olive, Avocado and old Pomegranate groves. None of us saw any Hogs or tracks just some Rabbits and Quail but we all met back at camp every once in awhile to compare notes but stayed out in the mud all day. It turned out to be a beautiful clear day with a little wind to help dry things out. That evening again found us around the fire and the boys decided they were going to have some hot cocoa and I joined them except I added a shot of Peppermint Schnapps. We were up and going about a hour before shooting light and me being disabled allows me to shoot from the ATV so on it I setup in the Avocado grove watching a game trail off to my right and a wallow left. Darren also on a ATV set up to watch a Orange grove and a old grain field. It is quite a picturesque ranch of about 300 acres.

And Casey in the Ranger kept a eye on a bog right next to a Olive grove. As the day heated up I left my stand and again patrolled the ranch�s perimeter. This time I came across some tracks but never saw any porkers. After lunch we all grabbed our bows and took off to the pasture for a exciting day of sticking Ground Squirrels. As evening approached we were back out looking for Hogs. We finally spotted some Hogs on the Northern neighbors land but we watched them until dark and they never crossed the fence line or got any closer than a 1/2 mile.

That night Bill joined us after work and again around the fire pit out came the �stories� and the coffee with a shot of cinnamon schnapps. Up before dawn and in the North East Olive grove where we spotted those pigs yesterday we sat and waited. The day broke crystal clear but all we saw were some ground squirrels and a couple large coveys of Quail. Later in the day I patrolling the western side of the Orange grove when Casey came speeding up saying he spotted a big ole Boar on the East side of that same grove. We took our time cruising over to the East side cuz we didn�t want to take the chance spooking him. By the time we got to him he only moved one row South. I went on down to the end of the grove to turn around for a shot and Casey and Darren stayed to keep a eye on him. I shouldered my 30-06 and put the crosshairs on him and guessed the range to be about 300 yards and squeezed off a 150 gr. round and down he went. We waited about 15 minutes before he was approached just to be sure and even then were ready to empty a .357 and a .45 pistol into him. Its amazing how tough a boar is. I read a couple articles on a hog hunt and in one case the hog ran for 2 days with a arrow through both lungs. The other story was about a guy who shot a boar at 50 yards with his 30-30 and how that same boar chased him up a tree. So we tried to stay on the safe side as we got near him. But he wasn�t going to move any more. Now the real work began.

After he got loaded in the back of Polaris Ranger we took him to have his body cavity washed out and any residual blood. It was then we made a shocking discovery. His upper jaw was broken and you could almost touch his nose between his eyes. His lower jaw was also broken, one incisor was pulled out but the roots and one tusk was broken. That red on his neck is fresh scar tissue, so I did him a favor shooting him rather than letting him starve to death.*___________*
Maybe someday I�ll come across the winner of that battle it might be California�s version of �Hogzilla�.

I would have never gotten this trophy boar

without the

help of some great people, my nephew Darren and

Casey

I never did learn that hog�s actual weight but he had to be at least 350 lb.. I guess that because when we hung him the gambrel folded in on it�s self and it was rated for 300 lb. And he was already field dressed. But as big and old as he was he still made for some excellent eating.

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