Hunting Memories

Hunting Memories

Runaway Hog

I had been invited by the ranch owner's son to hunt with him for pig on a Western Sonoma County, California ranch. The son decided to bring his 10-year-old son along for the first time to teach him about pig hunting.

We were amazed to come across a group of 10 pigs in a large field within five minutes of leaving the cabin in the morning. After we split up, I got to them first and shot at a pig that was straying from the group. I am a confident shot using a 300 Savage and was pretty surprised when the pig ran back to the group, spooking them into a stampede — straight to my partner and his son! He singled out a big one and shot it, scaring one back to me in the process. This time I dropped it with one shot. We looked for any wounded pigs and didn't find any.

Later, while we were skinning the pigs, the boy kept commenting on how one pig couldn't keep up with the group and seemed to be laboring a lot. He also noticed that the pigs had not escaped through the field, a good indicator that they had gone into the timber. Based on this information, I decided to do a more thorough search on the ATV. An hour later I found the pig in the forest, about 400 yards from where I had originally shot it. If it hadn't been for Vaughn's keen eye, I would have lost a pig. That's me with Vaughn. The butcher estimated this hog to be 180 pounds.

Submitted by Michael Raynes
San Jose, California

| WH Home | Contact Western Hunter.com | WH Archive |