# Epic hog hunt at Skull Creek Ranch



## center19 (Jan 2, 2013)

I had first contacted John at Skull Creek Ranch about a hunt nearly a month before I booked it. Along with my brother and brother-in-law, we had been on 5 previous hunts without a single hog having been seen, and were about ready to give up on the notion of ever being able to have a successful hunt. John and I spoke via telephone and text message for quite some time and he was not only completely accommodating with all of my questions, he also was helpful and completely professional in his communication.

I had been concerned due to the popularity of the events and number of hunts on the Skull Creek calendar that any chance we might have of seeing a hog would be fleeting or dramatically diminished. John provided pictorial evidence to the contrary from every hunt on a weekly basis leading up to the day of our scheduled hunt. Every company should model how they handle customers and communication in the same manner John has.

On the day of the hunt, my brother-in-law and I arrived, following the directions from his website. John met us at the gate and he explained a little about the area, the locations of the blind, and the current conditions which would give us the best opportunity. We explained that were we fisherman, we were about at the point of selling the boat due to lack of success. He took our plight into consideration and thought for a moment. He examined our equipment (I was carrying a semiauto .308 and my brother-in-law a semiauto .223, both equipped with night vision) and explained that though there were no feeders, blinds, or lights where he was thinking about putting us, given our gear and the fact that this was the only source of water in 70 acres, _that_ was where we should be. My brother-in-law and I placed full faith in his judgement and went in. We followed John's truck to our location and unloaded. He gave us some protein feed and supplied us with some Sow In Heat urine in a spray bottle, and gave advice on where he thought would be a good spot to make a perch.

We shook hands and he wished us the best of luck, then drove away. We started carrying our weapons and the feed, etc to our respective perches, and the moment we came over a small berm, we saw about 10 hogs in a sounder roughly 100 yards away get spooked and scatter. It was like someone taking the wind out of our sails! Ever hopeful, we continued to get set up. I scattered feed around the watering hole in several wallows and sprayed the urine along every tree rub and down the fence line. We settled in and prepared to wait until nightfall.

Less than an hour later, at about 6:15, and still very light out, 10-12 hogs came out. You cannot imagine the amount of excitement and difficulty in holding steady for the shot. My brother-in-law took the first shot and mine was close to follow. We knocked down 3 out of the group and were like a 3rd grader getting let out at recess! We contacted John and he came out to meet us and gather in our hogs. We elected to have him clean the pig as we were all but certain there would be more opportunity as night fell to take more pigs.

As night fell, we waited patiently and were soon rewarded. I had spotted a lone sow of about 120 lbs and lined up for the shot. She had no idea we were there and as I carefully squeezed the trigger, the report rang out and she dropped exactly where she stood, and number 4 for the evening was brought in.

Roughly 3 hours later at around 11 pm, my brother-in-law gave me the signal that he was on a pig. I left my perch and came closer to his position. There, in the middle of the pond, surrounded by roughly 20 other smaller hogs, was our trophy. His back was high and you could see the tusks standing out from well over 60 yards away. I picked a nice one out of the bunch and waited on my brother-in-law to take the shot on the big boy. With a single shot behind the ear, using his Bushmaster and a 55 grain 5.56 round, dropped a hog that dwarfed a 120 quart cooler and took 3 people to lift into the bed of the truck!

We made our final call of the evening after taking 6 hogs in just under 8 hours. John drove out to our location with a helper, and we heaved the hogs onto the tailgate. He offered us a cold beer, and we rode atop the truck bed like heroes in a small town parade. The complete euphoria of having been at long last not just successful in a hunt, but wildly beyond expectation is a feeling I will never forget.

We had all the meat we could carry, and gladly offered what we couldn't use to John and his helper, who certainly had no trouble in making plans for it. We shook hands, almost wanting to embrace in a victory hug on such a momentous night, and drove off already making plans for our return trip on another full moon night


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## center19 (Jan 2, 2013)




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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

Good job guys and yes John is a class act.

TH


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## coup de grace (Aug 7, 2010)

Yes sir, looks like y'all had some fun.


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## SHURSHOT270 (Dec 28, 2007)

Great story. Congrats on a great hunt.


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## Law Dog (Jul 27, 2010)

Great story. Congrats on a great hog hunt.


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## Bayduck (May 22, 2004)

*Love It !*

Great story !


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## troutslayer (Feb 7, 2006)

Nice


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## finkikin (Jul 8, 2011)

Very cool! And I like that pit!


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## Blue Light Special (Sep 30, 2006)

*Great Details*

Loved the story, you should write hunting columns with details like that.


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## mas360 (Nov 21, 2006)

Nice.
What model of night vision scope you have on that carbine? 
I am looking for one and would like your user feedback/suggestion. Thanks.


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## WildThings (Jan 2, 2007)

Excellent story telling and congrats on a great hunt


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## Robert Stuart (May 23, 2011)

Congrats.


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## Bill C (May 23, 2004)

Great story. Way to knock down the pigs!


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## fouL-n-fin (Jan 16, 2011)

BANG! now thats what i call fun!


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## FISH TAILS (Jan 17, 2005)

Nice thanks for sharing always good to know where good people are for doing business!!


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## Fordzilla06 (Oct 14, 2010)

Ok that's awesome I'm ordering a carbon fiber handgaurd right now.


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## center19 (Jan 2, 2013)

Saves about 2 pounds of weight, which you most certainly need if you're going to be carrying all the optics I've got. During range time with 10 consecutive rounds, 30 second rest, then 10 more rounds, you never even feel the heat.

As you can see, I like to make my things stand out a bit:

Carbon fiber and crimson trace on my Sig P238









Book matched Amboyna Burlwood on my 1911 and my own personal design on a like 1911


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## center19 (Jan 2, 2013)

*Pit*



finkikin said:


> Very cool! And I like that pit!


We decided we wanted to slow smoke the whole thing rather than quarter it and put it on the grill.

I bought 40 cinder blocks, a roll of steel mesh (not galvanized - it will make you sick), 5 sections of rebar (in case the steel mesh for the grill got compromised this saves your meet from falling into the coals), about 2.5 cu. ft. of lava rock (to retain the heat when you're adding more charcoal or smoking logs), and a 4x8 sheet of corrugated metal to retain the heat on top all from Lowe's. Total cost was about $100 including the charcoal. Had some pecan in the back yard that I'd been seasoning for a bit, and used that for flavor along with Cajun Creole butter marinade injected into all the hams and backstrap.


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## center19 (Jan 2, 2013)

mas360 said:


> Nice.
> What model of night vision scope you have on that carbine?
> I am looking for one and would like your user feedback/suggestion. Thanks.


I know I already answered this in a PM, but just in case anyone else is looking and wondering the same thing:

On the longer rifle I'm carrying, that is an Armasight CO-MR Gen 2 with manual gain and remote control combined with a Leupold Mark AR MOD1 4-12x40 scope. The CO-MR (Clip On Medium Range) night vision scope attaches either by quick detach rail mount if your rifle is equipped, or by a an adapter to the objective of your scope. It basically turns your day scope into night vision as quick as you can get it onto your rifle. Does not require re-zeroing your weapon and relies on your primary scope for all magnification and aiming reticle. It has a remote switch to press and have instant on for your night vision, or you can have it constantly on.

On the M4 carbine, my brother-in-law is using my Armasight Nemesis with 6x magnification, also Gen 2. When he dropped the big boy in the pics above, he told me he was counting the hairs on its nose at 60 yards. There was supposed to be almost a full moon that night, but there was no light out at all due to the cloud cover. The IR flashlight attached to it served to turn total darkness into near perfect vision on anything inside of 100 yards.


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## activescrape (Jan 8, 2006)

Happy for you!


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## dreamer (Aug 12, 2005)

Nice trip!!


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## Sight Cast (May 24, 2004)

Man, we used to party in that camphouse at Skull Creek in high school. Those were the days...hmmmm


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## Benny (May 21, 2004)

John is a really good dude. We do some business with him. Looks like yall were in the new pasture...good job! Great report!


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