01 iso vocal The dissonant clang of a broken church bell had just invaded the oppressive silence, as two men stood facing each other in the middle of this dusty and single horse town street. Both were awaiting the sun’s zenith which was typically referred to as high noon. There was a very nervous looking time keeper standing nearby and holding an unsteady arm up in the air, and at the end of his quaking fingers dangled a golden pocket watch suspended upon a chain of gold that was handed to him by one of the combatants standing ready to duel. The grizzled warriors, one of medium build with cold steel blue eyes was well weathered and mouthing the stub of an old cigar between his tobacco stained teeth. The other man, quick and cat like in his movements was tall, dark eyed, lean and hawk faced in appearance.
Photo by: Sylvia Wei Wang Riddle
Each of the two men were stone faced and calm in contrast to the tense situation, but both were meeting here in this God forsaken place with a quiet and final purpose. To pit their six gun talents against one another, and to shoot each other dead! Now imagine if you will reading this scene from the script to an “as yet to be released” spaghetti western movie and being asked to write the musical score to it without ever even having seen the film itself. And even more amazing, on such a shoestring budget that you did not have access to a complete orchestra, and that you would have to make do with fill in sounds such as: A rooster’s crow, A man whistling, A train’s whistle, and inexpensive percussion instruments like Pot’s and Pan’s. And also having to recruit the help of an old high school buddy who played this new fangled instrument just recently invented called: An Electric Guitar….. That is just exactly what famed Italian composer Ennio Morricone had to contend with when commissioned to write the musical scores for films such as: The Good The Bad and The Ugly, Fist Full Of Dollars, Once Upon A Time In The West, Two Mules For Sister Sara and countless others (Wikkipedia “Ennio Morricone” for more detail. The son of Liberia and Mario Morricone, who was an accomplished Jazz Trumpeter, Ennio was born on 11/10/28 and wrote his first composition at the tender young age of 6.
Quite obviously a musical prodigy young Ennio went on to graduate from a highly regarded school of music in Italy by age 11. And from there immediately went to work composing music for a living. As I have discussed here in my previous post: Tracking And The Art Of Zen, Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes a great hunt has nothing to do with the largest trophy or the fullest game bag. Sometimes it’s not so much about the great shot or the wild chase. Sometimes a great hunt is just the accumulated experience… the smiles and laughter of time spent with family and new friends in a beautiful place.
That was the occasion on the weekend of October 17-18, as the Native Hunt ranch welcomed brothers Matt and John Matthews, and Matt’s two boys, Chris (12) and Josh (8). These guys are about as new to hunting as a person can get, having just earned their Hunter Safety certificates and picked up their licenses. They’re so new, in fact, that they don’t have their own rifles yet, and had to make do with rifles provided by the guides. But that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm or the willingness to get out and do whatever it took to make the hunt a success. As it turns out, they were definitely up for the challenge!
There’s a lot more I could write, but I think the following video says it… and shows it… much better than I ever could!
As some of you may know, during the Native Hunt dove hunt this past September a few folks took advantage of the special management hunt offer. Among these were Bob Ford and his son, Robert, who decided to get after a couple of feral hogs.
The first day was spent out at the Priest Valley Ranch, but Head Guide, Sam McGuire couldn’t get the hogs to cooperate. The next day, they made it back out on the Jolon Ranch to fill their tags with a couple of good, management hogs. Even better, they took the hogs within 20 minutes of each other after two hard days of hunting.
I had the opportunity to get back in touch with the Fords and ask them a few questions about their experience. Here’s what they had to say:
NH: What were your impressions of the guides? Of the rest of the staff?
Bob Ford:The guides and the rest if the staff were great, They knew the property and the game.
NH: What did you think about the properties?
Bob Ford: We hunted Jolon Ranch and Priest Valley Ranch. Both were large properties and great places to hunt
NH: What did you think, in general, of the number and quality of the animals you encountered?
Bob Ford: We saw lots of wildlife: deer, hogs, bison, rabbits and all manner of birds.
NH: Did your hunt include a cook and meals at the Jolon Ranch? If so, what did you think about them?
Bob Ford: Yes, we were there for the Dove opener. There were 2 chefs and the food was fabulous. They actually prepared the some of the doves we shot and they were the best I have ever had.
NH: What was the most memorable part of your visit?
Bob Ford: When my son and I both shot a Boar within 20 minutes of each other after hunting for two days.
NH: Any further comments?
Bob Ford: It was a weekend we will always remember.
NH: Would you come back out to hunt with us again?
Bob Ford: Yes, definitely.
Congratulations to the Fords for their selection as September’s Hunt of the Month!
So this past weekend we had a pretty great hunt out at the Jolon Ranch. We had four hunters in camp, all looking primarily for meat hogs.
Three of the hunters, Matt, his son Chris, and Matt’s brother John are all from the Bay Area (special mention to Josh, by the way, Chris’s brother who was too young yet to shoot a hog… but what a trooper!). Being brand new to the hunting game, they haven’t had the opportunity to get out and pick up their own rifles yet. Instead, we made arrangements for them to use our ranch guns, but they’d need to pick up ammo.
To cut the story fairly short, they ended up using our ammo for the hunt, since the stuff they picked up wasn’t a good match for our guns. Even so, we broke theirs out later to do a little target shooting, which is when I got a real shock. They’d asked at the shop (a shop in SF to remain unnamed for now) specifically for lead-free ammunition. Well, wouldn’t you know, some idjit sold them Winchester’s Ballistic Silvertips. Sure, the name of the ammo says nothing about lead, but “silvertip” doesn’t mean the bullets are made of silver… for dog’s sake!
I guess the moral of the story might be simply, “caveat emptor.”
But honestly, at some point shouldn’t we be able to have the least little bit of faith in the vendors who supply us?
The horses were unsettled, restless and quite obviously disturbed by something which moved unseen to the pair of human eyes which scanned the darkness of the gully down below them.
Suddenly, a high pitched and loud shrill cry pierced the night, and then arose from within the bowels of that oppressive blackness. The scream, ascending in a rising crescendo and then quickly cascading into a low thunder like rumble, sent icy chills through its listeners. And it also sent the two steaming horses into a renewed frenzy of foam flecked whinnying, and stamping of hooves that reverberated throughout the stall where they had holed themselves up inside.
Mt. Lion! I hissed between clenched and grinding jawbone and teeth. Third time this week! my wife said aloud, she had been standing right behind me and witness to tonight’s events.
With flashlight in one hand and Colt Anaconda 44 magnum in the other I scanned the darkness below and saw nothing more than a fleeting glimpse of the animal as it bolted out across the bottom of the little gully, then up and over the fence . All the while with nary a sound as he went silently bounding away and into the darkness which seemed to swallow him whole in a matter of only a few seconds.
There are way too many Mt. Lions in the state of California!
I have up close and personal knowledge of this because not only am I a rancher and have to deal with them on a daily basis out at the ranches. But right here at my place of residence in our suburban foothill neighborhood as well. Between my next door neighbor and myself, we have had to shoot and kill at least 3 lions in as many months.
Our other next door neighbor Anita and her late husband Bill have 4 miniature show donkeys on their 5 acres of land, and just this past Monday as she went out for a short 30 minute walk, the Lion finally struck. When she arrived back home from her walk Anita discovered that all 4 donkeys were ripped up and bleeding profusely. One had to be rushed to intensive veterinary care because the wounds were so life threatening.
This happened not at night but at 3:00 p.m. out in broad daylight! and also with my employees in the office and working not 200 yards away. Something has to be done because the moratorium has caused an “OVERCAPACITY” of California Mountain Lions. And quite contrary to the propaganda hype placed into the popular media outlets such as is seen at the Mountain Lion Foundation web site. The scientific study done by California Department Of Fish And Game agent Larry W. Sitton says that lion populations have doubled since the moratorium. And even more disturbing is the fact that this study was completed and data compiled back in 1975. Please go and see this scientific study on Felis Concolor Californica.
Mr. Sitton goes on to state that even during the period of unrestricted take seems to indicate that the sport utilization of Mt. Lions offers “no” threat to its survival as a species. If the ban is not lifted and legal hunting of them re-instated then it will only get even worse.
The animal rights organizations have had a complete stranglehold upon our state for way too long and it is about time that we stand up, take our State back and start a sensible harvest program to help balance out the numbers of the over populated animal.
In Florida for example, a moratorium was placed upon the Florida Alligator and within a few years the population had rebounded extremely well. Enough so that the state re-instated the legal harvest of them and along with the biological research required, the state now has a certain yearly quota to fill. This benefits the environment, gives the states fish and wild life service some much needed extra revenue, and relief upon the taxpayers as well. And now the once fearful residents can venture into their backyards again without as much fear about being attacked or their pets getting gobbled up by a gator.
Because you see, the real problem starts when you have a couple of generations of animals being born with no hunting pressure, and statistics have proven that these subsequent un-pressured offspring roam around the suburbs with no fear of man whatsoever.
California wisely did the same as Florida only with our black bears… first a moratorium was placed, then all of the necessary studies were completed to determine the real and true bear numbers along with the geographical carrying capacities. Then the hunting ban was lifted and there are now certain areas where Black Bear are thriving and can be harvested, with a fixed total of the state wide number of animals which can be taken. The state then sells as many tags as will be purchased but the season closes when that pre-set number of harvests are reported by the wardens. A win-win situation for all involved. Just a few years ago when I did the research for this I discovered that over 4,500 bear tags had been sold to hopeful hunters. At that time the legal harvest quota was only 1,500 bears and when that number was reached, the season was closed with the Department Of Fish And Game notifying everyone by mail that the season had been called to a close. So at $30.00 per resident tag and with the out of State hunters paying over $150.00 per tag the State essentially has a very nice little lottery system going on here. Not that I am complaining of course because most of that money goes directly back into programs designed to enhance habitat and to help feed out high country animals in the middle of harsh winters when food becomes scarce for them.
Lets look at a couple of scientific facts about the Mountain Lion that the Animal Rights Groups like to suppress and hide away from the public.
Fact #1: A Mt. Lions prey drive is so extremely high and at its peak upon maturity that they will make a kill, even if their stomach is full from a fresh feeding. They have been recorded on video wiping out a complete herd of sheep and then leaving the devastated scene without so much as a single feeding from even one of those kills. Very much like a common house cat that will bring a mouse up to your doorstep, play with it awhile until it is dead and then move on to the next stalk and kill. The prey drive is just that strong in the feline species.
Fact #2: A single Mt. Lion requires at least a 100 square mile radius for its hunting and breeding territory to remain healthy and to not inbreed its own offspring. The animals are currently reduced to only about a five square mile area per cat because of habitat encroachment, yes! but mainly due to the current overpopulation of the Lion and its over capacity for the areas it inhabits according to the States own data.
Again as Larry Sitton has stated in his report to the CA. D.F.G., is the fact that emotionalism, with little to no substantiative data, has reigned on the part of both pro and anti-lion hunting contingents of the states population. And if you don’t believe any of these presented facts here, simply go and ask a cattle or sheep rancher what they have seen, and what are their ideas concerning the subject of lifting the moratorium and re-instating limited sport hunting of the California Mountain Lion.
Our April Hunt of the Month features huntress, Sharon Morozumi. Sharon came out on a very special hunt, with the objective of taking one of our American bison with her bow! While Native Hunt has offered bison hunts for quite some time, this would be a fairly unique experience for the team. CEO of Native Hunt T. Michael Riddle put all of his resources to work to make sure Sharon had a successful and fulfilling hunt.
Riddle took Sharon’s husband and another guide out ahead of the hunters to scout out the animals. Amazingly even these massive creatures can totally disappear in the expanse of nature, but they were soon able to locate the herd. Once the animals were located, the next trick was to get the huntress into position with a favorable wind and enough cover to stalk within bow range.
While the bison at the Jolon Ranch may seem docile to the casual observer, they’re far from tame, as Riddle was reminded when he got a little too close and the big bull charged him. The challenge for the guide and huntress would be to get in close enough to make a clean kill, yet also have a clear route to escape if things went wrong. Riddle and the others would observe from a safe distance where they would be able to watch the animals after the shot.
The guide for this hunt is one of Riddle’s youngest guys, Colby Williams. Williams, the son of a long-time Central Coast hunting guide, grew up in a hunting environment and was helping his father from an early age. He’s been working on and off for Native Hunt for the last three years or so. Even so, nothing in that experience quite matched up to the situation facing him on this hunt. Wild hogs and blacktail deer are one thing… bowhunting American Bison is another.
I asked Colby what he thought was the most challenging part of the hunt. “The biggest thing was getting into range,” he said. “She (Sharon) said she was comfortable out to about 20 yards. It was tough getting within 20 yards of those animals. There wasn’t a lot of cover where they were. We had to make real slow movements and make sure their attention wasn’t on us before we made our move.”
Getting close wasn’t the only consideration, though, when stalking animals that may go in excess of a ton. “My primary concern was safety,” said Colby.
Buffalo tend to huddle up and protect a wounded member of the herd, and have been known to charge a predator. After the shot, which Colby described as very well-placed, the hunters and guides had to stand off and wait until the herd finally dispersed before collecting the animal, a fine cow. The remainder of the weekend was spent in typical Native Hunt fashion, touring the ranch to view the wildlife, target shooting, and enjoying good food and fellowship around the campfire.
Colby said he had a great time with the Morozumis, and apparently the sentiment was shared. Here’s what Sharon wrote to me regarding her experience.
My bison hunt at Native Hunt was most excellent. Colby the guide was most professional and helpful. Mike is always a pleasure to work with. All the staff were very professional and courteous.
The land is beautiful and the wildlife is very enjoyable to observe. The hunt was very exciting and I appreciate everyone’s patience. As a bowhunter it is important to be in the right place and yardage is crucial.
All in all it was a truly wonderful experience and I will recommend Native Hunt to others and I definitely plan to return for a future hunt.
Congratulations to Sharon Morozumi for a great hunt and harvest, and to the team from Native Hunt for bringing it all together for yet another satisfied client!
California’s Premier Hunting Ranch Sponsors NASCAR’s Paul Pedroncelli Jr.
Native Hunt Enterprises, Inc. sponsored PJ, from Pedroncelli Motorsports, in the September 26th Camping World West Series race. The highly anticipated Native Hunt booth was manned by the wild and crazy ranch staff that were more than happy to share their wild hunting stories and information on all of the unique wild animals which roam their Northern California ranch. Additionally there were prizes, raffles, and plenty of memorabilia available prior to the start of the race.
The Camping World West is part of NASCAR’s development series, and was held on the third-mile oval track at the All American Speedway in Roseville, Ca. Our star, PJ Pedroncelli is a budding young driver, following in the footsteps of his father, Paul Sr. a champion winning driver in his time. PJ is currently in his 6th year of racing. In 2007, after PJ was awarded “Rookie of the Year” he quickly moved into the NASCAR developmental series.
PJ was racing the #0 stock car, sponsored in part by Native Hunt Enterprises, Inc. “Unfortunately, in lap 6 of the race PJ’s car was clipped from behind by the #3 car which sent him into the wall and ended the race quicker than we all had planned, said Elaine Pedroncelli, PJ’s mom.
CEO of Native Hunt, T. Michael Riddle is a big believer in the power of the human spirit and the drive and determination it takes to create success for one’s self. Michael came to California from pre-Disney Orlando, Florida in 1980. He had dreams of making a living in the music industry and through his talent and work ethic he carved out a successful career which included several recording deals and extensive touring with his band Valhalla.
“I’ve always felt it is important to support our nation’s young and talented up-and-comers,” says T. Michael. NASCAR has been a part of American culture since 1948 and has paved the way for many to gain success and popularity through national competition. Native Hunt sure is excited to see new generations participating in things like stock car racing, fishing, and of course hunting.”
With the focus and dedication PJ and his team at Pedroncelli Motorsports have, they are sure to go far and Native Hunt is thrilled to sponsor PJ and to be a part of his journey.
For more information about Native Hunt and their adventures please visit www.NativeHunt.com or call 1.888.HUNT.321 and for more information about PJ and the Pedroncelli team visit them on facebook at http://bitURL.net/?qnqgtd
The Native Hunt Team
Many of you are aware of the recent passage of AB962, the new law that places restrictions on the purchase of handgun ammunition. Among other things, the law requires all commercial transactions of handgun ammunition to take place on a face-to-face basis, which means a virtual end to mail-order commerce (Cabelas, BassPro, MidwayUSA, etc.). It requires ammo vendors to keep permanent records, and to perform background checks on their employees. It’s going to cost the vendors more to implement, which means the costs will be passed onto consumers.
Anyway, I’ve written more about this over on the Hog Blog if you haven’t read about it. But that’s not the point… the point is, the NRA has persuaded Assemblyman Curt Hagman to revise and reintroduce his currently pending bill, AB373, to include language that effectively repeals 962. The press release just came through. Here it is, in its entirety.
NRA SPONSORS LEGISLATION TO REPEAL AB962!
Earlier this year, Assemblyman Curt Hagman introduced Assembly Bill 373 related to the sales of handguns. AB373 was sponsored by the National Rifle Association in order to streamline the ability for law-abiding Californians to purchase handguns.
Now that Governor Schwarzenegger has signed AB962 into law, people are already becoming aware of the damage that it will do to California and it’s citizens. Therefore, the NRA and Assemblyman Hagman have agreed to amend AB373 into legislation that would repeal AB962. The newly amended AB373 will be heard in the State Legislature in January of 2010 so we must be ready for these hearings.
All of California’s firearms owners, dealers, shooters, hunters, collectors, clubs/organizations, and ammunition vendors, should be prepared to join in this effort to repeal AB962. This will not be an easy fight, but it is possible to win if we all stick together and act in an organized manner.
We, the NRA, will have specific activities that everyone can participate in during this important effort. Please stand-by and be prepared to help. There is no good reason not to be part of the team.
Read the NRA-ILA News Release regarding Governor Schwarzenegger’s counter-productive signing of AB962 at http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=12998 .
As a first-step in this process; please contact Assemblyman Curt Hagman and thank him for demonstrating his leadership by using his legislation (AB373) for this very important effort to repeal AB962. His office phone number is 916-319-2060 and you can email him at Assemblymember.Hagman@assembly.ca.gov.
More to come……………..
Get active, CA Sportsmen and shooters. Maybe this will fly, maybe it won’t… but if you don’t try, you’ll never succeed.
As we followed the dusty and well worn road far back into the wild depths of our ranch, my 4 year old daughter, beautiful and inquisitive just like her mother suddenly exclaimed: “Baba, what are these?”
Looking down at the dry floury ground which gave way to the appearance of something more akin to talcum powder than actual dirt, I closely examined what she had been excitedly pointing to. “Those are a Dung Beetle’s tracks,” I said to her, “wanna’ follow em’ and see what Mr. Beetle has been up to today?”
“Sure,” she replied, and then immediately began the meditative ritual which I had taught to her since she was able to walk and accompany me throughout the ranches.
Close your eyes and take two very deep breaths then hold the last breath until you can’t hold it any longer, then hold it just a little longer than that. Then slowly let the air out of your lungs through your lips which should be formed into the shape of a small “O” just as if you were about to whistle a little tune. After having completed this learned task we both knelt down upon the ground and began to study closely the pin prick impressions of the beetle’s footprints left behind by his busy meanderings.
The first thing which my daughter noticed was that the beetle seemed to stop and turn circles about every three to five of her little steps, or about every four feet. “This is because he is scenting the air,” I explained to her. “The beetle is stopping every so often and trying to catch the scent of something good to eat.”
“What does he eat,” she then asked?
“Well, his main food source is dung, or as you would understand it as ‘Poop’.”
At the suggestion of any creature subsisting off of another animals feces my little girl scrunched up her face and loudly expostulated, “Eeew’ you kidding!”
“No, I am serious. These type of beetles are able to get all of the nutrients and moisture that they need from cow, deer, coyote, pig or whatever animal leaves it’s droppings upon the ground. Every animal’s feces contains little tiny microbes and other small organisms which the dung beetle then extracts from their excrement. There is also enough moisture in those droppings for the beetle so that he never has to take a drink of water as well. Now lets get back to tracking this one and see if we can catch up to him.”
“O.K.,” she said happily. Read the rest of this entry »
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