Things are kinda slow around the Native Hunt Blog these days. It’s been literally weeks since I’ve been out to the ranches, and while I know Sam has had a fairly regular flow of clients out there killing hogs and such, it just seems like all the rain and weather lately has muted the activity.
February is gone now, and if things go as they usually do, the sun will start shining longer, the temps will start rising, and the hills will soon take on that shining green quality that preceeds the harsh yellow of summer. The barley will be popping up, lush and emerald. Mushrooms are already bursting out. The ground is soft, and pliable, and the hogs will be taking full advantage… rooting and digging for the tasty morsels buried by the rain and wind of winter. They’re already fat and shiny, and it’s only gonna get better over the next couple of months.
It won’t be long now. I can feel the sap rising and the blood flowing. Prime time is coming!
The morning hunt had been ugly. The rain had turned the roads to gooey mush, bringing an icy fog that often limited our visibility to less than 25 yards. Fresh tracks littered the steep hillsides. Unfortunately, for all we could tell, the hogs could have been strolling around just a few yards away. We’d have never seen them.
After a few hours of futile hill-humping, we both realized we were wasting our time. We rolled back to camp to consider plan B. For the immediate present, as best we could tell, Plan B consisted of hot chocolate and a nap as the rain pattered down on the roof of the camper.
A few hours later, we awoke to find that the fog had lifted enough to see across the camping area. It was still fairly early afternoon, but it looked like we could go ahead and make a go of it. It was the last evening hunt, not really down to the wire, but it could be the last, best chance.
Because the roads up onto the ridges were pretty much impassable, I decided we would walk into my favorite area from the bottom. It would be a tough climb, but I knew there’d be hogs there.
About a quarter mile in, we decided to split. I’d go high, and Michael would walk the bottom and then sidehill up across from me. We’d be able to watch the hills below one another, and direct each other to the hogs when they came out. I headed up an old road, and less than 200 yards in I caught movement across the canyon. A hog stepped out of the brush, and stood broadside on the opposite hillside, maybe 250 yards away. I couldn’t see Michael down below, but there was no way he’d be able to see these pigs. I decided to take the shot.
But first, let’s go back a day. We’d arrived at Tejon before noon on Friday, following an extended, pre-hunt orientation by one of the ranch personnel. Once everyone had camp set up, folks started rolling out. Never mind that it was still mid-day, this group of 12 hunters was stoked and ready for the hunt. Michael and I followed my buddy, Scott, out to our favorite area and set up.
We were on a high ridge that overlooked some primo bedding areas. A quick time-check showed that it was barely noon, so I suggested we just get comfortable and glass the beds for a while. The wind was blowing an icy chill, so we settled down in the lee of the ridgeline, and started looking for movement. It didn’t take long before the comfortable perch on the hillside combined with the lack of sleep over the previous couple of days to make my head start nodding. “Hey, Michael,” I mumbled. “Wake me up before you shoot.”
I was only half-kidding, as I leaned back and closed my eyes.
The next thing I knew, something exploded. My eyes popped open as I recognized the sound of a gunshot… a very large gun. Scott was hunting with his new .375 H&H, and I had no doubt that was his shot. A moment later, the radio crackled. “There are about six hogs coming right toward you,” he said.
As I stood to look for the hogs, I heard two more shots from a different direction. My friends Bob and Keith were hunting with Keith’s 12 year-old daughter, and I was pretty sure that was where they were located. I told Michael I hoped the young lady had whacked her first hog (she did), and stood vigilant to see what came next.
A group of about six or eight hogs came trotting over the hillside from the direction of the last shots. We both ran downhill to get into position for a shot, but they wouldn’t stop long enough between the chaparral to give us an opportunity. We watched as they disappeared into the bottom of the canyon, and then listened as they started to work their way up our side of the ridge. My heart was racing as the shuffle of two dozen hog hooves rustled the leaves and grass, just out of sight below. Unfortunately, they turned and kept to the thicket.
We were getting ready to take off across the hillside in hopes of catching the group in an open spot when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. There, not 50 yards away, a sow stood broadside, looking at us. I looked at Michael, and he looked at me. The hog looked at both of us. Michael and I looked at the hog. Then, since we didn’t shoot, it trotted off to catch up with the rest of the herd.
It occurred to me then that I wasn’t guiding a paying client. I think the same thought occurred to Michael. What had we been waiting for? Why didn’t I shoot?
We held tight on the end of the ridge until the cold wind finally had me shivering pretty hard. I knew I should have put on an extra shirt, but hindsight wasn’t keeping me warm. I decided we should move back up the ridge, and find another warm spot to glass. As we moved along, I caught hogs coming out at the bottom of another ridge, across the canyon to our west. I checked the time, and saw that we had about an hour of shooting time left. We could make it if we hurried.
So we did.
We raced back up the ridge, arriving back at my little Samurai, Petunia, breathless and aching. I pushed the little 1.3 litre engine as hard as it would run up and down the hills to get around the canyon and to a spot that I thought would put us on top of the hogs. We bailed out, loaded up, and started the long, steep descent.
Unfortunately, ground that looked so open from across the ridge wasn’t quite the same once we got there. The chaparral and scrub oaks were much taller, and the brush thicker. I knew we couldn’t have been more than 100 yards above the hogs, but we couldn’t see 20 yards. Undeterred, we continued the stalk until, just as shooting light was beginning to fade, we ran into a small group of cattle. At first, I thought we’d get away with it, but then one calf took off at a fast trot. The others followed shortly afterward, and there was no doubt the hogs would be long gone.
It was a long crawl back up to Petunia, but we were a couple of pretty happy hunters.
Back at camp, the final tally for Friday’s hunt was six hogs. Our group was at 50% success with another day and a half to hunt.
Which brings us back to Saturday.
I settled into a prone position, resting my rifle on a dirt berm. It was as comfortable as a bench rest, and I felt perfectly solid when I started squeezing the trigger. At the report, hogs started running everywhere! There must have been 15 or 20 hogs bedded under the bushes.
There was one more shot, and Michael and I were both done… tagged out by 2:30 pm, with the rest of the day to skin hogs and relax around camp.
Written By: Diane Amble
CAVA – California Animal Voters Alliance
California Highway Patrol
Capitol Protection Section
1801 9th Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
Attn: Keith Troy
Dear Sir:
Thank you for your gracious handling of the situation on February 8th whereby your officers removed me and my film crew from the Animal Protection Caucus meeting. There are many details I would like to discuss with you if you are so inclined after reading the law on open meetings pertinent to legislation AT ALL LEVELS within our State. I have also attached the original invite (see PDF attached) sent to all legislative offices according to my information.
The Animal Protection Caucus is a bi-partisan caucus so is NOT exempt under Grunsky-Burton Act.
The Brown Act (local level), Bagley-Keane Act (state agency level) and Grunsky-Burton (State legislative level) Act (http://sunshinerevi ew.org/index. php/California_ Open_Meeting_ Act )were ALL put into place to follow up on loopholes of the original Brown Act addressing abuses by elected officials in regards to transparency in government (open meetings). Therefore, all legal interpretations* such as this one regarding the definition of “meetings” below apply to all three. Keep this in mind while reading the law.
Ask yourself why would this Caucus event evoke exclusion of the press and public? Is your Department aware that the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security named the Humane Society of the United States as well as its subsidiary affiliate organization Fund for Animals as domestic terrorist support groups? Does it seem correct to allow them to have private meetings with legislators/ bi-partisan caucus WITHIN the Capitol? Approved by your Dept.? For reference to this document visit: http://www.floridaanimallaws.org/dhs_ecoterrorism.htm ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/12251436/DHS-Eco-Terrorism-in-US-2008 See pages 9, 10).This is a Presidential Directive Executive Summary Order and cannot be rescinded by any individual in an agency. Email to follow on authority of Executive Directive.
This is a security issue, as well as a violation of Public Access laws and 1st Amendment violation (Freedom of the Press) is it not? As stated, this is a misdemeanor. These actions also violate the State of California Constitutional Amendment known as the Sunshine Amendment**. I respectfully ask for a formal investigation by your department of all the above mentioned violations and I hereby request under the rules of FOIA access to all documents, communications, including but not limited to emails, regarding the Legislative sponsorship, permits (if any) issued for the above event as well as details leading to the removal of members of the press seeking to cover the event.
Thank you very much for your continued cooperation.
Respectfully,
Diane Amble
160 10th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(650) 296-2169
Written By: Diane Amble
CAVA – California Animal Voters Alliance
CAL. GOV. CODE § 9029 : California Code – Section 9029
CAL. GOV. CODE § 9027 : California Code – Section 9027
AL. GOV. CODE § 9028 : California Code – Section 9028
CAL. GOV. CODE § 52055 : California Code – Section 52055
CAL. GOV. CODE § 54952.2 : California Code – Section 54952.2
Written By: Diane Amble
OK, here is the link for this proposal : http://www.sheepusa.org/user_files/file_608.pdf PERMISSION TO CROSS POST
And here are just a few of my objections to this path they are taking which is really seemingly a fearful reaction to recent publicity of a rare hiker versus guardian dog incident:
1. You don’t give away what you already have because it will be twice as hard to get it back once you realize
you just became the sacrificial lamb (no pun intended).
2. Livestock Guardian/Protection Dogs think on their own. Their intelligence is among the highest in the dog kingdom.
Trying to tell them what to do when they can see/hear a predator or intruder far before you do speaks volumes on ignorance of
how these noble dogs work, and have worked for 1000s of years with herders. And they are still working while YOU are asleep!
3. What happens when a really good dog fails a part of the test? It becomes useless? a rescue? discarded?
4. What happens when the rancher/herder de-certifies3 times for whatever reason (health, personal, finances), they can no longer
apply for re-certification? Is that the American way? Even those convicted of drunk driving usually get to drive again. How can
this program cause such a restriction on a rancher’s ability to do his work? his business? Support his family and his ranch? Is that American?
5. Who gains from the AVID chip promotion? the low-cost mandatory insurance offered? The usual suspects?
6. Herders will have to have cell phones? Where do they plug them in to charge them IF THEY COULD get reception in the middle of nowhere?
7. The adequate water and food mandate is also ignorant. Even on small operations, where does one put the food while the dog follows the grazing animals?? On a robotis food tray? And what will eat it? The dog? varmints? or predators?
And IF that is not done to the “inspectors” or “animal rights activists” liking, will the dog owner be a BAD ABUSIVE dog owner?
8.Intact dogs become “inadvisable” even prohibited? ALL THESE 1000s of years these dogs have performed their services in the NATURAL STATE WITH All THEIR ORGANS
How is it that suddenly everything will be better if they are sterilized? JUST WHO IS BEHIND THAT IDEA? And there are studies PROVING aggression issues in sterilized dogs, reduced immune system function, and
a myriad of other growth issues since removal of the reproductive organs means removal of critical hormones for growth. What about the reduced stamina and drive seen in sterilzed working dogs?
9. Mandating shearing or clipping of livestock dogs is also IGNORANT. Nearly all these breeds have developed special coats for all seasons. Often clipping a coat causes the natural guard hairs to never return and the coat
no longer functions as nature intended. So, if one does not clip down their dog, THAT WILL BE ABUSE?????
10. And finally the coup de gras (definition: means a death blow intended to end the suffering of a wounded creature. …) :
LPD owners should not breed unless…… .
sounds like someone wants an end to LPD more than to protect these magnificent dogs.
Please write to mary@usasheep. org and ask just HOW placating to AR agendas will protect ranchers and their dogs?
Thank you,
Diane Amble
CAVA – California Animal Voters Alliance
Written By: Diane Amble
Every now and then, you get into a Boar that we like to call “Runners”. A “Runner” is typically a boar hog that bests your dogs. He is a boar in the 150lb range and is rangy, and full of piss and vinegar. A mature boar will typically urinate on the run, thus, stopping a dog or confusing him because the odor from boar urine is so strong. The dogs get in this scent and believe the boar has stopped or is near by when really he is runnin’ his ugly ham into the next county.
Seems you get these sometimes, and all “dog men” have struck the “one that got away”. I struck one with my catahoula (Bubbles) yesterday morning, about 5 to 6 hundred yards out from where we cut her loose. She opened up in the bottom of a creek area down in some nasty, steep, Sonoma County country. Within about 30 seconds it sounded as if she was in solid bay as she had her back up, my 9 month old McNabb(Cornbread) with her. With sound of solid bay ringing through the canyon I sent in the calvary, ie. the Bulldogs. I thought we had a good solid bead on this bugger, down in the creek, standard operating procedures dictate sending in Gus and Honeybunch (APBT’s) to seal the deal.
Well shortly after they were sent in, and about the time I figured they should be at the bay, the barking went from the solid bay bark to a running bark. The old up and over a hill into another canyon kind, and finally out of hearing range. The only thing to do was to get up high and listen. You guessed it, way over the abyss! The Bulldogs were back to me, for they are seasoned and seem to know when its a lost cause. We waited out Bubbles and Cornbread, and they finally came back with tongues draggin’. Yup, a Runner!
Good fun, however, but its always sweeter to seal the deal. We went back to the initial crime scene and found the tracks of where the bay started, the hoof print indicated about a 150lber, a typical runner. I believe he broke when he saw the Bulldogs charging down at the bay, and he picked up a head of steam and did not stop. In this scenario, the dogs did all they could do, hard to blame them. In turn, they ate well last night, and Gus and H.B. got a good rub down for there effort! Like old T. Michael used to tell me, “the big hogs don’t get big from being stupid!
“cut em loose”
Written by : Chuck Bridges
For a while it looked like the HSUS wasn’t going to show — I even checked the event board at the Hyatt to see if they’d moved the event across the street. But, no, the lure of free rental at the Capitol was too much (or perhaps it was just the sun going down — the first person we saw scuttling across the Capitol rotunda was Judie Mancuso of SCIL), and the HSUS’ caterer finally appeared to set up.
We had arranged to meet where the two main corridors in the Capitol office building cross. Our first contingent, including a film crew from The Animal Herald, and members of We the People for Pets and California Animal Voters Alliance (“CAVA”), had moved on to the event site, and Jan Dykema was handing out our new “George Washington was a dog breeder” brochures while we waited for stragglers, when a CHP sergeant asked us to follow him to his office. The sergeant advised us that it was against the rules to hand out materials on Capitol grounds without a permit. So much for First Amendment rights in The People’s House. Undeterred, we handed off our unused materials to other members of the team.
When Jan and I arrived at the event site in the basement rotunda, our first contingent (who had arrived before the caterer and was seated on benches) were being peacefully escorted out of the event site by the CHP and the HSUS event coordinators were hastily putting up screens between the event and the public. Outdoorsmen (and women) from Native Hunt, dressed in utility shirts and camo hats, also received the bum’s rush from the HSUS thugs. Jan and I attempted to enter the HSUS event, but were detained at the registration desk. (A flyer, with an RSVP telephone number, had been sent to each member of the Assembly and Senate announcing the event. However, no where on the flyer did it indicate that the event was by invitation only. Earlier, we had contacted a number of Assembly members and Senators seeking help getting on “the list.” In each case, we were told that they had not received a call back. Hmm, do you think the HSUS might have wanted to discourage less-than-friendly legislators from attending?) We were finally told by “Crystal” whose identification still remains a bit of the mystery (she doesn’t work for the legislature or the HSUS, or so she said) that we would not be allowed into the event. She also said, “I’ve seen all of your emails, Chuck, so I know what you’re up to.” Well, nice to meet you, too, Crystal!
I know it sounds like it was a melee, but it was all very peaceful – except for the sweating on the other side! It turns out that between 15 and 20 protesters showed up. We had the chance to watch each HSUS attendee as they arrived. And we got it on film. (Oh, yes, it turns out that one of the entrees served at the reception was Chicken.) It was hard to gauge the attendance at the HSUS event. I suspect that they were disappointed – hey, they were competing with a “find a cure” rally on the north side of the Capitol and a speech by Sara Palin in Redding.
At 6:00 all of us repaired (well, actually, the Capitol closes at that time and we were asked to leave – booted yet another time!) to the Pyramid Alehouse to debrief and share some fellowship. I was right about one thing, hefeweizen washes away the bad taste left by AR glitterati.
All in all, I would declare our protest a success. We showed Pacelle and his cronies that Californians are not pushovers, and perhaps more importantly, we solidified our friendships by breaking bread and raising a glass in common cause together.
Written by :Chuck Bridges
Prologue: After the event the Native Hunt Crew (after Sam and Michael jumped up and down several times) broke the elevator in the parking garage and were stuck between floors for an hour until Sacramento fire crews came and rescued them! (them boyz obviously don’t get to go to the city much) 
When I first learned of Sasha Siemel I was about 15 years of age and thoroughly enraptured with any Peter Hathaway Capstick or Hemmingway story which I could get my hands upon.
One day while visiting back home I was laying across my bed on a lazy afternoon during one of those frequent sunny day downpours of which the State of Florida is well known for, and I was quite thoroughly engrossed in reading a Capstick book entitled: Death In The Silent Places.
It was within this book that I started reading about the exploits and adventures of whom I consider the greatest big game hunter ever to walk the face of this earth: Alexander “Sasha” Siemel
Mr. Siemel was employed by South American Cattle Ranchers down in Pantanal to help keep the Jaguar numbers down (depredation to us Americans) and to keep their stock numbers from suffering too greatly from the big cats which number very high in that particular area. Now this in itself does not sound like such a great feat until you read about HOW he achieved his nickname: EL TIGRERO’
You see Sasha only hunted the big cats with a single Spear, and a pack of trained Hound’s! And he is credited for killing over 300 of the beast’s in this very fashion. I am not saying that killing big cats with a rifle is not challenging and as a matter of fact I have killed several big cats myself using a rifle or my 44 mag. pistol, and some of those situations were very up close and very personal if you get my drift concerning the, shall we say “moisture factor”!
But, a spear and dog’s? Now that is an entirely different situation altogether and although I have done my fair share of “Live Catching” wild boar armed with nothing more than my dogs and a roll of duct tape, skewering a ferociously maddened Jaguar with a only a 7′ spear and a few baying hounds as “protection?” I would have to think long and hard before embarking upon that adventure!
Click upon this link and go read about the Greatest Hunter of our recently past century: Alexander “Sasha” Siemel
The Sonoma County rain has put the damper on my hunting ambitions this morning, although we are in dire need of the rain, I need to get my weekend “Hawg Doggin’” in. Not on this day however, the hills of Cazadero have gotten over 3 inches in the past 24 hours. Running dogs in a down pour is tough, to say the least. The scent of the hog does not stick on the ground, rooting and tracks are tough to distinguish as fresh, and if you have ever been in heavy timber during a down pour, then you know your hearing is minimal. Excuses, excuses! lol
The hunting here has been great this winter, we have been hunting every weekend since early November, and have only struck out a few times. My group of hunting buddies have done extremely well with lots of pork to put in the freezer. Reports of other people have been good as well, both on private and the public hunt at Lake Sonoma, which is open to Archers. Reports of downed hogs including tuskers have been floating around.
Dogs have done well, our younger stock, including a few pups at 8 mos. old are striking and baying. The winter “heat” has passed and a few of us have bred some dogs. A nice batch of Mcnabb/Kelpies are coming soon, as well as a liter of APBT’s from my “Honeybunch” bitch will hit the ground in late March. The dogs are in their best shape right now, for they are running hard up to twice a week.
We have a few more months of runnin’ dogs left before it starts to warm up and get real “snakey” up here! Gonna be runnin’ ‘em as much as possible until then, with a few big weekends coming up with friends. Those are the best, when a bunch of serious dog guys get together and run the hills, then sit back after and tell about the hunt. So that is my late winter, rained in, report on Hawg Doggin’. Would love to hear some stories and see some pictures if any of ya’ll could send ‘em. Send ‘em to catchdogfarmer@gmail.com!
“cut ‘em loose”
Stay Tuned!
We really need to stay tuned to the latest news and be prepared to jump into action when it comes to our HUNTING RIGHTS! Notice I say rights and not privileges because the antis would love nothing more than to make it a privilege and then turn around and take that privilege away from us.
Monday afternoon the Native Hunt crew will be at our State Capitol and you can bet we will be voicing our opposition at Wayne Pacelle, H.S.U.S. and Senator Dean Florez attempt at taking over our Department Of Fish And Game (among other animal related offices) through their newly proposed Animal Rights Caucus!
Stay tuned for more information and updates, and do not just sit at home and let this happen like Californians did concerning the Lead Ban and Hand Gun Ammunition issues which are here to stay because we just did not get up the gumption to go out and FIGHT!
Be at our States Capitol Monday February the 8th, or be prepared to let the anti’s waltz right in and take over!
Children who play outdoors seem to be less likely than their peers to develop nearsightedness. They’re also somewhat better in classroom preparedness, have longer attention spans, decreased aggression, and lowered levels of stress and depression.
So says The National Wildlife Federation
Now pardon me but has not yours truly here been making similar statements ever since the year 1990 when I first discovered the actual clinical term: WILDERNESS DEPRIVATION DISORDER.
Ever since I had read an article in J.A.M.A. about studies being done on inner city youth, and how it was discovered that due to the fact that these city dwellers, who for no apparent reason all suffered from some degrees of depression, anxiety, unexplained bouts of anger, and attention deficit disorder. And after the studies were completed it was found that all of these disorders were greatly reduced, and in some cases were eliminated completely by introducing these children (patients) into the woods and nature, I have been a very strong proponent for getting our nations youth back to nature and into the wild.
In fact I had written an article for Boar Hunter Magazine a few years back titled: YOUTH GONE WILD that addressed these very same issues which now sit before you!
The Humane Society Of The United States actually promotes NON interaction with nature, citing that nature is better off left alone and not interfered with through human contact. Animal Rights Groups like H.S.U.S. better get with the times and start understanding that todays youth NEED this interaction with nature and that this can be achieved through activity’s such as: Hunting, Fishing, Camping, Hiking, Animal Tracking Classes, Sport Shooting Events, Back Packing and also by just simply taking a walk in your local park!
Now, there have been some issues of which The National Wildlife Federation and I did not agree, but this is one in which I think that we can all agree upon so please click on over there to the N.W.F. site and show your support by signing up for their newsletter and petition, you will be glad that you did!
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