A Very Successful Hog Hunt

We woke up early on Friday morning after treking across the US to Dos Plumas Ranch in Trent, TX. Roger, our guide, put us in various stands across the 600 acre hunting area and we each hoped to start off on a high note. Ranch owner, Al Williams picked us up again at 9:30 but we each scored a zero. James was the only one to see hogs from the stand but it was a fleeting glance just before pickup time. We did each see other wildlife as Randy had some Blackbuck in front of him while Rob had a group of Orix. James saw two Fallow bucks, one with a really nice rack while Devon had a herd of Axis deer at his stand. We went back to the ranch for breakfast and then headed out to do some stalk hunting.

While Dad was landing bass upon bass in one of the private ponds, the four others of us walked the ranch until 2pm. Rob, Devon and I walked up a dried up creek bed and kicked up about a dozen hogs of various sizes. James missed a big red one that burst out of a cactus patch between Devon and him. Randy was first on the board with a 75 lb hog that he got with his old 30-30. We went back to the ranch again and cleaned it, and got ready for the evening hunt.

At 3:30 Roger, the guide, dropped off Dad and Randy on the south side of the ranch and took Rob, Devon and I to the north side. As we rounded a corner of the road he hit the brakes on the Kubota. We glassed about ten pigs up ahead and since I was the only one with a rifle, I lined up the shot on my dad's .243. I had a good rest and pulled the trigger and the hog dropped on the spot. Roger walked it off at 185 yards, easily the best shot I ever made while hunting. While we were loading and taking pictures another hog shot out of the cover and Devon took a shot at it, narrowly missing. We left Devon there to hide in the trees and dropped off Rob further on to walk the north side. Roger and I returned my pig to the ranch and then he brought me back and put me near a hog hot-spot. By the end of the evening, we had five pigs in the cooler. Dad shot a large red hog, Devon got a big black one, Rob nailed one with his bow, an excellent heart-shot.

The next morning we slept in a bit and headed out after sunrise. First on the agenda was to find a second hog that I had shot the night before but had lost the trail of at dark. I knew it was a black boar and thought it to be decent. After 2 1/2 hours of looking, I found it... alive but seriously wounded. I finished it off and dragged it out. In addition, Dad and Devon each shot themselves a "party pig" during the morning. A "party pig" is about 40-50 pounds and you skin in and cook it over an open fire. They are going to be great this summer.

In the afternoon, Dad, Devon and I went fishing since we had already limited out while Randy went out to find his second pig. Dad and Devon landed some smallmouth bass while I caught a bluegill, smallmouth and large five pound catfish. It put up quite the fight and ended up being quite fun. About an hour later we heard a single gun shot and knew that we were all tagged out. Randy shot the largest pig of the trip and we went back to the ranch, cleaned it, put it in a cooler and left for home by 7pm. It was an amazing trip and if anyone is ever considering going hog hunting, they don't have to research where to go. I spent six months looking at various ranches and thought that Dos Plumas offered us the best package of animal quantity, hospitality, success and affordability. They exceeded our expectations by a hundredfold. Each of us had an outstanding experience and will have memories of a lifetime. Al and Roger were awesome and the hunting was unbelievable. We harvested nine pigs in all for a total of nearly 1500 lbs of Texas hog and had an amazing time.