THE CALL OF THE WILD BOAR…GIGGLING By: Tracey Splechter

Some hunters would say you can’t “call” in wild boar, however my sister and I would disagree.

Our first boar hunting adventure to Oklahoma had been planned for many months.  This would be the first time my twin sister, Stacey would venture into the great outdoors on a hunting trip.  It took many hours of convincing her she would love it if she only gave it a shot!  She took her hunter’s safety course earlier this summer so she was ready and prepared to handle her rifle.  We also spent a few weekends practicing at our homemade rifle range at my home.

The weekend in September finally arrived for us to make the 4.5 hour drive to Oklahoma.  We planned to arrive at the lodge by 4:30 so we could get settled and ready for the next day’s hunt.  Little did we know that once we arrived, we would be in our hunting stand within 30 minutes of unpacking our bags.  We were stoked!  So, it was now 5:15 and we were settled in our stand with our gear and were getting familiar with our new surroundings.  As we sat there, trying to be quiet and watch for game, we couldn’t help the urge to giggle about everything.  Every small noise we made, her breaking her visor, my chair creaking, her cell phone ringing (because she forgot to put it to vibrate) and even the thought of who was going to shoot first, had us rolling.  Well it seemed to work because within 30 minutes of being in our stand, the first pig walks out.  We judged his size and determined he was a shooter but I told her “No way am I shooting the very first thing that walks by us, the very first day and in the first few minutes of hunting.”  She agreed and we watched the boar as he made his way around the feeder and then off into the woods.  Again more giggling and again another boar.  The second pig was quite a bit smaller than the first so we decided we would let this one go as well.  About 30 more minutes passed, several more bouts of laughter and one more hog!  It never failed just as we were at the peak of our giggles, a hog would appear out of the woods.  Was this coincidence or was our giggling working?  We decided we were not letting this one get away, so I readied myself for the shot and she grabbed the video camera.  He made a few passes behind the feeder and then came around to the right and left himself wide open!  KABOOM went my rifle and off ran the pig.  Stacey said, “You missed him, he ran off!”

I told her, “I didn’t miss him, I had a good shot and he is probably just a few yards off in the trees.”  We tried calling the guides to let them know we had a pig down but, in southern Oklahoma our cell phones did not want to cooperate.  However, we did get a text message out to them to let them know to head our direction.  I had made the shot just about 7pm so we had about one hour before dark.  It took the guides a while to arrive and by the time they did it was pitch black outside.  Stacey, being a city girl and all, didn’t want to get out of the truck to help the guides track the pig, but I talked her into it.  We showed the guides the location of where the pig was when I shot and told them the direction in which it ran.  Aaron, a newbie to the outfit, instantly found a trace of blood and was hot on the trail.  It didn’t take him long to find it; my first wild boar!  I was shaking hands and there were high five’s all around.  We loaded the pig in the back of a truck to get him back to the lodge for pictures and processing.  The outfitter has a great set up where you can have the guides processing your animal or you can choose to do so yourself.  While the guides were hard at work, Stacey and I went in to get cleaned up for dinner.  The meals ranged from hamburgers and steaks in the evenings to biscuits and gravy for brunch.  Don, the cook, was amazing!  I would definitely recommend to all hunters to pay the little extra to have your meals prepared for you while hunting.

The next day and a half of hunting proved to be uneventful as the weather was either extremely hot or raining.  It turns out that we shouldn’t have passed up those first two pigs as Stacey never had her chance at taking her first boar.  We still had a great time enjoying nature while relaxing in the comfort of our custom built, elevated stands.  We are planning a trip to go back in late winter of 2011!  This time frame should give her the opportunity for her first kill as well as additional opportunities for myself.

The camp is located near Mill Creek, Oklahoma.  It is a rustic, but very comfortable cabin that can accommodate up to six hunters.  Enjoy satellite TV in the living room or hanging out in the outdoor pavilion, discussing the day’s hunt.  There is a large, fully equipped kitchen for those who choose to cook their own meals.  Hunters can choose from many stand locations dispersed on 8,500 acres of a working cattle ranch.  In the afternoon, you can choose to fish in Pennington Creek for smallmouth bass or jump in the trucks with the guides for a tour of the ranch.  Processing facilities as well as a walk-in cooler are available to store your animal until your hunt is over.  The guides will process your animal for you for a small fee and help pack it for the drive home.  The guides are all very knowledgeable about the land and the game as well as very friendly.  I would recommend this destination to anyone looking for a quality hog, deer or turkey hunt!

Just remember the next time you are sitting in your stand and not having any luck, try it…giggle.

Coffeeville, Kansas – 06/27/10 – Kansas – Kansas

November’s “Woman of the Wild” Sarah Calhoun

Sarah Calhoun- Founder of Red Ants Pants.

Since college I’ve wanted to start hunting. I think it’s important to know where our food comes from.  Having grown up on a farm I’d had to opportunity to help butcher pigs and chickens so I had that experience, but I wanted the wild game experience as well.  When I moved to White Sulphur Springs, Montana, the hunting opportunities were endless.  I bought my first rifle in 2004, a Remington 30-06 with a Winchester bolt.  I’ve been lucky enough to harvest a mule deer every year since, but the elk have continued to elude me.  We’ll see how this season goes!

Sarah has started her own company called Red Ants Pants (work pants for women) and travels the country doing the Tour de Pants.  Here is a poem about that.

On a farm where Sarah was raised, Playing outside she spent her days. One time she fell and started to cry. She saw a hole in her pants, right at the thigh. “What a bummer,” she thought, “these should have lasted longer.” “If only these pants were a little bit stronger!” On summer breaks from college, she helped her Dad with the hay. She wore his old pants; they didn’t fit the right way. Instructing for Outward Bound, she led kids in the woods. When shopping for work pants, she found nothing good. Next she led trail crews for the SCA. With pulaskis and cross cuts her pants grew weaker each day. When her back wore out she settled in Montana, And patched up her pants with an extra bandana. She peeled logs and groomed ski trails to bring in some money. “There really are no work pants for women. This is no longer funny!” At a coffee shop one day, she read her “How to Start a Business” book. A man happened by and gave an interested look. He asked her what she was doing, so she told him her thought; “We need workwear for women. We need it a lot!” This wasn’t just any man – as it turned out. He knew exactly what she was talking about. For twenty years, production and design had been his career. For a small company called Patagonia…. She was all ears. With contacts and advice, Sarah was well on her way. And Red Ants Pants was born, that very same day.

You may be asking, why the name Red Ants Pants?

My First Lion

 

Clancy Sayer

One day towards the end of January, my dad woke me up earlier than usual and informed me that his friend Mike was looking for lion tracks and wanted me to go hunt with him. I immediately replied “YES!” I hurried and changed into my long johns and wool pants, then headed out to the truck. My brother and sister thought it was unfair that I got to hunting while they had to go to school so my dad let them go with us too

 

It seemed like it took forever to get to our destination, especially because it was my first lion hunt and if I was lucky my first big game animal. We finally found mike who had cut a female with a large tom following. We decided to let the hounds go (Trapper, Jess, Exploder, Clyde and Tobey.) It was very exciting, Mike showed Jess the track and she let out a big bawl and took off after the lion. We traveled from place to place around the mountain in the trucks trying to figure out where the dogs were heading. We came to a canyon where we thought the dogs headed to. My brother, sister and I stayed with my dad while Mike and his friend Brandon went up to look for the dogs. I swear we sat there for three hours. Finally they reported back to my dad on the radio that the dogs went over the ridge and headed for the top of the mountain.

 

 

 

See the original article at Ultimate Predator Magazine

Battle of the B.O.W. Week 3

We are once again leading in the www.WisconsinOutdoorsNetwork.com  Battle of the B.O.W. We have picked up 2 trail cams donated by Preditor Trail Cams and will be getting them out this week! Watch for product reviews  pictures and videos coming up! Please continue to view our Team Hunting Life page as that is how we get ranked!

#01= 728 Hunting Life.Com TEAM………last week #01
#02= 314 Plummer / Hotter TEAM………last week #03
#03= 312 Select One Mortgage TEAM…last week #02
#04= 307 Anderson Ford TEAM………….last week #04
#05= 252 Bow Brothers TEAM……………last week #05
#06= 239 A1 Archery TEAM……………….last week #06
#07= 115 Pierce County Meats TEAM….last week #07
#08= 093 Mediastash TEAM……………….last week #08
#09= 090 Nelson Plumbing TEAM……….last week #09
#10= 060 Original Black Pine TEAM…….last week #10