A co-worker/friend and I are taking our wives to Dilley, Texas this weekend for a little R&R. First time either of our wives have been to this place. Plan to try out some new lights because temps have been getting up to 105-108 in afternoon but getting down to the 80's after midnight.

Will hopefully post up some big boys that we know are there, but don't see in the day time. Have taken about 70 pigs off the 5000 acres this yrear, down from the previous years. We have been averaging 150 pigs or better most years.


My largest hog to date. 255#

Go getem and good luck!!

Matt

We'll be anxiously be awaiting the pictures.

Hope the wives don't expect a Starbucks or Neiman-Marcus in Dilley.

Go get 'em!!!!

I know what you mean about the temps. The wife and I put in close to 200" of buried water line to my mom's house over the 4th. She lives up around Palestine and the temps there were pushing the thermometer to 104 every day we were there, not including the actual heat index. No breeze no shade, and being on top of a hill it was like being in a convection oven with the heat rolling up from all sides.

We saw hogs every evening just about dark but the will to go after just wasn't there after a day in that heat.

Good luck on your hunt, hope you'all girls have a ball.

Yep, these 100+ temps are getting a bit old. The bad news is that we are just now getting into our hottest time of year.

I am heading west to Ft. Stockton in a week to chase some javelina. Crazy? Yes!

Good hunting Harold!!!

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by dustoffer:
Hope the wives don't expect a Starbucks or Neiman-Marcus in Dilley.

Go get 'em!!!!

They have seen the photos of the camp so it won't be to much of a shock. Both girls were country raised but alas, have been citified over the years. Thank god for window units and central air. We do have some nice old oaks for a shade and it really isn't to bad if there is a breeze and your just sitting back relaxing, at least that's what I keep telling myself anyway.

I was on a lease south of Dilley for 6 years and bought most of our corn at Dilley F & G. My wife was on the place once--wouldn't even go inside the cabin.

Packed the truck and ready to go. Waiting on my wife to get her stuff together.

I am walking that fine line of pushing her to get ready and not piss her off and me just totally losing it. I just need to go to my happy place, problem is that is in Dilley and I can't get her to move in freaking fastrer (calm, calm, calm).

Been there, done that, and fortunately got a T-shirt and not a black eye.

quote:

Posted 16 July 2009 14:26 Hide Post
I know what you mean about the temps. The wife and I put in close to 200" of buried water line to my mom's house over the 4th.

200" that's a whole 16 feet. or did you mean 200'

quote:

200" that's a whole 16 feet. or did you mean 200'

Yea the 200 foot, buried 18" all the way, had to pull the darn ditch witch with the winch from the 4 wheeler to get it cut.

Took the water folks 5 hours to bore 120 feet, no rock just sand and clay, to tie it into the main.

Yeppers, all I could think about was if the troops could hang with it, so could we.

Thanks to all of our folks in uniform.

Just got back. Wives had a good time. I have to unload the truck and download the photos and maybe get some sleep then report back, stayed tuned.

Can't wait to see the photos and hear the story, Harold!

My wife (Jo) and I got to the Dilley, Texas pig lease Friday about 4:30 PM. Got the introduction out of the way and unloaded the food, drinks and gear. Showed Jo around the lodge area and waited for Eric and Mary Ann to arrive. We settled into the A/C out of the heat, when Eric showed up about 6:15, introduction all around again and got them settled into their accommodations. We made our stand selections and Eric and Mary Ann headed to Amy’s stand and I went to Trent’s stand, while my wife (the smart one) elected to stay in camp in the A/C. I saw pigs down the sender at about 500 yards, but Adolfo, the ranch hand, was driving in the area feeding roads, so I didn’t risk sending a bullet their way for risk of having him cross the line of fire. Had some pigs come into the feeder downwind, but I think they winded me as I was soaking wet with sweat. Once the sun went below the tree line, a breeze picked up and it became more tolerable to set in the stand. Eric only saw some deer and turkey and once again was skunked at Amy’s. With a declining moon, it got to dark to see the feeders, so we met back at camp to eat a late supper and make the game plan for a cooler night time hunt.

After we ate, we decided that we would load us all up into one vehicle and drive the ranch roads and check each stands and feeders. We left out of camp about 11 PM and made the rounds. The moon was not going to rise until 2:30 AM so it was pretty dark. We didn’t see much of anything as we drove checking things out. As we were heading back to the lodge we crossed the path of a coon and Eric dispatched it so as not to rob any of the ranchers precious feed for the live stock and wild life. That was one tuff old boar, as it took at least 6 shots of a 22 before it went down for the count. At one point it changed direction and was coming back towards the light when Eric’s last shot stopped it 10 feet from us. I was getting ready to bail, but held my ground for Eric to make the final shot, he had nerves of steel with that coon charge, I was impressed. With nothing really moving yet we decided to call it a night and try for the next morning at first light.

With only a few hours sleep, I rolled out of bed Saturday morning at 5 AM and went to get the rest of the group up. My wife had a bad night and didn’t get laid down until 4:30 AM so she elected to sleep in while Eric, Mary Ann and I went out. It was a beautiful morning with lots of deer movement and the birds and rabbits were plentiful. I set at Mike’s stand while Eric and Mary Ann went to the Creek stand. I kept seeing pigs cross at about 1200 yards down a fence line and couldn’t stand it any longer, so I got in the truck and drove around to another sendero, down wind and was going to stalk up to the area they were crossing. After I parked, I spooked a couple of deer that went upwind of me and just kept blowing trying to figure out what I was and where I was. I just kept easing along blowing back at them hoping that with all this ruckus, the pigs would think I was another deer. A sow stepped out in the sendero about 60 yards upwind from me and froze, I threw up the shooting sticks and rushed the shot. Shot just under her head, should have took another deep breath to settle down, live and learn. Eric and Mary Ann saw pigs far off and a coyote as it crossed the sendero, but no shot. We met back up at the lodge for breakfast and to cool down.

About 11 AM Eric and I went to walk out the creek between the pond and the #5 stand. We put my truck at the #5 stand and then drove the battle wagon to the pond and started the stalk. This was only about a mile between the two spots in a straight line but it was more like two to three mile walk as much as this creek meandered back and forth. Found lots of old sign where the pigs would wallow before everything dried up and one spot that had a LARGE body imprint of a nice hog. We finally made it to the water below the #5 stand and as we approached, I could hear the pigs at the water’s edge. We came to a bend in the creek and as I knelt down you could see the 15 or so pigs at the water’s edge and in the water. I motioned for Eric to come forward and he jockeyed into position to be able to shoot through the brush. He finally was able to find the right opening on the biggest pig and made a good low front shoulder shot. I scrambled to clear the brush to see if I could catch a straggler but they were cleared out. Eric’s pig was still thrashing in the water, when it gained some footing and began to swim around and to get out of the water. At one point we thought it was going to die in the middle of the creek (which was pretty nasty looking water) but it finally made it to the other side. I told Eric to get ready, I would walk to the opposite bank to see if I could force it onto dry ground and for him to shoot again as soon as it cleared the water. That worked great, it made one last effort and came out of the water and he made a great high shoulder shot and anchored it to the spot. Now the work of getting her out began. We continued onto the truck, which was further than we thought, drove back to the battle wagon and met up on a sendero, opposite where we thought the pig would be. We tracked through the brush, found the creek and found her further from the truck then we hoped. I tied my rope to her front legs and we began to drag her along the creek back to the truck. We dragged her about 100 yards and up the bank then we knew that dragging her through the cactus was going to be painful. That’s when we decided to get the battle wagon and make a new road, at least as close as we could. We were able to drive up to about 20 feet from her, loaded her up and backed right back out. Thank goodness for 10 ply tires and welded pipe brush guards. We headed back to the skinning shed and some A/C , but that was one of the best hunts I have been on in a long while. This was a true spot and stalk, which ended with a great meat hog.

Eric's Pig we stalked



After we cooled down a little, Eric and I decided to try and walk the creek again to see if anything had come back. We drove to the head water of the tank at the #5 stated to begin our stalk, no pigs at the last spot, so we moved on down the creek. At one point the water forced us up the bank and around a large old oak tree. As we topped the bank, a large bobcat leapt out of the tree and bounded into the adjacent brush. That was pretty exciting to be able to get that close to that cat. Eric and I moved on down the creek and heard some more pigs further on down. As we came to another bend, I noticed an animal at the waters edges on the other side. I knelt down to look under the brush and it was a coyote just standing looking left and right, oblivious to our presence. I signaled to Eric to kneel and drew down on the coyote and squeezed the trigger, bang flop never knew what hit him. Needless to say the pigs scattered, so we took photos and headed back to the truck. Back to at the lodge we chilled in the A/C and waited for the evening hunt.

About 7:30 PM Saturday night, we headed back out. My wife Jo finally got up about 6 PM and was really refreshed form her all day nap, but again, she decided to not fight the heat and stayed back at the lodge in the A/C. I went to the ground blind while Eric and Mary Ann went to Bud’s. I saw nothing but deer and basically the same for Eric. We met back at camp for a late dinner and after wards Eric and Mary Ann took Adolfo’s truck around the perimeter road while my wife and I took the inside loop. Jo finally got to pull the trigger and shot an armadillo with the Ruger 22 pistol, but alas except for some deer, that was all we saw. Eric was able to stumble across a pig at Peggy’s stand. He guessed the pig thought it was safe because it was feeding with some cows at the back of the field, but Eric was able to isolate it away from the cows and made a good shot as it stuck its head out from behind a tree, another good meat hog. Eric also ended the destructive dealings of another raccoon with his Savage 17 HMR. We met back up at camp after midnight and Eric and I back strapped and took the hindquarters off the pig and went in for a cold drink and A/C. It was still in the low 90’s, even after midnight. With the moon not rising until around 2;30 I think that is why there was not much movement before midnight. We got to bed around 2 AM and that 5 AM wakeup call came way to quick.
Sunday morning Eric and Mary Ann decided to hit the closer stands and elected to sleep in a couple of more hours, while I took my wife to the ground blind and I went over to Amy’s stand. As we got her situated, Adolfo came by to corn the roads and I followed him over to my stand. While I was driving a group of about 15 little pigs came to one of the feeders and my wife picked out one of the larger ones and dropped her first pig, one shot DRT. I hadn’t even got to my stand and she had a pig on the ground. As I got settled, I had plenty of deer at the feeders, then all of a sudden I looked up and they were all gone. I never did figure out what scared them off, as nothing that I saw crossed the senderos. There were a lot of the Mexican eagles swooping around and they could have made all the deer nervous, but who knows. About 8 AM, since I had not heard any shots, I thought I would go get the wife and hit a few of the other stands and feeders before we gave it up for the weekend. As I was driving up to her blind, she gets out and starts doing a jig in the road and I knew she had a pig down. I was/am really proud of her and was happy that the only hunt she went on that weekend she was able to get her pig. We loaded up the pig, still hit the other stands, as I hadn’t shot a pig, but alas, no luck, so we headed back and unloaded her pig and went to breakfast. Eric and Mary Ann just saw deer and turkeys again this morning.

Jo's first pig (yahoo)



Even though we didn’t see many hogs at the feeders there were plenty around. I guess the mesquite beans and other forage is just more appealing right now than the corn. This place has had more rain than some of the surrounding areas, so is not in as bad a shape as other parts of South Texas. All in all we shot three pigs, two raccoons, one armadillo and a coyote. Not bad for a weekend get away with the wives.

HRS--great story. Sounds like you went down with a truck load of guns and came back with a cooler full of prime BBQ. That pig your wife shot is what we always called the "perfect piggie" as it would last about 2 days in camp--maybe 3 if there were only 2 of us, and nothing left but bones when we headed for home!

Nice work, Harold, and congratulations to your wife!

Congrats!! It sound like y'all had a good time in spite of our "balmy" weather!!

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by dustoffer:
HRS--great story. Sounds like you went down with a truck load of guns and came back with a cooler full of prime BBQ. That pig your wife shot is what we always called the "perfect piggie" as it would last about 2 days in camp--maybe 3 if there were only 2 of us, and nothing left but bones when we headed for home!

I love shooting that size pig, especially if you can line two up. Perfect size for the pit.

Sounds to me like you had a ball. No, it may not be a life threatening dangerous game stalk or an elk hunt in Montana. However, it is what it is, a great opportunity to be outdoors, doing something you obviously love and enjoy. I say savor the moments, enjoy the company of loved ones and good friends, good food and nature's bounty
Thanks for posting and pix.
GWB

I know it may sound strange to some that are able to walk the country side loooking for game, but most of my hunts have been from a stand or from a fixed position. This is mainly due to the property that I hunt and the type of land and vegitation that is on it. Stalking pigs may not seem like a big deal but we are not able to do that type of hunt often.

I envy those that have the property and land that allows for this type of hunt as it is truly exciting even if it would be for rabbits or squirrels. Anyway it was a great time and I love just being in the outdoors away from the city, that is enough for me.