California Sheep and Hog Hunt Report

Last Friday the 8th came about and I booked it down to Orange County to meet up with a friend of mine who was going hunting with me we loaded up the back of his Chevy(Yuck....GO FORD) and beat feet up the hill to .

We arrived at 6:00 after an hour and a half in horrible traffic and a half hour Wal Mart stop.

Here is the view about 2 miles from where we hunted.

We got the rifles unpacked and went out for a coyote sit, I did some calls and had one come in and hang up at about 200 yards on the opposing hill side, I pulled the trigger when it started going away from us down the far ridge. The shot went a little far back but I watched the dog tumble down the side of the canyon so that one didn't survive the fall.
this is a pic before I out on full camo before the coyote hunt

Here is a picture of the Ranch

My 1911

We brought a few guns to shoot

We made camp and crashed at about 10:00 the alarm rang at 5:30 and we were up, I strapped my bow to my new Sitka BIVY 45 put 2 gallons of water in it and hiked down the hill to one of the high points to glass for a pig(what my friend wanted. I saw a group of Russian Boar that were about 110-130# up on the far hillside, we decided to pass and look for a feral. We hiked out of that canyon and back to the top and saw two smaller (1/2 curl and 3/4 curl Corsican sheep) bedded 1/2 way down a steep ass canyon wall. There was another sheep bedded right above them that looked to be a good one I popped my bow off my pack and me and my friend hiked/slid down, which took 25 minutes of trying not to fall of the cliff, till I was right above the nicer sheep an it was a no question shooter being more than a curl even though it was lacking in Mass. I drew and at 18 yards let the arrow fly and it hit the one little branch in the way and went a little far back. The sheep took off like a bat out of hell and I was worried about loosing it if it was a gut shot so I went down the canyon trying not to fall on my backside. I made it down to the bottom where the sheep proceeded to walk up a goat trail with the arrow sticking out it’s side with that slow drip....drip....drip of blood running down the shaft and causing a slow but continuous blood trail. From where I was sitting I couldn't draw my bow so I pulled my 1911 out of it's holster flipped the safety off and held waiting for the perfect shot, pulled the trigger and the Corsican dropped in it's tracks. I later looked when I quartered it and the arrow slit both lungs at the bottom, so it would have killed him, but I didn't want to risk it. The reason it wasn’t a pass through was because I wend right through the center of a rib on entrance and it tore one of the vanes a little and that got hung up on the opposing fur that section hadn’t shed.

We went back to camp and messed around shooting squeeks at 850 yards on a road down on the ranch. At about 5:30 a 120# island pig was at one of the water holes which we ranged at 440 yards and sent one of his precision hand loads and wrecked havoc on the pig and it dropped like a sack of bricks. Loaded that up and the usual skin, quarter and ice. I tossed some Axis tenderloins wrapped in bacon on the grill and we chilled and shot the AR's and 1911's for the next couple hours.


I got back on the spotting scope to look for the Desert Painted sheep that was supposed to be a monster. I saw 3 little white dots under a tree in a far gully so I shifted the spotting scope around and saw 2 of the 3/4 curl Painted Sheep and wasn't going to do anything but watch, but then I saw the big 'ol Sheep that Jim had told me about. I looked at my watch and it was 7:35. Damn we need to make this happen and now. I went, grabbed my bow and my buddies M4 that I had shot the coyote with because it has an Eotech. I took a little LED flashlight and figured out that I had go about one and a half miles to make it to the base of the ridge the sheep were feeding on. This was not a flat 1.5 miles this was dropping into and climbing out of 2 canyons. My buddy brought the bolt gun and him and I were at a full blown run down the ATV trail that cut down and up the canyons. We slowed to a crawl, we argued for a minute about what the best way to stalk this guy. I knew that with dark closing in I was going to take the aggressive approach it was now approaching 8:10 and the light was fading I kicked my shoes and socks off because I couldn't get enough grip in them to get up this goat trail and my first step I step in a big pile of wet sheep crap.
I made it to the top and made a left up another sheep trail and made it to the top of the ridge. I am at this point carrying an M4 in one hand, my Smoke in the other wearing no shoes........and camo, ohh wait I blew out of camp so fast I forgot to put camo on so I am wearing a pair of Camo swim trunks in that retarded tiger stripe camo and the Green Kelp Forest Bloody Decks T-Shirt. I saw a corsican coming up the canyon to the ridge and was like WTF OVER..... It is 8:20 now and this is not one of the sheep I saw earlier...crap. I sat down with my back against a hill halfway behind a tree and waited and the monster stepped up on the ridge. I drew the bow and looked and it was dark enough that I couldn't see my pins at this point all the sheep on the hill are looking at me but I was back enough in the shadows, and had the wind in my face. They knew something was there but did not know what it was. They turned, I let down and laid my bow in my lap and raised the M4, got a bead on the big sheep but now he had a smaller one behind him so I had to wait, and at 8:25ish he stepped into the clear and I squeezed off the first round, and watched him shudder so I squeezed off a second round that landed about 3" below the first round(later to find out they both were double lung blenders. He ran/ tumbled down the side of the hill. I was a moron and went after him and the result was sliding down the hill on my ass for about 10 seconds or about 100 feet and the sheep was standing at the bottom pumping blood out both sides of him, so not wanting him to tumble off the 30 foot cliff at the bottom of the canyon side if he decided to continue down the canyon. I put another one in him and he collapsed..YESSS. So I am now trying to figure out how the hell we are going to get him out and realize that it is never gonna happen, it was 9:00 and there was no chance.
I was worried the yotes were gonna get him, so I took some pictures on the side of the hill

We hiked out and went back in the morning and spent an hour getting him to the road and back up top. the sheep is going to be more than enough to make SCI and should make a nice euro mount.

BTW anyone know any good ways to cook sheep lemmie know.