Eric Scholz enjoys some pig hunting action

I had first contacted John at Skull Creek Ranch about a hunt nearly a month before I booked it. Along with my brother and brother-in-law, we had been on 5 previous hunts without a single hog having been seen, and were about ready to give up on the notion of ever being able to have a successful hunt. John and I spoke via telephone and text message for quite some time and he was not only completely accommodating with all of my questions, he also was helpful and completely professional in his communication.

I had been concerned due to the popularity of the events and number of hunts on the Skull Creek calendar that any chance we might have of seeing a hog would be fleeting or dramatically diminished. John provided pictorial evidence to the contrary from every hunt on a weekly basis leading up to the day of our scheduled hunt. Every company should model how they handle customers and communication in the same manner John has.

On the day of the hunt, my brother-in-law and I arrived, following the directions from his website. John met us at the gate and he explained a little about the area, the locations of the blind, and the current conditions which would give us the best opportunity. We explained that were we fisherman, we were about at the point of selling the boat due to lack of success. He took our plight into consideration and thought for a moment. He examined our equipment (I was carrying a semiauto .308 and my brother-in-law a semiauto .223, both equipped with night vision) and explained that though there were no feeders, blinds, or lights where he was thinking about putting us, given our gear and the fact that this was the only source of water in 70 acres, that was where we should be. My brother-in-law and I placed full faith in his judgement and went in. We followed John's truck to our location and unloaded. He gave us some protein feed and supplied us with some Sow In Heat urine in a spray bottle, and gave advice on where he thought would be a good spot to make a perch.

We shook hands and he wished us the best of luck, then drove away. We started carrying our weapons and the feed, etc to our respective perches, and the moment we came over a small berm, we saw about 10 hogs in a sounder roughly 100 yards away get spooked and scatter. It was like someone taking the wind out of our sails! Ever hopeful, we continued to get set up. I scattered feed around the watering hole in several wallows and sprayed the urine along every tree rub and down the fence line. We settled in and prepared to wait until nightfall.

Less than an hour later, at about 6:15, and still very light out, 10-12 hogs came out. You cannot imagine the amount of excitement and difficulty in holding steady for the shot. My brother-in-law took the first shot and mine was close to follow. We knocked down 3 out of the group and were like a 3rd grader getting let out at recess! We contacted John and he came out to meet us and gather in our hogs. We elected to have him clean the pig as we were all but certain there would be more opportunity as night fell to take more pigs.

As night fell, we waited patiently and were soon rewarded. I had spotted a lone sow of about 120 lbs and lined up for the shot. She had no idea we were there and as I carefully squeezed the trigger, the report rang out and she dropped exactly where she stood, and number 4 for the evening was brought in.

Roughly 3 hours later at around 11 pm, my brother-in-law gave me the signal that he was on a pig. I left my perch and came closer to his position. There, in the middle of the pond, surrounded by roughly 20 other smaller hogs, was our trophy. His back was high and you could see the tusks standing out from well over 60 yards away. I picked a nice one out of the bunch and waited on my brother-in-law to take the shot on the big boy. With a single shot behind the ear, using his Bushmaster and a 55 grain 5.56 round, dropped a hog that dwarfed a 120 quart cooler and took 3 people to lift into the bed of the truck!

We made our final call of the evening after taking 6 hogs in just under 8 hours. John drove out to our location with a helper, and we heaved the hogs onto the tailgate. He offered us a cold beer, and we rode atop the truck bed like heroes in a small town parade. The complete euphoria of having been at long last not just successful in a hunt, but wildly beyond expectation is a feeling I will never forget.

We had all the meat we could carry, and gladly offered what we couldn't use to John and his helper, who certainly had no trouble in making plans for it. We shook hands, almost wanting to embrace in a victory hug on such a momentous night, and drove off already making plans for our return trip on another full moon night.


Life is like happo undo.
It is not constantly changing directions it is merely forward in all directions.