A Mid-Summer Hog Hunt coming up soon

[mayor al]

We had been planning a Fall Hunt to fill the freezer with more of that great Missouri Pork...like the hunt we did last Fall. Well yesterday the ranch called me to tell me they had a three day hunt cancellation at the end of July, and would we be interested in taking the slot for a major discounted price.
We took the deal. Last year we really enjoyed both the hunt and the accomdations at the "High Adventure Ranch", near Rolla , MO. The place has over five square miles of woods and meadows with a wide variety of game available. Last year our two hogs yielded 460 lbs of store-quality pork, butchered and packaged and frozen as part of the hunt cost. This year we are adding a couple of axis deer to get a start on the Venison before our season opens here in Indiana.

At 71 with mobility limited hunting from a vehicle or blind is about my limit, My wife and grandson will do the walk in the woods style for part of their time in the field. We have been to this place before and found the staff extremely helpful, the meals and lodging are great, the results outstanding, and this time with 50% off our costs it is a real bargain too.

I will report back with my results in a couple of weeks.

 

[Squirt239]

With a write up like this, looks like I'll be going there! Customer service is where it's at these days. Great post, and stay safe!

 

[mayor al]

Squirt
The place is just under 350 miles from our home near New Albany (I-64 to St louis, then I-44 about 75 miles from St Louis.) We had driven the 2500 mile round trip with the added motel costs to a Texas hog hunt ranch the year before, then got nickled and dimed to death in rather primitive accomodations for that hunt...and the butchering was really nasty...lots of hair and crud in with the meat when we got home. That hunt cost us over 3300 for three hunters. This one for two hogs and two hunters with one non-shooter tagging along is under $2000 and only 6 hours away...no extra costs and complete store-quality meat processing... Their sausage packed in 2 lb tubes is 'Jimmy Dean or Purnell quality stuff. We got 60 lbs of it last year and will do more this time. We love the stuff. I need a handicap Bathroom facility, and they have several cabins with that available...walk-in showers etc. All in all I am very happy, and the wife loves seeing, (and shooting) without all the clean-up work,
Here's their website- High Adventure Ranch | One of America?s Best Hunting Ranches

 

[mrjarrell]

Well, mayor al, I am looking forward to the pics from this hunt. I enjoyed hearing about the last one and want to see what you do with the pig meat this go around.

 

[RGriff69]

Sounds like you will have a good time and the ranch knows how to treat their customers. We just got back from a summer hog hunt in Tennessee. It was a little warm down there. My son did get his first hog though.

 

[Bsubtown]

I too am interested in hearing more. I would like to convince some buddies to go on a hunt like this and this may be just the right place to cut our teeth.

 

[mayor al]

A couple of things we compared to make this choice.

Yes, this is a Game Ranch. It is enclosed with High Fence. However since the fence is hidden in the woods, and encloses five square miles, you get the feeling of being in open-land. Your guide is with you to assist as much or as little as you wish. In Texas the guides took you to a blind, then picked you up several hours later to bring you in to the lodging. If you wanted to use bait corn, you had to bring your own. In MO they feed in the evening when there is no shooting, so daytime hunting is for animals 'on the move'

Lodging is very nice. In Texas the cabins were Home Depot Sheds with a hanging light bulb, a wall mount A/C unit, rough lumber bunk beds, and a 50 ft walk on gravel to the common Latrine/shower room, one for all. You supplied your own bedding and towels.

In Missouri they have a large modular home for a Lodge, 3 bedrooms, each with it's own bath, or choose from several nice cabins, all fully furnished with modern plumbing in each. All bedding and towels are furnished, and maid service is great for keeping the place cleaned up while you hunt. The Missouri dining hall was spotless clean, the lady 'cook' is a Grandmother, friendly and does a great job getting super meals ready and chatting with the guests. It is not the MGM Grand, but it is modern and clean and comfortable.

They don't hunt at night, so the animals tend to wander all over, without fear of shooting. Evenings after dinner you can drive all over the place and observe the game in a natural setting (and pick out animals to pursue the next day). Once your critter is down, the crew fetches it into the processing building, where the staff takes care of all the processing . You can be involved in that if you want. Depending on what level of processing you order, they prep it, freeze it, load it into your coolers and put it into you vehicle when you are ready to leave, the third day of your stay.

I bother to describe this because it really changed my perception of a "canned hunt". The "No Game- No Pay" policy is a real encouragment compared to my experience of open land hunting over the years, where being 'skunked' now and then meant a whole day without at least seeing something close enough to get a shot. These days both time and money are somewhat limited, so we prefer to compromise a bit on the open-land gamble type of hunting at this Ranch.

I will report the outcome and add some photos when we return.

 

[mayor al]

Got the wife's 44 mag Ruger semi-auto cleaned and ready. My Ruger GSR 308 is also in prime condition for this. Grandson wants to use his own Marlin 30-30 this year. His choice ! Looking forward to taking three Hogs this time. If they work out like last years did we'll have about 500 lbs of finished Pork, butchered, cut, and wrapped to bring home. More to follow !

 

[dprimm]

All I can say is "Dang!" Interested in hearing more of how this goes for you.

 

[mayor al]

Well, today is the big day. We'll leave tonight about mid-nite...Hunt tomorrow and Tuesday, then load up and come home Wednesday. I am having some mixed luck for this trip.
Good- Our new 25 cu ft freezer will be installed under a neighbors watchful eye, tomorrow morning. We thought we would have to rent temporary freezer space at a food-locker til our new one arrived, but LOWES 'got it done' ahead of their normal delivery schedule !!!

NOT-So-Good- The possibility of rain and thunderstorms in Missouri is at 40% Monday and 70% Tuesday. We can handle that , but hope that it doesn't put a halt to hog-movement.

Both the 44 mag and 308 are as fine-tuned as they can be. Now it is up to us! Report coming as soon as we get our 'stuff' together when we get home.

 

[mrjarrell]

Have a great time, mayor al! Look forward to hearing about it.

 

[mayor al]

We're Back, and Hopefully this report will edit in to a post--

Wow, we had a great time. We fit this 3 day-2 night Hog Hunt into a time slot just before the start of school for my Grandson Chris. Even with a mixed bag of rain and clouds we enoyed enough dry weather to get our quota of three large Hogs.... and make plans to return this winter for a Bison.
We left at Midnight Sunday nite, It is a 6 hour ride over to the Rolla, Missouri area to the 'Ranch' using I-64 and I-44 for 95% of the ride. The Ranch is in the rural area south of Rolla about 20 miles.

Out of respect for a Roadfood Lover, Michael Hoffman , we selected the Rolla Waffle House for our breakfast before going into the ranch.
Here is my meager meal. Pork chops, Eggs, Xtra Crispy Hash Browns and some Raisin Toast
.

The Ranch Breakfasts were a bit lighter--by choice-- but outstanding quality thats for sure...

After settling in and getting the paperwork completed, Our guide headed us out into the hunting ground. Chris got the first hog, a 300 lb Feral Sow with one shot from my Ruger GSR 308. We were using Remington 180 grain SP ammo. it was about a 40 yard shot
.

After a short hike in the woods, Janet shot her Hog, A 275 lb Russian sow. The Ruger 77/44 worked great. One shot of 240 grain SJSP Mag-tech ammo did it in.

Then it was lunch time ! After Lunch and a bit of a break,

Then Jason (the guide) took Chris for a long walk in the woods to find a third hog. He did just that. Number three turned out to be a big hog...weighing in at just over 450 lbs. They passed by several groups of Hogs like the ones we took that morning, to wait for a larger one to give Chris his bragging rights !! Chris nailed it with a head shot at just 30 yards. Here are the photos, notice the remains of the 308 bullet they dug out of the neck for him. Here is Chris with the big hog, then one photo of the guides doing the butchering .

We spent a lot of time cruising the ranch photographing the various animals. This time of year many of them are in the 'Maternity Ward' and we saw lots of babies hidden in the grass all over the place. It was quite different last year. We visited in late September and the rut was on and the babies were all on their feet and on the move.

Young Bucks--

I can't say enough about this place as a combination vacation and hunting location. we feel it is well worth the $2200 we paid for this trip. My grandson has fantastic bragging rights with his friends at school and we have a freezer full of store-quality pork for the winter. PLUS, We had three fantastic days of relaxing and watching hundreds of animals at our doorstep.
<message edited by mayor al on 6 mins. ago>

 

[RGriff69]

Outstanding pictures and hogs! Congrats to all!

 

[mayor al]

Just a few feet off our front deck a new-born fawn peeks out of the tall grass, with Mother nearby, keeping watch. We saw hundred of newborns of various species, including Elk and Bison.

 

[mayor al]

The two rifles we used performed without a hitch.
Janet used the RUGER 77/44 bolt-action carbine with 240 gr SJSP Magtech 44 magnum ammo. ONE SHOT did her hog in.

Grandson Chris (16) used my RUGER GSR bolt-action carbine for his two hogs (I gave him my shot!!--but not the pork) Using Remington 180 gr SP ammo he did one shot kills on both of his hogs. We did remove the bipod from the 308 for this hunt.

 

[mayor al]

The cost of the meat butchering and processing is included in the overall fee. We brought home 5 large coolers full of Pork. Here is a cooler full of Loin Roasts and one of the Sausage, packed in 2 lb. tubes...Great stuff.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Damn. Now Im hungry. . Looks like a lot of fun. Good job.

 

[mayor al]

OK Here is the first rack of ribs from our recent Hog Hunt. 4 hours in the electric smoker then foil covered for about an hour in our oven at 350. I should have put them on racks to keep them out of the drippings in the oven, but forgot...so paper towels were used to mop them off a bit.