I won this hunt back in 2019 and had 2 years to make it happen. First scheduled hunt should've taken place in April 2020 but thanks to the world we live in (now) we opted to cancel and reschedule to a later date. Looming state lock downs is what caused us to cancel. Things settle and I decided that February '21 was the next potential hunt. In January '21 the sickness was raging its way through my workplace. Also, my dad was starting his chemo treatments for prostate cancer as well. He was the first one in the family to show signs of the "sickness" and I really don't know if I got it from him or from work. I never did schedule the hunt in February '21. I got over the sickness but my dad did not handle it well. He was in the hospital for 4 weeks and was finally released. His prostate cancer to date is also better; almost undetectable. The next scheduled hunt wouldn't take place until September '21. I had not talked with my buddy in a couple months and was not aware that he had planned a trip with his family to go to Lake Erie. The task came about to find someone else to tag along. I didn't put a lot of effort into finding someone else due to the costs involved. I cancelled again and really thought that would be the end of trying to go. Even though this hunt should've expired in May '21 they extended all hunts by a year due to the pandemic. Some time passes and I had pretty much written off even going. Then at some point in late January my buddy asks "When we going to Texas?" He was ready to get away from work for a bit and go see some new territory and like that the hunt was back on. I start looking at the Ranch's calendar for available times and I had 2 options: very end of February/beginning of March or the week of March 14. I opted for the later date as that would hopefully keep us out of bad weather driving down there. I know it wouldn't guarantee it but I would say the odds were better. Friday March 11th rolls around and I am amped for a week off and to head to Texas. Spent the weekend getting everything ready and to check the zero on the rifle I was going to take. I opted to take my Ruger Ranch rifle chambered in 300 Blackout. I took the suppressor with me too. On the morning of Monday March 14th, I left home shortly after 6am and had an hour drive to my buddy's house. We were going to take his truck as he wanted to and it would work out better for hauling coolers with potentially gutted pigs in them. Our destination for day 1 was Tyler, TX. That was close to a 12-hour drive and figured that would be enough. That would leave us with an "easy" 4–5-hour drive to the ranch on Tuesday. We took a scenic route in western Tennessee and drove into Memphis to get on I40 West. Really the only eventful thing about the drive was entering I40 right next to the Bass Pro Pyramid and the Mississippi River.
The drive to the ranch was uneventful and an easy drive. What we didn't realize is that the speed limits in Texas are slightly higher than the highway speed limits in Indiana...or possibly everywhere else. Did not realize that pretty much everyone that lives outside of a town/city appear to raise their own cattle. The number of cows we seen between Tyler and Waelder is stupid. I mean ridiculously stupid. The scenery between Texarkana and Tyler wasn't that good. The scenery between Tyler and Waelder is much better. I didn't take a lot of pictures but this was pretty much what it looked like the entire way to Waelder.
We arrived at the ranch about an hour early and that gave us some time to stretch and take it easy. There was 1 other truck already parked outside the gate before arriving but it didn't take long before other vehicles started showing up to start their hunts for the day as well. 2pm hits and they came down to let us in. Get instructions and we head for the check in building. Everyone that arrived goes through a quick check in/orientation. After that it's a quick talk with the owner and giving him the release of liability and giving him some money. We opted for an area of the ranch that has a higher traffic of hogs and there's no stalking involved. It's called the Honey Hole. We also took advantage of getting our own cabin and that was a definite good purchase. They have a community bunk house so if you want to stay on the cheap then you could be subjected to other people who want to stay on the cheap too. A couple guys from Arizona arrived shortly after we did and they stayed in the bunk house...and they didn't care for it. We let them check out the little 2 person cabin we got and they were sold on getting one the next time. I shouldn't call it a cabin. It's more like a small, studio apartment. 2 beds, a toilet, and a shower. Really, it's all you need. There are 5 of these "cabins" that make up 1 building. They do have separate cabins as well. 1 such cabin will hold 10 people.
The first thing we did was get settled into the cabin and then spent some time hanging out before supper. All meals are provided and are pretty good. Everything is cooked and nothing is just heated up and served. The other plus is if there are any leftovers from the day, they will be available to anyone after the last hunt of the day. The mess hall is always open. While hanging out at the cabin one of the axis bucks rolled in and decided to cool off a bit. The ranch does have some exotics on it.
OK, now for the fun part. The first hunt to take place Tuesday evening and lasted from 6pm-9:45pm. All hunt times are prescheduled. The first hunt for us involved me taking a piglet, seeing some hogs come in behind us but we couldn't shoot due to shooting lane restrictions (other hunters and a house the borders the property are the reasons for the shooting lane restrictions), the resident water buffalo Gus, yes, a water buffalo that is named, and then a few cows rolled thru. On the morning of the second day, we didn't see anything. Hunt time was from 6am to 8:45am. We left the stands as it was time for breakfast. After that it was our chance at the Honey Hole. This hunt would take place from 10am to 12:45pm. We did see some hogs roll through and my friend managed to take 1 80-pound sow but that was it. I hesitated on a sow due to a boar being right behind her. She gave me a good shot but I shifted to look for the boar and he was behind a tree. I went back to the sow and she was already moving. From there it was pig-tree-pig-tree-pig-tree and I couldn't get a shot off. Little did I know that would be the last time I would have a chance to take a hog. The post lunch hunt was uneventful. We did some a couple hogs but nothing came into our shooting lane area. The shooting lanes are wider at the honey hole compared to the other stand locations but it's like these hogs knew to stay out of there. That comment can be taken with a grain of salt due to the other hunters in the area with us did manage to take some hogs. The evening hunt put us in a different location but all we seen there were more cows. Then Gus graced us with his presence again. This time we were in a blind and to have a water buffalo be within 30 feet of you a bit intimidating to say the least. He wasn't sure about us and swung out wide to try to wind us. We decided we were done as we did not see any hogs that evening. Gus stepped in a started feeding after we left. We were pretty bummed over the cows rolling thru and then not seeing any hogs that evening.
Our last shot was Thursday morning. We were assigned the same blind from the night before so we weren't expecting to see much and we did not see any. At 8:45am our hunt ended and it was time to go. Breakfast is covered if you desire but if you want to hit the road as soon as possible then you can. We decided to eat a good healthy breakfast, settle up, pack up, grab our coolers with the pigs and hit the road. We didn't want to stop for the night so we had already decided to drive straight through to home. This probably wasn't the best decision we made but we did do it. We left the ranch right at 11am Indiana time. It took over 6 hours just to get out of Texas and that was with 1 stop to fill the truck up plus 1 other bathroom break. The next stop for fuel was east of Little Rock. By that time the sun had already set and we were still in Arkansas. Closer to Little Rock than West Memphis at that. To cut the story of driving home short we ended up at my buddy's house sometime after 4am. I probably shouldn't have drove home but I wanted to sleep in my own bed. Moved all my stuff over and hit the road for my hour drive home. Another note to this was my friend drove the entire trip from the ranch to his house. Texas to Arkansas to Missouri to Tennessee to Kentucky and to home. Due to traveling with a suppressor we did not risk going through Illinois. We had already talked about avoiding Illinois anyway just for the fact of travelling through there with guns (even if I didn't take the can).
So, to cap this story off this hunt didn't really go the way I wanted it to but it's not called "harvesting"; it's hunting. We managed to take 1 pig each. Those Arizona guys had luck on their side and managed to take 9. Yes, 9. While our intentions were to only take 2 pigs each and 1 piglet the processing bill for that would have been enough. I'm sure the AZ guys had to shell out some coin for their processing fee. They were driving a VW Jetta and had that thing packed when they left. They also had to go buy another cooler before leaving the ranch. Waelder is a small town and has a Family Dollar store. I don't know if they went there or if they drove to the city of Gonzales which has a Walmart there. Even though I didn't have the best experience would I still go back? Maybe? I'm not 100% displeased with the outfit they're running. They're nice, courteous, and want you to have a good hunt. You do not get your hands dirty here. As soon as you shoot a hog you either call or text the contact and they will come out and pick up the hog. This is due to the weather and they don't want anything to spoil. Some of the additional costs can be a deterrent for some as you could very easily rack up a bill when it comes time to check out. It's all cash too. You can pay for the initial hunt with CC online (it's the only way to reserve the hunt) but once you're there it's cash only so be prepared.
https://www.independenceranch.com/
On a side note, it took over 2 hours to write this up and get the pics together. To end it here's a Texas sunrise looking through the Mesquite trees on Wednesday morning.
The drive to the ranch was uneventful and an easy drive. What we didn't realize is that the speed limits in Texas are slightly higher than the highway speed limits in Indiana...or possibly everywhere else. Did not realize that pretty much everyone that lives outside of a town/city appear to raise their own cattle. The number of cows we seen between Tyler and Waelder is stupid. I mean ridiculously stupid. The scenery between Texarkana and Tyler wasn't that good. The scenery between Tyler and Waelder is much better. I didn't take a lot of pictures but this was pretty much what it looked like the entire way to Waelder.
We arrived at the ranch about an hour early and that gave us some time to stretch and take it easy. There was 1 other truck already parked outside the gate before arriving but it didn't take long before other vehicles started showing up to start their hunts for the day as well. 2pm hits and they came down to let us in. Get instructions and we head for the check in building. Everyone that arrived goes through a quick check in/orientation. After that it's a quick talk with the owner and giving him the release of liability and giving him some money. We opted for an area of the ranch that has a higher traffic of hogs and there's no stalking involved. It's called the Honey Hole. We also took advantage of getting our own cabin and that was a definite good purchase. They have a community bunk house so if you want to stay on the cheap then you could be subjected to other people who want to stay on the cheap too. A couple guys from Arizona arrived shortly after we did and they stayed in the bunk house...and they didn't care for it. We let them check out the little 2 person cabin we got and they were sold on getting one the next time. I shouldn't call it a cabin. It's more like a small, studio apartment. 2 beds, a toilet, and a shower. Really, it's all you need. There are 5 of these "cabins" that make up 1 building. They do have separate cabins as well. 1 such cabin will hold 10 people.
The first thing we did was get settled into the cabin and then spent some time hanging out before supper. All meals are provided and are pretty good. Everything is cooked and nothing is just heated up and served. The other plus is if there are any leftovers from the day, they will be available to anyone after the last hunt of the day. The mess hall is always open. While hanging out at the cabin one of the axis bucks rolled in and decided to cool off a bit. The ranch does have some exotics on it.
OK, now for the fun part. The first hunt to take place Tuesday evening and lasted from 6pm-9:45pm. All hunt times are prescheduled. The first hunt for us involved me taking a piglet, seeing some hogs come in behind us but we couldn't shoot due to shooting lane restrictions (other hunters and a house the borders the property are the reasons for the shooting lane restrictions), the resident water buffalo Gus, yes, a water buffalo that is named, and then a few cows rolled thru. On the morning of the second day, we didn't see anything. Hunt time was from 6am to 8:45am. We left the stands as it was time for breakfast. After that it was our chance at the Honey Hole. This hunt would take place from 10am to 12:45pm. We did see some hogs roll through and my friend managed to take 1 80-pound sow but that was it. I hesitated on a sow due to a boar being right behind her. She gave me a good shot but I shifted to look for the boar and he was behind a tree. I went back to the sow and she was already moving. From there it was pig-tree-pig-tree-pig-tree and I couldn't get a shot off. Little did I know that would be the last time I would have a chance to take a hog. The post lunch hunt was uneventful. We did some a couple hogs but nothing came into our shooting lane area. The shooting lanes are wider at the honey hole compared to the other stand locations but it's like these hogs knew to stay out of there. That comment can be taken with a grain of salt due to the other hunters in the area with us did manage to take some hogs. The evening hunt put us in a different location but all we seen there were more cows. Then Gus graced us with his presence again. This time we were in a blind and to have a water buffalo be within 30 feet of you a bit intimidating to say the least. He wasn't sure about us and swung out wide to try to wind us. We decided we were done as we did not see any hogs that evening. Gus stepped in a started feeding after we left. We were pretty bummed over the cows rolling thru and then not seeing any hogs that evening.
Our last shot was Thursday morning. We were assigned the same blind from the night before so we weren't expecting to see much and we did not see any. At 8:45am our hunt ended and it was time to go. Breakfast is covered if you desire but if you want to hit the road as soon as possible then you can. We decided to eat a good healthy breakfast, settle up, pack up, grab our coolers with the pigs and hit the road. We didn't want to stop for the night so we had already decided to drive straight through to home. This probably wasn't the best decision we made but we did do it. We left the ranch right at 11am Indiana time. It took over 6 hours just to get out of Texas and that was with 1 stop to fill the truck up plus 1 other bathroom break. The next stop for fuel was east of Little Rock. By that time the sun had already set and we were still in Arkansas. Closer to Little Rock than West Memphis at that. To cut the story of driving home short we ended up at my buddy's house sometime after 4am. I probably shouldn't have drove home but I wanted to sleep in my own bed. Moved all my stuff over and hit the road for my hour drive home. Another note to this was my friend drove the entire trip from the ranch to his house. Texas to Arkansas to Missouri to Tennessee to Kentucky and to home. Due to traveling with a suppressor we did not risk going through Illinois. We had already talked about avoiding Illinois anyway just for the fact of travelling through there with guns (even if I didn't take the can).
So, to cap this story off this hunt didn't really go the way I wanted it to but it's not called "harvesting"; it's hunting. We managed to take 1 pig each. Those Arizona guys had luck on their side and managed to take 9. Yes, 9. While our intentions were to only take 2 pigs each and 1 piglet the processing bill for that would have been enough. I'm sure the AZ guys had to shell out some coin for their processing fee. They were driving a VW Jetta and had that thing packed when they left. They also had to go buy another cooler before leaving the ranch. Waelder is a small town and has a Family Dollar store. I don't know if they went there or if they drove to the city of Gonzales which has a Walmart there. Even though I didn't have the best experience would I still go back? Maybe? I'm not 100% displeased with the outfit they're running. They're nice, courteous, and want you to have a good hunt. You do not get your hands dirty here. As soon as you shoot a hog you either call or text the contact and they will come out and pick up the hog. This is due to the weather and they don't want anything to spoil. Some of the additional costs can be a deterrent for some as you could very easily rack up a bill when it comes time to check out. It's all cash too. You can pay for the initial hunt with CC online (it's the only way to reserve the hunt) but once you're there it's cash only so be prepared.
https://www.independenceranch.com/
On a side note, it took over 2 hours to write this up and get the pics together. To end it here's a Texas sunrise looking through the Mesquite trees on Wednesday morning.
