April 1st 2023

This past weekend I was taken hog hunting for the first time. I was very lucky to be taken by some friends on a private ranch west of Williams. The amount of rain this year has created abundant food for feral hogs but they still follow daily patterns of migrating into the central valley at night to rummage and feed. We traversed eight miles scoping for fast moving, tight knit packs of hogs. It felt different from pulling out invasive shrubs where I see them, or leaving a fully stocked bird feeder to attract goldfinches and black phoebes. Wielding a .30-08 bolt action rifle in the name of conversation was exciting. We didn’t see any boars but the landscapes were stunning, I’ve never seen California this green.