Junior Hunting Stories

Cañada de los Osos Ecological Reserve Youth Pig Hunt
May 22 and 23, 2010

The 2010 Spring Pig Hunt at the Canada de los Osos Ecological Reserve has been held. Five lucky youth hunters successfully drew the opportunity to hunt pigs on the Reserve. The hunt was two half-days.  The first day, Saturday, the parents and youth hunters met at the reserve at 11:30 for a talk about the reserve and the CDA. Steve Balbo, Certified California Hunter Safety Instructor gave a talk about safe gun handling, shooting safety and shot placement. Then the youth hunters were introduced to their guides and drivers. The guides took the youth hunters to the target range to make sure their guns were sighted in. All the hunters were great shots!!   Lunch was served thanks to our cook, Brad Buchholtz. After lunch the hunters were off to their zones to hunt for pigs.

Two lucky hunters had success on the first day; Brant Grisedal from Bakersfield and Mallory Harmel from Gilroy both got nice pigs.

Below is a picture of Brant with his pig.

Letter from Mallory Harmel:

Dear Jeff,
Thank you so much for taking me out and helping me get my first pig, I had a blast and so did Uncle Rick. It was so exciting being able to get 55 yards from a wild boar, I mean wow my heart was doing double time. I don’t really remeber you trying to calm me down, I just remember stoppping, getting out of the jeep, walking down the road, kneeling and taking aim. I remember seeing the pig through my scope and squeezing the trigger. Next thing I know he's on the ground and I was really excited thinking, "Wow, did that just really happen?". Iwanted so badly to go get him but you told me, "Hold on, just calm down, he isn't going anywhere." It was a good thing to, because he got right up, ran around that tree he was behind and headed right towards us and all of a sudden he stoppped. I didn't wait for him to move again, I shouldered my .308, took aim but my knees were shaking so badly I had to practicly stand up and shoot, I was aiming for rite behind the shoulder and my 150 grain copper bullet hit true and he dropped where he was standing. I saw a picture that Uncle Rick took of us kneeling right in the middle of the road, a split secong before I sqeezed off my second shot, that had to be the most exciting thing I have done in a very long time and I hope to do it again. Thanks again jeff!!

 -Mallory Harmel

WILD PIGS OF CALIFORNIA

The European wild boar was introduced into the United States in the early 1900’s in North Carolina.  In the 1920’s they were brought to the Carmel Valley.  By the early 1950’s they had started to spread from Monterey County into neighboring counties.  As they spread the wild boar mixed with feral pigs (domestic pigs that had gone wild). Today wild pigs are found in 51 of California’s 58 counties. 

Wild boar hybrid pigs started to show up in Santa Clara County in the 1960’s, and are now found throughout the Mt. Hamilton and Santa Cruz ranges.  The wild pig can been seen throughout the Cañada de los Osos Ecological Reserve.

Wild pigs may compete for food with native wildlife, and their rooting may disrupt native ecosystems.  More studies are needed to determine the role that pigs play in various habitats. 

Each year one or two wild pig hunts are put on by the California Department of Fish and Game and the California Deer Association for youth hunters on the Reserve.

Sunday morning the three remaining hunters were back at it again at the crack of dawn. They hunted until noon.  No luck for these fine hunters, but a good effort was made and they had a nice lunch before heading home.

I want to thank the guides and drivers for taking time out of their busy lives to teach young hunters about hunting techniques and about the outdoors:   Al Nelson, Melvin Nelson, Les Dixon, Steve Balbo, Todd Morrell, Mitch Kirk, Marc Mantelli and Jeff Amstutz.  A special thank you to our cook, Brad Buchholtz. These hunts could not be offered without the help of these volunteers and the others we have in the CDA. I would also like to extend a warm thank you to Henry Colleto for all of the hard work he does at Canada de los Osos.