One officer and one member (two total participants) had a good time of fellowship at the 6/1/07 - 6/3/07 Hog Hunt at the 300 acre Wild Hog Hunting Ranch near Gonzales. We did not harvest any game, but many of the other 10 hunters who were there did, including five hogs in the 250+ pound range. Hunting during the day was done by stalking. They pair you up and drop you off at various locations. Everyone then walks in a gradual clockwise direction. They are not concerned that anyone will be shot as most shots are at five yards away and the hunters are shooting downward towards the ground.
During our first day of stalking we did not see any pigs (but we did see deer, elk, and buffalo). We then ate dinner (barbecued beef on baked potatoes) at 8:00 p.m. We didn't go to the stands until after dark (if you're not equipped for night hunting this is not the place for you). The stand where Jim McGee and I (Randy Rowley) hunted unfortunately had a herd of buffalo guarding our corn. We were first alerted to the presence of pigs when a buffalo suddenly made a charge! I initially thought that two buffalo had gotten into a fight but my night vision monocular revealed 14 new and much smaller shapes. All but one brave little pig ran off after another charge. We stayed out until a little after 2:00 a.m. and had pigs return about eight times but never could get a shot (the pigs would come out, see the buffalo were still there, and fade back into the brush). Two pigs around 300 pounds were killed by other hunters that night.
On the second day a father and son were stalking and found a large (250 pound) hog lying under a tree. The 13 year old boy killed it. As his father was walking around the tree he stumbled upon another 250 pound hog that was bedded down and, incredibly, had not moved! He killed it. Then the son walked around the other side of the tree and found another 250 pound hog that, even more incredibly, had not moved and killed it. It was very hot (90 degrees) and muggy and the hogs quickly went to shade after sunrise. Another hunter had to kick a hog to get it to get up (he didn't want to shoot one lying down). My theory is that the hogs stayed put hoping that they wouldn't be discovered, which seems to go against their instinct. Jim and I saw a lot more elk, buffalo, red stags, fallow deer, axis deer, and an oryx. We also saw a few small pigs but none of them were large enough to shoot. They charge $50 per pig plus a $35 gutting and skinning fee - $85 per pig, so a 30 pound pig with 10 pounds of meat would cost you $8.50/pound (not counting processing).
On the second night the only thing moving were the buffalo (Jim ran them off of our site before we settled in our stand). We could only handle staying out until midnight because we were pooped and our plans of returning at 4:00 a.m. lost also to fatigue.
It was an interesting place to hunt. The food was good (we had speckled trout and shrimp on the second night) and the air conditioning was cold. But I would never return there during May or June and would have to think hard about going there in even April. The heat and humidity were miserable just sitting still. Add that with walking around the woods carrying a nine pound gun and it made us want to give up hunting and take up basket weaving.