Randy and Ryan Rowley and Kelvin Cheung recommend the J.B.
Hunting Ranch for hogs. Jimmy Cohenour, Jim Bob Cohenour, and his cousin
Eddie Lee Toohey hunted with us at the FCS 2002 Hog Hunt with Texas Wild.
After hunting two other ranches with poor results, Jimmy and Jim Bob decided
to develop their own hog ranch 23 miles south of El Campo, near Blessing.
They have 100 acres bordering a river. Their ranch is divided into two
sections. They maintain 100 hogs on the property with about 60 on the
front half and the rest on the back half. They bought several hogs and
trapped the rest. They have an electric fence for the front half of the
property to keep the hogs in. The rear half of the property borders the
river. Hogs are free to come and go on the rear half of the property.
The cost is $125.00 for a hog of up to 100 pounds. You pay $1 per pound
for hogs above 100 pounds. Thus a 150 pound hog would cost you $175.00
($125.00 plus $50.00 for the excess weight). They have a "You will get a
shot or your next hunt is free" guarantee. They also have a "Wounded hog
counts as a kill" policy. They had several Barbadoe rams, one Corsican
ram, and one Mouflon ram when we were there. However, their sheep had
little fear of man. We were able to walk straight up to them several
times as close as 15 yards before they started to walk off. Mouflon,
Corsican, and Barbadoe sheep are $175.00 and up.
They
have at least eight blinds and six working feeders and feed once a day,
although most hunting is done by stalking or drives. One stand is 52
feet tall.
They hunt year round and allow night hunting. You can also shoot varmints. They
also offer the use of a boat to fish on their river during down time.
Group rates are available.
Pros: There are many, many hogs. You
will get at least a shot. Jim Bob went the extra mile in conducting drives, looking
for my hog, and in helping us skin and quarter our hogs. The Cohenour's make you feel
welcome. Mrs. Cohenour gave us some desert bread when we
arrived and biscuits and honey the
next day for breakfast. They have a new bunkhouse with an A/C - heater combo
unit. They have a garage with a sink, toilet, stove, and upright chest
freezer.
Cons: The size of the ranch precludes
large groups. Several hunters in 100 acres with high powered rifles
and/or shotguns would be highly dangerous. Other Cons include the
tame sheep, the bunkhouse is tiny (we barely fit all of our gear in it; a
group of six would have to store some of its gear in their garage) and costs $20.00/per person/per night, the freezer has room for no more than two 150 pound butchered hogs,
and their pricing is more costly than some of their competitors (e.g. Texas Wild charges $200.00 for
two hogs regardless of size). If you shot a really big hog at the J.B. Hunting Ranch you
would have to take out a loan! A 400 pound hog would cost you $425.00 ($125.00
plus $300.00 for the excess weight)! Texas Wild does not have a guaranteed
shot so there is the potential that you could walk away with nothing. You also could walk away with two hogs, like I did
in 2/02.
In the final analysis, the J.B. Hunting Ranch is a great place for a small
group to go kill "meat" hogs of less than 155 pounds.
Contact
Jimmy at 361-588-6845 (Home) or 979-240-9445 (Mobile) for
more information. Jimmy says that he will give a discount to FCS
members.
Ryan and his boar
Randy and his boar
Some of the rams
More of the rams
