Hi all,
I just got back from my hunting trip in Northern California. We hunted at The Rising Sun Ranch, a private hunting preserve located in Dorris, California, just off of Highway 97.
I wanted a combination hunt, with both varmint / predator hunting as well as some upland bird action as well, so I called Bert Holzhauser, owner of Rising Sun Ranch, and made a reservation for a 2 night stay at the lodge.
Upon arriving, we were very impressed with the lodge, which is a private cabin, about a mile away from the Holzhausers residence. The cabin has 5 beds in 3 bedrooms, a huge woodstove to keep you warm, as well as a very well appointed kitchen, Stove, Grille, oven, Microwave, it even had a trash compactor.
We spent our first day hunting quail, with Bert and his pointer, Bonnie. The first bird flew low to the ground and was snatched in mid air by Bonnie. My fiance and I just about fell over laughing, when I told Bert that he had the best bird dogs in the world - You don't even need to shoot!
After a little while, Bonnie calmed down a bit and stopped chasing the quail after pointing on them. At the end of the day I had shot 10 and shared 2 with Bonnie. All in a a really good day.
On day 2, we hunted Chukkar and Pheasant, with Bonnie and Sam. Sam is Bert's male pointer, and was a bit more deliberate in action than Bonnie. I missed more pheasants than I shot, and ended up the day with 6 chukkars and 4 pheasants. I think I need either a bigger gun (I was shooting my .410) or more practice, because those pheasants are quick!
On day 3, Bert drove over to the lodge and asked me if I wanted to try some Coyote calling. I had never hunted predators before, and it sounded like fun, so I grabbed my .243 and we drove out to some sagebrush fields that were just below the foothills. We climbed up a big juniper tree - I was on the top branch and Bert got set up just below me and started to call.
After making the first call, he waited about 10 minutes or so, and then called again. After about 5 minutes more, he looked up at me and made a click noise to get my attention and pointed to the area where he saw the coyote. I nodded to him, chambered a round, and began looking for the Coyote.
I looked for what seemed like 5 minutes or so, before I finally saw him at about 100 yards away. The Coyote paused for a second and Bert called again. After he called once more, the Coyote started barreling right at us.
As I raised my rifle to my shoulder, it started to happen to me. My heart started pounding so hard, I thought it was going to knock me out of the tree. We've all heard of Buck fever, but this was Coyote Fever, and I had it bad. The coyote paused about 75 yards out, I tried to get him steady in the crosshairs, I squeezed, BOOM! and flat missed him. The coyote froze for a millisecond and then hightailed out of there at light speed. Bert Cranked out about 3 shots at him while he was running away but missed too.
I started laughing so hard, tears came to my eyes. Damn I felt like a goofball. At the range, with that rifle I can put 5 shots under a 50 cent piece at 200 yards, and I coudln't hit a Coyote at 75. Bert started laughing uncontrollably as well, and we both had a good chuckle about it on the way down out of the tree.
What a adrenaline rush. I am definitely hooked on predator hunting now.
We ended up staying 2 more nights than originally planned (at my Fiance's request, can you believe it?) and spent the rest of the time fishing The Ponds for Bass and Trout. Too early for bass but I did catch one Rainbow that was 5.5 pounds on my De-Liar.
For most of his life, Bert was a cattle rancher and as such, has a great deal of experience with predator hunting. He started the hunting preserve as a business about 3 years ago after retiring from the cattle business. Those who know about such things say that Bert is an "Accomplished" caller. The ranch has
In addition to the birds and predators, there is an abundance of Deer and Elk that move around his ranch as well. The Ranch is about 2000 acres, and Bert knows it all.
The hunting experience at Rising Sun was IMHO, excellent. I am still in the "Novice" class of hunting skill, but Bert can tailor a trip to meet anyone's needs and skill level.
The best thing about the trip was Bert and his wife Linda. Just plain Good People. Bert was an excellent instructor and guide and their hospitality is unmatched. They made sure that we had everything that we needed and were excellent hosts.
For those of you out there on the list who want to plan a trip that will allow you to hunt various types of game, and be very comfortable at the same time, I highly recommend that you give Rising Sun a try. You can get all of the information at their web site:
I'll post some pictures of the hunting as soon as I get my scanner hooked back up.
-Colin
Cooper
-Pleasant Hill, CA