4B Ranch

Orange County, CA Hunters Take Three World Record Boars on 4B Ranch

Hunters Joe Trumpio, John Morrissey, and Ed Sullivan from Southern California arrived at the 4B Ranch at noon on Friday, December 7th ready to hunt Russian Boar. All three left on Sunday with trophy boars.

The following is a chronicle of the hunts by ranch owner and guide, Paul B.

FRIDAY EVENING HUNT:
In the blinds at 4:00PM. Weather is warm, especially for December…. We get into the blinds and hunt ’til dark. We see a few animals but no shooters. Animals we do see seem skittish. Hunt was a total bust….That’s OK, we have a great meal planned for our guests and there’s plenty of time for more hunts.

SATURDAY MORNING:

In the blinds at 6:00 AM. Another hunting bust…. Saw some nice shooters but no shots. Skittish barely begins to describe the way they were acting. Out of the blinds at 9:00. I notice the weather is starting to turn cool and the wind is now out of the north. We’ll have a big breakfast and maybe try a spot and stalk after lunch.

SATURDAY MID-DAY:

Mild north breeze. Stephen and Matthew took hunter Joe Trumpio who was shooting a big bore pistol (S&W .460 XVR) out in the hunting rig on a spot & stalk. A large mature boar was spotted on the east end on the ranch. Credit goes to hunter Joe Trumpio for making a well placed shot on the boar from 40 yards. This kill was also a ranch first in that it was shot with a revolver type pistol.

This boar was 282 lbs with a 3 1/2″ cutter. (his other cutter was broke off all the way into the gum) This boar was scored and will place in the top 20 in the weight class of the WWT Trophy Wild Boar Record Book.

Joe Trumpio and his 282 lb. Russian Boar

SATURDAY EVENING:

In the blinds at 4:00PM. The weather is DEFINITELY turning. It wasn’t freezing cold yet but it was getting there and the wind speed had picked up. We see even more animals but still don’t get a shot at any big ones. Out of the blinds at dark. I think there was some disappointment at this point since there was only one hunt left before they had to head back to Cali. We had a great meal of mesquite grilled German sausage and Ribeye steak with baked potatoes, corn casserole, salad, and jalapeno cheesecake. With only one more hunt left before we’d have to take the hunters to catch their flight back to Cali, I think everyone was a little concerned. But I know it’s about to get real cold. I also know the Russians love the cold. They do move in the cold.

SUNDAY MORNING: (last hunt)

In the blinds at 6:00AM, light at 7:10AM. Weather is cold. I was guiding John Morrissey who was shooting a Blaser .270 with a Zeiss scope. Looking out the windows of the blind toward the north wasn’t easy. That north wind was cutting like a knife. Conditions for us were almost miserable with having to look into the north wind. It doesn’t often get like this in Southern California. Did I mention that the Russians like it cold? In fact, it can’t get cold enough for them…. The big boars are on the move. And they ain’t skittish, they’re looking for food.

— 7:15 AM —

A big mature boar wonders into wheat patch and then to the feed spot and starts feeding. Hunter Jon Morrissey puts the crosshairs on the boar and lets the lead fly! The big boar goes down and Mr. Morrissey finished the boar off in the field.

This boar was 280 lbs with a 2 3/4″ cutter on one side and a 1.0” cutter on the other. (Mature boars in the wild more often than not have tusks that are broke off from fighting) This boar was scored and will also place in the top 20 in the weight class of the WWT Trophy Wild Boar Record Book.

John Morrissey and his 280 lb. Russian Boar

— 7:25 AM —

Hunter Ed Sullivan is in-blind with Matthew. I can imagine that after hearing the shots and then hearing on the radio that John took a big boar, Ed is dreading the flight back to California since both hunters Trumpio and Morrissey will most likely be giving him untold amounts of grief about not getting a boar. Have I mentioned that the big boars love the cold weather and that the cold puts them on the move? Only 10 minutes had transpired since Mr. Morrissey’s shot rang out when a big mature boar saunters up on the feeder that hunter Sullivan and Matthew were hunting over…….. Hunter Sullivan puts the crosshairs of the scope of his .300 Winchester Short Magnum on the boar and lead flies! The boar goes down but gets back up and moves west. With the boar now at about 130 yards away, another shot (or two but who’s counting) is put into about the boar to finish the job

This boar was 270 lbs but with both tusks, each at 2 3/4″, he should score BIG. After scoring, this boar has unofficially placed FIRST in the High Fence Tusk Class of the WWT Trophy Wild Boar Record Book. CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH ED SULLIVAN AND THE 4B RANCH!

Ed Sullivan and his WORLD RECORD Russian Boar

=========== IN THE END============
In the end all three hunters were happy, and truthfully I think they would have been happy even had all three not scored but no doubt they were even happier with all three of them harvesting really nice animals. These guys were serious hunters. I have to give them a lot of credit for hanging in there and being patient even when it started to look like it was going to be pretty tough hunting. But…. when given the opportunity, all three performed well. None of the animals were gut shot and all three of the animals were down within only a few yards of where they were initially shot. (we didn’t end up having to track their animals all over the ranch) No doubt they were here to have a good time but first and foremost, they were here for some serious hunting. They were also very courteous to staff and were the perfect guests.

Congratulations to Joe Trumpio, John Morrissey, and Ed Sullivan……

Tres Amigos de California!

———- SHAMELESS 4B RANCH PLUG———-
There are only a few ranches in the United States where hunters can harvest a trophy quality pure Russian (European) Boar. The 4B Ranch specializes in these animals and I’m very proud that there are several of our animals in the record book. I’m also very proud that we were able to get three trophy quality animals in one weekend. This is NOT an easy task. (ask any of the Three Amigos) Although the 4B Ranch is high fenced, the animals are free to range the entire ranch. These are NOT canned hunts. The big mature boars have plenty of places to keep low and they are not without guile. They will make you hunt using different methods or you’ll pay the price in terms of success rate.

NEW Main Lodge Completed

I’m happy to report that as of July 29th, 2007, construction of our new Main Hunting Lodge has been completed. I want to thank Lynn Gregory of Gregory Custom Homes in Abilene for a tremendous effort. It’s not easy keeping on a tight schedule when the construction site is located in the tulies.

The new Main Lodge was specifically designed with hunting guests in mind. Located adjacent to and connected with our Pavilion, the Main Lodge will provide a great place for our hunters to socialize before and after hunts and comfortable sleeping quarters when it’s time to crash.

The web site has been updated with pictures of the new Main Lodge on our LODGING page. 4B Ranch Lodging

New Main Hunting Lodge on the 4B Ranch

We’re proud to announce that a new Main Lodge is being built on the 4B Ranch. It is scheduled for completion by the end of July. The new lodge has been designed to comfortably sleep up to 26 hunters. So whether it’s a large group typical of Dove Hunts or small groups associated with Big Game Hunts, the new lodge will comfortably accommodate all.

Built for comfort, the Main Lodge will be equipped with central air and heat, comfortable sleeping quarters, a spacious great room for dining and fellowship, a large commercial kitchen, and ample bathroom facilities for men and women. Adjoining our 30 x 40 open Pavilion, the new lodge shares the same great view of the hills of the Callahan Divide here in West Central Texas. Hunters will be able to dine out on the open Pavilion or inside.

We’ve listened to our hunters over the past four years and have made sure to incorporate their suggestions into the design of the Main Lodge. A 42” flat screen television will adorn the wall of the great room. With satellite service and a DVD player, hunters will be able to catch their favorite sporting event or play movies during down times. The large commercial grade kitchen will insure that the same quality of food our hunters have grown accustomed to will be available in larger quantities. Wireless internet service will be available throughout the entire Main Lodge. A dedicated CAT 5 port at a work station will also be available in the great room for those requiring a dedicated connection.

Here are some pictures of the construction as of mid-June. We’ll update the pictures as the construction progresses….

—- Pictures updated as of last week of July ——

PaulB
4B Ranch
Ovalo, Texas

Click On Pictures to Enlarge

Dove Hunting 4B Ranch 2006

The Dove Hunting on the 4B Ranch this year was better than it’s ever been. Opening weekend found 15 people comprised of friends and family at the 4B eagerly awaiting the Saturday morning hunt. We placed hunters in the south and west fields where uncut wheat and sunflowers had been shredded some three weeks before opening day. The birds came into the fields in droves. The Dove limit south of I-20 is 12 birds per day. Most hunters had their limit after only 1 hour of hunting. Others shot their limit of shells. {grin} Even those hunters whose aim may have been off a little got their limit by 9:30 AM. Late breakfast was served in the Pavilion where hunters talked about their hunts while chowing down on some good eats. What a weekend! Every hunt yielded limits for the hunters. It was the best ‘Friends and Family Dove Hunt’ we’ve ever had. It’s always fun just to get together and have great food and fellowship; it’s even better when the bird hunting is awesome.

As the ranch owner and the host of this hunt, I can say that there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a bunch of hunters at the cleaning station cleaning birds and regaling each other with stories of how good the hunting was where they were.

I’m convinced that the key to really good dove hunting in West Texas centers around cultivation and water. The 4B is blessed with great water and typical West Texas cultivation. The wheat couldn’t be harvested due to draught and of course sunflowers are native and grow in the spring no matter what. We shredded the wheat and sunflowers 3 weeks before the seasoned opened. Many tons of grain and seed were put on the ground when we shredded. It wasn’t long before the birds started showing up. Even during mid-season I could drive through the fields in the mule and scare up hundreds of birds. Pretty amazing. Now that we are doing the farming ourselves, I expect next year to be as good as this year.

As hunting goes, good dove hunting ranks at the very top of my list for fun times. Our outfitter brought many hunters from all over the United States and while driving around and visiting with them, many stated that it was the best they’d ever seen.

By my best reckoning, more than 2,000 birds were taken off the 4B during the season and that pales in comparison to how many birds we actually had. We barely put a dent in it!

In my opinion, dove hunting in West Texas is one of the best hunting experiences a person can have. The weather is warm but not brutally hot and the action is intense because everybody gets to shoot. I certainly hope that the 2007 Dove Season will be as good as this one.

Whitetail Deer management program progresses on 4B

Now in its 4th year, the 4B Ranch whitetail deer management program is coming along nicely. Seeing the big bucks with great antler growth is exciting but maybe even more exciting than that is seeing yearling bucks with 6 pt. and 8 pt. racks. Seeing very nice 8 pt. and 10 pt. 2 1/2 year old bucks is also very exciting and validates the holistic approach toward wildlife management that has been adopted on the 4B. While feeding (protein) out of the bag exclusively is no doubt one way to insure the nutrition needed to grow big racks, it provides little variety for the deer. By planting crops of wheat, oats and summertime legumes, combined with planted food plots and pasture grazing that promotes the growth of native forbs and browse, protein feeding has become supplemental rather than the staple. The last two years have also yielded fine fawn crops with many of the does having twins. An aggressive predator control program has enhanced the survival rate for newborn fawns.

This hunting season on the 4B has been relegated mainly to meat hunts with the harvesting of does and spike bucks by friends and family. There is one particular mature 8 pt. that yours truly has his eye on but other than that, no bucks will be harvested from the ranch. We fully expect to be letting hunts next season for management bucks that will include some really nice 8 and 10 pt. bucks.

Dove Season - 2005 - Friends Of The 4B Dove Hunt

Dove season at the 4B Ranch is always highly anticipated. West Texas is rarely short on birds and it looks like the 2005 season will be no exception. One of the highlights of the year on the ranch is opening weekend of Dove Season. Our traditional ‘Friends Of The 4B Dove Hunt’ commences on Friday, September 2nd, with a large gathering of family members and friends. Kicking it off will be a clay shoot to help hone those winged shooting skills followed by a hearty meal served in the ranch Pavilion where old and new friends alike will have some time to get acquainted or reacquainted. Saturday morning will find 25 to 30 eager hunters scattered through the native sunflower fields and around the stock tanks of the ranch chasing the elusive Mourning Dove in the sights of their shotguns.

2005 has been a good year and has produced sunflowers that are 6 to 7 feet high in some areas as well as native dove grass as thick as you please. Under the supervision of Matt Brewer, ranch Wildlife Biologist in training, Bill Johnson, Terry Fox and I spent time on our tractors shredding around the tanks and through the fields making it easier to find downed birds as well as putting lots and lots of fresh seed on the ground. After all, managing for Dove on the 4B is a significant part of our overall habitat planning.

So, welcome to all our ‘Friends of the 4B’ who will be hunting with us over the Labor Day weekend and to Dusty Greaves of Lone Star Trails Outfitters in Coleman, Texas, and his hunters and finally to the new hunters that will find their way to the 4B for the first time for a great Dove Hunting experience in 2005!

A new crop on the 4B Ranch… GUAR

We’re always looking for ways to improve habitat for the wildlife and enhance the land on the 4B Ranch. With an inclination toward holistic management, we’re trying a new crop this year on the ranch that we hope will work well for the wildlife and the land. Guar is a legume that many in the United States have little experience with as there are few geographic areas that have the climate for it. What is guar?

Guar is a legume that resembles a green (string) bean and is grown primarily for human consumption in India and Pakistan. The primary use for high grade guar in the United States is in its refined state (guar gum) and is used as a natural stiffener for products such as ice cream, pudding and cheese. Lower grades of guar gum are used in cloth and paper manufacture, oil well drilling muds and explosives. The bean itself contains 54% protein which should provide a GREAT protein source for the Whitetail Deer and the Russian Boar and will substantially reduce the need for supplemental protein feeding. The second benefit and maybe of more importance and financial benefit is that the root nodules of the guar plant contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria and crop residues and when plowed under, improve yields of succeeding crops. Successful crops of guar can put up to 196 lbs./acre of nitrogen into the soil when plowed under which will be a huge boost to succeeding crops. The application of the same amount of synthetic nitrogen would be very expensive and of course the guar root provides a natural means by which nitrogen can be applied to the soil.

Planted on May 21st, the guar is now coming up. We hold out great hopes for the guar and take pride in the fact that at least in West Central Texas, the 4B Ranch is the first to try and cultivate this promising plant. Special thanks to Alan Cooper of Cooper Farms for his diligent efforts on behalf of the 4B and for coming up with the idea for the guar crop in the first place.

Pictured Below; Left - Alan has plowed and layed rows and is now planting the guar seed. Right - after a nice rain 5 days after planting, the plants are coming up nicely only 8 days after the germinating rain.

Close Encounters with the Blackbuck of the 4B Ranch

There can be no doubt that the Blackbuck Antelope is one of the prettiest game animals around and the Blackbucks of the 4B Ranch are no exception. I won’t bother giving you the biologist take on this animal but rather our personal experience with observing these animals and in particular, last nights up close and personal observation.

Here are just a couple of facts from our observations on the 4B. Unlike the whitetail deer, these animals from the goat genus have horns that are permanent and I always worry about them when I see them close to the high fence. I’d hate to see them break a horn off. We NEVER, EVER pressure them. We don’t see them at the feeders. Primarily, they graze like cattle instead of browsing like whitetail deer. They also seem to like the open fields and high open areas where their vision is not obstructed and we’ve noticed that they bolt at the first sight of us even if it’s from 500 yards. Their winter coats are definitely the most aesthetically pleasing. The coats of the mature bucks turn dark on the sides and on the face accented by a snow white underbelly. Their eyes have the white fur around them with the dark coat around that always reminds me of Buster Brown’s dog, Tige, for some reason.

Last night while my wife and I were returning to the 4B HQ from a feeding mission on 4 wheelers, I chanced upon a really interesting situation involving the largest Blackbuck Antelope buck on the ranch. Getting close to these animals is next to impossible. Riding the dusty Big Tank pasture road and not sparing the throttle, I slammed the brakes on as something big was right in the middle of the road. As I came to an abrupt stop, to my astonishment stood the biggest Blackbuck on the ranch and not 8 feet from me! It was down in a low area where the water flows into the Big Tank and a part of the road that we’ve not been able to use for the last several months due to standing water. There he stood, posing like one of our dominant boars. Head upright and back legs stretched, I don’t know if the ATV headlights were blinding him or what but amazingly he didn’t move. In fact, he proceeded to urinate and that took a couple of minutes. I’ve noticed the big bucks doing this out in the field like it’s a sign of dominance or at least has some social meaning for them. In any event, I was able to observe him for 2 to 3 minutes from an unbelievably close distance. I had time to count the twists in his horns and this guy has 5 twists and I’d say his total length is 23 to 24 inches. Just an incredible animal! 200 acres of wheat has probably helped that a bit I’d think. I actually talked to him and he still didn’t bolt. It was actually quite incredible, the kind of moment I live for on the 4B. Finally, he slowly sauntered off to the brush and trotted out of sight. Since it was a night time feeding mission, I didn’t have my camera with me. Not even my crappy cell phone camera. What an experience that was. When I returned to the barn and met my wife and Matthew and told them the story, I think they both gave me a wink.

The picture on the left shows one of the bigger bucks out in the field urinating. That was shot from 600 yards. The picture on the right taken back in November of 2004 is the buck that I encountered last night.

Protected: Dominant Boar Behavior on the 4B

Protected: 4B Ranch Home to Horned Lizards