Ever Hear of a California Rig?

[onecoyote]

Three of about 10 varmint rigs that I have owned over the years. The blue Toyota was my favorite. You must understand in California and Nevada you can legally light from your vehicle as long as that vehicle was off the road with the engine off. You could not legally shoot from your vehicle though. New Mexico you could shoot from your vehicle if you're a resident as long as it was off the roadway.


As far as I know, I was the only guy in the USA that had "Coyote Coffin" on the back of his truck. The other picture shows the speaker in the front of the truck. We called lots of coyotes right to the truck that way, believe it or not. You will also notice two small orange lights in the front of the truck. These were creep lights or black out lights. The truck was totally blacked out except for those lights to see where we were going.


These last photos are from the inside of the truck. The truck was an 86 Toyota bought in 1985, was pretty high tech stuff for back then. The first photo shows two cassette players, one is a backup. Above that you'll notice ammo, a few extra cassettes and a fuse box with extra fuses. To the right of all this out of view is a four way receptacle to plug in lights for night hunting. Notice the hole in the top of the camper shell, on the right side of the hole there is a button. The button is pushed and a little red light goes on next to the driver in the cab so he knows an animal has been spotted. He can then crawl through the boot
Picture #2 is of 4 switches next to the driver. The first switch is a blackout switch, no lights work on the truck. The next two switches are for those little orange lights in the front of the truck. Each can be turned on individually. The last switch was for off road lights.
Picture #3 you'll notice the little red light on the left hand side. That's the light that tells the driver to climb in the back because an animal is coming in.
So now if anyone talks about a California Rig, you'll know what they're talking about. Enjoy the pics.

[slagmaker]

Man some states get to have all the fun.

would love to try hunting out of one of those rigs

[alscalls]

They would hang us here for a rig like that.....We cant even hunt the woods most of the year and at night it is fields only...
Thanks for the pics......I wish I could experience such hunts to see what its like......

[FinsnFur]

Thats pretty cool
I slobbered a lil bit when I seen that Ford step side

[HuntnCarve]

I had an '86 Toyota 4-Runner that was my first dedicated hunting vehicle.  Your photos brought back alot of memories.  A fully  loaded coal truck, taking a turn too wide, finally did that vehicle in!  Your truck took predator hunting to a new level.  Here in PA we cannot shoot from a vehicle.  It was also a violation to possess a firearm, or any weapon, while spotlighting at night from a vehicle. -They call it "recreational spotting".    You could use a handheld light while on foot to hunt predators.  A few years back they legalized gun mounted lights.  Made things a whole lot easier!

[vvarmitr]

I slobbered a lil bit when I seen that Ford step side

Figured that was coming!
   

Thanks for sharing this w/ us Onecoyote. 
Gave me some ideas for my Suburban.

[onecoyote]

HuntnCarve,
In California and Nevada it is also illegal to shoot from your vehicle. I don't understand that law because they let you light from your vehicle. Somehow all these people who make these laws think that everyone out there lighting is poaching. We know that's not so. We are not allowed to use rifle mounted lights, they must be hand held lights. So over the years we invented a flipper light, which you may have heard of. The light has a switch that goes from red to white,  red to amber or amber to white. In southern California back in the 60's, most people worked in the aircraft industry. So we had a lot of access to some pretty smart people (engineers ect) that helped us out with some of our equipment.
I have hunted on foot at night and during the day. Night hunting on foot, out west can be dangerous especially in mountain lion and bear country which we have a lot of. Calling from your vehicle definitely gives you a feeling of security besides the fact that you are lighting from about 8 feet off the ground (nothing is gonna sneak up on you).
Glad you guys enjoyed the pictures. Just thought you all would want to see what a California rig was like.
Good Hunting

[HuntnCarve]

Just recently PA allowed the owners of "Conceal weapon permit" holders (like myself) to now carry a loaded weapon in a vehicle while spotlighting.  -Before this law, you would be in violation?  -Made no sense what so ever?  As I had to apply and be approved by the sherifs department.  Whereas I could carry a concealed weapon anywhere in the state.  -Except if I was shining a spotlight! 
We have bears here, but I'm more concerned with confronting two legged vermin while night hunting!  I came out of the woods one time and found two hispanic fellows expressing an interest in the contents of my parked truck.  They were walking all around it, pulling on the door handles.  I figured they were going to be looking for a rock to break open a window being the truck was locked.   I had my red light equiped 12gauge/.222 overunder with me.  I snuck up on the bank about 15 yards from them and hit the red light.  I hollered out that the No.4 buckshot would smear them all over the side of my vehicle, and they best walk on out of there as I didn't want to mess up my truck!  They lit out running up the road.  They had a vehicle parked down the lane, which they hopped into and took off in.  Now I carry a .45 with me.  More as preventive medicine.  You just never know?

[onecoyote]

HuntnCarve,
I would have just simply used the universal language of a pumped shotgun. Everybody knows what that means, even "hispanics". Hunting in the Southwest and Mexico I have encountered many" hispanics" and honestly never had a problem with them. You are right though, the two legged varmints are the most dangerous. One thing about my truck is that you don't expect someone to come out of the top of it. People never look up.

[vvarmitr]

People never look up.

Deer in Ohio have caught onto this too ...

:roflmao:  :roflmao:  :roflmao: