Boar Wars In San Diego County?

Wild pigs thrive while hunters bicker anonymously.

San Diego County is one of the last places in California where one would expect to find wild pigs. Yet it is a fact: Wild pigs are there and their numbers are increasing. So is the number of hunters, local and drive-in, trying to locate and hunt them. That's part of the good news.

The bad news is that judging by the comments we received here there is a controversy brewing between the 'locals' and visiting hunters. Mix in native Indians and their reservations and you have a rather explosive situation here.

Look at these comments to our reports on boar hunting in San Diego County. I am quoting the comments in their original version.

“ as of oct 1 2009 any wild pigs seen / spoted on el capitan grande indian reservation were ordered by the tribal counsel to shoot and kill any wild pigs on site by the tribal members only no outside hunters will be permitted at anytime as guests or any other trespasers will be prosecuted by law” (November 23, 2009 7:23 PM)

In response to the above comment another 'anonymous' said:

“ Anonymous fabricated his facts regarding Tribal Orders. Anon is clearly a anti-hunter in every respects. Tribal Counsels work closely and professionally with hunters; in fact, you experience great hunting opportunities and experience on Indian Reservations. Indian Hunting Guides are outstanding educators of the forest and hunting tactics. In addition, the Tribal Counsel would have published the order of prohibition in the local San Diego Tribune or other publication to place people on notice of such orders. I am planning my hunting trip.” (January 20, 2010 9:46 AM)

And in March 2010 a purported tribal member issued this warning. It calls into question the previous anonymous statement exhorting the virtues and the cooperation of tribal hunting guides:

“I am from El Capitan Indian Reservation and I am warning that all Trespassers caught will lose all their possessions and will be prosecuted by full extent of the law and fined” (March 30, 2010 9:28 PM)

According to 2000 U.S. Census Data the El Capitan Grande reservation has 33 tribal members, all living off the reservation according to the same source of data. The neighboring Barona reservation has over 500 tribal members. They maintain a tribal council, with an impressive list of council members. They also have major gaming interests. If any tribal council enacted any anti-hunting regulations then it would most likely be Barona. It is odd that such a distinctive, business oriented council would resort to anonymous comments to explain their hunting laws.

Last year I contacted the tribe that is reputed to have held penned boar on their reservation before some of the animals escaped. Wild pigs in the area are descendants of these 'escaped' pigs. In response to my contact I received a stern reply denying that any pigs were introduced to the reservation or wild pigs are hunted on the reservation. That casts doubt on the comment of January 20,2010 regarding the 'outstanding educators”. Someone is bending the facts a little!

Be that as it may, fact is that the presence of wild pigs is confirmed in certain parts of San Diego County. It is hard to deny the existence of a wild pig that was run over by a car and the pictures taken by a sport fisher of boar next to a lake. And it is even more difficult to disprove the findings of local hunting and park authorities. They agree that there are plenty of wild pigs in the area.

The boar population is rapidly increasing in size and in the geographical area affected. Usually well informed and reliable sources have indicated unofficially that groups of wild pigs up to 50 strong have been spotted in the general area covered in the referenced articles and comments. Wild pig populations have increased in numbers to the point of an 'emerging', maybe even of an 'established' population. Park officials and DFG are considering to begin with boar control and/or eradication programs in the near future.

Boar populations are at this time still widely spread out over a large geographical area with concentration in riparian and oak wooded habitat. As indicated in my very first post, wild pigs are concentrated in the San Diego river drainage and its tributaries.

Hunting the boar in the most promising hideouts proves to be exceedingly difficult because of the very steep terrain with thick brush cover. The absence of convenient access points and roads as well as high summer temperatures could make boar hunting in San Diego County more difficult and limited than real or perceived threats by misguided locals.

The pertinent question therefore is no longer whether there are wild pigs in San Diego County or not but how to access boar locations without trespassing on private property and tribal land. San Diego County has 18 Indian Reservations. Most are quite small with few registered tribal members and even fewer living on tribal land.

Though boar occur on public land in the Cleveland National Forest, the challenge consist in gaining access to their hideouts and to avoid trespassing on the many private ranches and Indian Reservations in the Forest. Consequently, hunters determined enough to take on the formidable task of going after the wild pigs in San Diego County must possess and understand the most reliable and precise maps of the area that show exactly where public land, private property and tribal lands are located in relation to each other. Trespassing is the only way that a hunter could risk prosecution and loss of equipment. If I were to hunt San Diego boar, I would use the official Forest maps, Google and GPS to determine the GPS coordinates of public land within the Forest that I intend to search for wild pigs.

Finally, rumor has it that some local hunters together with tribal members hunt under moonlight on reservations. Indian tribes can set their own hunting regulations for activities on tribal land. However, if they crossed into public land in the Cleveland Forest, they would be subject to all hunting laws of the State of California. But who would sneaks around in the Forest in the middle of the night looking for local and tribal hunters out of bounds?

Could it be that the anonymous author(s) of the virulent comments quoted above is one of them? Trying to protect their turf?

I doubt a governing tribal council would hide behind an anonymous comment to keep unwanted hunters off the reservation. Let this be an open invitation to any tribal council member to come forward and explain their specific wild pig hunting prohibitions and regulations to the readers of this publication. And if any one of the tribes has an official wild pig hunting program with accredited hunting guides I am certain our readers would love to hear about such program in detail.

No need to hide behind anonymous threats. Boar hunters in Southern California would be delighted to hire native guides for wild pig hunts close to home instead of driving hundreds of miles to the Central Valley or to Northern California.

PJJ