Time To Go Boar Hunting Again

Fall time and the living is easy for wild pigs.



Acorn are falling and so are temperatures. Wild pigs all over pig country are living it up in the oak lands of California. They are putting on as much weight as possible for the coming winter. A well fed feral pig is a happy pig. Happy wild pigs want to share happiness with other wild pigs. Consequently sows will soon be in a better mood to make more wild pigs.

California boar are joined in the oak groves by deer and turkey that also prize acorn and other mast as a source for storing energy. For wild boar hunters who have languished during the long, hot summer doldrums oak mast may not exactly be the great attraction, but the porkers under the oaks definitely are. The time has come to take out that trusted rifle and make a few trips to a shooting range to brush up on shooting skills. Then it is time to head out into the oak lands.

This time of the year wild pigs are mainly found where acorn mast and other mast nuts have fallen. They will stay close to those areas until all acorns on the ground have been consumed and those that were trampled under have been dug up. Only then will they look seriously for alternative food sources again, such as corn and barley fields that have not been cleaned up yet or other agricultural crops left over or intentionally saved for the boar.

If you are a hunter who has a good relationship with a guide or access to a private ranch, you do not have to worry about where to go and, once there, where to locate the boar. Your guide will do that for you. However, if you believe in 'real hunting' and like the challenge of doing things on your own, then you have a little more work to do. Your question will be:'Where are the wild pigs?'

Most wild pigs are found and harvested on private land. Monterey and Kern county have the highest boar population numbers in California. Good to excellent boar hunting is found in the Central Valley and adjacent coastal ranges. Within wild pig territory the animals are at this time more concentrated in areas with mast than anywhere else.

Though few boar live on public land, decent wild pig hunting is still available to hunters who know where to look, what to look for and who have done their pre-season scouting well.

Among public land open to wild boar hunting Fort Hunter Ligget and Camp Robertson are the best known. They are military installations and hunters must therefore cope with very strict rules, access restrictions and even unannounced closures.

The Department of Fish and Game lists a few public areas with wild pigs: The Cache Creek Wilderness Area, the Cow Mountain Recreational Area, and the DyeCreek Preserve are among them. Boar are mainly transitory on these lands.

What you save on access and guide fees you will have to invest in shoe leather, gasoline and your own strenuous physical activity in pursuit of the precious prey.

DFG also organizes and manages several special wild pig hunts annually. Check their website for information regularly because most of these special hunts require permits that are awarded by drawing. Lake Sonoma and recently the East Park Reservoir are examples of special hunts. Carizzo Plains special hunts are another opportunity to do some drive -in hunting on the Nature Preserve that is normally only open to walk.in access.

But even private ranches can offer low-cost boar hunting if you are confident enough to strike out on your own on private land after a brief orientation.

The biggest and most well-known ranch in this category is the Tejon Ranch in Kern County. This sprawling ranch offers unguided wild pig hunts for about 
$ 400.00.

Less expensive is the Bryson Ranch and Resort. They charge only $ 200.00 for their unguided hunt. It includes an introductory orientation to the ranch with hints on where to look.

In response to our survey on wild pig populations Deedy, manager of the hunting operations on the ranch, wrote:

''My wild pig population is thriving, the numbers have increased around here by about 20% - 30% this year, but that is because we had good rainfall last year. Oak trees are loaded with acorns this year so it looks like we'll have a nice acorn drop for the fall/winter & spring. ''

Cedar Canyon Ranch in the Tehachapi Mountains is another place to consider when searching for low cost boar hunts in California.

Southern California does not have good boar hunting on either private or public properties. Riverside County had wild pigs in the Santa Ana River wash among dense bamboo but the animals were either shot out by locals or now live within the boundaries of a new nature preserve area. Farther south in San Diego County we have recently had many reports of feral pigs. They were released on one of the Indian Reservations and have expanded their numbers enough to move into adjacent areas. Problem with the San Diego boar access is very, very difficult. It is often only possible through posted private land or Indian reservations. Your challenge will be to overcome hostile sentiments of local ranchers, property owners and hunters towards visiting boar hunters.

Wherever you decide to hunt in California now is a good time to do so before a possibly very cold winter arrives. The longer you wait, the more our wild pigs will disperse again over wider areas. And the more likely it will become that your early morning hunt will take place in snow and ice. Old bones don't handle cold very well and young ones will remind you of your snowbound hunts later in your life.

Let us therefore enjoy a good and successful boar hunt while the weather is pleasant, the acorn are plentiful and the wild pigs are distracted consuming them.

PJJ