Get Ready For Hunting Boar In Fall and Winter 2011

Wild pig breeding season and fall mast drop just around the corner.

Vacation time is drawing to a close. Kids are soon heading back to school. Summer will inevitably end, though the heat may still be hang around for many more weeks.
Time for wild boar to start thinking of making more wild pigs. Wild pigs can breed year round. But the main boar breeding season generally begins sometimes in August and lasts till October. There is a secondary mating peak in January depending on weather and the health of the sows. Main farrowing time consequently occurs in January.

How eagerly female boar will breed depends to a great extent on the availability of food. We are talking mainly about mast nuts. A good mast drop usually results in happy, well fed sows ready and eager to make more wild pigs. The more acorn and other mast nuts available, the merrier the sows will be. This results in more litters because young gilts from spring of the same year will start breeding earlier.  Well nourished sows also produce larger litter sizes.

While hunters welcome such good news, ranchers and landowners are less enthused. They see  dollar signs vanishing in uprooted soil and damaged harvest fields.

We do not know yet how good the mast drop will be this year. Yet considering the wet past winter and the relatively moderate summer temperatures in many parts of the state, we expect oak trees and other mast producing trees to provide a good yield - and wild pigs in turn to deliver plenty of goods.

Waning days of summer are a good time for boar hunters to hone their hunting skills by refreshing essential hunting knowledge such as tracking, habitat recognition and hunting techniques. And let us not forget to make a trip to a rifle range in order to practice shooting skills that have been dormant for a while. This is also a good time to assure that the boar rifle is still sighted in correctly. If you change the brand of ammunition, sight in the rifle again using the new ammo. Copper bullets that are required in the Condor Zone of California have a slightly different trajectory than standard projectiles.

Last but not least now is a good time to do some scouting for boar- especially if you are a hunter who likes to strike out on his own or if you are a member of a hunting club. Wild pigs travel a lot and may no longer be where you used to find them. Chances for a successful boar hunt increase dramatically when you are up to date with hunting skills, well versed in habitat recognition and tracking,  and thus know how and where to locate your quarry.

Sounds like a lot of prep work for a boar hunt?
The lazy workaround:
Hunt with a guide, miss out on much of the challenges and excitement hunting wild pigs has to offer.
PJJ