2004-2005 LAKE SONOMA PIG HUNTING

[PIGIG]

Originally posted by buck_t1@Oct 8 2004, 09:18 PM
Pigig, I know in Ca. you can use stands. I ment at lake sonoma park. Sometimes they have their own rules. I have lived here for 39 years and hunting for 27 of them. Iknow the fish and game rules. Thank you, Buck

[Miller, Joel D SPN] Hi Ceicil
According to Congressional Title 36 Section 327.20 (the last sentence) "Portable hunting stands, climbing devices, steps, or blinds, that are not nailed or screwed into trees and are removed at the end of the day's hunt may be used." The one thing to be aware of is that the use of climbing spikes is prohibited under title 36 Section 327.14 (injury of vegetative growth) This restriction is due to the fact that we have documented sudden oak death in the park and do not want anything causing an injury to the trees that could lead to infection.

So the short answer is Yes, you can use stands but you have to use a ladder or free climb up to it.

[Miller, Joel D SPN] -----Original Message-----
From: Cecil Pierce [mailto:cecil@calfly.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 1:56 PM
To: Miller, Joel D
Subject: tree stand update


?
not sure if you got my last email I was having email server problem, so I will make it short

can we use tree stands at Sonoma.

 

[wello]

Do you think the ranger will let me use my 3" knife to kill a big boar or was that not brung up during the meetings?

 

[PIGIG]

i do not think california allows it

but i would like to watch

 

[Backcountry]

Daaaayum! For once my paranoia of how the government works wasn't necessary.

Looks like tree stands are a go!

As for the pocket knife, if you want to play that game, gotta move to Texas... it's an illegal method of take in CA (but I'd also like to watch).

Thanks for straightening everything out PIGIG!

Backcountry

 

[PIGIG]

going up this weekend for some scouting in new area

i think the weather may get things moving all over california

 

[SierraExplorer]

I am a 4-to-1 odd for the 27th 26th of this month. I REALY need to see my 2k5 work schedule.

To say the wife is getting a little fed up with my huntiung habbits this year is to say the least

(she knows and dreads Nov 13-22 already

)

YES- her stomach has been a little bloated the last 4 days

and she was killing me everytime I logged off of JHO to be her toy when I go to bed

.

BUT- I gave the ultimate sacrafice for the quail hunt at Choppers- After a VERY lengthy discussion of witch I said "yes dear" for 20 minuets and her talking on me 200 time to 53 answers of "yes Dear". We now have a 21' Cobalt for sale so we can finish the house and back yard

Bc- I called my work partner (who is more Solid/Dependable that gold) and I can pick up and take his 14' Western w/a 25 hp Merc kicker "anytime" and no notice is needed.

He is gone this Frida-y setting some 450 decoys up north- and when he is free I am taking him to either Jerrys Archery or Waynes at Archery Only to get him set up. He wants a bow set up for and the chance to hunt pigs very much.

We will get him and us squared away very quick!

Thanks Pigig for eveything!!!

-and best wishes in geting the lil one in camo-

Dan

 

[Rangerjoel]

Hi all,
I was just out at the Old Skaggs Springs Road entrance to the park yesterday and saw about 10 pigs just outside the park boundaries. This was around 2:50 p.m. and they were working there way back into the park. (got photos but misplaced them on the hard drive somewhere)
For those of you who do not know how to get to this location, it is about 13 miles out Stewarts Point/ Skaggs Springs Rd. You will cross a tall concrete bridge over a deep gorge. Seven tenths of a mile past that on the right is the turnoff for Old Skaggs Springs Rd. Most of the time the road sign is missing (the neighbors take there privacy very seriously down there) so you just have to look for the right hand turn.
Go all the way to the end of the road and it dead ends at Corps property. You will see a white gate with our boundary markers on it. Go thru the gate and you should be good to hunt.
Good luck!
Joel

 

[Rangerjoel]

Hi all,
I was just out at the Old Skaggs Springs Road entrance to the park yesterday and saw about 10 pigs just outside the park boundaries. This was around 2:50 p.m. and they were working there way back into the park. (got photos but misplaced them on the hard drive somewhere)
For those of you who do not know how to get to this location, it is about 13 miles out Stewarts Point/ Skaggs Springs Rd. You will cross a tall concrete bridge over a deep gorge. Seven tenths of a mile past that on the right is the turnoff for Old Skaggs Springs Rd. Most of the time the road sign is missing (the neighbors take there privacy very seriously down there) so you just have to look for the right hand turn.
Go all the way to the end of the road and it dead ends at Corps property. You will see a white gate with our boundary markers on it. Go thru the gate and you should be good to hunt.
Good luck!
Joel

 

[Rangerjoel]

found the photo and put it here:
http://www.jesseshunting.com/site/iframe.h...ost%2Findex.php

Joel

 

[Backcountry]

I'll post Rangerjoel's picture into the thread;

Folks, that there is the quarry!

I'd also like to add an observation that your pig problem must be SERIOUS! Thanks Rangerjoel for 1) setting up these hunts, 2) making these hunts archery-only so that bowhunters have this great opportunity, 3) expanding the hunting season this year, and 4) being so positively involved with the hunting community.

PIGIG mentioned to me that you're a hunter yourself... have you got a bow yet?

Great job at "spying" on the pigs for us too! You're like a spy on the inside and the pigs have no idea. We'll help ya with your "problem", you can be sure of that.

Cheers

Backcountry

 

[wello]

Now if we can just get some wet stuff on actual hunting day maybe we can sneak up on them

:4 more years: :vote bush:

 

[MikenSoCo]

Any reports out of Lake Sonoma lately?

:

 

[PIGIG]

Well my attempt was genunine but it just did not happen, after becomming manager of my appt. building i think i know what all of you home owners go thurgh. but i did get my kayak's home so it won't be long

 

[Backcountry]

Originally posted by PIGIG@Oct 25 2004, 10:07 AM
Well my attempt was genunine but it just did not happen, after becomming manager of my appt. building i think i know what all of you home owners go thurgh. but i did get my kayak's home so it won't be long

I don't envy that... probably like babysitting, but for grownups.

We'll get back, maybe in a couple weeks?

Backcountry

 

[PIGIG]

Originally posted by Backcountry@Oct 25 2004, 09:16 AM
We'll get back, maybe in a couple weeks?

Backcountry

BC my next 2 weekends are full up

but after that i am clear to go

 

[wello]

Well, here is my report..I am pigless.

I drove up Tues. through a couple hours of extreme down pour and up towards the Old Skaggs Spring location that Ranger Joel was talkin about.. The rain stopped about 20 miles from the park and so it was going to be a good day of pig hunting. The main road was wickedly steep and the storm left the deadend road all but impassable. I can't recommend the spot for people faint at heart. You can tell by the dozens and dozens of No Hunt/ Jail time signs that the locals don't want you there. Between driving over a scary one lane bridge over muddy flood waters, manuavering around pavement washouts, the constant rain dripping off the trees, and them signs, it felt like something out of the movie Deliverance and so lets just say I was pumped and prepaired for anything.The only thing that drove me on to finally get to this place was the huge 3x4 buck I jumped an hour before light about a mile before the gate on the private land. Could also have been the 4x4 buck and then the stalking coyote that was just 100 yards further along. So I get to the gate by that bridge and I am thinking there is no way in hell I am leavin my car outside the gate for some local yoyo to go tinkering with so in I went through until I could go no further. This put me up by the trails that split off to Old Sawmill and Rancheria Creek. Maybe Ranger Joel can say if people are allowed this far in or not by vehicle. No signs say otherwise to me so through the gate like he said in his posting.. After waiting in the dark and then hearing turkeys come off roost down in the creek area I hunted up to the left on a trail overlooking the creek and found some wallow spring areas that were all torn up fresh with plenty of tracks within a few hoursof the rain. I heard one pig sqweelin down below me and then another grunting real close but this happened while waiting for this monster of a buck to turn in order to show me how many points he had. This buck was standing right where I had passed through 5 minutes prior and he was awesome. The horns where all bergundy colored, out more then 8" either side of his ears, and maybe 2 feet high. He turned and ended up being the largest 2x2 I have ever seen on a blacktail. Must have been 30" wide with the tines way out over a foot long and the bases going into his head as thick as my wrists. He put the prior 4x4 and 4x3 I seen in the dark to shame. The pig was nowhere to be found a couple minutes later after the deer took off. I did not end up seeing any pigs there but called in them turkeys with my car door. They came side hilling in all glistening metalic black looking from the rain. There was at least 5 toms in all. Is that a draw up there for turkeys?..
I ended up leavin that area for to find some pigs and but the only pigs I seen all day was to be had only by going through private land. They were on the South side of the main ridge that borders the park. This is the ridge that makes the Warm Springs Arm. I counted 18 pigs spread out over a couple hundred yards in the open and it was 11:30 am. Only 3 were small piglet sized and a few were light colored. Some guys I spoke to later in the day over at Lone Rock said they seen about 20 going up what I believe to be the same ridge earlier in the day so must have been the same pigs.. Looking directly South and down from the highest point of that ridge is where they had seen them and then I seen them over other side maybe 1/4 mile down the ridge to the East. You can see the torn up open area they goto everyday from the Old Skaggs Springs rd. just past someones driveway that has a sign saying "no parking in drive". I backed up a bit farther and backed into someone elses back driveway (green gate)and snapped some photos. If they turn out I will post. Not sure where it turns private but that is where they seem to be. Need a boat to get up into that area and wow it is a steep mother... Did see a couple more bucks before dark and one had its nose down chasing a doe everywhere she went. I watched this for a few minutes before seeing the second larger buck. All in all I seen about 20 deer (5 legal bucks), 5 Tom turkey, 1 coyote, 18 pig, and 2 covey of huge quail. Have fun out there and go get'em!!

 

[PIGIG]

copperjohn and went there last year in the boat! as we looked up we said HELL NO there is no way i going to climb that

but at this point i will crawl on my hands if i have to.

wello thanks for the report

as for the turkey hunt yes it is a draw not sure how to get in it

 

[Rangerjoel]

Hey all,
I was just out at Old Skaggs Springs Rd. around 1:30 pm and came across the same group I mentioned last time. This time they were on Corps property about 200 yards inside the gate and on the other side of the creek. FYI Don’t worry too much about the neighbors out there. Once you go thru the gate you are on park land. Also there is a fence with boundary markers all around that part of the park. So you don’t have to worry about trespassing.
Joel
FYI dont go thru the gate! (I left it open for a contractor and I'd get in big trouble if some one went over the side of the road at "the bad spot")

Got more photos but need to know how to post them.

 

[wello]

Hey Ranger Joel:

You see them 20 pig I was talkin about and or ever talk to them landowners at that spot back farther out on main road?? Maybe they want them pigs gone also. Looks like the land won't hold much longer and it may fall down onto there land or out buidings or something. It is an unmistakable piece of ground that is all torn up, real steep, flat faced looking, and measusres maybe 100x100 yards. Might be Park land but not sure...maybe they will be willing to allow access or cull them a bit with your direct recommendation or oversite of some select JHO guys...
How about that monster 2x2 I seen up that gated road..you ever see that deer? Has bases as fat as a mans wrists.. How easy is it gonna be to get my son in there for a junior hunt next year and could it be a shotgun slug method of take?
Thanx Joel for all your hard work, keep up the good work

 

[Rangerjoel]

Hey Wello,
Your description of the deer reminds me of a song called “the thirty point buck” by the youpers. However, I believe you. The DFG Biologist who manages the deer hunts thinks we’ve got some of the best looking deer in the county (shameless self promotion). As far as asking the neighbors if you can hunt on their land, I’d recommend caution. The landowner out there caught some guys on his land during a DFG shotgun/Deer hunt the year before last and complained to the park manager about it. As a result. I now have that ugly “no hunting” thatched portion of the lake map between Island View campground and Buck Pasture. (oops) Hopefully I’ll be able to argue that one away soon.