Anyone want to get a North Cal pig hunt together?

[Big Bubba Daddy]

Sounds like the JHP crowd had a good time down south last weekend.  Anyone interested in getting something together up north?  

 

[Speckmisser]

Always up for a pig hunt and meeting good people... whatcha got in mind?  

 

[shaginator]

Sounds like fun. What part of n. cal were you thinking about?

 

[Big Bubba Daddy]

I'm new to hunting in Calif guys so I am looking for some assistance putting this together. Most my expierecne comes from hunting in Mich. and land was never a problem there.  I'm game for anywhere from Ft. Ligget up, but I would prefer farther north than Ligget.  I keep hearing there are pigs in Sonoma and the surrounding areas, but it is mostly private land.  

Any suggestions?

 

[yotegetter]

I'm always up for a pig hunt in No. CA. I've heard about some good sign around Hollister in the Clear Creek area. Heard about a couple of guys taking 2 pigs a few weeks ago. It does get hot in that area coming summer time and the pigs find places to hide in the shade.

Any suggestions for other areas?

 

[bubba]

Why don't we go look for "Pig Valley" at Clear Creek.  Maybe we can run into some Mouflon also.

 

[yotegetter]

Sounds good to me. Anyone have any dates in mind? End of next month? I'll be busy for the most part of the end of April and beginning of May.

 

[Speckmisser]

I might be able to wing it next month (barring the Pig-o-rama weekend), but I'll be short notice only.  If I plan it now with the tejon hunt already on the calendar, the home front tends to get in an uproar.  

 

[bubba]

How about May 25th weekend?

 

[yotegetter]

That'll work for me. Hopefully it's not too hot!

 

[Rocketman]

I'm always looking for an excuse to go to Clear Creek. Hopefully I can get down there before the 25th and do some scouting.
Ed

 

[bubba]

Shall we meet on the New Idria side?  Are there places on this side to camp out on? or is this a day trip.  I live about 45 minutes away.  Either method will work for me.

 

[Rocketman]

There are lots of places to camp, just depends how far you want to drive back to pig valley. You could also camp on the road out to San Carlos peak.

 

[shaginator]

The Coalinga Rd. side seems to have more room for a bunch of guys in trucks to meet.

If we do all meet there, I don't know how to get to that Pig Valley place , so I'll need to follow someone while breathing the abestos that gets kicked up... heh.

 

[yotegetter]

Here's a website with general info on Clear Creek for the newbies:

http://www.ca.blm.gov/hollister/clear_cree...ement_area.html


Hey Bubba, you want to throw out some UTM coordinates on where we could meet? I'd like to get there on friday and leave sunday.

So who's in for the hunt?

 

[Rocketman]

If you come in from the Coalinga road side, don't forget about the detour on the Idria side where the road washed out... looks pretty rough but doable with 4WD. The road out to pig valley is real easy to find. Look on the map, it is the road to San Carlos peak.
Ed

 

[bubba]

I guess we can set up on Coalinga Rd. side and drive over mountain to New Idria side.  How is the road driving over the mountain.  Would you take a brand new 2500 HD Crew Cab up this road?

UTM coordinates.  Not sure how or how accurate I would be in giving those.  I think if we go to the above area (coalinga Rd side), we can get a large enough group together not to miss each other.  Maybe some JHP signs.

I probably won't show up until late friday or at the latest early saturday morning.

(Edited by bubba at 10:01 am on April 19, 2002)

 

[Speckmisser]

Hey everyone,

I'd strongly recommend hitting it from the New Idria side.  There's a huge open area right near the gate where you could encamp a small army, and it's open enough that a contained firepit might even be do-able.  If you coordinated meeting times, you could meet up in the New Idria mine town, and head in from there.  The camping area I'm thinking of is easy to spot when you're driving in, and even if you don't hit the one I mention, you'll see a couple of likely areas to set up a group camp.

This area is also pretty close to where I believe "pig valley" is located, so it'd be a good base camp.  Having base camp on the Coalinga side is gonna make for a really inconvenient location...not to mention dealing with a thousand screaming dirt bikes (and some of the yahoos that ride them).

The drive over the mountain from the Coalinga side is slow and irritatingly bumpy, especially now that everything is dry and rock-hard.  It's only appx. 14 miles from the paved Coalinga road to the New Idria Mine, but it takes an awful long time at safe speeds that won't snap torsion bars and shatter your teeth.. not to mention what it'll do to the gear in the back of a truck (this is from experience!).  

If you do want to explore the route, the detour area is not too bad if you have good clearance and skid plates.  2wd would make it if you don't bottom out.  Almost everything is dry as of two weekends ago, with the exception of some seeps down near the bottom on the Idria side.  That mud is slippery, but it's small patches and controlled speed and low gear will get you right over it.

Bubba, your 2500 will do fine if you stick to the main road.  Some of the offroad trails look good, but trust me, they get skinny real fast, and a long wheel-base will be a big problem.  Once again, experience talking here.    I drive a 2500 Dodge quad, and had no problems at all with this road.  The majority of the road on the Coalinga side is very stable and fairly wide.  It's just so washboarded from the dirt bikes and high-speed offroaders that it'll relocate every vertebrae two or three times before you get over.

Not sure yet if I'll be able to make it, but that weekend sounds as good as any to me.  If I get skunked in Tejon, I'll definitely be more likely to show up.  

 

[shooter44]

Sounds good to me.  I drove down to Clear Creek one time. but didn't go too far in.  I've got a mid-size SUV (Montereo) with no winch as was a little worried about getting stuck with no help getting out.  I'd love to meet up with some of you guys and see what's what down there.

 

[bubba]

I think Speckmisser brings up some good points as far as weekenders.  I think the New Idria side sounds more appealing.  There's only one road in and I think it would be hard to miss once in.