Camp Roberts Sat. update

[Speckmisser]

This is sort of bugging me.

I see a lot of you guys bagging your plans based on lots of speculation about a "theoretical" crowd.

However, when I read the reports from the guys who actually hunted, it doesn't sound nearly so bad.

You guys are welcome to bail out of your plans, it matters not to me, but really... I believe some of you are making it out a lot worse than it really is without ever setting foot on the place.

I certainly agree that the potential exists for a problem, but aside from the check-in, the reports I'm seeing from those who were there don't really support the negative comments from those who weren't.

I have only been there once, but I had the chance to see that it truly is a huge place. I can easily see it absorbing 200 people. If there's too much pressure on the "hot spots", then maybe the proper strategy would be to go where the pressure isn't. The pigs have to go somewhere.

Just kinda thinking out loud here, but I hate to see CR get dogpiled before the hunting program even gets all the way off the ground.

 

[Mnfshrman]

Forgive me for saying so because I know I will catch some havoc for it, but I for one wouldn't mind seeing it opened and run like Vandenburg. I know you all are thinking "Your military and thats the only reason you are saying it", but believe me when I say to you that I've been up there and talked with security more than once. For a base that is suppose to be so secure, I can't come to understand how it is that anyone and everyone can enter for this program. Being active duty like I am, I can honestly say that I would love to have a place that is strictly run like Vandenburg with maybe one or two months throughtout the year opening it up to the public. Just my thoughts and I hope I don't get beat down because of it.

David

 

[One Track]

That's kinda what I'm thinking. I'm going to check it out. I was looking at maps yesterday. It's a huge place. I'd like to get away from the bridge and check things out. Let's go, have fun, see some nice country and kill some hogs, Y'all.

 

[USMARINE]

Hey gents, I have been out of the picture lately but when I saw this post I had to chime in. If limiting hunters needs to be done that is one thing but if your going to run things like we do down here at Camp Pendleton your crazy. We have extremly limited hunting because of the huge crowds of people wanting to get on. We use the lottery system and it stinks. I payed for a deer tag this year and chose to hunt on base and was only picked for two days of hunting in areas I had never seen before. Also there are rules like you can't hunt after 3pm and so on. A different system must be developed.
USMARINE

 

[BuckFinder]

Speckmisser, If you have only been to camp roberts once then it was during one of the earlier season hunts. I did not meet you but my partner had the chance of talking with you for awhile. Simply stated- in years passed camp roberts had between 20-80 guys per weekend hunt, with the exception of Dove opener.. Now, we are seeing numbers in excess of hundreds per hunt day! Is internet exposure the cause for this drastic increase?? I don't know...However, I do know that since Boar tracks has posted on this forum there has been a direct correlation to the shear number of hunters visiting camp roberts. I know that if I had read his posts about the quality of hunting at camp roberts, I too would have made a drive to the central coast. The safety issue was raised in that I am a bowhunter and I no longer feel the slightest bit safe along the river. Even if my child was old enough to hunt, I would never expose him to the possible threat of being hurt in my old honey holes...it just isn't worth it. Will guys still continue to kill pigs?? Absolutely..but the days of sneaking up on a group of pigs to within 20 yards to make a shot may be limited...

 

[dreaminhogs]

I hunted CR for the first time this past Saturday in areas 3&4 and while it was a bit crowded I did not experience the issues that some did in the shotgun area. It did seem as time went by the shot activity increased making you wonder if there were people hunting or sighting in their rifles. If there was a system to limit the number of hunters per day by area that may help everyone including the MP at the gun check in. I'm with Speck go out and enjoy yourselves while you still can and don't forget there were 8 pigs taken on Saturday last I heard. Brian

 

[Speckmisser]

Buckfinder,

You're right, I was there in July, before the big influx of hunters, but I'm fully aware of the difference between then and now. Do not disregard an opinion simply because I'm not a "long time Camp Roberts hunter." And I'm not discounting your concerns, either. Just offering some perspective.

Lowell posted here for the express purpose of jump starting the hunting program at CR, because there was a very real possibility that hunting at CR would go away altogether otherwise. He said he could bring in the hunters, and he certainly did. Kudos on a job well-done! Maybe a job done too well?

So you're right again, BuckFinder ... with this level of pressure the "good old days" are probably over forever... especially if you tend to hunt the same honeyholes that you always hunted. I can see the place rapidly turning into another FHL.

Don't get me wrong, though. I'd love to see some controls put in place to make sure CR stays great. I think the program is in a position now to set a standard that will help the quality of the hunt as well as give folks a fair chance at access. It's just going to take constructive effort on the sides of the hunters, the base CO, and the DFG.

Perhaps the archery/shotgun/muzzleloader area is too small to support the number of folks that are now hunting it. Personally, with the advent of 200 yard muzzleloaders and slug guns, I think these weapons should be relegated to the rifle areas...leaving only archery and bird hunters in the close quarters stuff. I believe that would truly speak to your safety concerns (which I generally share, by the way), and provide a better hunting experience for archers.

But, I also found several areas in the rifle zones where an archer or blackpowder hunter would have a pretty good hunt, and there's nothing to say that primitive weapons hunters can't go into the other zones.

Anyway, my biggest point in the previous post was to suggest that maybe all these guys planning to abandon their hunts based on second-hand experience and speculation might be slightly over-reacting. From what I've read, the guys who hunted last weekend generally had a pretty good time.... crowd or no crowd.

It seems to be a common thing on a web forum that when a molehill is mentioned, it rapidly gets blown out of proportion and becomes a full-blown mountain.

 

[Nathan]

I have hunted CR a few times past and present. I do not go that much any more because I can hunt what I want else where without paying for entrance. I hunted there on Sep. 1st 2003. The river was a zoo, but we got back up in the hills and I did not see a sole for a long time. I also saw thousands of birds.

The palce is big. Maybe us Central Coast resident hunters will not have it all to our selves but it is still better than not being able to hunt at CR. The alternative to not getting enough hunters was closing down the program.

Any one that wants their own private hunting retreat is going to have to shell out the money to buy thier own peice of land, or lease a parcel.

We don't want anyone getting shot but what I am hearing is people mad and

because they want to have a privte hunting retreat.

The more people that hunt the better it is for the sport.

Nathan

 

[VHRAM]

I

d sure hate to see this closed to non military. theres so little good public land oppertunitys , I think limiting the #s of people per day or assigning a area would be a better solotion.eric

 

[Hogfever]

Even though I'm in the military I wouldn't want to see CR closed to the public. It's nice to meet people, gives me a sense of what I doing all this for. I think just limiting it to a certain number of hunters per day or even a weekend would be the best bet. Maybe make the zones a little bigger or even break it up into rifle only one weekend, slugs and bows another. I'd sure hate to see this go away. Let's make the best of it and support it however we can. Just my

 

[Mel Carter]

Well, I'm still going to check it out for myself. As Speck said, all posts from the people who went seem to say they had a good time. Future hunts at CR for me will depend on the hunt on the 13th. Whoever else goes, i'll see ya there.

 

[Cda55]

I have to to agree with Hogfever, I've been there 4 times and have never felt crowded. I was at this last hunt and still didn't see too many people. We hunted 1, 3, and 4. I think having a designated amout of people there would be good too. What is the best method of that??????????? I for one, as will anyone in my party, will make sure of their target and will know to the best of their knowledge nothing else is there. In reality, you can't do any more in any other setting. Are the chances higher? Maybe. Who's to say there isn't someone in your direct firing path on the next deer you shoot ?Have any of you hunted D-8 on opening weekend. It's a mess. People everywhere. Do we also limit that? I'm not here to stir the pot at all and if you think that you're wrong. I think CR is a great place to hunt. Should there be changes made? I for one will be there for the hunt 12-13. I'll be camped at the tracks again. Hope to meet you guys there.

 

[BLASTMASTER]

:big grin santa hat: What I can't believe, is that they haven't limited the hunters already. Have you noticed that often, when someone asks about CR, they ask about how many hunters are allowed inside? I've seen some long lines at check-in, and then, later, I wonder where everyone went. CR can absorb alot of hunters, as long as everyone isn't hunting the river. I also think that we've just become acustomed to unlimited numbers, and are spoiled. This is a real easy problem to PREVENT (I say that because the problem is only a potential problem now). There should be limits, and they should be by area. Hundreds of hunters can hunt safely, but not all in the same place. They already have established areas, so place limits on each area, on a first-come first-serve basis, at the time of check-in. It would be easy, and fair. Say, for example, the limit for area 1 is 100 hunters, and area 2 is 150. Print "AREA 1" 20 times on a sheet of paper, and make 5 copies, to make 100 papers. Make 150 papers for area 2, and so forth. As people pay, give them each one paper for the area of thier choice, until they run out. The hunter could carry it with them, showing which area they can hunt. If you want to switch areas, mid-day, you could go back to the check-in and exchange your paper for another area, if there are any left.

CR is my favorite place to hunt pigs! as you can see by the photo (and that's all I have to say about that!)

 

[Rancho Loco]

I just want to repeat - I only felt unsafe in the line to pay. The MP was doing the weapon check-in right there, and like I said, there were alot of people with very poor gun handling skills.

I'm very crowd averse, and was chased out of my first two spots along the river (area 4) by bird hunters, and two very loud talking pig hunters beating the bushes.
I scoped out across the river in seven, and it was just me, alot of sign, pretty country, and tons of quail. Next time I go I'll hit that first, but then again - it might be crawling with people and I have to bail to another spot. After all - it's public land...(shrug)

 

[Boaring]

I find it really funny how people on this site are always willing to give out information and tell people spots to hunt. Do you not realize that thousands of people are reading this info.

As for Camp Roberts it's no wonder that hundreds of people are hunting there every weekend their open. Certain people that post on this site won't shut-up about it. When I first saw the post by Boar Tracks CA I knew that he was going to eventually ruin the pig hunting experience on Camp Roberts. BuckFinder questioned if the recent number of people at Camp Roberts is correlated to the posts by Boar Tracks CA, I think it is in addition to the others that have gone and killed pigs and posted their picts. Why can't peopple go hunting and say I shot a pig on the Central Coast, and not I shot a pig at Camp Roberts and here's the coordinates. You can not have a good hunting trip or experience when there's hundreds of others in the field, few animals and uncertainty in the safety of hunting some areas on base.

I worked at Camp Roberts for 3.5 years in the Environmental Office. I spent most days conducting surveys on wildlife. It seems very unsafe to me that there's that many people walking through the vegetation in the river with shotguns and slugs. Those slugs are very heavy and have the potential to travel through the brush a very long ways. In addition, the numbers of pigs on base have had to decrease since this advertisement of Camp Roberts by some. How long do you think the hunting will be the way it was or is?

The internet is going to ruining hunting for all of us. A big problem that I see is that people are now allowed to apply for out of state big game hunts via the internet and pay by credit card. This is going to make things to easy for people and the number of applicants for these already "hard to get hunts" is going to get out of hand. If you don't have bonus points then you may never get drawn for some of the really tough hunts.

Dwayne

 

[Speckmisser]

Dwayne,

I won't knock your concerns, as you're welcome to your opinion. However, I disagree to a large extent.

Sharing the location of a place like Camp Roberts is a lot different from sharing the location of a specific honey hole. It's a big place, and now more open to the public than it used to be. There are now, and will continue to be, isolated honey holes available there to those who seek them out and keep them secret. But it's just selfish to want to keep a huge piece of public property like that locked up to only a limited few hunters who happen to be "in the know".

Yes, that does mean the hunting won't be the same for those who always treated it like a private club. It was a well-kept secret and now the secret is out. I can't say I feel real sorry for those folks who had it so good for so long, though. You had a good run. Glad you enjoyed it. Now it's time for other folks to enjoy a little too.

By the way, without the posts from BoarTracks CA, the hunting program at Camp Roberts might very well have shut down altogether. My understanding, and Lowell can correct me if I'm wrong, is that the CO was considering putting a halt to public hunting on base due to the expense of administration and general lack of public interest. By promoting the base on this site and other places, Lowell was able to get the program running at a more sustainable level.

It's a trade-off, I guess. The quality of the hunt will certainly be somewhat degraded by the crowds, but at least there's still a hunt.

 

[BirdDawg]

Well spoken spec.....but after reading all this I won't be hunting there any more.....but then, I never hunted there anyways....LOL....good luck this weekend and get a big one.

 

[Shot]

Speck well said. I do agree that Boar Tracks had a big part in the number of people that hunted CR last time, but if it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't find out about it. And also if it wasn't for him the place would close down and all you wold hear is people bitching about how there are less and less places to hunt. It might be a crowed places but like speck said there are honey holes there. I mean there were more than 200 hunters and only 8+ (don't know exactly) pigs were taken, thats not a big succes rate. Some people didn't even see any pigs.

 

[Boar Tracks CA]

I can't understand why some of you are so greedy. My job as a SOLDIER is to promote the hunting and fishing program at Camp Roberts, and cordinate between the Army, Enviro, and DFG, and I will not shut up.Hey B.E. your a guide how many times do you hunt CR?You are always saying that you used to work for enviro at CR, so what. CR enviro does just about nothing to promote the hunting program, ecept issue G 9 tags. The only thing keeping the hunting program open at CR is the public(hunter numbers). So all you local

hunters, Take a good look at Blastmasters photo. A dad and his girl enjoying a great hunt as a family. They might have not heard of CR if I had not post. I'm doing my job that I'm being paid to do, and I'm proud of the out come.

 

[Nathan]

Hey,

Boar Tracks I am proud of what you have done for Camp Roberts and as a Solider and I am one of the local guys who was hunting CR before it was popular. I think may people realize that the program numbers had to increas to remain active. Thanks Boar Tracks.

I thought this Dwayne might be the guy who post under Boaring might be the same guy that post under BoaringExpGuide. I was trying to verify this by reading his past post. I think it is the same guy. If so why the name change?

Are you hiding something Boaring??

From his past post and this one I think Dwayne is only out to portect his own interest and is not looking to add anything to this board. He thought this was a good advertising tool.

Guys who don't help non hunters get started hunting are only helping the anti's outlaw hunting.