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HOG STATUS IN CALIFORNIA -- matthews-ONS -- 03dec09
DFG needs to enlist wild hog hunters to address pork problem
By JIM MATTHEWS OutdoorNewsService.com
Hog numbers are down throughout the heart of California's wild hog hunting region and hunting opportunity is declining. The people who know wild hogs best -- the state's hog hunting guides -- are ticking off three primary reasons for the declines and loss of hunter opportunity: drought-reduced food availability for wild pigs, predation on hogs, and depredation slaughter by private farmers and public agencies trying to reduce hog numbers and the impacts they have on their property.
Hunters could be doing that last job, but the Department of Fish and Game has refused to address the key problem faced by farmers and public agencies that would allow them to use hunters as a solution.
DROUGHT IMPACTS: "I'm just about out of the hog business," said Gus Harden, owner of Cross Country Outfitters guide service and Shoot the Moon gun shop in Paso Robles. "We're just not booking hunters because we don't have the pigs right now."
Harden said most farmers in the Central Coast region, where the most hogs are taken each year by hunters in the state, are simply not growing barley or other crops because of drought, high fuel prices, and low grain prices. Farmers who do not have access to water for irrigation have mostly given up planting crops for at least the past two years, and dry land barley was a huge food source for Central Coast hogs.
Operations that do have irrigated pastures have concentrated numbers of hogs and continue to have very good hunting, but this is because these areas have attracted all the hogs from a wide area. Doug Roth at Camp 5 Outfitters, also in Paso Robles, said he still had barley fields and a lot of pigs using those fields.
"Our hunting is real good, but area-wide pig numbers are way down from what I'm hearing from other guides," said Roth.
PREDATION: Brady Daniels, who has dual credentials, is both a working biologist and he runs Cal-Quest Outfitters out of his Santa Maria office. He points out the overall hog decline is about more than just a shortage of forage. Yes, acorn crops have been bad for several years in many areas. Yes, the drought has cut back on wild grass and forb growth. Yes, fewer farmers are planting crops. But it's also about predators.
"The days of eight to 10 piglet litters are gone in some areas," said Daniels. "The coyotes have figured it out and they pack up during piglet time and ambush them in open country. They've got it wired. The sows never end up with more piglets than they have legs to hide behind. I haven't seen a sow with more than three or four piglets to wean in a long time."
Daniels also has a ranch with irrigated pastures and a lot of hogs, but he has reduced the number of pigs he's shooting with clients and is focusing on the seeming surplus of mature boars in the herds he's seeing in the Santa Ynez Valley where he hunts out of Buellton.
Even the Department of Fish and Game's own data show that hog harvest is down. In the ten-year period from 1995 through 2004, nearly 6,000 wild hogs per year were reported taken by hunters in California. During the following three years, 2005 through 2007, the average was 4,800 hogs per year -- a 20 percent decline.
Both of these cycles can change with better weather and economic conditions, and pig numbers will rebound. But the last problem is the most onerous.
HOG DEPREDATION: This problem negatively affects both hogs and hog hunters. An increasing number of farmers growing food crops are getting depredation permits for hogs and trying to wipe out whole herds. Everyone from wine grape producers to vegetable growers is on the rampage against hogs. Not only are the pigs destroying crops, but the mere possibility that wild hogs could be part of the e-coli problem that has plagued farmers in this state means simply that growers are not tolerating wild animals in their fields at all. In the past, farmers were usually been willing to let hogs or deer munch or a few heads of lettuce, spinach leaves, or grapes, but not where e-coli is concerned. An e-coli outbreak can put them out of business.
The new zero-tolerance policy stems back to an e-coli outbreak in 2006. This event caused the death of three people and made over 200 people ill enough to be hospitalized. The outbreak was traced to a spinach field in San Benito County and most news reports placed the blame squarely on wild hogs, even though the true source of the e-coli could not be definitively determined.
Wild hogs are also blamed for at least $1.3 million annually in crop depredations according to U.C. Davis, and even more costs because of destroyed fencing, water lines, and landscaping (think golf courses getting rooted up).
Since the 2006 e-coli outbreak, applications for depredation permits for all big game have increased, and more and more land is being wildlife-fenced to keep all big game out.
This restricts wildlife from some of the state's most productive habitat (both cultivated and the adjoining natural areas also fenced). Between depredation killing and loss of habitat, many biologists believe this is the biggest part of the equation in dropping overall hog numbers and reduced hunter opportunity.
THE HUNTER SOLUTION: You'd think that with all the problems wild hogs cause, hunters would be welcomed on these lands with open arms. But even local water agencies, cities, and counties see hunters as a bigger potential problem than the hogs, primarily because of liability concerns. A hunter who breaks his leg on a private ranch or water district ground could file a lawsuit and end up owning the ranch or getting millions of dollars in damages.
You can place the blame squarely the DFG for hunters not being allowed on these lands and used to help public and private entities protect their property from wild hogs. If the DFG did its job effectively, they could build a partnership between hunters and these landowners, saving the wildlife habitat while providing relief from the wild hog problems. It would save the private landowners and agencies money, while generating even more income for the DFG.
The Department collected nearly $1 million in wild hog hunting tags fees for the 2008-09 hunting season, but hog hunters get nothing in return for this contribution to the DFG. But we could and should.
With that kind of money available from hog tags, you'd think the DFG could afford to purchase a liability insurance policy and enroll private landowners and government agencies in a program that would allow licensed hunters to participate in liability-free depredation hunts. The hog tag money would also allow them to fund two or three full-time staff people who do nothing but make these contacts, negotiate deals, and set and monitor the hunting programs.
The DFG should refuse to give a depredation permit to any landowner or agency that could have a public hunting program. It should refuse to allow game-proof fencing that cuts off wildlife corridors and restricts access to good wildlife habitat. If it acted aggressively, it would save or generate money for everyone involved and increase opportunity for hunters in California.
Why not use the pork to reduce the pork?
DFG needs to enlist wild hog hunters to address pork problem
By JIM MATTHEWS OutdoorNewsService.com
Hog numbers are down throughout the heart of California's wild hog hunting region and hunting opportunity is declining. The people who know wild hogs best -- the state's hog hunting guides -- are ticking off three primary reasons for the declines and loss of hunter opportunity: drought-reduced food availability for wild pigs, predation on hogs, and depredation slaughter by private farmers and public agencies trying to reduce hog numbers and the impacts they have on their property.
Hunters could be doing that last job, but the Department of Fish and Game has refused to address the key problem faced by farmers and public agencies that would allow them to use hunters as a solution.
DROUGHT IMPACTS: "I'm just about out of the hog business," said Gus Harden, owner of Cross Country Outfitters guide service and Shoot the Moon gun shop in Paso Robles. "We're just not booking hunters because we don't have the pigs right now."
Harden said most farmers in the Central Coast region, where the most hogs are taken each year by hunters in the state, are simply not growing barley or other crops because of drought, high fuel prices, and low grain prices. Farmers who do not have access to water for irrigation have mostly given up planting crops for at least the past two years, and dry land barley was a huge food source for Central Coast hogs.
Operations that do have irrigated pastures have concentrated numbers of hogs and continue to have very good hunting, but this is because these areas have attracted all the hogs from a wide area. Doug Roth at Camp 5 Outfitters, also in Paso Robles, said he still had barley fields and a lot of pigs using those fields.
"Our hunting is real good, but area-wide pig numbers are way down from what I'm hearing from other guides," said Roth.
PREDATION: Brady Daniels, who has dual credentials, is both a working biologist and he runs Cal-Quest Outfitters out of his Santa Maria office. He points out the overall hog decline is about more than just a shortage of forage. Yes, acorn crops have been bad for several years in many areas. Yes, the drought has cut back on wild grass and forb growth. Yes, fewer farmers are planting crops. But it's also about predators.
"The days of eight to 10 piglet litters are gone in some areas," said Daniels. "The coyotes have figured it out and they pack up during piglet time and ambush them in open country. They've got it wired. The sows never end up with more piglets than they have legs to hide behind. I haven't seen a sow with more than three or four piglets to wean in a long time."
Daniels also has a ranch with irrigated pastures and a lot of hogs, but he has reduced the number of pigs he's shooting with clients and is focusing on the seeming surplus of mature boars in the herds he's seeing in the Santa Ynez Valley where he hunts out of Buellton.
Even the Department of Fish and Game's own data show that hog harvest is down. In the ten-year period from 1995 through 2004, nearly 6,000 wild hogs per year were reported taken by hunters in California. During the following three years, 2005 through 2007, the average was 4,800 hogs per year -- a 20 percent decline.
Both of these cycles can change with better weather and economic conditions, and pig numbers will rebound. But the last problem is the most onerous.
HOG DEPREDATION: This problem negatively affects both hogs and hog hunters. An increasing number of farmers growing food crops are getting depredation permits for hogs and trying to wipe out whole herds. Everyone from wine grape producers to vegetable growers is on the rampage against hogs. Not only are the pigs destroying crops, but the mere possibility that wild hogs could be part of the e-coli problem that has plagued farmers in this state means simply that growers are not tolerating wild animals in their fields at all. In the past, farmers were usually been willing to let hogs or deer munch or a few heads of lettuce, spinach leaves, or grapes, but not where e-coli is concerned. An e-coli outbreak can put them out of business.
The new zero-tolerance policy stems back to an e-coli outbreak in 2006. This event caused the death of three people and made over 200 people ill enough to be hospitalized. The outbreak was traced to a spinach field in San Benito County and most news reports placed the blame squarely on wild hogs, even though the true source of the e-coli could not be definitively determined.
Wild hogs are also blamed for at least $1.3 million annually in crop depredations according to U.C. Davis, and even more costs because of destroyed fencing, water lines, and landscaping (think golf courses getting rooted up).
Since the 2006 e-coli outbreak, applications for depredation permits for all big game have increased, and more and more land is being wildlife-fenced to keep all big game out.
This restricts wildlife from some of the state's most productive habitat (both cultivated and the adjoining natural areas also fenced). Between depredation killing and loss of habitat, many biologists believe this is the biggest part of the equation in dropping overall hog numbers and reduced hunter opportunity.
THE HUNTER SOLUTION: You'd think that with all the problems wild hogs cause, hunters would be welcomed on these lands with open arms. But even local water agencies, cities, and counties see hunters as a bigger potential problem than the hogs, primarily because of liability concerns. A hunter who breaks his leg on a private ranch or water district ground could file a lawsuit and end up owning the ranch or getting millions of dollars in damages.
You can place the blame squarely the DFG for hunters not being allowed on these lands and used to help public and private entities protect their property from wild hogs. If the DFG did its job effectively, they could build a partnership between hunters and these landowners, saving the wildlife habitat while providing relief from the wild hog problems. It would save the private landowners and agencies money, while generating even more income for the DFG.
The Department collected nearly $1 million in wild hog hunting tags fees for the 2008-09 hunting season, but hog hunters get nothing in return for this contribution to the DFG. But we could and should.
With that kind of money available from hog tags, you'd think the DFG could afford to purchase a liability insurance policy and enroll private landowners and government agencies in a program that would allow licensed hunters to participate in liability-free depredation hunts. The hog tag money would also allow them to fund two or three full-time staff people who do nothing but make these contacts, negotiate deals, and set and monitor the hunting programs.
The DFG should refuse to give a depredation permit to any landowner or agency that could have a public hunting program. It should refuse to allow game-proof fencing that cuts off wildlife corridors and restricts access to good wildlife habitat. If it acted aggressively, it would save or generate money for everyone involved and increase opportunity for hunters in California.
Why not use the pork to reduce the pork?
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