DFG Special-Carrizo Plains Eco Res.

[antuanjackson]

Got the draw for this hunt, anyone have any info? Suggestions? I'm gonna use my 20gge w/some new 3in sabot slugs- little bored w/the rifle hunting and want to make this an intimate experience...

 

[BoarHntr76]

Expect to be dissappointed for wild pigs but bring a shot gun with lots of shells as there are lots of quails and rabbits.

 

[antuanjackson]

Well that sucks - I was really hoping it would be a good area, nontheless, I will search - let me know where to find some of these covey's and of course where to look for Mr.Cottontail...

 

[BoarHntr76]

Mr. Jackson,

I hunted the Carrizo Plains Eco. Reserve last year and that place has very few wild pigs, only transient passing through. I was told by DFG Warden at the check-in station that the last pig taken there was like 5 or 6 years ago. The area is huge, but make sure you have a 4 X 4 because the road is slippery with the recent rain. Drive to the back side where the you see the huge grassy areas, huge coveys of quails and wabbits everywhere just walk around. Hope this helps.

 

[antuanjackson]

Sweet, damn - I'm never gonna get me a public land pig.lol OK, sounds good, I'm hoping this is on the So Chimineas unit, that's where I'm drawn for - I may if time permits hit the Los Padres Nat'f Forrest and do some searching there, but some stuffed quail or smothered rabbit does sound good...

 

[madsonfan63]

I was drawn as well, and have never hunted the area before. I talked to a game warden that is familiar with this area, and was told that there is a fair population of pigs in this area. And in his opinion, the average hunter has a pretty good chance at getting a pig. It would be intresting to find out how many pigs were taken on this hunt last year. I have a very hard time believing that the last time a pig was taken there was 5 or 6 years ago. If the success rate is so bad, I do not think the DFG would continue to put hunts together in this area. Generally hunts like these are to control populations of wild pigs.

 

[BoarHntr76]

So, what's the story? Did either one of you get or seen a wild pig? DFG should not even mention wild pigs because there are none.

 

[Batch61]

What hunt is this drawing for? When was the draw?

 

[easymoney]

"I talked to a game warden that is familiar with this area, and was told that there is a fair population of pigs in this area. And in his opinion, the average hunter has a pretty good chance at getting a pig. It would be intresting to find out how many pigs were taken on this hunt last year. I have a very hard time believing that the last time a pig was taken there was 5 or 6 years ago. If the success rate is so bad, I do not think the DFG would continue to put hunts together in this area. Generally hunts like these are to control populations of wild pigs. "

Unless I'm mistaken, the real reason for wild pig hunt tags is to raise money. Years ago there was no fee and hunting was 365 & 24/7 and the population has only grown since then and the fees have skyrocketed as well.
That being said, the Carrizo Plains much like other "public" land is marginal at best for wild pig habitat. The adjacent private ranches have the prime habitat, food sources and most if not all of the reliable water sources.
I have hunted the Carrizo for decades and it has been better, there were even chukar in the hills. But, like most things managed by the government, it has gone down hill even though the money and staffing have grown.
The DFG itself mentions and allows professional writers to mention successes on public land because it stimulates lic and tags sales. Now if they showed a map of public land open to hunting and these so called successes marked on that map vs private property successes, the reality of the extremely low success rate would put a slow down on those tag sales. Check out the DFG site for numbers of pig tags sold and the numbers of hogs taken.
This is very similar to the DFG tactic touting higher hunting successes and higher herd counts for the elk hunts for the La Panza hunts... There are only 24 tags total sold for this zone annually.
The total tags sold in CA for elk is only in the 300's and the numbers of applicants is around 22,000... You do the math...

 

[LAOutdoorsman]

Hunted So Chiminease unit in early Dec. I was determined to hunt pig even after the negative feedback of how dry it is. And sure enough i hardly found a couple of old tracks and old scat. Spoke with the ranch hand who was a friend of a friend and he said there may be a handful left that he runs into at nights . We worked our buts off looking for pigs and all we kept running into were coveys of quail with rifles in our hand . Whoever targeted quail did great.

 

[DFGELK]

I must take offense to anyone who says DFG inflates the counts or success rates for the la panza elk hunts. Anyone is welcome to come in and view the tag returns. There are a lot of elk in that area, some times they are on the public land and some times they are not. We have data showing they use the public land ALOT, but hunting is hunting and things change. Last year they were very successful on the public land, this year not so much. You will see that in the results we post each year. Overall our elk hunts have very good success compared to most other states. Yes, they are a very tough draw. At the same time they are a tough draw does not mean that a trophy elk will be standing outside the tent in the morning waiting to be shot. Many are very tough hunts, many people are successful some are not. We even state in the Big Game digest for La Panza "low probability of hunter success." I do not see how we are misrepresenting anything. But to say we flat out lie about the counts or success is just way off base. Feel free to give me a call or come by and look at the tag returns. When its zero we say zero, when its 100% we say 100%. Does not matter how many people put in for tags, my program gets the same amount of money and I am the one that publishes hunt results. The unit biologist who does counts does not get more money for his program or a new radio if he sees "more". 916 445-9992

Joe

 

[Boaring]

DFGELK said: "But to say we flat out lie about the counts or success is just way off base."

I'm not saying that DFG does this, but here's a good one that left me questioning all past and future DFG statistics.

A friend drew a CA sheep hunt. The success said the previous year was 100%. My friend didn't know the previous year's tag holder, but over the course of researching his hunt out he found him. After a call to him he learned that he was not successful during the previous year's sheep hunt. My friend call DFG's sheep biologist to find out why the success has been posted as 100% for the previous year, when in fact the hunter did not get one. The biologist said the previous year's data was not available so they used the year before that, but they posted it in the "Tracks" magazine as the previous year's hunt statistics.

I use these hunting data for my hunt planning and if they are contrived or made up then they're useless for me and likely others.

So to say DFG "flat-out" lies about this stuff may be off base, but people within DFG have been known to stretch things a bit, which is clearly evident by my example.

 

[easymoney]

DFGELK said: "But to say we flat out lie about the counts or success is just way off base."
I never said you or the DFG lies.
I meant no direspect to you or any warden, my point was the DFG is in a business and promotion is part of how the DFG does this business. Some of the publications the DFG prints has articles, stories and photos that are part of this promotion to stimulate tag and lic sales. Just like the way the DFG sells advertising space to private advertisers in the regulation booklets. It is business and money is what it is all about. And painting a rosie picture just sells more tags. That is all I meant...

 

[DFGELK]

I really do not want to split hairs but your exact words were "This is very similar to the DFG tactic touting higher hunting successes and higher herd counts for the elk hunts for the La Panza hunts..." To me that says I am posting higher success rates and herd counts than I know to be true, which in fact is not true. I can not answer the sheep question but if you tell me the year, the hunt, and who you talked to (if you can remember, there are people from the Regions working on sheep and people in Sacramento so not sure who you talked to) I can look into it. I am saying my program (elk and antelope) have never knowingly reported a higher success rate or population count. There is really nothing to gain by it. Yes fish and game gives examples of hunters being successful. Believe it or not some hunters are actually successful hunting in California and have a good time. Not saying that is the case all the time but it happens pretty often. Nothing I have ever printed or written or said was ever intended to create more applications for the tags. It does not affect my budget or my pay. We have some really good elk hunts and people should know that, but the bottom line is they are a pretty tough draw by any standard. I am doing my best to open up new hunts when feasible. The last thing I would ever do would be to " touting higher hunting successes and higher herd counts ..."

Joe

 

[antuanjackson]

I got the draw to hunt So Chimineas unit, excellent quail and cottontail but no pig signs, NOTHING I'm gonna focus on the Lake Co area for my public land hog, it's my new focus in life but again, great place for quail, rabbit and coyotes.

 

[BoarHntr76]

So how many wabbits and quails did you get? I have seen huge coveys of quails last year, just too far of a drive for quail hunting, so I did not apply this year. Good luck on getting that first public pig, that may take a few years, unless you hook up with L2H since he's the public pig hunting pro.

 

[hank4elk]

You can take it as you wish DFG, but there ain't many pigs in that area anymore. And the elk , well let's just say I got an eyefull on a PLM tag and found the skulls of those bulls you guys brought in to help the gene pool... with sawed off racks, released during the season. Not when all the bulls have dropped there's. The poor things never had a chance, gored. You guys are on top of your game. And you don't help the ones that do draw elk get them out without the meat spoiling, in an area you have only access. DFG is a joke.

 

[antuanjackson]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BoarHntr76 @ Jan 12 2009, 10:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

So how many wabbits and quails did you get? I have seen huge coveys of quails last year, just too far of a drive for quail hunting, so I did not apply this year. Good luck on getting that first public pig, that may take a few years, unless you hook up with L2H since he's the public pig hunting pro.[/b]

I ended up w/ 3 quail and 2 rabbit, but missed and missed countless others...I'm gonna get that hog, watch I've got some good intel for the Lake area and as usual will set up near private land and hope to ambush!!!!!!

 

[DFGELK]

Sorry you feel that way. Those animals released from Tupman had to be taken out of the fenced enclosure, they were starving to death there. Supplemental food was put out by the Park Departments (who runs Tupman Tule Elk State Reserve) but the elk were not in great shape. We gave them a chance to live, some did, some did not. Any time you take an animal out of a fenced enclosure there is the possibility it is not going to make it. They are soft animals, not use to being on their own or running, etc. They are not in the best shape. The elk at Tupman are in the worse shape of any of the fenced enclosures. The cows released had a much better survival rate. All the cows released at Grizzly Island were accounted for several months after release and most of the cows survived at La Panza. I think one or two may have not made it. Bulls are always a tough scenario, they wonder much more and are not accepted into the cow group and other bulls have established their dominance (for the most part). The release was not done just to mix genes (although that is always a bonus when putting tule elk into new areas). They were moved because there was way to many animals at the enclosure at Tupman. We wanted to get the bulls out before the rut (I believe it was May, 2007) so they at least had a chance to become familiar with the area they were released in. La Panza is the closest place and we released them on DFG property. I will be the first to admit that surival rate was not that good, I estimated around 50% a few months after release. But without moving those animals, more would have died in the enclosure. Antlers have to be sawn off when the animals are put into the trailers, otherwise they will hurt each other.


Joe

 

[hank4elk]

Good luck with the pigs guys. I've been around alot as Easy has, and you might get a late mover or just lucky. They're aren't many any more in SLO county on public land.