Just thought I'd post this in to refute Bruce's claim about using a guide as being too expensive.

[spectr17]

Most of my hog hunts this year were to FHL (Fort Hunter Liggett), 5 trips. FHL is about the best public land success I've seen in CA unless you have a sweet honey hole somewhere that isn't well known.

$100 FHL yearly hunt permit

$750 for gas, $150 roughly for diesel @ $4.10 gal per trip x 5 trips. One trip with guide to same area would be $150 and I wouldn't be driving all over in my truck hunting and scouting

$750 for Gibbs Hall lodging. Some guides have a cabin or camp area so this is hard to compare. There is a campground at FHL for $10 a night so it's almost a wash on lodging. I like the motel thing sometimes and do the camper thing other times.

$100 for food each trip approx. Some guides will feed you lunch and sometimes even supper and breakfast. On your own you're buying everything.

No guide vs guide knowing where pigs are and more than likely a shot the same day arrive. Some public places take years to learn so you can't say when someone will get a hog on public land. I know guys who've hunted FHL for years and haven't taken a pig. I also know a guy who shot a pig on his first and 2nd trip to FHL, he is the exception and had someone with him who knew the fort and put him right on the hogs.

Time is money. FHL is about a 5 hour ride for me one way and to get the best area you'll need to take Friday off to get to the window to get a good pig area before they close at 5pm. If you live closer than maybe just a half a day. With a guide you can roll in FRi night or get there earlier with many of them and hunt Friday afternoon/evening. Your call.

Guides also will teach you some tricks to hog hunting, public land is OJT. The learning curve is much steeper on your own. Guides will many times gut, skin and even package your hog for an extra charge. Some will gut it for free. If you've never done it before it's worth it to watch to see how to do it next time. Maybe even jump in to help to get your hands on training. What is that meat processing knowledge worth? I've seen some good pork wasted by a few newbies who didn't know where to cut or to keep the piss sack from exploding all over the hams. Guides usually have a cooler to hang the meat if you're staying the night, on public land you need a big cooler and lots of ice or you get to race home to the butcher. Something many don't want to do after a midnight recovery and skinning session. A nice cold one and shower and bed sound a lot better at that time.

Bottom line

$575 for sure thing vs $1000+ for a maybe, depending on your luck and how fast you can learn the public areas. If it takes 3 years to kill a public land hog, do the math, now you're into several thousand dollars.

Which one is cheaper again?

 

[TonyS]

Thank you Jesse.

 

[Farmerdoug]

Thank you Jesse.

Yes sir.....That there is reality....No B.S...No ifs, ands, or buts....Thanks, Jesse...The one thing that people can't put in perspective is the price per pound. If we only knew what the price per pound was, nobody would hunt. It's not about the price, it's about the memories. I live for pictures and memories. I can't take money to the grave. However, my kids can tell my grandchildren about the time they went hunting with Grand-dad and shot the big boar or buck. That's what it's all about. Not the price. Someday my grandkids will inherit my trophy collection with the picture book and stories to match. That's what a hunting legacy is all about. Guilds play a big roll for those of us who weren't born with the silver spoon and the luxury of owning good hunting ground.

 

[baco]

Its not cheap either way, its just a choice on what you want to do. Some of us are there for the kill and others are into the hunt. To each their own

 

[leftyhunter]

One way to think about hunting hogs on public land is its an excuse to scout for deer. Otherwise Jesse is right I am taking my son on a guided pig hunt this Aug.

Leftyhunter

 

[catchdog]

There is no sure thing even with a guide if your not in a high fence. But it sure ups your odds. Nothing wrong with using a guide, and nothing wrong with DIY. It's your time. money and hunt do it the way you want.

 

[Caninelaw]

Either way pretty expensive for an invasive non-native species that is supposed to be (by media reports - especially in the San Diego County area) destroying our very way of life....just sayin'...

 

[Shoobee]

Fort Hunter Liggett has a great hunting guide program. Well worth it. Not very expensive compared to guided private ranch hunts. And they are allowed to go anywhere they want, so they usually go where the crowds are not and the bucks are hiding.

 

[db 183]

I think the price is pretty comparable. I pay my guide 500 for the guide fee and then 150 kill fee if I kill one. That is $650 if I am successful. My guide, guts, skins and prepares your meat for the butcher. I have a fully cleaned and ready carcass when I leave there. Gas is probably 75 bucks there and back, so that brings me up to $825. Butchering is $100 for just a cut and wrapped animal. If I get sausages and hams (which I usually do) I can end up paying $200 to $300 depending on how big and how much sausage I make. The hotel is $100 for the night. Lunch/Breakfast/Snacks/Sodas - $30. So my guided experience costs me $1055 minimum to $1355 if I get a big pig and have lots of sausage made.

Either way, the end result is comparable costs, but with the guide, I get access to PRIME habitat and he ALWAYS puts me on pigs, ALWAYS. To me that is the big difference.

 

[db 183]

Another thing I forgot to mention Jesse, is that I am disabled and the guides have the equipment to get me in and out of the prime spots. We often use their quads to get to good spots which minimizes the hike on my weakened legs. Also, the guides usually carry in a chair and shooting sticks for me. Without these, I would have a hard time making any kind of shot. So in addition to the prime habitat access, very high likliehood of getting on hogs, I also get the extra help I need to be successful. Can't really put a price on that.

I agree with you that the costs are comparable and actually might even be cheaper to hire a guide. And with that comes a certain amount of help for people who are disabled like myself.

 

[Live2hunt]

There are benefits and losses to both private land guided hunts and public land DIY hunts. To each their own of preference. Just speaking from my 20+ years of investment into CA hog hunt.

Private Land, you pay a higher price for each hunt and usually bring home the bacon on almost every outing. Cheaper and good for people who only take a few hunt trips a year. Not much hard work in terms of burning boot leather and backpacking out heavy loads of meat from a hell hole. I still pay and do a couple of these hunts every year.

Public Land, you start with higher expense before you can laid eyes on a hog or kill one. For people who are pretty much out in the field whenever off work, it is worth the investment once you've done enough homework and discovered honey holes. For people who are in good physical shape and have no problem burning boot leathers and packing out the kill a few miles back to the truck. Some hunts like in FHL can be just as good as guided on private land. Once you discovered the honey holes, it makes the $500 guided private land hunts real expensive, but it is not an easy accomplishment. It took me about 7+ years of 20-30 outings per year to get the puzzle together.

 

[Shoobee]

I think the price is pretty comparable. I pay my guide 500 for the guide fee and then 150 kill fee if I kill one. That is $650 if I am successful. My guide, guts, skins and prepares your meat for the butcher. I have a fully cleaned and ready carcass when I leave there. Gas is probably 75 bucks there and back, so that brings me up to $825. Butchering is $100 for just a cut and wrapped animal. If I get sausages and hams (which I usually do) I can end up paying $200 to $300 depending on how big and how much sausage I make. The hotel is $100 for the night. Lunch/Breakfast/Snacks/Sodas - $30. So my guided experience costs me $1055 minimum to $1355 if I get a big pig and have lots of sausage made.

Either way, the end result is comparable costs, but with the guide, I get access to PRIME habitat and he ALWAYS puts me on pigs, ALWAYS. To me that is the big difference.

I am lucky in that I am able to do all this myself and on public lands.

Having found a good spot after several years of "scouting" several zones, A, Bs, Cs, and Ds, I now call my spot Shangri La (see photo).

It is up the side of a mountainous ridge line, north of the road, and down on the other side, into any one of 3 verdent dales with springs, streams, and ponds.

So no guide fees. But it did take awhile to find it. I used topo maps and logic to find it. Where would I go if I was a buck? That's what I found out.

Now it takes me 2 1/2 hours to drive there from my doorstep in the suburbs of the cityscape. Gas costs about $40 bucks one way, $80 round trip, to get there and back again. No road hunting. Just drive, and park, then camp out next to my vehicle.

Then I will backpack up into the high meadows, with a modern pup tent, and wake up Saturday morning of opening day and search with my binos. After the first day I move over to the next dale. After the next day I move over to the third dale. There is a 4th dale to the north as well, but I have always gotten a buck there within 3 days of a backpack hunt.

The hard part is dragging out the buck over 2 or 3 miles back to the jeep cherokee sport. But fortunately the dragging is all downhill.

That's why you need to be in shape for it. Not a couch potato. And you need a dragging rope.

It is a mile up over the ridgeline, to the first dale, then about a mile between dales from there.

I also do not try for really big ones. Any 2x2 or 3x3 is good enough for me. They are younger and the meat is better anyway.

Sometimes I will see horsemen go by. But never any other hunters on foot besides me. No other backpackers either.

 

[Shoobee]

Butchering I also prefer to do myself. Its not hard. Just start by quartering-off the shoulders. Then saw in half the spine. Then quarter-off the hams.

Then you simply separate all the muscles from each other, and wrap those. I don't like to remove the silverskin until just before preparing meals. The silverskin keeps the meat fresh. No sense in removing it or the fat too soon.

 

[db 183]

Shoobee -

I was referring to hogs. However for my deer hunts, I don't use a guide. I have my spots that I have spent several years finding and figuring out the patterns of the deer. But since you did bring up deer, I have done similar comparisons to what I pay each year in food, fuel, camping fees, etc and I find that I spend about $1500 to $2000. So I probably save a little money in the deer area over hiring a guide. However, I will say that hiring a deer guide probably just about guarantees a shot where I can't say that about my DIY deer hunts.

Re: butchering - I usually butcher my own animals too, but last year, I spoiled myself by taking them to the butcher. In the case of the hogs and curing the hams and making the sausages, it was well worth the money since I simply did not have the time. I have done these things myself in the past but with less time this year, it sure was nice to just drop it off at the butcher and pick it up when it was done.

 

[jackman]

Shoobee

Nice area. Instead of dragging those deer-why not bone them out? put meat in backpack. Trust me its a lot easier and less stress on the body.
We do it all the time. And you have to do it for elk if you dont have a pack horse

 

[Shoobee]

Shoobee

Nice area. Instead of dragging those deer-why not bone them out? put meat in backpack. Trust me its a lot easier and less stress on the body.
We do it all the time. And you have to do it for elk if you dont have a pack horse

Guess I just don't want to butcher and quarter in the woods, with bees and bugs flying all around, and the bloody mess of hauling parts. I have found that with a good rope I can sinch it and drag it for about a mile at a time, before I need to rest, and then do it again. Best thing is to shoot the smaller ones, on a backpack hunt.

 

[drypowder]

Great information Jesse. Thanks. Where does one find these FHL guides?

Very interested. I'm running out of boot rubber.

Drypowder

 

[Huntr Pat]

Great information Jesse. Thanks. Where does one find these FHL guides?

Very interested. I'm running out of boot rubber.

Drypowder

L2H will guide for $400 a weekend. bring your own food. just dont give up my honey holes.lol

 

[XDHUNTER]

L2H will guide for $400 a weekend. bring your own food. just dont give up my honey holes.lol

Haa! L2H is guiding now at FHL!

 

[Live2hunt]

Haa! L2H is guiding now at FHL!

Hog tied to tree for additional $400. :hog chewing: