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WILD HOGS -- matthews/ONS -- 26jul06
Wild hogs continue to be state's most-available big game quarry
By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service
The wind was gusting hard in our face while five of us watched a big, lone wild hog feed amid a group of range cattle only 200 yards away. While the hillsides all around us were covered with dry, yellow grass, the wet meadow was lush. Both the cows and wild boar were feeding on the green vegetation.
The five of us were scattered out below the animals, hunkered low along the edge of a small draw with a little creek. But it was about as close as we dare approach the cattle. Tejon ranch hunting guide Ron Gayer looked over at me and raised his eyebrows.
Pic by Craig Coston, Wildfly Productions
"If the cows see us they'll blow out of here and the hog will follow them," he said, reminding me that these cows were almost as wild as the hogs -- and the cattle had much better eyesight. If these cows saw people on foot, they would stare for a second and then stampede off a couple hundred yards before stopping to glare back. The wild hogs, which have dismal vision, use the cattle like guard dogs to warn them of any problems.
So we all stayed low by the single old tree in the meadow below the cattle, watching the boar, and trying to figure out just how much "tusk" he had. His size was not in question. This was a big boar -- easily one of the biggest hogs I'd ever seen in a number of years of hunting the sprawling Tejon Ranch. We were supposed to be photographing wild hogs, shooting stills and HD video for a new hog hunting book/multi-media DVD. But when we saw the huge boar in the late afternoon, the whole complexion of the afternoon changed. We stalked from 1/2-mile to within 200 yards of the pig, mostly across rolling open hillsides, to the lone tree in the wet meadow.
My son Kyle quietly fed a round out of the magazine and into the chamber of the bolt gun and slipped on the safety, while Ron and I argued about whether the pig had enough length to his lower tusk to be a trophy. Kyle got in a good steady position next to the tree and waited. Chris and Craig Coston were happily filming with their HD video cameras.
The pig surprised us by leaving the cows and coming straight toward us, stopping 100 yards closer in another green, wet patch of meadow. Ron and I refocused our binoculars and continued to argue. We just couldn't see any lower tooth showing. Maybe this was just one of those big, young boars the ranch grows. But the lip seemed to be puckered slightly, a good sign of sizable tooth pushing upward. If the darn pig would just keep his head up for a second instead of feeding all the time. Kyle waited. He'd been through all this before.
Again the hog just started moving, angling toward the creek and then walking right toward us. He stopped once at 40 yards staring in our direction, and Ron whispered that he had "good enough teeth," and I gave Kyle the thumbs up. The pig started moving again and kept coming toward us, blind to the five unmoving lumps now just a few yards away. At 20 yards, Kyle's gun roared, the big slug taking the boar through both shoulders. The hog stumbled off only a few yards before collapsing, literally dead from the instant the bullet went through both lungs.
Kyle's hog would be just one of around 1,000 hogs taken on the Tejon Ranch this season -- with a similar number each of the last two seasons. While the Tejon has become the No. 1 private land wild pig hunting ranch in California, the biggest and closest operation for most Southern California hunters, there are private land, fee-hunting opportunities all over the state -- and a smattering of public land opportunities for the die-hard, do-it-yourself hunter.
If the truth were known, wild hogs are probably California's number one big game animal. If total numbers were reported, the statewide harvest of pigs would probably surpass deer, and they have already become more popular than deer for many hunters. Why? It's because hog hunters generally see game and take home the bacon.
Guided hunts -- about the only way the average guy has access to property with wild hogs -- are still relatively inexpensive. In today's world of sky-high gasoline prices, it is much cheaper to stay close to home and hunt wild hogs than to take that annual trip to Colorado or Wyoming for deer or pronghorn. For Southern California hunters, it might even be cheaper than heading to Northeast California or the Sierra, providing you could draw a deer tag for these areas.
With most guided hog hunts running from $500 to $1,100, depending on services provided by the guiding operation, you begin to realize that it's a bargain.
The second reason is that most private land hunts for wild hogs are successful. Hunters might not always kill a hog, but they always have at least a couple of good opportunities, and bringing home the ham usually hinges on how well a hunter shoots and not on whether or not a guide can show him pigs. The biggest complaint most hunters have about guided hog hunts is that they're over too soon. It is common for a pair of hunters to leave a ranch house with a guide at 5 a.m., have two dead pigs on the ground by 6:30 a.m., and be heading home before noon.
The last thing that makes hogs so popular is they a delectable table fare. Repeat hunters might say they are looking for a big old boar like the one Kyle whacked, but when they see a herd of hogs feeding up a ridge, decide the big boar isn't any bigger than the one they shot a few years back. They move the crosshairs over to a big sow without piglets or a young boar and think of dinner. Wild hog is not like any pork you've ever bought in a store. Darker, lean, and richer in flavor, the first time you eat the loins off a young wild hog, you realize how pork is supposed to taste.
Wild hog numbers remain at high levels throughout the state, and the range continues to expand. While most wild hog hunting takes place on private lands, more and more hogs are being reported on public lands adjacent to the private property. Top public land places for Southern California hunters to look for wild hogs include the west foothills of the Carizzo Plain, Garcia Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest (east of San Luis Obispo), the Camp Roberts and Fort Hunter Liggett military bases, and a handful of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) parcels on Central Coast with public access.
The BLM publishes a special packet of maps that show the boundaries of all of the parcels on the Central Coast and access points. It is known as the "pig hunting map packet." Costing just $4, you can order it with a credit card by calling the state BLM office in Sacramento at 916-978-4400 or the Hollister BLM office at 831-630-5000. There is more BLM map and hunting information on the Internet at www.blm.gov/ca/hollister/recreation.html.
Erwin Ward at Big Game Hunting Maps publishes a map notebook with of all the BLM lands that hold wild hogs on the Central Coast. Even better, he's outlined the best hog hunting spots on each parcel, giving first-time and veteran hunters a leg up on finding pigs on these public lands. You can reach Erwin at www.biggamehuntingmaps.com. Some Turner's Outdoorsman stores also carry these notebooks.
The California Department of Fish and Game has a comprehensive list of guides and outfitters who guide for wild hogs and other game in the state on its web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/hunting/hunting.html. You can also get a complete list of hog guides in my quarterly newsletter, California Hog Hunter (this is known as shameless self-promotion). You can order a free sample copy, which includes this guides list, by sending an e-mail with your mailing address to cahoghunter@earthlink.net.
Kyle's hog, shot just a little over a week ago, ended up weighing over 275 pounds and had lower tusks over two inches long. Ron and I couldn't see the teeth because they had mud on them from all the rooting the hog and been doing. There will be a full video clip of the shot up soon at www.wildflyproductions.com.
When Kyle and I skinned the hog that night, it had backstraps as big around as my forearms. Friends who've had wild pork off our barbecue are already calling, sniffing around for an invite. I can't blame them.
Wild hogs continue to be state's most-available big game quarry
By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service
The wind was gusting hard in our face while five of us watched a big, lone wild hog feed amid a group of range cattle only 200 yards away. While the hillsides all around us were covered with dry, yellow grass, the wet meadow was lush. Both the cows and wild boar were feeding on the green vegetation.
The five of us were scattered out below the animals, hunkered low along the edge of a small draw with a little creek. But it was about as close as we dare approach the cattle. Tejon ranch hunting guide Ron Gayer looked over at me and raised his eyebrows.
Pic by Craig Coston, Wildfly Productions
"If the cows see us they'll blow out of here and the hog will follow them," he said, reminding me that these cows were almost as wild as the hogs -- and the cattle had much better eyesight. If these cows saw people on foot, they would stare for a second and then stampede off a couple hundred yards before stopping to glare back. The wild hogs, which have dismal vision, use the cattle like guard dogs to warn them of any problems.
So we all stayed low by the single old tree in the meadow below the cattle, watching the boar, and trying to figure out just how much "tusk" he had. His size was not in question. This was a big boar -- easily one of the biggest hogs I'd ever seen in a number of years of hunting the sprawling Tejon Ranch. We were supposed to be photographing wild hogs, shooting stills and HD video for a new hog hunting book/multi-media DVD. But when we saw the huge boar in the late afternoon, the whole complexion of the afternoon changed. We stalked from 1/2-mile to within 200 yards of the pig, mostly across rolling open hillsides, to the lone tree in the wet meadow.
My son Kyle quietly fed a round out of the magazine and into the chamber of the bolt gun and slipped on the safety, while Ron and I argued about whether the pig had enough length to his lower tusk to be a trophy. Kyle got in a good steady position next to the tree and waited. Chris and Craig Coston were happily filming with their HD video cameras.
The pig surprised us by leaving the cows and coming straight toward us, stopping 100 yards closer in another green, wet patch of meadow. Ron and I refocused our binoculars and continued to argue. We just couldn't see any lower tooth showing. Maybe this was just one of those big, young boars the ranch grows. But the lip seemed to be puckered slightly, a good sign of sizable tooth pushing upward. If the darn pig would just keep his head up for a second instead of feeding all the time. Kyle waited. He'd been through all this before.
Again the hog just started moving, angling toward the creek and then walking right toward us. He stopped once at 40 yards staring in our direction, and Ron whispered that he had "good enough teeth," and I gave Kyle the thumbs up. The pig started moving again and kept coming toward us, blind to the five unmoving lumps now just a few yards away. At 20 yards, Kyle's gun roared, the big slug taking the boar through both shoulders. The hog stumbled off only a few yards before collapsing, literally dead from the instant the bullet went through both lungs.
Kyle's hog would be just one of around 1,000 hogs taken on the Tejon Ranch this season -- with a similar number each of the last two seasons. While the Tejon has become the No. 1 private land wild pig hunting ranch in California, the biggest and closest operation for most Southern California hunters, there are private land, fee-hunting opportunities all over the state -- and a smattering of public land opportunities for the die-hard, do-it-yourself hunter.
If the truth were known, wild hogs are probably California's number one big game animal. If total numbers were reported, the statewide harvest of pigs would probably surpass deer, and they have already become more popular than deer for many hunters. Why? It's because hog hunters generally see game and take home the bacon.
Guided hunts -- about the only way the average guy has access to property with wild hogs -- are still relatively inexpensive. In today's world of sky-high gasoline prices, it is much cheaper to stay close to home and hunt wild hogs than to take that annual trip to Colorado or Wyoming for deer or pronghorn. For Southern California hunters, it might even be cheaper than heading to Northeast California or the Sierra, providing you could draw a deer tag for these areas.
With most guided hog hunts running from $500 to $1,100, depending on services provided by the guiding operation, you begin to realize that it's a bargain.
The second reason is that most private land hunts for wild hogs are successful. Hunters might not always kill a hog, but they always have at least a couple of good opportunities, and bringing home the ham usually hinges on how well a hunter shoots and not on whether or not a guide can show him pigs. The biggest complaint most hunters have about guided hog hunts is that they're over too soon. It is common for a pair of hunters to leave a ranch house with a guide at 5 a.m., have two dead pigs on the ground by 6:30 a.m., and be heading home before noon.
The last thing that makes hogs so popular is they a delectable table fare. Repeat hunters might say they are looking for a big old boar like the one Kyle whacked, but when they see a herd of hogs feeding up a ridge, decide the big boar isn't any bigger than the one they shot a few years back. They move the crosshairs over to a big sow without piglets or a young boar and think of dinner. Wild hog is not like any pork you've ever bought in a store. Darker, lean, and richer in flavor, the first time you eat the loins off a young wild hog, you realize how pork is supposed to taste.
Wild hog numbers remain at high levels throughout the state, and the range continues to expand. While most wild hog hunting takes place on private lands, more and more hogs are being reported on public lands adjacent to the private property. Top public land places for Southern California hunters to look for wild hogs include the west foothills of the Carizzo Plain, Garcia Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest (east of San Luis Obispo), the Camp Roberts and Fort Hunter Liggett military bases, and a handful of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) parcels on Central Coast with public access.
The BLM publishes a special packet of maps that show the boundaries of all of the parcels on the Central Coast and access points. It is known as the "pig hunting map packet." Costing just $4, you can order it with a credit card by calling the state BLM office in Sacramento at 916-978-4400 or the Hollister BLM office at 831-630-5000. There is more BLM map and hunting information on the Internet at www.blm.gov/ca/hollister/recreation.html.
Erwin Ward at Big Game Hunting Maps publishes a map notebook with of all the BLM lands that hold wild hogs on the Central Coast. Even better, he's outlined the best hog hunting spots on each parcel, giving first-time and veteran hunters a leg up on finding pigs on these public lands. You can reach Erwin at www.biggamehuntingmaps.com. Some Turner's Outdoorsman stores also carry these notebooks.
The California Department of Fish and Game has a comprehensive list of guides and outfitters who guide for wild hogs and other game in the state on its web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/hunting/hunting.html. You can also get a complete list of hog guides in my quarterly newsletter, California Hog Hunter (this is known as shameless self-promotion). You can order a free sample copy, which includes this guides list, by sending an e-mail with your mailing address to cahoghunter@earthlink.net.
Kyle's hog, shot just a little over a week ago, ended up weighing over 275 pounds and had lower tusks over two inches long. Ron and I couldn't see the teeth because they had mud on them from all the rooting the hog and been doing. There will be a full video clip of the shot up soon at www.wildflyproductions.com.
When Kyle and I skinned the hog that night, it had backstraps as big around as my forearms. Friends who've had wild pork off our barbecue are already calling, sniffing around for an invite. I can't blame them.
