Schnitt
Active member
- Joined
- May 4, 2014
- Messages
- 42
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I became totally determined to try to get a pig on public land. I wish I knew what I signed up for.
I have been scoping out Laguna Mountain, and thought I would share my experience. Knowing full well this is the info that most people don't share (because it is painful experience to gain and quickly looses value as others visit the same spots). Still, I thought I would post as this is my first time hunting pig and I was hoping others may give their feedback in case I am missing something.
Fist, I must say, from the last 5 trips, I have not seen a single pig. Almost all the signs I saw were old, and I think that the drought pushed the pigs down to farm lands. Note: If I found fresh pig signs, I probably would not be so liberal sharing my findings.
Also note, if I type numbers, those are GPS coordinates. You can paste them right into google maps and see what I am talking about.
Short fence access point 36.363971, -120.878597: Lots of pig signs a couple miles in, but it looks like they left the area.
Look up "Lake Tanganyika 95043" on google maps. You will see "fox springs" to the east of Tanganyika. Both of those points and everything in between is BLM. I found lots of pig tracks on the mountains between Tanganyika and Fox Spring which I could not follow very far. Paths went into chaparral tunnels. Most importantly, none of the tracks looked fresh. I could no find any hiking paths back there. A fence was put up to try to keep people away from fox spring, but I carry a GPS with BLM overlay, and knew it was OK to g around the fence. Still, because people have been kept out, if there ever was a path, it is too over grown to find. I tried plowing my way up the western mountain from Fox Spring, but all I did was make a lot of noise while getting tired. The existing path (which is in decent shape) actually takes you south west from Fox spring towards Sulphur Spring, off public land, but you can then hike back up to Tanganyika which is public. Lake Tanganyika is a perfect pig haven, but as of May 2014, it is all dried up. You can tell that the pigs were there for a while by how established the pig trails are, but I think they left. I know pigs love to eat wild onions, and I found plenty of them which were un-touched. Also, I can tell if an animal trail is in current use or not by how many ticks I get, and up on these trails, even the ticks were gone suggesting they trails were abandoned.
Eastern most campground access point 36.367179, -120.829701: Heavy pig signs, but none were fresh.
There is a wide fire road that you an walk up hill along which ends up at a meadow 36.346944, -120.805528. On the BLM map, they show it as the transition from a road to the "primitive trail" The road actually loops around the meadow instead of just transitioning to the primitive trail as the BLM shows. The pigs had rooted up much of the meadow back when it was moist from the rain, but it looks like they are long gone. You can see their tracks from the last rain. They came from private land between the wide hiking road 36.357697, -120.817476, and Coalinga road. The nice thing about this path is that it is wide (no ticks from brushing up against bushes) and also you could even take a mountain bike and coast down hill back to the parking lot. So if you did bag a pig from the meadow it would be easy to get it back, but there were no pigs. so moot point. Another option is to hike down to "the Gorge" which I did not do. I talked to a hiker who had just come up from there and said that Laguna Falls was dry so I opted not to go down, but I have heard others say there are pig signs down there
Sweetwater Creek access point (south side of Coalinga Rd). This is the only place I saw a fresh pig track. It looked like one large lone boar. I did not follow because it went onto private land. In fact in that area it is only a narrow section of public, and the pig was just hopping from private to private.
There is a trail to get way back (way south) on BLM, but I did not find it while I was out there....I think the trail head was too over grown. In any case, the trail (if I had found it)goes up to a ridge line. I suspect there would be even less water up there.
Finally, there is a little access point between Sweetwater an Short Fence. 36.358941, -120.857059. This trail goes up hill (as the all do) into some perfect rolling oak tree grass lands. Not large, but looks like better pig habitat than almost any other place I had seen at Laguna Mountain. Pig tracks were all over the place, but again......not fresh.
It looks to me that when it rains and the soil is soft, the pigs rampage the mountain sides gobbling up food. If I see tracks or rooting, that tells me that the pigs came through, but if I see pig trails, tunnels, and wallows, then I know the pigs were there for a while. Most of the pigs signs I saw looked transient. So I am guessing Laguna Mountain would be a hot spot from Nov to March, all the way up to May if it were not a drought year. But being a drought year, it looks like the took off.
So, has any one else explored this area? Should I expect the pigs to return with the rain?
I never made it all the way to the back of BLM. That is my next effort. Has any one gone all the way back there?
Also note, BLM does offer a web based overlay view of their land.
Go to GeoCommunicator.gov/GeoComm/
Click "Interactive Maps"
On the right click "Surface Management Agency" to highlight BLM land in yellow.
ON the lower right click "Digital Ortho Imagery Color" to get a satellite base image.
-Schnitt
I have been scoping out Laguna Mountain, and thought I would share my experience. Knowing full well this is the info that most people don't share (because it is painful experience to gain and quickly looses value as others visit the same spots). Still, I thought I would post as this is my first time hunting pig and I was hoping others may give their feedback in case I am missing something.
Fist, I must say, from the last 5 trips, I have not seen a single pig. Almost all the signs I saw were old, and I think that the drought pushed the pigs down to farm lands. Note: If I found fresh pig signs, I probably would not be so liberal sharing my findings.
Also note, if I type numbers, those are GPS coordinates. You can paste them right into google maps and see what I am talking about.
Short fence access point 36.363971, -120.878597: Lots of pig signs a couple miles in, but it looks like they left the area.
Look up "Lake Tanganyika 95043" on google maps. You will see "fox springs" to the east of Tanganyika. Both of those points and everything in between is BLM. I found lots of pig tracks on the mountains between Tanganyika and Fox Spring which I could not follow very far. Paths went into chaparral tunnels. Most importantly, none of the tracks looked fresh. I could no find any hiking paths back there. A fence was put up to try to keep people away from fox spring, but I carry a GPS with BLM overlay, and knew it was OK to g around the fence. Still, because people have been kept out, if there ever was a path, it is too over grown to find. I tried plowing my way up the western mountain from Fox Spring, but all I did was make a lot of noise while getting tired. The existing path (which is in decent shape) actually takes you south west from Fox spring towards Sulphur Spring, off public land, but you can then hike back up to Tanganyika which is public. Lake Tanganyika is a perfect pig haven, but as of May 2014, it is all dried up. You can tell that the pigs were there for a while by how established the pig trails are, but I think they left. I know pigs love to eat wild onions, and I found plenty of them which were un-touched. Also, I can tell if an animal trail is in current use or not by how many ticks I get, and up on these trails, even the ticks were gone suggesting they trails were abandoned.
Eastern most campground access point 36.367179, -120.829701: Heavy pig signs, but none were fresh.
There is a wide fire road that you an walk up hill along which ends up at a meadow 36.346944, -120.805528. On the BLM map, they show it as the transition from a road to the "primitive trail" The road actually loops around the meadow instead of just transitioning to the primitive trail as the BLM shows. The pigs had rooted up much of the meadow back when it was moist from the rain, but it looks like they are long gone. You can see their tracks from the last rain. They came from private land between the wide hiking road 36.357697, -120.817476, and Coalinga road. The nice thing about this path is that it is wide (no ticks from brushing up against bushes) and also you could even take a mountain bike and coast down hill back to the parking lot. So if you did bag a pig from the meadow it would be easy to get it back, but there were no pigs. so moot point. Another option is to hike down to "the Gorge" which I did not do. I talked to a hiker who had just come up from there and said that Laguna Falls was dry so I opted not to go down, but I have heard others say there are pig signs down there
Sweetwater Creek access point (south side of Coalinga Rd). This is the only place I saw a fresh pig track. It looked like one large lone boar. I did not follow because it went onto private land. In fact in that area it is only a narrow section of public, and the pig was just hopping from private to private.
There is a trail to get way back (way south) on BLM, but I did not find it while I was out there....I think the trail head was too over grown. In any case, the trail (if I had found it)goes up to a ridge line. I suspect there would be even less water up there.
Finally, there is a little access point between Sweetwater an Short Fence. 36.358941, -120.857059. This trail goes up hill (as the all do) into some perfect rolling oak tree grass lands. Not large, but looks like better pig habitat than almost any other place I had seen at Laguna Mountain. Pig tracks were all over the place, but again......not fresh.
It looks to me that when it rains and the soil is soft, the pigs rampage the mountain sides gobbling up food. If I see tracks or rooting, that tells me that the pigs came through, but if I see pig trails, tunnels, and wallows, then I know the pigs were there for a while. Most of the pigs signs I saw looked transient. So I am guessing Laguna Mountain would be a hot spot from Nov to March, all the way up to May if it were not a drought year. But being a drought year, it looks like the took off.
So, has any one else explored this area? Should I expect the pigs to return with the rain?
I never made it all the way to the back of BLM. That is my next effort. Has any one gone all the way back there?
Also note, BLM does offer a web based overlay view of their land.
Go to GeoCommunicator.gov/GeoComm/
Click "Interactive Maps"
On the right click "Surface Management Agency" to highlight BLM land in yellow.
ON the lower right click "Digital Ortho Imagery Color" to get a satellite base image.
-Schnitt
