Lake Sonoma Hog Hunt Alert

[Backcountry]

Here's another map that gives a better feel for what is accessible by foot and what is clearly only reachable via boat, as well as the boundaries of the park. There is no scale on the map; however, its about 10 miles from the furthest northwest arm of the lake to the dam. This is a BIG area!

 

[Mel Carter]

Backcountry,
Is the area outlined in RED the hunt area? And do you know yet if say you camped at the liberty glen, you can just hike out from the camp area on either side of Rockpile rd. Does anyone know if hogs were taken during the first trial hunt. Hopefully there will be some hunt days during the last week of Dec. I'm off work for that week and would love to go stick a hog.

Keep us up to date and thanks for the help!

 

[Backcountry]

Hi Mel,

The last week of December will have hunt days... just has to be a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

As for the hunt area, I believe the red outline "more-or-less" covers all areas open to hunting. When I talked to the ranger this morning, I specifically asked what areas were open and what access was like... the only closed areas he mentioned were the obvious ones (around the campgrounds, the boat ramps, the visitor center, etc...) and he said most of the area is accessible only by boat. He did say that there is “fair” walk-in access from along Rockpile Road, so yeah, I would expect you could camp at Liberty and hunt from there on foot.

I did not ask about how many hogs were harvested during last month's 6-day experimental hunt.

I'm heading up there this weekend (for a private land hunt nearby) and I'll stop in the visitor center and grab one of the hunting maps and report back about precisely what areas are open and closed.

Keep us posted if you do head up there at the end of the month… I might try to meet you up there for a day.

Cheers, Backcountry

 

[Mel Carter]

Thanks for the info. If you do stop by the rangers station, see if you can get any type of confirmation on the dates for that last week in Dec. The 29th and the 30th may work out good for me. Do you happen to know when you have to check in at the visitors center, say if I wanted to hunt the 29th, will it be open for check in on Sunday or would I have to wait until they opened up on Monday morning.

Thanks again for your help, and I'll let you know if I'll be heading over there.

 

[wmidbrook]

Anyone have an idea of how good the boat-in areas are? Odds of seeing pigs or having a stalk opportunity?

I've got the week of New Year's off and am curious.

 

[Backcountry]

Look at the map below... see the dark blotch north of SF Bay? That blotch is centered over Sonoma County and the Lake Sonoma area. This area equals or betters any other public land hunting area in the state (heck, its better than a lot of private land too).

These facts noted, you'll still need to be prepared to pay your dues, as all areas won't hold hogs, especially at this time of year now that the rains have started. So, your odds of seeing hogs are excellent, but hunters sometimes get skunked even in the best areas.

Good luck, Backcountry

 

[Kentuck]

I have a boat and the 29th and 30 off is someone wants to hook up. I could hunt probably one of those days.

 

[wmidbrook]

I'm thinking of heading over there if we get some blue-bird weather that week--it would be fun to hook up some JHP'ers...errr JHO'ers. If it's looking like it'd be storming, I'm leaning towards duck hunting.

The fingers of the lake around thumb camp might offer entry to less-pressured areas judging from the map?

 

[cahogwild]

Hey, anybody know if you can run dogs there? If so, I could bring two dogs, still use archery equipment, and raise the success rate! if not, I'll hook up with a couple of guy's this next week, go ruin some hogs! Steve

 

[Mel Carter]

Hey kentuck,
If they have a hunt the last week of Dec, and I end up going, i'll let you know. Maybe we can hook up and do a hunt. I'll let you know.

 

[Backcountry]

Originally posted by Mel Carter@Dec 10 2003, 01:32 AM
If you do stop by the rangers station, see if you can get any type of confirmation on the dates for that last week in Dec. The 29th and the 30th may work out good for me.

Do you happen to know when you have to check in at the visitors center, say if I wanted to hunt the 29th, will it be open for check in on Sunday or would I have to wait until they opened up on Monday morning.

Mel,

This is not a week-to-week thing… all the hunt dates have already been scheduled... every Monday - Thursday between now and the end of February is a hunt day.

Check-in procedure: The visitor center does not have to be open in order to sign in for each hunt day. The process is very streamlined and is "self sign-in". The ranger said that there will be a box with maps, permits, and a sign-in book outside the front entrance to the visitor center so that hunters can self sign-in and in the woods early. I presume you can sign in for multiple consecutive days (if for example you are camped at a boat-in campsite), but I don’t know that for sure. Also, I think you need to sign out and let them know how many pigs you harvested, since this whole archery-only program is being sold to the general public as a management program.

cahogwild

Dogs: I don't run 'em myself (but boy is that fun!) so I didn't ask about that. Give the ranger (Joel Miller) a call... he's very prompt at replying if you leave a message… 707-433-9483.

Mel, Kentuck, wmidbrook, et al.: the 29th, 30th, and/or 31st of this month are looking pretty good for me for a bowhunt. Let’s revisit this plan right after Christmas and see if we can’t get something going… may as well take advantage of this opportunity while it exists!

Happy holidays…
Backcountry

:snowman tip hat:

 

[Kentuck]

Backcountry

Thanks for all the leg work on this. I know it is appreciated.

Mel,
Sounds like there will be some discussion right after Christmas on this and I can take a day to do a hunt on either the 29th or 30th. Probably come up the night before and camp.

Kentuck

 

[wmidbrook]

I'm up for revisiting this after Christmas. Should have a fairly solid weather forecast by the 26th or 27th.

It's cool enough this time of the year to find pig any time of the day if they haven't gone nocturnal from too much pressure.

 

[Mel Carter]

Ok guys, this sound like it could work. My only problem is I don't have a computer at home, I play on the one at work. I'll be off of work from Dec 23 until January 5th. With me not being at work, I can't reply or find out if this get together is going to happen. Is there any chance we can confirm something say no later than Dec 22? If not, than I may just shoot over there and hope to see you guys there.

 

[Kentuck]

Mel,

Sent you a pm.

Kentuck

 

[Mel Carter]

Hey kentuck, got your pm, I'll give you a call. I've been looking at my schedule and it looks like the day I'll be going will be the 30th. I will be going with my son, it will probably be just a day hunt. I'll head over there first thing in the morning on the 30th and hunt the whole day, since I don't have a boat, I'll be going out of the liberty glenn campground. If I don't see anyone there, i'll report back on the details of the hunt. Hope to see you guys there.

 

[Kentuck]

Mel,

I'll look at the 30th also. I may be by myself so there would be room in the boat for a couple of people.

Kentuck

 

[Backcountry]

Howdy Kentuck and Mel (and everyone else)...

If there's room in the boat, count me in. If not, I'll probably hunt off the Rockpile Rd. ridge on foot. If weather is nice, I’ll probably camp at Liberty. If weather is crappy, I’ll be a fair weather hunter and stay with friends in Santa Rosa. Depending on my waterfowl ressies for the 29th, I’ll either show up late Sunday or sometime on Monday.

I was near Lake Sonoma pig hunting (story below) on Sunday and I stopped into the visitor center, picked up the hunting map for pig hunters, and investigated the sign-in procedure. There are some closed areas on the map; the east side of the lower Dry Creek arm and the west side of the Warm Springs arm, plus the south end of the park between the visitors center and the marina… its complicated to describe so I’ll try to annotate one of the other maps I posted with Corel Draw and post that to this thread (give me some time on that). The sign-in procedure couldn’t be easier. If the visitor center is open, do it inside; if the visitor center is closed, just pick up the map outside, fill out the tear-off slip at the bottom, and drop it in the camping registration box. When you leave the park, drop off another slip at any fee vault or the visitor center stating how your hunting went. You can register, or even pre-register, for any number of days. Also, running dogs in the park isn’t allowed.

As for my pig hunt on Sunday, boy the weather was sure nice and the ranch we hunted was sure beautiful (friend of a friend’s place). We drove out Skaggs Springs road towards the coast about 8 miles to a big gate (just past the tall bridge… I bungee jumped off there in 1991, never again!) then crossed a huge ranch (6 miles dirt) to get to another ranch that has been subdivided into about 50 parcels of 180 acres each. This area is along Tombs Creek if any of you know it… nice and remote! We saw a lot of rooting and a half-dozen very large pigs on the drive in… one was easily over 300 lb. but we didn’t have permission to shoot on the first ranch… also saw several nice bucks (2 forkies, one 3x3, and one 4x3). Where we hunted the plan was to try to get my girlfriend (Brandy) a shot at her first pig. We hunted off the ridge down to Tombs Creek (a drop of 1700 feet in less than 1 mile!) and saw LOTS of sign. At the bottom, we slid west one ridge set, spread out, and headed back up to the truck (ugh!). Got into some really fresh rooting and then Brandy whispers “PIG!”, I look up and see the critter skedaddling out from his lair and up over a spur about 75 yards (and 150 feet elevation) uphill. Brandy is very inexperienced with firearms (but eager to learn) so she could not have taken a snap shot with any hope of connecting, and my angle on the shot would have blown Brandy’s eardrums (can you say “dog house for life”?). I took off up the hill after the piggy but it had disappeared onto an adjoining parcel that (again) we didn’t have permission to hunt. That was it for the day… only spent about 3 hours “hunting”. I figure if I want Brandy to try again it’s important that she have all good experiences her first few times out. The fact that she saw pigs got her pretty excited to try again. She’s a very experienced backpacker (more-so than most of the guys that read this forum I suspect, having soloed the John Muir Trail last year… that’s 220+ miles) so she’s comfortable in the woods, but did comment on how much thought energy she spent on muzzle control and general firearms safety (I’m training her well) and that she found it tiring. I’ll admit, we were on very rough terrain for a person unaccustomed to carrying a rifle.

This is an area (the private ranch I was on… not Lake Sonoma) that would be worth running some dogs on. If anybody has pig dogs send me a PM and I’ll explain the layout and hunting permissions in a bit more detail and we can try to set something up.

Cheers,
Backcountry

 

[Kentuck]

Good story Backcountry. At least she saw game and makse a difference when taking a new hunter. I'll let you know as the date gets closer but I may have room in the boat.

 

[Backcountry]

Ok, here's my primitive attempt at modifying the map that the rangers gave me to show you where the hunt / no-hunt areas are (more-or-less). The yellow areas with dashed outlines are off-limits to hunting... everything else is good-to-go. As far as maps go, the map they hand out at the visitor center sucks. It is a 1-sheet B&W poor-quality photocopy with no topographic lines. There is NO WAY to tell within a few hundred yards if you are in a hunt / no-hunt area, so be careful around the borders.

These are some rules printed on the map… besides the obvious ones (have a hunting license, etc...) I’ve highlighted in bold things that are unique and worthy of making note of…

- Only pigs may be taken
- Archery only, no firearms
- Hunters must display a valid hunting license on their person
- Hunting hours are ½ hour before sunrise to ½ hour after sunset
- No hunting permitted within 100 yards of any campsite, roadway, parking lot, structure, or vessel
- No hunting beyond park boundaries or in areas closed to hunting on the hunting map

Cheers, Backcountry