no luck at roberts 12/18

[joodaman]

we "hunted", but more like scouted, area 5 on saturday.

the rain wasn't as bad as we anticipated, and we were hoping to catch some pigs hanging out under some trees, but we had no luck.

we drove and walked around a good portion of the area, looking for signs, but again, no luck.

we did see a lot of good areas, where if the weather was better, pigs could hang out, but the problem was finding food sources from where we could find them traveling. area 5 and the surrounding farms don't seem to have too much to eat, or am i missing something?

overall, we had a good time offroading in the mud rather than hunting. some areas were pretty sketchy, with the mud making the car slide close to ditches and drop offs, but the fj cruiser held up nicely, only getting stuck once in some soft mud.

we might need to try some of the other areas next time, since area 5 seems to be lacking in food.

 

[easymoney]

Welcome to public land hunting...
This time of year with all the rain the pigs are not forced to go to water in the few places that hold it year round.
The crops you mention (barley or oats for hay) have been off for months and the pigs now focus on acorns and new green grown the rains have brought. If any of the surrounding ranches have put in a second crop they will go to that as well.
It takes lots of scouting trips and way too much luck for most folks to stick it out. Those who are persistant will get a pig sooner or later. Camp BOB as well as FHL are excellent examples of what the CA habitat was like eons ago, yet have wild pigs which have only excelled in numbers in the last 70 years or so. Most of us who live nearby and hunt these bases every year put in lots of time and money with only limited success. So do not get your hopes up too high especially if this is your first trip. The pigs are out and about, it just takes being there when they are...

 

[joodaman]

thanks for the info.

pigs would have made the trip better, but it was just good to be out learning and scouting the area.

so far we're 0 for 2 and big horn canyon ranch is looking better and better, but we're pretty determined to get one the right way.