Off we go!

[BLASTMASTER]

Me and a couple buddies from work are heading up to Laguna Mt. in the AM. Although after 3 trips there with only sign & site but no shot, I'm confident this will be the trip. You see before I started hiking in at first light, too late of a start. Now this time we're sleeping in the back-country. I think I'll get to better spots at a much more appropriate time. Good luck to us...malo suerte a los piggies!

 

[1SoCalHunter]

BLASTMASTER:
Good luck out there! That's a pretty good area, I hunted there like 4 years ago and we saw a lot of sign, but the same as your previous trips, no pigs.
Let us know how you did and post some pictures, hopufully of you and a nice hog!

 

[Speckmisser]

Good luck, Blastmaster.

I tried that approach last year, but only had a weekend (hike in on Saturday, hunt Saturday evening, camp, and hunt Sunday morning). Saw tons of very fresh sign, but just wasn't in the right place at the right time. I think it's definitely the way to go in there.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[jackrabbit]

Good Luck, Blastmaster! My brother discovered the same correlation regarding walking way in well before first light (at another popular public area). He never scored before that, but the first time he went in early the night before, his group nailed a pig at first light.

 

[MNHNTR]

Good luck Slugger, I hunted there a few years ago during a hot summer day. Didnt see anything except old sign. Ive hunted the Sweetwater Springs area next to the Laguna mountain area. Saw lots of sign and lots of deer!

 

[HOGHUNTER714]

Blastmaster,

Good luck, I've wanted to do the exact same thing, but havent been able to do it yet. Hope you nail one.

 

[DILPRXO]

Track'em & wack'em!!!!

Good luck bud

 

[Hawghunter]

Blastmaster,
I have a spot in the Lag Mnt area that we pack into. It's the only way I have killed hogs on public land up there. The hike we do is a total Bee with an itch! (&%#$@!) Good luck. If you get one you will earn it.
Have a plan to get your meat out and cooled down, that can be tough.

Mark

 

[Mailman29680]

Good luck

 

[BLASTMASTER]

Wow what a great time we had! We ended up going into the Sweetwater side and setting camp unknowingly about 50 yards from the most/freshest sign I've ever seen, anywhere. I mean it was rototiller city! That afternoon, after camp was set, we went out and just couldn't believe all the sign coming out of farmer john's land. Didn't see anything by dark, but as we were cooking on the campfire, and all night long, we could here them down in the revine behind us. The next morning, new tillin' and tracks stepping in our footprints. I'm talking large numbers, maybe 1/2 to a dozen of them. Later that day, a little closer to farmer john's, one of my buddies got a couple shots off at a group of 4, one of which he described as a large black male in excess of 300 lbs. They took off and we didn't see 'em come out after that. Saturday morning after seeing nothing but other hunters, we called it and left. Absolutely the best time!

 

[Speckmisser]

Sounds like fun, Blastmaster. I can't believe ya'll actually saw pigs in daylight at Sweetwater! Congrats!

There is definitely a pile of sign there, but after three seasons of hunting it hard, I've pretty much decided that it's almost all nocturnal. There's simply too much hunting pressure in that tiny parcel. But lordy! There's an awful lot of sign, no?

Did you guys go in at the upper or lower entrance?

 

[BLASTMASTER]

We were in between the private plot around the spring and farmer john's land (that separates sweetwater from laguna).
They were clearly coming in from farmer john's land to our area in the evenings and gone back before daylight. We were there thursday and friday all alone, but on saturday morning someone must have opened the gates. Weekdays are the time to hunt there. I took some pic of some of the tiller work and I'll get 'em posted as soon as I can.

 

[Speckmisser]

Yeah, I know exactly where you were. Last time I was there, they had just started rooting that area up again... lots of brand new digging. You can still see what they did in there last year too. But they disappear fast, and you've seen that stuff they're hiding in.

Last year, I followed a guy back in there with his two hounds. The dogs finally hit a pig way down in that thick stuff. Several hours later, he picked up his dogs on the road out by the Laguna Mnt. parking area. It's ugly, rough stuff.

"Farmer John" has some real nice habitat, but he's pretty uptight about tresspassers. The old lady that owns the property out to the road also doesn't like hunters, but I've heard she'll let you drive up her road to pick up a downed animal. Handy info to know, if you do manage to get one down back there.

I'll probably be over in that area again in a couple of weeks. I've pretty much given up on Sweetwater, because the crowds on weekends make it nearly impossible to hunt successfully. Even during the week, the hogs are pretty well educated. I think it'll take more luck than anything else to take one out of that place.

But then, I'm always plenty happy to be lucky.

 

[1SoCalHunter]

BLASTMASTER:
Congratulations on your hunt!, even though you guys didn't bag one, it sounds like you guys had fun and that's what counts!!

 

[BLASTMASTER]

Thanks all,
I'm working on another line now...
According to the new hunter in this group, an instructor from his hunter safety course 2 weeks ago said he new of legal hunting areas in the Santa Ana river for pig. As y'all know, that place is packed, but I've never found anywhere legal to hunt in there. Then, during the convo, another guy in the group said he heard that a local rangemaster claims he knows legal shotgun only access for pig too.
If any of this be true, I'll let you all know.

 

[HOGHUNTER714]

Blastmaster,

Glad you had a good trip........Even though you didnt bag one, its great just to get out. I cant wait to get out again.

 

[LAgunman2K]

so where is laguna mtn? and how ya get there?

 

[Speckmisser]

LaGunman,

Laguna Mtn is over beside the Clear Creek Management Area, kinda between Hollister and Coalinga. You can get there from 5 by either cutting across at 198 through Coalinga to 25, or going up 101 and cutting across near Pinnacles Nat'l Parking Lot to 25. The turn off to Clear Creek is called Coalinga Rd., and you'll pass the Laguna Mtn parking lot on the way to Clear Creek. You can't miss it, especially on a weekend, because there are hardly ever less than five or six trucks parked there.

If you wanna escape the crowds you need to be part mule, and part llama, and be willing to hump it way back into the boonies.

You can find more info and general maps at the CA BLM Website.

 

[MNHNTR]

Glad to hear you made it to Sweetwater! I may have to get up there during the week sometime, hopefully before summer. I've been in there on a hot July day. Not fun. We even named a portion of Laguna "FLy Gulch" and made a death march out of there.