Pig Hunting on Public Land

[CaptainThor]

I am new to California, and I currently live in Los Angeles, I was hoping for some help in finding areas to hunt. I was wondering if there is any public land close to Los Angeles (which means less then four hours drive), in which I can hunt pigs. I am not looking for exact spots, that I can scout on my own, but some general guidance would be wonderful. Thank you so much for your help.


Charles Thor

 

[Speckmisser]

Welcome aboard, Capt. Thor! You've come to a great place to learn and share info about hunting, both in CA and most of the rest of the country as well!

Not sure about drive time, but the "Central Coast" area up north of you is the place to hunt pigs. Unfortunately, most of the better hunting is "pay to play" on private lands. There is a lot of public land, and it's a blast to hunt, but your success is likely to be really limited. Check out the Los Padres Forest for a start. Some of the other guys in your area may have some more specific suggestions.

Scroll down in this forum as well, and you'll find references to a lot of great hunts. Fort Hunter Liggett is another good area, when it's open to civilians. It's catch as can there, but the hunting can be good.

Also check out the BLM website for info on BLM parcels that are open to hunting. The BLM owns a ton of land around this state.

Best bet for getting pork, though, is to look into a guided hunt situation on private land. Or check out the Tejon Ranch Pig-o-ramas. Lots of posts on them down below.

Again, welcome to the list, and welcome to California hunting. Not sure where you're from, but it's likely to be a completely different experience than hunting anywhere else!

 

[Bishop]

A warm JHP welcome Capt.
DFG has a pretty good wild pig hunting booklet. You can either print it out or order it by phone or online. I wouldn't print it out since it's pretty long and the booklet is probably something your going to want to hang on to. It has many public areas, both BLM and Natl. Forest in California listed. It's sort of discouraging because it talks about the fact that only 3% of the wild pig harvest takes place on public land. But, it is a good publication, and it's free. A book you may want to get is Bob Robb's book on Hunting Wild Pigs in California.