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A wild pig.
What could be wrong with that?
Pigs, that's what. Wild hogs come up from the creek at night and root their way across the property, leaving a wake of landscaping so thoroughly turned that you'd think it had been rototilled.
The mere thought of such mayhem puts a big, inappropriate grin on my face. I am a pig hunter, and what Poswall sees as a problem sounds like dinner to me.
While deer is the No. 1 quarry of hunters in California, wild hogs occupy a special and sometimes maddening niche in the hunting world. They are abundant and prolific – sows can have three litters a year, producing up to eight piglets each time. They are nonnative and destructive to landscaping and crops, which makes hunters feel they're doing a public service when they kill one. They're legal to hunt year-round. And the meat tastes fantastic, not as fatty as their domestic cousins and even more flavorful.
But they are very hard to find on public land. Ninety-three percent of wild hogs killed in California are taken on private land. That leaves most pig hunters only two options: Pay a guide $200 to $1,000 for access to private land, or make friends with landowners like Poswall who have pig problems.
That's particularly vexing for people like Will Sitch, a young electrical engineer from Santa Rosa who took up hunting this year to get a little more connected with the food he eats.
Sitch and a friend hiked all over public land in search of wild hogs and came up with nothing. They decided to pay a guide to take them hunting on private land north of Lake Sonoma in February and got their pig – a 180-pound boar.
Between buying his rifle ($600 to $700), paying the guide ($300) and paying a butcher to process the meat ($150), though, the hunt broke the bank. Sitch said he needs to find a more affordable way to go about this.
"If anybody has a pig problem, I would be a good person to call," he said, vowing to hunt ethically and show utmost respect for property. (He can be reached through his Web site, http://will.sitch.org.)
For hunters who have connections, such as Andy Donald of Woodland, the public-service approach to hunting can be quite successful.
Donald, managing editor of the start-up magazine Cooking Wild (www.cookingwildmagazine.com), grew up in Davis and got to know quite a few farmers in the area.
"It started with a farmer who said, 'Look, I've been managing this land in Capay, and we've got a horrible problem,' " Donald said.
Hogs were tearing up the land and making a mess during the harvest, so Donald spent about three weeks scouting the land to understand when and where the pigs were moving. Then he started hunting.
"We shot a lot of pigs off that property," he said. "We set up a blind, went out at dusk and dawn, and we caught them coming in and out of a walnut orchard."
His success led to referrals to other farmers who wanted help with their pig problems.
Without connections, though, getting permission to hunt private land for free can be nearly impossible.
"I have tried asking permission with zero success," said Phillip Loughlin, a veteran hog hunter from Union City and proprietor of the Hog Blog (www.hog-blog.com).
Many landowners have discovered they can get money for allowing people to hunt on their land. As a result, vast swaths of the pig-rich Central Coast region are leased by guides and outfitters who make a living taking people hog hunting.
Some landowners fear litigation, even though under state law they generally are free from liability when they give hunters permission to hunt on their land, as long as they don't charge a fee.
"If something happens you can still sue, and people are terrified of that," Loughlin said. "It costs money to go to court, even if you win."
Poswall had no qualms when I asked if I could bring Loughlin out to his property one day last month to put his hog-hunting expertise to use.
The three of us took a tour of the property. Poswall pointed out the boundary between his land and the neighbors' land, where hunters were not welcome, and showed us where the pigs had been rooting.
"Probably a big sow," Loughlin said, examining tracks we found in one rooting area.
Mmmmm. Big sow. If we got her, we could easily split the meat and each take home plenty.
Poswall left us, and – armed with rifles and state-issued pig tags – Loughlin and I stalked the perimeter of the property, looking for footprints and scat to determine how recently pigs had been there and where they were moving.
It quickly became evident that the pigs hadn't been there in weeks, at best. Their scat was dry, their tracks weather-worn. Loughlin surmised that with all the rain and abundant growth, there was little reason for the pigs to wander far from wherever they were bedding down.
"Have them give you a call next time they see fresh rooting," Loughlin advised, "and get over here quick."
In the meantime, if I want to put some wild pork in my freezer, I just might have to call a guide service.
The call of hog hunting
Familiarity and taste of the meat. Wild pig meat is comparable to the domestic version, though it's generally leaner and more flavorful.
It's cost-effective compared with other game. Among those hunting California's big-game animals – deer bear and pig – pig hunters have the highest success rate at 37 percent. Only 24 percent of deer hunters are successful, and 9 percent of bear hunters.
Risk. Deer run away, but wild pigs can charge hunters and slash them with their sharp tusks. The risk is minor, says Hog Blog writer Phillip Loughlin, but it can add to the excitement of the hunt.
No need to be picky. "With antlered game, you're always after some trophy-quality animal," says Don Geivet, vice president of ranch operations at Tejon Ranch. "But with pigs, it's pretty open – just about anything out there is game."
Public service. "It makes sense to go after boar – they're destructive and invasive," says Nick Zigelbaum, co-founder of the Bull Moose Hunting Society, which helps new hunters.
Year-round hunting. Deer hunting in California has seasons that are measured in weeks, not months, but pigs can be hunted year-round.
Top counties for pig harvest in 2009
1. Kern, 705 killed
2. Monterey, 640
3. San Luis Obispo, 280
4. Tehama, 252
5. Sonoma, 248
6. San Benito, 214
7. Mendocino, 210
8. Lake, 152
9. Colusa, 125
10. Santa Barbara, 103
Source: California Department of Fish and GameWild pig hunting in California
Season: Open year-round, but summer is considered least optimal because of the risk of meat spoilage in the heat.
Requirements: California hunting license ($41.20), wild-pig tag ($19.70)
Ideal pig habitat: Agricultural land, oak woodland
Public land with decent chances of success: Fort Hunter Liggett, Camp Roberts, Tehama Wildlife Area
Private land opportunity: Look for pig-hunting opportunities on private land under the Shared Habitat Alliance for Recreational Enhancement program on the state Deptartment of Fish and Game Web site, www.dfg.ca. gov/wildlife/hunting/pig/.
Hunting private land for a fee: A complete listing of licensed pig hunting guides is available at www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/pig. Some outfitters and guide services include:
• Tejon Ranch in Kern County offers guided and unguided hunts. www.hunttejon.com
• Native Hunt offers guided hunts in the Central Coast area. www.nativehunt.com
• Bryson Hesperia Resort in Monterey County offers semi-guided and guided hunts. http://brysonresort.com
• Dye Creek Preserve in Tehama County offers guided hunts that include lodging. www.mumwildlife.com.
• Wild Pig Hunting Guide Service offers guided and unguided hunts in Sonoma County. www.wildpighuntingguideservice.com.
Resources for hog hunters:
• Department of Fish & Game, www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/pig/
• The Hog Blog, a blog with tips, stories and news about hog hunting, www.hog-blog.com
• Bull Moose Hunting Society, an organization that helps new hunters, www.bullmoosehunting.com.
Tips for new hog hunters
Pay a guide. Hunting on public land saves money, but experts say it can be more cost-effective to pay a guide who can deliver than to repeatedly hunt public land and come out empty-handed.
Research. If you go without a guide, do your research before you go: Find out where hogs have been seen and learn some scouting basics, which are covered in the Department of Fish and Game's "Guide to Hunting Wild Pigs in California," available online at www.dfg.ca. gov/wildlife/hunting/pig/.
Make a plan for success. "Pulling the trigger is the easy part," says Hog Blog writer Phillip Loughlin. Learn how to field-dress a hog and plan how to get it back to your vehicle.
Phillip Loughlin, right, scans for wild pigs as Holly Heyser looks for tracks on land near Lincoln owned by John Poswall.
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