My e-mail is repleat with questions
about hunting opportunities for wild boar and feral pigs
in Southern California. Well folks, we all know that
there are not too many ranches with wild pig populations
south of Santa Barbara.
Except, of course, for the offshore
islands and the Riverside area.
With regard to the islands the news
are not encouraging. Wild pigs on Catalina Island
have disappeared. They fell victim to the conservation
efforts of theCatalina Island Nature Conservancy
which is dedicated to restoring the island to its
original wildlife status.
Santa Cruz Island: The last
hunts were held just a few weekends ago. There will be no
more hunting on Santa Cruz Island. The Nature Conservancy
is in the process of taking over the last remaining
private part of the island. And with this change comes
the eradication of all game animals not native to the
island, i.e. goats, big horn sheep and wild boar. While
goats and big horn sheep can be shot and eliminated from
helicopters wild pigs cannot. They will have to be
poisoned.
Closer to home, at least when you
live in the greater Los Angeles area, there is the
infamous Santa Ana River area. Yes, the pigs are
still there. And yes, it is still very, very difficult to
hunt them.
You will know why when you get
there. There is incredibly dense brush everywhere which
gives them great cover. Moreover, you must be extremely
careful where you hunt because most of the land is
private. Chances are very good that you will not be able
to get permission to hunt on private lands around
the river bed. But you can always give it a try.
Much more promising is a hunting
ranch close to Riverside. Here is some hunting yarn
spun by our reader David Z. about a hunting trip he
recently took:
"Tory and I hunted (a
ranch) outside of Riverside. We did not hunt
with a guide, though they are probably available.
We just went out on our own. We started about 5:30 am in
a driving rain and it was very cold and foggy.
Perfect conditions I might add. By 7 am we had
found a herd of stocked sheep and goats and we sighted
them in from a distance of about 40 yards. It took
us about 45 minutes to work in that close. We then
reminded ourselves that we were after a pig and so we
left the herd alone. We did watch them for some
time. That in itself was fun.
We saw two pigs, and we began to
stalk the first one, but it was moving too fast for us
and we could not keep up so we gave up on that one.
Tory saw another one from about 500 yards away through
binocs and we moved to intercept it.
After working to intercept this
pig. (It was about a 200 pound sow.) The pig
threw us a curve and changed it's course and then we were
down wind and up a creek. Tory and I split up and I
continued to trail the pig and Tory moved overland to try
to get the angle. I continued to move down a fire road
after the pig, moving quietly and slowly. I had
gone about a mile and I saw the pig about 60 yards in
front of me with it's butt end sticking out of a bush.
Immedietely I realized that the pig was aware of my
presence so I did not hesitate and I took my shot.
I hit the pig in the left
shoulder and the pig collapsed about 10 feet away. A
perfect shot I might add. 30-30 Marlin.
Unfortunately I did not see that the pig had slid down a
steep embackment and I went after it. Immedietely I
found myself sliding down the same embankment, but as
luck would have it I ended up right on top of the dead
pig.
I found a clearing and spotted
Tory. He came over from his perch which was about
300 yards away and we field dressed it and dragged it
back to the fire road. At that point Bill ....came
on his quad runner. He was kind enough to truck the
pig back to the bunk house and gave us a ride back.
We were bushed from dragging the pig up the embankment.
For $20.00 the ranch hands
skinned and quartered the animal for us and we went home
with 135 lbs. of meat.
I was dissapointed to see some
Sunday afternoon trophy hunters had come out to kill off
the herd we had seen. They were shooting and
wounding animals all over the place. That was a
little sad, but all in all Tory and I had a very nice
time and we are delighted to know that this place is so
convenient to Orange County."
In addition to some Russian boar and feral pigs they
stock big horn sheep for trophy hunters.
They charge a gate fee of $ 25.00 and reasonable flat fee
of $ 250.00 for a successful hunt; feral pig, Russian
boar, pot bellied pig or sheep it does not matter.
Some final thoughts: True, the game
on this ranch does not originate from the local area. It
was not born there and it does not reproduce. Most of the
game comes from game ranches in Texas. The big horn
sheep I saw were rather easy to approach.
If you object to hunting stocked
animals on a game ranch then this place is not for you.
You will have to hunt public lands or join a private club
such as Wilderness Unlimited or get permission to hunt a
private ranch, if you can find one that is still willing
to admit hunters..
For all others, this is an
excellent opportunity to hunt boar or feral pigs in
Southern California for a very reasonable price.
The ranch is very busy as it is.
If we flood them with hunters they will have a hard
time stocking the animals and prices will soon go out of
control. Therefore, I decided not to publish the
exact location and thelephone number of the ranch right
here. If you own the book "Wild Boar in California
-Where and How to Hunt Them" send e-mail
to the author. Otherwise please e-mail the publishers if you are willing to pay
$ 3.50 for the information. You save yourself a lot of
time and effort you would otherwise spend in locating the
ranch.
I am working on
information regarding wild boar in Kern County. Watch
this page for more updates.