As usual, more than 90 percent of all the pigs killed by hunters came from private land. The state’s Central Coast region produced more than 60 percent of the harvest, which is 7 percent better than the 2004-05 period.

The San Joaquin Valley and Southern Sierra region accounted for around 21 percent of the total, up 2 percent from the previous year.

Though wild pigs are now found in 56 of the state’s 58 counties, there are a few counties where zero hogs are taken and others where fewer than a dozen are killed. However, there are at least nine counties where more than 200 wild pigs are tagged every year. The best of the best is Monterey County where 1,327 hogs were harvested in 2005-06.

Other counties of note are Tehama with 302 hogs, Lake with 296, Mendocino with 285, San Benito with 402; Santa Clara with 217, Sonoma with 369; San Luis Obispo with 314 and Kern with 759.

It’s obvious that the best pig hunting occurs on private land, which explains the popularity of guided hunts. There are some state and federal lands where pig hunting is feasible, should you want to try it on your own. However, the effort involved is considerable and the percentage of success is quite small.

That said, many public areas are listed in the DFG’s free Guide To Hunting Wild Pigs in California. You can check it out for yourself at dfg.ca.gov/publications/pigguide.pdfOr to get a printed copy, call (916) 653-2225.

STATE OF THE HUNT
To get a handle on things around the state, California Game & Fish interviewed several guides, outfitters and outdoor writers. Here’s what the experts have to say about hunting opportunities this year.

DFG Senior Biologist Doug Updike keeps track of wild pig statistics for the state. “No one knows for sure how many wild hogs there are throughout the state,” he said. “But at their highest population level, there may be anywhere from 400,000 to a million.”

He said the drought conditions of 2007 were hard on wild hogs, and in some regions, the vital precipitation-produced forage was down sharply.

“However, I haven’t heard of any major declines yet,” Updike said. “In some places, they’ve certainly been hurt to some degree. But it’s a temporary setback. Wild hogs are so resilient, they can come back in no time.”

He expects there to be plenty of hogs around, even though numbers might be down from previous years.

CENTRAL COAST
Brady Daniels of Cal Quest Outfitters painted a fairly bright picture for his hunting area, which includes property in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Like everyone else, he noted the lack of rainfall, but said that there are plenty of other water sources in his area for the pigs to utilize.

“I saw a few stressed hogs early on, Daniels said. “And I suspect there have been some losses, but that kind of stuff was spotty. A lot of our pigs have access to agricultural crops, so I think we’re still in pretty good shape.”

He also noted that his group takes only around 80 hogs a year, and they try not to put too much pressure on them in any one area.

“About 95 percent of our hunting is spot-and-stalk,” Daniels said, “and that doesn’t bother them much.”

A little farther north Doug Roth, of Camp 5 Outfitters, agreed with Daniels’ assessment.

“We’ve experienced a little decline,” he said. “But we aren’t having a lot of trouble filling hunters’ tags as yet. Last summer, our crops were just dismal due to lack of rain. But there was some leftover grain in the fields for the pigs to forage on, and that helped a lot.”