Hog Hunting on Military Bases in CA – Fort Hunter Liggett
One of the “holy grails” of CA public land hog hunting is public land that offers a good opportunity to actually find and kill a hog. A big part of the learning experience for me was doing the research and hitting many of the public land spots that dot this state. A quick read through the DFG documentation, and some of the BLM pages suggests that there are pigs all over the public lands
I walked up and down over an awful lot of ridges and draws with little more than the occasional rooting and track to keep the motivation going, and I can probably count the total number of hogs I saw on my fingers and toes. Many of the places listed as having hogs are actually transit routes between private land… or were often marginal places with little habitat to attract and keep pigs. The small number of places that could be ideal are hammered by hunting pressure, or are so remote as to make it unrealistic for the weekend warrior to reach them.
But one of the best known secrets for public land hunters is the property owned and managed by the U.S. military.
Here in CA, there are a handful of military installations that are available to hunters. Two of the best known are Fort Hunter Liggett and Camp Roberts. Both bases are located in the central coast region of the state, which is essentially ground zero for wild hogs!
We’ll start with Ft. Hunter Liggett, 165,000 acres of Monterey County splendor. A good portion of the property was purchased from the Hearst estate, as well as property from several adjacent landowners. Hearst managed much of his property as parks, and the military has done a great job of keeping the underbrush burned or cut. The result is a beautiful patchwork of rolling, oak meadows, divided by well-maintained roads. The Nacimiento River has its headwaters on the fort property as well, and carves its way across the landscape.
The fort is bordered by the Los Padres National Forest, and is also the entry point to a large portion of the Ventana Wilderness. I have yet to hunt FHL, but I’ve visited the place a time or two. The fort also borders T. Michael Riddle’s Native Hunt property… and I’ve certainly hunted there enough. Deedy’s Bryson-Hesperia Resort is also right down the road from the gate… and as regular Hog Blog readers know, I’ve spent an hour or two on the ground there as well. Point is, I know the entire area is thick with wildlife, and as a place to find public land hogs, Fort Hunter Liggett is probably one of the best bets in the state.
Of course, the success ratio is still pretty low, especially compared to private land hunts. But folks who put in the time and effort to learn the place consistently do pretty well. In addition to hogs, there are all sorts of other game to be found on the place, including blacktail deer, turkeys, upland birds, and a healthy herd of tule elk!
You’ll find a lot of information, including the requirements for hunting the fort at the FHL website. Among other things, you’ll need to get a base permit. The instructions are on the site. You’ll also want to check the weapons restrictions. Remember, this is a military base, under control of the federal government. While the DFG rules and regulations apply, the military applies some specific regulations that go beyond those of the state. And trust me, you don’t want to get on the wrong side of the base law enforcement.
You’ll also find a good bit of conversation about FHL over at Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors forums. Log in and check out the conversations. Most of the folks there are pretty helpful too, if you have your own questions to ask.
Hang in there, and I’ll try to get to Camp Roberts in the very near future.
Good post Phillip,
When I first arrived here in Cali. back in 1980 Ft. Hunter Liggett is the place where I first cut my CA. hunting teeth upon.
Many wonderful memories of the beautiful hunting grounds there remain firmly embedded upon the recall section of my mind.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:04 am
We actually have a military base near us – Fort Custer – that allows hunting too. I’ve always wanted to give it shot, but have never had time to sit through their training course. You have to dedicate yourself, and sacrifice a decent chunk of time, in order to get through all the hoops, and I just haven’t had the time yet.
I’ll tell you what, though. If I didn’t have any other land to hunt, you betcha that I would be sitting through whatever training course I needed to.
July 24th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Thanks for the write up, I just got my permit approved and am looking forward to some fall hunts on FHL.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:58 am
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July 28th, 2009 at 2:33 am