fuggin kommiefornia

[csutton7]

damn hog tags are now $16 a shot--last year you could buy 5 for $8--somehow I miss this stuff when it goes down--I bet a lot more poaching will go on now than before---this sucks--why not 5 for $10 or even 5 for $15 first--pollytishuns are gonna be fair game soon--chris

 

[noharleyyet]

That's just nuts Chris.

 

[MarvB]

Ya Chris go figure...not even a native game species and no closed season as well. I thought it was a bit assinine that you had to buy five tags at a time to begin but now the "per each" price is whack.... |oo

Loony friggin state.

 

[tnctcb]

what did non res tags go up to. they were 12 bucks a few years ago but i bet they are way up now. hell maybe they hav joined much of the california big game and non res. arent even eligible. what a crock i can shoot them here for free dont even need a licence on private land.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I don't think the price is going to make an honest man start poaching. Hell, most people can't afford to hunt them because they are all on private land, and you have to pay to play. That is more likely to cause poaching than having to pay $16 to shoot a hog! Fish and Game is having to fight for every dollar it can under our current budgetary woes - I don't begrudge them the money. I just wish it would go to habitat improvements on public lands so the average guy would have a better shot at getting a hog.

Two guys buying lunch will pay more than $16.

 

[csutton7]

CH--I agree it won't make an honest man poach, but it will creep into guys minds a lot more than before--and yes I agree if it went back into only hunting I'd gripe less, but to raise it from basically $1.60 a tag to $16 a tag is a stiff up your's and mine jump---a benefit may be that now less hunters will pay and hunt and the piggies will be running rampant and maybe people will open their doors a little more--positive thinking---------chris

 

[MarvB]

tnctcb...$52.50 for the non-rezy tag I believe (which is BS as well) :MAD

 

[pa mt man]

I think prices for hunting licences are going to go up eveywhere until we can figure out a way to bring more hunters back into the sport. I'm not good at math and I know you guys are probably as sick and tired of them as I am, but here's one more equation. It may not be an equation but I think you'll get the jest of it.
Fewer hunters=Less money =higher fees


What's the easist one to change?

 

[noharleyyet]

Pa Mt Man...With the trend toward higher licensing fees, trespass fees, and limited prime game hunting opportunities in the nat'l forests creeping towards the affluent only, I'm afraid a decline in hunters is inevitable. There are a great deal of knowledgeable and ethical hunters of average income simply being priced out of the game. Your formula is correct but only at the expense of the working man who is already scrimping to get by. Not disagreeing with you but there is no easy fix.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Yep, I would agree that the lack of public land hunting, and the resulting high cost of paying to hunt on private land, will cause more hunters to lose interest and leave the sport than raising the tag price to $16.

 

[noharleyyet]

CH, guess I'm spoiled here in Texas as far as cheap pig hunting is concerned and no, $16 isn't gonna stop you, I, or most of the people on this forum from hunting anything. It's the steady escalating price trend that I was referring to...no single thing...

 

[Tom]

cry babies.

Why don't you shoot a big one? If its at least 16 pounds, it will only be $1/pound and you'll get to hunt too.

 

[Big Sky]

Y'all quit yer' bitch'n. I was in CA over the Easter weekend to hunt pigs. It cost me over a $100.00 for the hunting license and pig tag as a non-resident. I was supposedly hunting prime private land. I never saw so much as a fresh track in three days. The only thing I have to show for my effort is one lousy rattle snake. With all the travel expense+tags I call it my $600.00 rattle snake. It was my first time hunting California and it's a pretty sure bet it's my LAST! One thing is for sure it is one fugged up state!!!

 

[MarvB]

Troy, if you don't mind (or you can PM me) where and what outfit were you hunting with? Public land pig hunting here is extremly difficult but private generally is a slam dunk if the outfit knows what they are doing and has decent property.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I second that request - you should have had no problem at least seeing hogs. Who did you hunt with, and what area? Generally, the problem is that the pigs are all on the private property where water and feed are abundant.

 

[Washington Hunter]

Seems like with a pig hunt like that on private land where you are paying a substantial amount of money there should be some kind of guarantee, at least that you will see a pig or two. Not even a track? Sounds like you got ripped off. |oo

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Most places or guides charge a hunt fee, and then only hit you with a trophy fee if you bag one. Or they charge a bigger hunt fee with no additional fee for a "meat" pig and then an additional charge for a "trophy" boar, usually tusks over 2 1/2 or 3 inches.

 

[Big Sky]

I wasn't with an outfitter. I hunted with a guy that is supposed to be pig hunting expert out of the Bay Area. He is some type of outdoor writer for a couple different San Francisco news papers. He had been trying to talk me in to going out there for 5 or 6 years. The place was supposed to be overrun with pigs. The reality was, the area was only 1200 acres in the middle of about a bazillion arces. All the land around it was leased up or shut down to hunting. There was some old sign that appeared to be about 2 to 3 weeks old. I would say it's a good place to go if you live in the area and can hit it every weekend. Sooner or later a guy might run in to a pig. However, it's a piss-poor place to invite folks and actually expect pigs there on a consistant basis. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad the same guy that duped me also duped a couple other guys while I was there. One is the senior editor for Spearfishing Magazine his partner was his publisher. At the end of the month American Archer and Nortwest Hunter TV production crews will be there to hunt and will get the same reality shock I did. If I were a betting man I'd say they aren't going to be very happy campers. I'm just sort'a sitting back and waiting to see what kind of fireworks result once those TV crews show up.

 

[Tom]

Sounds pretty conclusive to me. He wanted you there 5 or 6 years ago. You just went. You spent 3 days. Its piss poor, no hogs, not anywhere, skip that state, don't hunt anything there, ever.

You sound more mad than anything. Heck, they can travel 15 miles in a night and if pressured, they'll be nocturnal. Maybe this is not the time of year for that place to be good. Sorry it didn't go well, maybe next time. It doesn't sound like he scouted much for you, even though you came all that way, or were you just there, at this time, so you gave it a try?

 

[Big Sky]

Tom whoa there, you are making a lot of assumptions with very little information. It is true this guy has been after me to come out there and hunt these hogs for 5 or 6 years. He sent a number of photo (which later proved to be old photos.) Here are a number of claims he made prior to my partner and I's arrival. "The ranch is 5000 acres and there's tons of pigs. Why don't you and your partner bring archery equipment just to put a challenge in it. You'll probably be done the first evening. You can kill as many as you want to buy tags for. I'll have it all scouted out. I will go up there a week or two ahead and stay there until you guys get here. I'm not worried about you getting pigs, but turkeys might take a day or two. I'm just a little over weight, but I can still get around just fine."

Now here is the reality of what actually happened. First off it was 1200 acres not 5000. We busted our tails to get there early enough Friday to make an evening hunt. We called and let him know how long it would be before we could meet him. We called him again 20 minutes from our meeting point. We had arranged flight schedules and time off from work just to get in this extra evening. (All this on his recommendation.) So where was he when we arrived with little time to spare? He was friggen fishing! We call his cell number and ask where the heck he is. His reply, "I'm fishing, I'll be there in 45 minutes." Did I mention we were quickly losing daylight! Sorry but when a guy travels 1500 miles, I'm damn sure going to be there to meet him, not off drowing fish eggs in some stream 45 minutes away. Remember all the stuff about scouting and being up there ahead of time. Turns out he had been up there in about a year. So for three days I got to listen to him talk about where the pigs "used" to be. He didn't have a friggen clue where they were. Oh and did I mention that after we had bought our tags prior to the hunt that he wanted us to only shoot one each. Then after we arrive he tells my partner to only shoot a small to average pig as we weren't supposed to shoot the big ones. WTF!!! On top of that, I talk to the guy that owns the ranch and he tells me that he had some dog hunters in there 3 weeks before. Had dufus been up there he would have known this and not wasted the time of 4 individuals that traveled considerable distances to be there. Now to top this all off, his idea of a little over weight and what the rest of our party consider a little over weight were quite different. Let's just say I wouldn't use the word "little" and leave it at that. After the first nights hike we couldn't get him out of the tent the next morning. Between the 4 of us hunting we never saw any fresh sign anywhere on the 1200 acres. All the turkeys in the area were on neighboring land and nowhere close to huntable. It was a bad joke. I had planned to hunt for about 5 days, but after walking the same 1200 acres for 3 days it was pointless. You bet I was pissed. It could've all been avoided had he done a fraction of what he said he would do. So instead of just walking around pissed for 5 days I bagged the hunting and went and toured the Bay Area. I got to say the last two days were great and he made a much better tour guide for the restaurants and sites of the Bay Area than he did anything related to hunting. The Bay Area including San Francisco is beautiful and I was very impressed with the architecture and landscaping in the area. As a professional artist I really appreciated all the work that has gone in to the area to make it so eye pleasing. I didn't see any openly gay couples or anything else particularly strange, but I didn't look real hard either. The food in the Bay Area has got to be some of the best I've ever experienced. California does have some seriously good restaurants. So the trip wasn't a total loss, but I sure didn't go there with the intent of playing tourist in the Bay Area. Honestly, I can't imagine ever returning to hunt when there are so many other places and options. I tried it once, and fair or not, that was enough for me. I have been to California many times and will likely end up there again a time or two, but not with the intent of hunting...fishing maybe, but not hunting.