Need some opinions please.

[bigbore442001]

http://www.mohrswidowmaker.com/island.htm

I was perusing through the net when I came across this site. It is intriguing in a way. Mostly due to the geographic distance to my home as well as may be a semblence of a free range hunt.

Any opinions will be welcomed.

[drdougrx]

Hi Big,

Looks like what it is.  a 1 day put-n-take.  It's a meat hunt for sure and doesn't appear to be much by way of real hunting (I mean 150 acres)  .  A day out with the guys that ends up with some tasty meat.  In that ...  It is what it is and a few fun hours with your buds...why not!

[Land_Owner]

I can not get my "head around" $350/animal, but it does sound like fun on a 150 acre island.  One hundred and fifty acres is not too small a piece of real estate.  I bet four guys couldn't hunt/find all of its nooks and cranneys in a single day. 

Don't forget, processing fees, licenses, taxidermy, vehicle fuel/transportation, room and board, etc. all add significantly to that initial cost.  If you have no other options, perhaps the island way is for you.  The ad does not say whether you have to pay anything if you don't shoot.

[Graybeard]

One hundred fifty acres is close enough to 160 to make comparisons anyone can relate to. One hundred sixty acres is a quarter section or in other words one quarter of a square mile. It is a half mile per side if a perfect square. To folks out west that's hardly a five minute hike and in most areas there you could see it all from one location and shoot without moving anything on it if you are fairly centrally located.

To folks east of the MS River tho it's a fair size chunk of land and likely more than most of us hunt on if we hunt private land. If wooded and hilly even if high fenced a wary animal could elude you for days on such a property even tho hunters from the west can't seem to wrap their minds around such a thing.

Once back around '91 I think but it might have been '93 one or the other for sure I hunted a small high fenced place in Texas that this brings to mind. The property was only 80 acres in size. It was fairly flat in the front but rose a great deal on the back and had a fairly steep cliff around the middle and it was a rocky and slippery climb from either side up there to the top. From up there tho you could see most of the entire property and with a rifle it is likely you could have picked off any animal on the property.

But I was hunting with iron sighted handgun. The animals for the most part were as tame as pets and you had to kick them in the butt to make them move out of your way.

BUT on that little ranch were some truly wild critters. There were two nearly pure mouflon sheep that I never got within handgun range of in the 2-3 hours we spent there. They were always as far from me as the terrain allowed at any given time. There was at least one addax I saw only once on the run and other than that one time I never saw him again. There was a goat I believed a catalina but the owner called an ibex even tho the horns exhibited none of the characteristic ibex qualities about them. I saw it one time exactly climbing up that steep bank that I don't think any human could have gone up without technical climbing gear.

The rest were so tame I could likely have taken them with a hammer upside their head. There were some beautiful heads there without a doubt and I'd loved to have mounted a couple of them but they were just so tame I couldn't bring myself to shoot any. We left and next day went to a 1500 acre ranch were I managed to shoot an axis buck. I saw a much larger one I really wanted and we hunted for him for hours without ever seeing him a second time. The first time he was far out of reach of my Remington .270 Winchester Mountain rifle's range.

Back to the island hunt. It is without a doubt a daily put and take operation and it's unlikely many animals spend more than a few days there before they are either shot by someone or they jump in the water and swim to shore. The critters are likely all pen raised and tame as can be. It's not likely a hunt in the classic sense most think of a hunt being but if ya want to spend a pleasant day with friends and bring home some meat to show for it then go for it. But don't go assuming that because there is no fence it's fair chase or that it will be a challenge as that's not likely so.

[Carroll B]

I was considering going there then read on some board that the pigs were so tame it was like shooting one in a farmer's pen.

[Cabin4]

My son shot this small one just last December here in northern California. They are truly free range and run wild all over the state. We ran this one down with a dog. That dog is major league hog finder. We pushed plenty of deer on this hunt but that dog won't budge off a hog scent trail for nothing.

[Cottonwood]

cabin4 - years ago I used to hog hunt around Los Padres National Forest, and King City area.  Now that was over 20 yrs ago, and I want to get back and bowhunt for hogs.

[Cabin4]

Montanan, This one was shot down near King City on a private ranch that we were able to access. Of course, you probablly know about Fort Hunter Ligett there. The army still allows access to base to hunt and they have a great population of hogs. We almost hit a few with my truck on the night we drove past the base on the way to this ranch.

I have heard of Los Padres and know were it is but have never hunted it. I understand they also have a great hog population there. The wild hog pop here is cal is continuing to rise all over. You see these things all over the place like rabbits in some areas.

[Cottonwood]

Montanan, This one was shot down near King City on a private ranch that we were able to access. Of course, you probablly know about Fort Hunter Ligett there. The army still allows access to base to hunt and they have a great population of hogs. We almost hit a few with my truck on the night we drove past the base on the way to this ranch.

I have heard of Los Padres and know were it is but have never hunted it. I understand they also have a great hog population there. The wild hog pop here is cal is continuing to rise all over. You see these things all over the place like rabbits in some areas.

Yep, Fort Hunter Ligett and the area but that was about 25 yrs ago for me... dang how time goes by.  I'm gonna try and hook up with a buddy of mine that lives in Clear Lake area by Lakeport, and then figure out before hand about my bowhunting hogs.

[Cabin4]

Montanan, This one was shot down near King City on a private ranch that we were able to access. Of course, you probablly know about Fort Hunter Ligett there. The army still allows access to base to hunt and they have a great population of hogs. We almost hit a few with my truck on the night we drove past the base on the way to this ranch.

I have heard of Los Padres and know were it is but have never hunted it. I understand they also have a great hog population there. The wild hog pop here is cal is continuing to rise all over. You see these things all over the place like rabbits in some areas.

Yep, Fort Hunter Ligett and the area but that was about 25 yrs ago for me... dang how time goes by.  I'm gonna try and hook up with a buddy of mine that lives in Clear Lake area by Lakeport, and then figure out before hand about my bowhunting hogs.

Oh yes, Clear lake. I took my son there for his birthday present. Best bass fishing I've ever done in my life. We both caught our own personal record large mouths as well. What a bass lake!