Call For Hog Hunting Guides And Outfitters
January 13, 2013
This is a little different for me, as usually I’m the one making recommendations and doing reviews. However, I’ve received a couple of emails lately asking for guided hunt recommendations, and I realize that I’ve been pretty much out of the loop… especially when it comes to CA hog guides. Of course I still have my standard recommendations, Bryson-Hesperia Resort (Deedy and Karin Loftus) offering semi-guided hog hunts down near King City, and fully guided huntign with Mark and Colby Williams (also in the King City area). There’s Tejon Ranch in southern CA, of course, with both their Wild Pig Management Hunts and guided/semi-guided hog hunts. And my old friends at Native Hunt are still in operation as well.
But at least two people have been asking about hunts in Sonoma County, and while I know there are outfits there, I know nothing about them. And other than that, I don’t know who’s still in business, who has changed contact information, or who’s joined the party with a new outfitting and guide business. So here’s the question to you, good readers:
Can you recommend hog hunting guides in your neck of the woods… whether it’s California, Texas, or anywhere else in the country?
Well, I guess it’s time to update this bio just a touch since I’ve now evacuated California and made a new home down in the Texas Hill Country (the southern part, not the fancy part). Besides that, most of the info here is still accurate.
I have been using Ernie Sanders at D and E Guide Service. He mainly hunts the Guenoc and Comstock Ranches in Lake County, however, they also hunt in Cloverdale, CA in Sonoma County as well.
Ernie is a no-frills kind of guide. He lives, breathes and eats hunting. He scouts daily and has game cams everywhere. He typically has good groups of hogs patterned by the time you show up for the hunt. I have been hunting with him several times now over the past few years and have always had 100% opportunity to take hogs.
Ernie’s rates are about fifty dollars higher than other guides. He is $500 for the guide fee + $150 kill fee for a total of $650 if you are successful but again, he always puts me on good hogs.
They are a full service guide providing all transportation during the hunt and game care after the hunt. Post hunt, they completely field dress and skin your animal and prepare you for transport to the butcher.
On a side note, I have muscular dystrophy making me disabled. I can walk but have some trouble with it. I also have a hard time now, holding my rifle. Ernie always carries a chair and a tripod for me into the field (actually he does this for most of his hunters disabled or not) so that I can take my shot from a seated position with a tripod to hold up my rifle and keep it steady.
You can reach Ernie at:
Ernie Sanders
Guide Lic. #10486
19892 Grange Road
Middletown, CA 95461
707-696-8579
http://www.dandeguideservice.com/
Colusa Indian Community Outdoor Adventures is another outfit I have gone with for ducks but they also run hog hunts. Their duck operation is top notch and their guides are truly professional in every way. The same guides that guide duck hunts also guide their hog hunts.
Their hog hunts are $600 per hunt and I have heard nothing but good things about them. If their hog hunts are anything like their duck hunts, then they are worth the money.
Their hog hunts are all run out of ranches in the Arbuckle, CA area in Colusa County.
Contact the hunting program manager, Casey Stafford at:
Casey & Regina Stafford
CICC Outdoor Adventures
Office: 530.458.8730
Mobile: 530.682.3176
E-Mail: outdooradventures@colusa-nsn.gov
http://www.hunt-fish-game.com/contact.htm
NOTE – Both guide services accomodate my disabilty. I can walk but have some troubles with it. Both have been more than accomodating helping me to and from hunting areas and into/out of blinds etc.
Thanks for the info! I think I remember talking to Ernie a while back, but I’ve never hunted with him.
Hopefully, more folks will chime in.
In Central Texas, 4 Pines Ranch (http://www.4pinesranch.net/HOG_HUNTS.html) is my go-to guy for semi-guided hog hunts. They hunt from stands over feeders and spot and stalk, including night-time hunts. Matt is a good guy, and he has a decent cabin on site for lodging.
Thanks for the info, Daniels! I checked out their site and it does look like they’ve got a pretty good setup over there. Prices seem relatively reasonable as well. Maybe I’ll get a chance to get over there sometime this spring and check it out first hand.