Looking to do some Hog hunting - Nor Central CA

[Redwood Coonhounds]

Was thinking of doing a little hog hunting. I've got a dog or two I was wanting to try out. I've been a couple times, never with my own dogs. Wondering where a good place would be. I live north of Marysville.

[Arkansas Frog]

when I lived there[Calif] West of Red Bluff had hogs and a few near the town of red Bluff

Be careful them hogs will eat them Walkers up.

[livetohunt]

There is lots of hog west of Red Bluff but they are all on private land and most is used as hunting clubs.

[Arkansas Frog]

Live to hunt I been gone 14 years figured such, can you buy in to those clubs? around CottonWood and Red Bluff?

[livetohunt]

I know there is one out west that you can buy into I dont think you can run dogs on it. But the rest are they type where they want to to pay $400-$700 per pig and only go out with there guide. I drove by one the other day the pigs came running to the road when they saw the truck. Real wild hogs there. and one even had ear tags......

[RIFLEMAN]

I know this is not the information you are asking for, but as someone who has run hogs with Walkers for many, many years, I would suggest that you give the prospect of running hogs with your Walkers some serious thought and exercise an abundance of caution. Here are a few pros and cons, starting with the bad news first.

Cons
1. Dangerous: The likelihood of your Walkers being wounded or killed by a hog is greater than anything you currently hunt. They are faster and smarter than a dog. They are more formidable with their tusks than a bear, yet they are less sure of themselves than a bear is, thereby creating a situation where the hog is more likely to charge the dogs as a measure of self-defense than a bear is. In the brush, your dogs are not as likely to be able to get out of the way of a charging hog whose reflexes are better than a bear's. In my experience, females are less likely to get hurt than males, but any gritty bay dog, male or female, runs the risk of being hurt or killed. I have mitigated this risk by keeping cut collars and cut vests on my dogs, but have had to trade speed for safety and see gorgeous Walkers all covered up and forced to move in an unnatural manner in a damned suit of armor. When walking to a hog bay, I always strain to hear the barking of every one of my dogs to make sure each one is okay, and have an ever-present knot in my gut until I get there to make sure none of them are cut...this gnawing fear/worry is inescapable for me. Putting good hounds that are highly valuable for other types of game in a situation that some would argue is better suited for stock dogs is something you should consider very carefully.
2. Addictive: Once your dogs are allowed to run hogs, it may prove very difficult to stop them. I am not sure if it is the abundance of scent or what exactly, but it seems like dogs become addicted to chasing hogs...I once had a dog who left a bobcat tree to go run two boars that were in the area, and we wound up with a cat treed and two hogs bayed within earshot of each other. I raise this point as a way of saying that once you decide to go down this path with the dogs that you have, it'll be very, very hard to retrace your steps with these same dogs...even if/when you managed to break them from running hogs, you might not be able to trust them when they struck from the box.
3. Abundant: Because hogs are so prolific, their numbers will probably exceed those of anything else you may hunt. If you hunt something else (such as cat, coon, fox, or bear) in an area where hogs are found, you are more likely to catch the hogs and may have long, dry spells of not catching anything else. This, coupled with #2 above, will affect your success rate with other game and perhaps degrade your dogs' "track discipline" on game such as cat or fox.

Pros
1. Accessible: I would not have exclusive access to 11 ranches totaling nearly 44,000 acres of private ranch land if I didn't run hogs. Hogs are incredibly destructive to crops, land, water, and livestock and can harm a farmer or rancher's success and livelihood more than perhaps any other animal. It is this fact alone that has allowed me to get permission, keep permission, and continue to expand my access to ranches with little or no effort on my part...when ranchers or farmers hear their neighbors talking about how helpful you are, they will come to you rather than the other way around. It's this access, your success, and the growing trust they have in you that will typically open the door to the ability to run other types of game as well. This is hard to beat.
2. Exciting: What's the most exciting scenario with a bear you can think of? For me, it's a bear bayed on the ground, and I would guess the same may be said for you, too. Hogs create this feeling every time.
3. Abundant: Yes, I know I mentioned this as a con, but if you've got hogs on the brain, it is a good thing, too. Because hogs are so prolific, successful, and resistant to significant predation, you won't come home empty-handed very often.

This is my dollar's worth of unsolicited opinion...yours to take or leave.

Now as to your actual question, the public properties I suggest you check out would include Spenceville Wildlife Area, the public property east of Red Bluff, and the lower elevations of the Feather River Canyon. There are also hogs rumored to be funneling down the Sutter Bypass, but I don't personally know anyone who has caught any there.

[lepcur]

Good post rifleman x2 Mike