Great Map!!
Who is telling a tall tale here though? How do the hogs know there not suppose to be in Oregon? The Oregon DFW is ignoring the truth or California is overstating the distribution.
It seems odd to me that they only go north to the exact line of the border of the state?? I've shot two in the area shown near John Day. One about 500 lbs looking just like a giant farm pig, and the other much more wild looking like a true wild boar. We were actually near Ashwood and Prineville. I shot both on a private ranch which the land owner gave me permission to hunt Elk. He told me to shoot every pig I saw, and I could just leave them lay dead if I wanted to. He also had feral goats and sheep which he told me to shoot everyone of those I see as well. I shot about 5-6 in a couple years of hunting there. Nobody seems to know how these feral hogs and other animals arrived there. There seemed to be hundreds of sheep and goats, we saw them frequently. The hogs we saw were in groups of 4-10 or so and were always on the move. We did see them rooting across a canyon one afternoon. We watched them for while, but there was no way we were gonna waste any time to shoot them with limited time for elk hunting.
I think today I would just as well hunt the hogs rather then the Elk!
That's intresting JJ. The story here is that the hog's origionated at Ashwood on a private reserve, so did the goats which are actually supposed to be Ibex. I used to have a lot of photo's of the Ibex on a local ranch here but they are now all but gone. There were six as I recall, all nanny's and the guy from Ashwood was going to give the ranch owner a billy to go with them but they never got it. They think old age and our booming cougar's got them.
The hog's were awfully thick on private land between Antelope and Ashwood but according to the rancher's, the government trapper has flown and shot them off from a plane. I have heard of some out around Donnybrook, near Ashwood, and out in Grizzly but I've never seen one. I also hear of them on the old Smith Ranch in Antelope but the new owner's don't let anyone hunt there. One other pocket here is in what's called Sand Canyon, owned mostly by the Borthwick Ranch, all leased hunting. A friend with a small place bordering the Borthwick ranch see's them occassionally.
I have seen the dead bodies of some between Antelope and Ashwood, shot by ranchers. In fact out in an old pickup is the remains of one my ex dragged home years ago. everyone I've seen has been black and fit's the discription of the hog called Russian Boar, probably Eourpean Boar is a better discription.
I have people ask about the hog hunting here from time to time but have nothing good to tell them. Problem is what there are, if there are still any, all seem to be on private property. Lot of that around here. The guy that bought the Smith Ranch say's they are up in the sagebrush now. I doubt that as there's no water up there. There is another place on the ranch that has a lot of water and feeds over into the John Day River.
