HOG HUNTING ON THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA!

[BaseballStud20]

I was sitting here thinking and recall an article I read in Game and Fish magazine a couple years ago about hog hunting on the olympic peninsula...I think it was somwhere up north of Montesano. Never really heard anything about it after that so I was just wondering if anyone else had more information about these hogs. Are they still up there?

[Shadow Cat]

I used to live just outside of Monteseno and had not seen any hogs or even any sign. I have heard of them north of there up around Lake Wynoochee. There are also a lot of bears up in that area as well. Good Elk area to.

[callthewild]

I live in Elma and there has not been any talk of the hogs for 2-3 yrs.  the last i heard of any being seen it was up the 88 canyon

[Shadow Cat]

I lived between Matlock and Elma (off Ford Loop RD) and hunted 88 canyon a lot and have seen very little sign of them in there.

[callthewild]

i think most of them have been taken. like i said i have not heard of any being taken in 2-3 yrs. but back in the day that was the place to be

[jackelope]

http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/367538/page/2#Post36753

they have now been reduced to the likes of sasquatch, loch  ness monster and a chupacabra.

i'm kind of glad we don't have them on one hand, but on the other hand i kind of wish we had them for the hunting opportunity and the table fare if they weren't so destructive.
i remember the article though.

[Michelle_Nelson]

If their were a reasonable size Hog population in an area you would know.  They can become a real pain in the butt for farmers.  The best way to describe them are miniture Dozers.  They tear up everything.  Personally I wouldn't want to see them even get a foot hold in Washington.  If ya want to hunt them California is close enough for me. 

In the south their were only two big game animals,  Whitetail Deer and Wild Hogs.  Once they get a foot hold in washington you'll never get rid of them.  They can have any where from 3 - 4 litters a year.  I know that Piglets can start their own family at around 6 - 8 months.

[jackelope]

from http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/regions/reg5/feb2102.htm :

Feral Pigs in Region 5- Wildlife Staff was contacted by John Batts of Graham WA, who reported that he had observed feral pigs near the intersection of Weyerhaeuser Rd 1967 and the 1000 Rd in the summer of 2000. He had been "surfing" the WDFW website and saw the fact sheet on feral pigs in Region 6, and realized his observation was important. This is the first time that we have been made aware of the potential for wild pigs in Southwest Washington. Mr. Batts was gracious enough to send a photograph he had taken of a piglet. This pig was one of a litter that was with a sow. The sow would not allow Mr. Batts to approach close enough for a photo. Feral pigs are a serious threat to habitats of native animals and must be removed. They are not protected nor regulated, and we encourage anyone with information about them in Southwest Washington to contact the Region 5 office. We extend our appreciation to Mr. Batts for letting us know about this important observation. (To see a fact sheet on feral pigs in Region 6, see: http://wdfw.wa.gov/do/jun01/jun2201a.htm).

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June 22, 2001
Contact: Jack Smith, (360) 249-1222
Steve Pozzanghera, (360) 902-2506



Wildlife agency seeks information on wild pigs


OLYMPIA – If you see a wild pig on the Olympic Peninsula, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) wants to know about it.

Seriously.

Jack Smith, regional WDFW wildlife manager, said he's received an increasing number of reports from people who have seen – and sometimes shot – wild pigs in an area stretching from the Quinault Indian Reservation to the Wynochee River valley.

"We're concerned that these critters could be spreading," Smith said. "Left unchecked, they can be extremely destructive to native vegetation and wildlife species."

Smith isn't talking about ordinary pigs that just slipped away from the farm. The ones he's concerned about can weigh 300 pounds or more. Sporting long guard hair, they are dark brown to black in color and have a generally scruffy appearance.

They also have tusks like a European wild boar and can be dangerous when confronted.

"Like wild boars around the world, these guys aren't known for having a good temperament," Smith said.

In fact, Washington's wild pigs probably share the same lineage, said Steve Pozzanghera, deputy assistant director for the WDFW wildlife program, who explains that at least one game farm imported wild boars from eastern Europe to the Olympic Peninsula in the 1930s.

"The pigs we're hearing about are probably the descendants of those imported boars and feral pigs that escaped from area farms years ago," Pozzanghera said.

Because WDFW currently considers the animals to be "feral domestics," they can be hunted without a license, Pozzanghera said.

And that, apparently, is what an increasing number of people are doing.

Smith said he had heard about members of the Quinault tribe hunting wild pigs on the reservation for years but has recently received reports of pigs being taken by nontribal hunters from Humptulips to the Grisdale logging camp site on the Wynochee. The clearest evidence was a photo of a slain pig Smith received from the owner of a sporting goods store in Montesano.

"I've heard of about 10 taken since Mother's Day," Smith said. "If wild pigs are proliferating on the Peninsula, we need to know about it."

If you see or shoot a wild pig on the Olympic Peninsula, Smith asks that you contact him at (360) 249-1222. If, however, you're interested in information about where to hunt wild pigs, Smith asks that you instead call one of the sporting goods stores in the Grays Harbor area.

"I'm really not interested in becoming a wild pig hunting guide," he said, "and I know that sporting goods dealers in Montesano and Aberdeen have more information than anybody about where and how these pigs can best be hunted."

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http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=10799#

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http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=148

[Krusty]

The wild hogs on the Peninsula are just like the wild turkeys...

"They are where they are, when you see 'em, because that's where they were, when you saw 'em."

They may never be there again.

It's a very old, and in my opinion a very stable population. When lots of people get to thinking about them ,and therefore looking for them, more are seen and killed.

The problem with media based scouting reports, is the more likely the "scout" is of making money from it, the more encouraging the scouting report.
I NEVER trust the guy who owns the resort, the grocery store, or the gas station.

Beware of reporting to the WDFW, it's also my opinion that they are "testing the depth of the financial opportunity" here.
How many hog tags can they sell?

There are other non-indigenous game species, that we now apply for tags, to hunt.

Krusty

[jackelope]

those reports are from 2001, and if i remember correctly, there was no season, license required, limit, etc....so i guess they can't sell any tags.

[Krusty]

Jackalope,

I am well aware that those are old reports.

I am still wary of reporting or discussing hogs with the WDFW. Both actual populations and locations, and even any interest in hunting them.
We have not had a season in the past or had to buy tags, but if the WDFW sees a viable financial opportunity, that could change.

At one point in time we didn't even need tags for bears, they were "varmints", and that has changed. 

That didn't happen for the money it could generate, but for the money it could save. The state enlisted us as a free management tool, and stopped paying for a control/bounty system.

Krusty

[actionshooter]

Guys, I've got to call BS on this. I don't believe they were ever there. I have lived and hunted in that area for over 20 years. I know a ton of people who live and hunt in the area. I personaly know no-one who has seen them, heard them or seen sign. I have never seen a picture and no-one I know has ever seen a picture. I believe this was fabticated by a local sports shop (which will remain name-less) to drum up buisiness using the rag Hunting and Fishing News as an advertisement.
 This is my opinion, if some one can show me any evidence please post it! 

[Parker]

I'm no expert but I do know a couple of things about pigs. 
They are an amazing animal when it comes to their ability to go wild.  A domestic pig will begin growing long hair within about two weeks of escaping.  Such a pig would look pretty similar to a wild pig already, but the really amazing thing is that their offspring will already have an elongated snout and possibly teeth (tusks) as well.  Also, a pig can have several litters a year.  Taking that into consideration, and the fact that pigs tend to be fairly smart and independent (making them prone to escaping), it doesn't seem like it would be that far out there to find a feral pig roaming around the sticks.  On the other hand, they are incredibly destructive, so if there was a good sized population people would know. Just my two cents! 

[boneaddict]

Dang it action shooter...wasn't the Rambo First Blood movie filmed in that area.  Didn't he kill a wild pig for food with a spear.  There was your evidence, but I think he ate it.

[Krusty]

Actionshooter,

Wow dude, it takes a lot of balls to call a guy a liar, especially without saying what locality this businessman might be in.

I know a guy, a personal friend of mine, that owns a sporting goods store, and has killed a Wynoochie hog.
I wasn't with him, but if that's where he said it came from, I believe him.

His shop is a lot closer to the area pigs are rumored to be than I am, but he's not in any position to make huge financial gains by "outfitting" hog hunters, and he doesn't like media attention so I doubt he was motivated by fame.

There was a day, when a man's word was taken for that.
If he said he climbed a mountain, or shot a pig, or whatever.

Remember guys and gals, the grizzly bear, and the mountain gorilla were the same as Oly pigs... nobody wanted to believe either of them existed either.

Feral pigs, whether part of a "lost herd" or recently escaped livestock, have been proven to exist, both by the WDFW and the State Patrol.
In the last round of media frenzy, one was struck and killed by a lady in a car, and the WDFW spokesman said he thought that accident and others combined to have killed more pigs than hunters had (that he knew of).

I have never seen one, but I won't fall over in shock if I do.

There's a planted and well known flock (or flocks) of wild trukeys in the area, and I spent three hard years looking for them in and out of turkey season... I never saw bird, nor turd.

Every year or two, somebody reports taking a turkey from the southwest borders of the park.
Must be a popular place for liars?

Krusty

[actionshooter]

 Krusty, I'm not calling anyone specific a liar. If your buddy says he killed one, fine he did. There are and were several(some have gone under since this was reported the first time) sports shops from Elma to Hoquiam. I'm not going to say which one had maps (for sale) to the areas that supposedly had the largest population of the hogs. Yes, there was a shop trying to cash in on the attention. I have no doubt a hog or even 3 got out of thier pen and someone shot one in the woods. Its happened everywhere hogs are raised.
 What I do not agree with is the idea that there are heards of these running all over the Wynoochee.  If there were even 15 of these critters that started breeding there would be a thousand of them in a couple of years. Pigs will breed like rabbits when left alone.
 Not trying to start an argument with anyone on this. This has always gotten under my skin. I lived in this area for years. This area was my stomping grounds and I know it well. Believe it or not lots of people came to the area looking for a free pig hunt  .
Steve

[Shadow Cat]

Krusty
I took an 18Lb tom out of that area last year. My ex-father-in-law said their were NO turkeys in the area. A week later, I brought him pictures of them and a few weeks later brought him the tom. I took him on the west side of the West Satsup road just after the steel guard rail turns to the right up on that hill. If you are there in the morning you can hear them with an owl call. They have moved into 2 places. One is on the east side of the road where the family that owns the property has a bunch of sheep and goats and the other is just a ways down the road by the blue house on the west side. I had pictures of them until I got divorced. My ex-wifes brother shot a hog in 88 canyon a year ago. He said he only saw 3 pigs. I worked with another guy at Camp Murray that took a hog a year ago last June up by Cougar Smith road. My ex-wifes first husband works at the fish hatchery off of fish hatchery road and has taken 2 hogs over the last 5 years. My ex-brother-in-law was a logger in the area and had said that they had found hog carcusses from time to time that the bears had taken. That might be a reason that there are not to many of them found.

[billythekidrock]

Posting a little bit late, but I did see a wild hog up on the Peninsula between the rez and park. Had my wife and kid with me.

[sisu]

The wild hogs on the Peninsula are just like the wild turkeys...

"They are where they are, when you see 'em, because that's where they were, when you saw 'em."

They may never be there again.

It's a very old, and in my opinion a very stable population. When lots of people get to thinking about them ,and therefore looking for them, more are seen and killed.

The problem with media based scouting reports, is the more likely the "scout" is of making money from it, the more encouraging the scouting report.
I NEVER trust the guy who owns the resort, the grocery store, or the gas station.

Beware of reporting to the WDFW, it's also my opinion that they are "testing the depth of the financial opportunity" here.
How many hog tags can they sell?

There are other non-indigenous game species, that we now apply for tags, to hunt.

Krusty

Actionshooter,

Wow dude, it takes a lot of balls to call a guy a liar, especially without saying what locality this businessman might be in.

I know a guy, a personal friend of mine, that owns a sporting goods store, and has killed a Wynoochie hog.
I wasn't with him, but if that's where he said it came from, I believe him.

His shop is a lot closer to the area pigs are rumored to be than I am, but he's not in any position to make huge financial gains by "outfitting" hog hunters, and he doesn't like media attention so I doubt he was motivated by fame.

There was a day, when a man's word was taken for that.
If he said he climbed a mountain, or shot a pig, or whatever.

Remember guys and gals, the grizzly bear, and the mountain gorilla were the same as Oly pigs... nobody wanted to believe either of them existed either.

Feral pigs, whether part of a "lost herd" or recently escaped livestock, have been proven to exist, both by the WDFW and the State Patrol.
In the last round of media frenzy, one was struck and killed by a lady in a car, and the WDFW spokesman said he thought that accident and others combined to have killed more pigs than hunters had (that he knew of).

I have never seen one, but I won't fall over in shock if I do.

There's a planted and well known flock (or flocks) of wild trukeys in the area, and I spent three hard years looking for them in and out of turkey season... I never saw bird, nor turd.

Every year or two, somebody reports taking a turkey from the southwest borders of the park.
Must be a popular place for liars?

Krusty

Krusty you are a character of contradictions. First you don't trust store owners and next you're telling us this guy is like a saint with his word even though you haven't seen the hog.
Either you do or you don't what is it?
Reports of wild game from one hunter-fisher-gatherer to another gets whacked out of proportion all the time. Please keep this in mind when discussing topics with others on the site please. By the way last time I checked BSing was a lot more honorable than lying and I see no where in this thread where anyone called you or anyone else a lair

[Hermit]

I know the young don't do well in cold wet climates. Maybe they just aren't reproducing like they would in a dryer climate.

[russ]

all ive heard are storys from a few people who live out there...sure be interesting to get one!

[Palmer]

I had a ranch south of Spokane advertise to me, they would let me harvest a hog on their ranch for $900.  I asked them if we had wild hogs in Washington and they replied that Eastern Washington has some.  Does anybody have more info on that?  Fact or Fiction?

[jackelope]

fiction.
$900 for a canned hog hunt?
wow.

[Dudeluv]

2 years ago the department of fish and wildlife had something on there website about this. I called a few sporting good shops in Aberdeen area and they kinda laughed about it.  They said they had read the same artical I read and said that there are some but not near the amount the WDFW is saying there are.
At the time of that phone call they had heard of 1 sighting in 6 months
I decided not to waste my time and travel all the way down there

[huntnphool]

Here is a pic of one taken from 88. See, real proof they are in there

[Michelle_Nelson]

That is a Farm raised family pet that was sold to a game farm where a 12 year old boy shot it.  Down in the southern United states.  Saw that picture on another site befor I moved from Florida!

[LongTatLaw]

I love love love hunting pigs with a bow!

In GA they kept me in the woods...out of arrows...and in the meat 12 months a year.

With that said, they will wreck an eco system! If you go to areas where the hogs are let bread the deer will have a huge difference in body weight and horn development from a very similar area 10 miles up the road.

They reproduce very very quickly...like a disease not an animal. They roam and the loiter only to roam again throwing carrying capacity of a piece of land way out of whack. Like parasites.

We dont want them here!!!!!

Ill head down to GA 3 times a year to kill a few there... but no need to get them into my elk and BT woods.

I heard someone say the young dont do well in the cold but the original strains were from Russia which has winters that make the Penn look like Miami. So Im sure they can do fine here.

If something is limiting them...thank God! Lets increase whatever it is.

I do love to hunt them though!

[Michelle_Nelson]

I agree, you guys don't want them in the state of Washington.  If you want to hunt them go to California or one of the southern states.  Wild hogs are basiclly varmints.  They are fun to hunt. It's hard to beat hunting hogs with dogs and pig stickers (Knives)! 

[catwithboost]

The picture above is not real it was a photoshop that got proven fake about a month after it came out it was on comcast.net web site and all of that.

[Houndhunter]

my uncle was tellin me bout his hog hunts. yet another type of hunting i want to do, but he hunts them all over the U.S. he told me next time hes guna go try and spear one, sounds crazy to me but thats what he said hes guna do

the only place in washington anymore that i know of that has hogs is in some of the swamps in the nooch. I havnt seen none but a guy who is pretty true to his word said he seen a bunch of sign and said that there still some left. anyone know of any hangin out in the nooch swamps??

[huntnphool]

Guys, the pic I posted was a joke, as you should be able to tell by the wink at the end.

I have heard there are some roaming the hills in Cheney, any truth to that?

[catwithboost]

I knew you put it as a joke but I think some did not catch that. So I wanted to clarify it. 

[bankwalker]

That is a Farm raised family pet that was sold to a game farm where a 12 year old boy shot it.  Down in the southern United states.  Saw that picture on another site befor I moved from Florida!

dont forget he shot it something like 16 million times with a S&W 500 lmfao

i read that article and i couldnt believe how many shot its took with a 500 for him to finaly kill it.

and i really really enjoy to placement of the hunters to make that hog look bigger then my honda civic lol

still one huge hog though. but so is my aunt...you dont see me out hunting her though lmfao

[Bofire]

 :)My brother and his friend mark went to a place near Cheney Washington, near Spokane, hunted hogs. They were on a ranch but the place was huge and the hogs free to range. I think it was called Canyon Crest Ranch.
I do not know how much $.
Carl

[mossback91]

hogs up the A$$ at my neighbors house. very tough to take down event he butcher has troubles sometimes. Very tough animals. Will almost always need to use a ultra mag when hunting hogs. Shooting cows from my back porch is also hard they pack alot of bullets around. the butcher usually takes cows down in one shot though I just dont know about it.

[Palmer]

:)My brother and his friend mark went to a place near Cheney Washington, near Spokane, hunted hogs. They were on a ranch but the place was huge and the hogs free to range. I think it was called Canyon Crest Ranch.
I do not know how much $.
Carl

This sounds like the ranch advertising at near Seahawks stadium.  They were charging $900 back in '99.  They had one on display that weighed maybe 800#.  They charge $2000 for a buffalo.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Boars to me taste and smell nasty.  Sow's (up to 150lbs) ans small Boars (up to 100) are pretty good eating.  As for killing them they can be a tough animal to take down.  We've killed them with everything from knives to .22's and some larger rifles. 

I have a picture somewhere of a Boar pushing 400 lbs that a couple of my buddies killed with a knife.  That blond and black boar on my website was killed with a .223.

I like the sowes up to 100 lbs.  Skin them, gut em, and quarter them up.  Put the meat in a cooler with a drain and wash the meat realy well.  Than I put ice in the bottom of the cooler than a layer of meat.  Than more ice another layer of meat and put a final layer of ice on top.  Than I pore 1 quart of Apple Cidar Vinagar all over the ice on top.  Leave the meat in ice for 24 hours to 48 hourskeeping plenty of ice on it.

Than slow cook it on a grill! 

[Mbell]

Sorry to dig this one up, but I registered just to put my 2 cents in. I am not a hunter yet, however I am taking my hunters ed this coming weekend. What brought me to this post was I watched the show dual survival on the Discovery channel the other day and they were on the Olympic peninsula. During the show they found and killed a wild turkey.
    Now what I currently am, is a Steelhead fisherman. I have been fishing the Peninsula with my father since I can remember. I currently live in North Seattle and usually spend as much as 50 plus days a year out there, sometimes more, rarely less, mostly in the winter.
So when watching the show, they were trying to head west to the coast. they walked in a small river and found a "dead" steelhead also to eat. But then later when trying to head "west" they ended up back high in the mountains and had to navigate a steep gorge. I immediatly called BS because if they were as smart as they would like us to think they would have just followed the river to the coast, Duh.....
    So I found myself trying to further debunk them by looking up Peninsula Turkeys because out of my 30 plus years of exploring most of the peninsula river valleys from top to bottom I have never heard or seen one. My search brought me to this thread.
I do have several family members that live in Aberdeen, and one of them, my cousins father in law once told me about plentiful trout in the Klone Lakes. and so in the summer of 05 I thought I would hike up there for the weekend with mentioned cousin, his girlfriend, my wife and son. Anyone familiar with the area knows that there is a huge slide that made the road to this particular area impassible. This is where I parked my car and we started the hike. This could get really long, but the short version is my cousin walking ahead of us disturbed a ground hornets nest, and when we got to this point the hornets targeted my wife, she was stung 9 times initially, and were swarming, so I told everyone to go back the way we came. we got about a half mile back....and they followed and stung my wife 13 more times. So what I had us do is beeline straight down the side of the mountain as this would bring us back lower on the road than where my truck was parked. After much slipping and sliding down the hill we came out onto the road, me my wife and son first and as soon as we came out we startled a pig about 30 yards down the road. He/she grunted, stared long enough to for us to see exactly what is was (I thought it was a bear at first because wasnt expecting a pig) and then crashed into the brush, downhill side. At this point I thought I knew about the local wildlife so was kind of dumbfounded that I saw a pig. When we returned to Aberdeen (my wife was OK, but as you can guess doesnt do much back country hiking with me anymore) I asked Bill, the same guy that told me about klone lakes, about the pig. Now he grew up in the area, but is more of a mountaineer than hunter/fisherman and told me the same thing most of you are saying, that wynoochi pigs are a myth and yada yada he's never seen one, but I know what I saw and my then 7 year old boy recognized it was a pig. If I had to guess I would say it was about 100-125 pounds, dark brownish/black in color but I couldnt make out if it had tusks or not. I fish the upper nooch (below the dam) for summer runs frequently also and have never seen a pig before or after that one encounter.

[Practical Approach]

I too saw that same episode and watched with disgust. At first I thought, are they really going to try to shoot an elk with a homemade bow in a National Park???  Then when I saw the guy shoot this poor turkey that looked lost in the sea of sword ferns I was filled with anger.  What a lame show.  There are not any wild turkeys roaming the Olympic National Park.  What kind of research do these guys do prior to their shows?  As far as the pigs go, I believe the intend was to try to eradicate them ASAP due to all the damage they cause and for the most part the hunts were effective.  However, there could be a straggler or a recently escaped pig that has adapted to forest life.

[chevysquid]

I've heard rumors off and on for the last 6 years or so about hogs over there.  Would be fun to know where to hunt them.  As few of them as there seem to be and with such a dense area would be like winning the power ball though.