Hello I'm Michael:
I've lived in SoCal 3 years. I am yet to meet one person who actually hunts here and now. I talked to one on the phone from your organization. I met a few people who hunted as children or in some other state. I'd love to meet other hunters face to face. I feel so alone in this state.
Gave up on finding a hunting buddy by luck and tried hunting public land once. No game, only smugglers with AK47s and the illegals they were escorting. Being alone on public land with smugglers walking past as I hid behind a scrub brush, was not the kind of hunting I had in mind. So hunting public land alone is out of the question.
Contacted social hunting and it seems that guided hunts on private land is the only real option in California if you want a chance at big game. (Unless you know landowners.)
That leaves only two problems remaining. 1. I need to gather about a thousand dollars to gain access to someonne's land. That seems to be the going price range to be allowed to hunt pigs. That way maybe I'll have a chance to see wild game in California bigger than ground squirrels. That would be exciting. 2. I need someone to hunt with who has been hunting in SoCal before. Safety is the main reason i need a partner. Also it would be great to see and touch and spend time with other hunters. Right now if I wanted to call a hunting buddy and plan a hunt I have no one to call.
I have decided that if I can't make a hunt happen this fall, I am leaving SoCal. I can't hardly live without hunting and fishing any longer. For 20 years in the Army I was deployed during almost all hunting seasons. Those few years I was stateside I was new to the area had no contacts. I still managed to get a couple deer and one pig. Now deployment is not an issue. I'm here and hunting season is again approaching.
From my limited experiences and difficulties so far just finding a real human to talk to about SoCal hunting has been a big challenge. Hunting "on line" for a hunting partner has also proven fruitless. I got several responses from people similar to me, inexperienced but wanting to hunt. Two guides responded, but they ware top dollar luxury lodge hunts. I don't need all that. I just want to hunt.
No hunters contacted me.
It is my hope that someone, who has successfully hunted SoCal recently, and wants to hunt pig this fall will respond.
Michael
