Wanna Go Hunting Now? Try California Hogs with Parrey Cremeans
Editor’s Note: Mossy Oak ProStaffer Parrey Cremeans is the owner of Just For Hunting (www.facebook.com/parrey.cremeans). This outfitting company out of Redding, California, hunts on 35,000 acres in northern California and guides on thousands more acres of public land. Just For Hunting also books hunts all over the world, such as dove hunts in Argentina, red stags in New Zealand, British Columbian moose and all the states in North America. Cremeans hunts for elk, blacktail deer, mule deer, hogs, predators, waterfowl and any of the game species in northern California. For his personal hunting, Cremeans hunts outside of California in Oregon and Missouri.
Although I prefer to hunt deer, wild hogs are the number-one hunted game species in northern California today, and they have been for several years, primarily because the hogs are so prolific, having two litters per year. Depending on the age of the sow hogs, they can produce between six and 12 piglets in each litter. So far, hunters haven’t been able to put enough hunting pressure on California’s hogs to reduce their numbers, although hogs have a 50-60 percent predation factor.
In California, you can use spot-and-stalk tactics or run hogs with dogs. With our clients, we use the spot-and-stalk method. We try and have a boar-only policy for our hunters. On the western side of California, we can take boars from 300 pounds to 500 pounds regularly. Often, their teeth will be 3-1/2- to 4-inches long. On the eastern side of Interstate 5 is a pure strain of Russian boar that may weigh up to 250-300 pounds - a giant trophy boar. This strain of Russian boar was released many years ago and is black with gold highlights. If you’re hunting the western side of Interstate 5, you’re liable to take polka-dotted, black-and-white hogs, red-and-white hogs or all-red hogs. We bowhunt these hogs as well as gun hunt them. We have 100 percent opportunity for each of our hunters to take a hog, and our hog success ratio is in the high 90 percent. If you’ve got pork chops, hams or pork loin in your sights for this summer, call Just For Hunting at 650-888-0808, or check out the web info.
Tomorrow: Taking Monster Elk in California
