Ft. Hunter Ligget

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BroncoGlenn

New member
Well, I had the "pleasure" of spending a year over the last two weeks at Ft. Hunter Ligget in Kalifornia. Located south of San Jose near King City it's somewhat isolated. My condolences to anyone who has to do time there. What facilities there are are either non-existant, closed when needed, or broken. Words of advice: Avoid the barber shop at all costs. You'd be better off doing it yourself, even if you never cut your own hair before.

However, one thing that could probably make the time go by faster, is to bring some calls. I can't believe I didn't have any floating around in my truck. The place is a coyote's playground. Lots of ground squirrels all over the place--you can't drive a half mile without seeing some running across the road or alongside--and lots of tall grass for cover. Someone reportedly saw a mountain lion. Not surprising given the terrain.

I wish I had brought some calls as I already had the camo. Armed at least with a camera I could have kept myself partially sane.

Cell phone reception tends to be lousy. Heading up the hill on Infantry Rd provided full signal strength for my Nextel unit. A friend with Sprint had full strength but on roaming. Other's were finding that their phones worked in small areas, like a few particular parking stalls, or the bridge near the gym.

For the curious, I was there to complete an Army truck driver school. So if you are driving along and see an olive drab 18 wheeler, you'd best give it plenty of room as there were a lot of folks that don't have a clue how to drive but managed to get lucky for the tests. Some people kept the facility engineers there busy putting back up stop signs and other poles.
 
Hunter-Liggett backs right up to the Los Padres Nat'l Forest, which means you were only about 40 miles or less from where I'm situated, as the crow or Condor flies. Yep, lotta 'yotes.

Haven't done much down on the post for a dozen years... not since it was a fulltime, fully staffed base. Back then it required checking in and out with Range Control, telling them where you were going and staying within an assigned parcel/unit. Remember they were REALLY persnickety about me and my cameras with telephotos in those days, being DOD was still testing and developing the Abrahms (sp) tank, TOW missiles, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, Blackhawks, and other classified type stuff I know not what.

One of (if not THE) top mountain lion trackers and houndsmen in the country, Ray Nelson, used to live south of Jolon. He passed away just this past April. Know of him mostly by reputation; he proved this whole region is just chock full of lions. Liggett would be a hellish place to go after them this time of year though. 115 daytime temps are common now...

LionHo
 
Ha Ha Bronco,you didnt like it there?
I used to pig hunt there all the time. Ive hunted a bunch of the units there. I think unit 29 was a favorite.I think that was the one that you could cross the San Antonio riverbed in.Always saw tons of bobcats there. Matter of fact, I have never seen as many bobcats in one place as there.Back when I was hitting it regularly, you couldnt hunt predators, at least that was what they told me. I drove around a corner one day and there were 5 bobcats sitting together and a male and female were...well you know.Ive never seen that in my life(not the sex part).
I have called for coyotes there for fun and there were TONS. And were very naieve(sp) to the call.
Another time in my formitive years, me and a buddy showed up at night at the gate and asked if we could cross thru the base to the BLM land on the other side.The guards say "no problem, just watch out for all the action and stay out of the way, we have training going on."So we take off and are supposed to turn left at the dump, but we miss the turnoff.We are partaking of some alcoholic beverages as we are driving thru :rolleyes: , we get a mile or so up the road when a humvee comes crashing out of the woods with no lights on and pulls us over.Acouple of MPs.They jack with us for a bit and made us pour the brew out and escorted us out of the place.Pretty neat, we drove thru the manuevers and got to see some cool stuff going on.
I think predator hunting is allowed nowdays there.Id like to check it out but I hear its real crowded nowdays.
Just saw Lionho's post, yes it gets HOT there,I also have a bunch of pictures of ordinence laying around everywhere in one of the "off limits" areas. Man we were dumb(er)then.
 
Glenn- welcome to my neck of the woods. You were about 35 miles from me. I live 5 miles east of a little town called San Miguel. I haven't been to Hunter Liggett since 9/11 when they tightened up security. A few years back they were handing out bricks of 22 to squirrel snipers. I have a couple calles you could have used. There is a little more of a city 15 miles south of me called Paso Robles. Then the main hippie hangout San Luis Obispo just 40 miles south of that. Sorry you didn't have a better time. Maybe next time I can show you a few spots.

And thank you for your service!

Darrin
 
I was stationed there for 6 years in the late 70's early 80's. I loved it there. Lots of great pig hunting and great Bass fishing in all those little ponds scattered about there. I was on tanks so we pretty much covered that entire base. There is some great hiking there too.
I havent been back there since I ETSed out of the Army and I have heard its pretty run down now. Is that little market still open just outside the front gate, I think it was called the Jolon Market. That was the only place besides the PX to get anything for 25 miles in King City. Even though I loved it there I have to admit it was a hell hole if you didnt like that type of area.
 
yotehunter6, there isn't anything outside the main gate anymore. The trailer park that was there is long since gone, only some old concrete pads and asphalt provide evidence that anything was there.

As for the fishing, all the lakes we saw were mostly dried up and not much more than mosquito ponds. I was planning on bringing some tackle but I talked to someone who was there for a couple weeks before I was scheduled and they told me not to bother.

Next time I'll make sure I toss a couple rifles and calls in the truck before heading there.
 
Most of the smaller ponds do dry up in the summer but there are some bigger ones further back that always stayed up. I caught a 12 3/4 lb
Largemouth in the Del Venturee. That pond is about 8 miles from main post. Going out the main road past the mission the road turns to dirt and about 10-15 miles out is a very big pond, or at least there was and it was loaded with Bass.
We also used to go to the tank crossing were the concrete pad goes across the stream and the bridge sits next to it. We use to catch Rainbow trout by hand just chasing them out of the deeper spots into the shallows. Tons of fun.
 
BroncoGlenn, I was stationed there in 1962, during the Cuban crisis, in a place called Jolon. Then I was shipped over to Germany. When I came back I went hunting on Hunter Liggett. The place had lots of deer and pigs, it also had tons of predators. Personally I like the place lol.
 
Bronco it's a hunters paradise up there for more critters than you can imagine.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I've never been there but have been told it is a great place for ferel hogs and predators. Can anyone fill me in on the place a little more. As in where exactly it is or at least how to get there form down south near LA.

What do I need to hunt there? Permission? other info like that would be appreciated.
 
Hey Embalmer!

Check out these links for more info:

Fort Hunter Ligget Info

Califronia Hunting Info

Hope this helps...let's see if we can set something up in the near future; there's a few pieces in the safe begging to head up that way.

Oh yeah, heading out of town on business today (8/20), so I won't make it out to ASR. I'll be out there on Mon. 25th though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Originally posted by Elarski:
[qb]Hey Embalmer!

Check out these links for more info:

Fort Hunter Ligget Info

Califronia Hunting Info


Hope this helps...let's see if we can set something up in the near future; there's a few pieces in the safe begging to head up that way.

Oh yeah, heading out of town on business today (8/20), so I won't make it out to ASR. I'll be out there on Mon. 25th though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif [/qb]
Click to expand...
Good deal. Thanks for the links, those helped. I should be there on monday the 25th. I hopefully will be breaking in my new 22-250 TC Encore. So I should see you there if all goes well and I can pick it up in time.
 
Sounds cool...I need to dial in my Lupy at the intermediate ranges (300 - 400 yds.)

See ya Monday...around 11:00 am at the latest.
 
Spent some time there in 1971 for Army Special Forces Survial training. What I remember most are the tarantulas and scorpions and the absence of any signs of civilization. I'd like to go back for a visit.
 


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