I spent the past weekend down at the Native Hunt headquarters, along with Native Hunt owner/operator Michael Riddle.
Part of the visit was spent getting a short tour of the property and Mike’s operation. He’s got a great setup, with over 1000 acres fenced for exotics, including a herd of pure-strain European boar, some Fallow Deer, Corsican Sheep, and some buffalo. Outside the fence are native blacktail deer, and hoards of feral pigs.
Ever since I came to CA, I’ve heard various hunt operators claim to have “pure” European or “Russian” boar on their properties. However, unless those hogs are inside a fence, they’re not likely to be pure Euros. The hogs most of us are familiar with in this country are feral hogs, or at best, a cross between the descendants of released Europeans and feral swine. 
After spending a couple of days at the Native Hunt property, it was pretty clear that none of the hogs I’ve seen on private or public land in this state were pure Europeans. The real thing is very distinctive.
Mike did a pretty good article about the pure-strain boar in a recent issue of Boar Hunter Magazine. It does a much better job describing the difference between the Euros and feral pigs than I could ever do here. If you’ve got the time, go take a read.
There was another purpose for our meeting this weekend as well.
The timing and details are still in the final works, but I can now tell you that we spent a good bit of the weekend discussing a new organization dedicated to the promotion of wild boar hunting across the country. We’re also interested in bringing various interests together, and working collaboratively with the diverse members of the hunting and wildlife management community.
Membership questions? Hang tight, and I’ll have a lot more information about this as we go.
I just was up at the Native Hunt ranch last month. It is beautiful. You can see how the ranch was created by real hunters and is set up for a special experience.
The pictures at http://www.nativehunt.com are classic and make me want to get back up there!