I have a few friends who have gone here for archery hunts of boar, and have been very pleased with the experience:

http://www.oldstonefence.com/

I've heard that Tioga in PA is a complete joke to "hunt" at, and there is a place somewhere in VT or NH that is about the same. I have a friend who stopped by Tioga on the way home from a trip down South for a boar hunt. When he pulled up, the boar were just standing at the fence, and the "guide" had to clap his hands and yell to scare them away! He said it was more like a petting zoo than a private hunt and left.

I don't want to go out for a private hunt of a boar and have it be more like target shooting than a hunt. I have heard that Old Stone Fence is a very large area, and you really have to hunt to get your game. If it's not real, I don't want to do it.

Also, I'm planning to use my Marlin or my old Winchester 1894 in .30-30. I'm planning to use cast bullet reloads using a Lyman 173gr bullet. The Marlin, with its Micro-Groove barrel shoots the most accurately with a charge pushing the bullet only 1550fps. Is that really enough, or should I just use some factory jacketed ammo for the hunt? I know I can push the cast bullet faster in the Winchester with it's ballard rifling, but not the Marlin. I hate Micro-groove barrels!

I hunted wild boar last June at Tioga. My guide is named Carl and he is a genuine ethical man. Before booking with Tioga, I contacted several other Preserves. You should too.

Questions to ask:
What is the acreage of the Preserve?
Are the animals born in the wild or raised in a barn?
Are the animals raised there or bought from elsewhere?
Will I see a fence during my hunt?

Tioga buys most of its boars and wild hogs as raising them is not good business. Male boars eat nearly all the young piglets. Tigoa hogs are brought in from Florida where they're live trapped from several areas. These hogs are lively and 100% wild. Although we saw several, they were on the run and anything BUT easy to approach. I'm being truthful with you.

I shot my boar after about 3 hours of hunting, I never once saw the fence. After my boar was down, Carl called for help and a guy arrived shortly on a 4 wheeler with a small trailor. They did all the work for me. Then Carl and I spent remainder of the morning stalking fallow deer, my rifle was empty on purpose. I simply wanted to have a fun time stalking these amazing deer.

Tioga food is GREAT and plentiful. The beds are okay but not deluxe. The furniture is older and worn.

I do not agree that Tioga hunts are a joke. My expectations were met.

Good hunting to you.
TR

I'm just going by what several people have told me. One person I know shot a boar at Tioga. It took a whole 20 minutes, including walking to the field. All the guide asked was "which one do you want to shoot?" He shot, and went back to the "ranch". He was back in the truck and on his way home in less than 90 minutes.

He said it was just an open field that they scared the boar, and whatever other game people wanted to shoot (I say "shoot" because there was nothing that remotely resembled "hunting" when my friend went there in 2005). then, you just sit inside the woodline surrounding the field, pick your target, then the "guide" had to call on the radio to make sure that there was not another "guide" with a target shooter (again, not a "hunter") behind the target you are shooting at.

He told me that if he didn't already give them his CC info, he would have walked away from the place. All five of the people I talked to about Tioga (in three different groups, none of who knew each other) told the exact same story.

The other guys said the boars are more like pigs at a petting zoo there. When they have to scare them away from the fence into the field, so you can snipe one, that place is just not for me. The Tioga experiences were told to me by five different people.

But, the place in NY is real hunting. It took one of my friends six hours of hunting before he even saw a boar. It's heavily wooded with thick brush. There were places where you wouldn't see them until you were a few feet away from them. That's more like it, if you ask me.