Big Horn Canyon Ranch – Hunting Ranch

Another great day. Cannot say enough about how wonderful the customer service is. I could go on and on but would like to thank Charlene, Charlie, Merle and our young but experienced guide Alex. Second trip and already planning our next one.

This place is great. It’s perfect for your first hunt and to learn a few things. I was able to skin and gut my pig with some guidance but I’ll keep that with me forever, so hard to out a price on knowledge. Again that staff was very friendly and helpful. I will definitely be back!!!

My son and I went up there and stayed in the bunk house which I believe is the best plan ever! It is first come first served which helps if you stay there in the bunk house. You are the first people to go into the ranch. The ranch is divided up into three different areas so no one will be walk like around in your area. Just let to let everyone know, once you walk through the gate you lose your 100 dollar deposit even if you don’t see anything you like. They brief you on what’s in there before you leave so if don’t want to go in you don’t have to and you can talk to the owner once he gets to the ranch. The truth about the pigs is they don’t really run at all. They are meat pigs, they aren’t really meant to run away from you. A nice pig hunt would be great if you never really hunted before or wanted an easier hunt for a youth hunter. My son (4 yrs old) and I went hunting for sheep. We stopped two Mouflon and fracked and stalked them for roughly 5 hours. They spook very easily. We went up and down mountains many of times till I was finally able to get a shot on one. I used a bow so it was a lot harder for me because I had to get in within a relatively close proximity to the sheep which is way we were chasing them up and down the mountains. I’ll also put it out there that these aren’t small mountains. Be prepared to hike and work your butt off. Alex and Merle are amazing guides. They help push the animals towards you to help you get a better shot. They are will load the animal on their truck or quad and give you a ride back up to the top. All in all this is a great hunting ranch and you make it what you want it to be. The pigs are less of a challenge and you can talk harder shots to make it better but the sheep are a challenge no matter what, but if you use a bow everything is even more of a challenge. We will definitely be back again!

I’ve been a hunter my whole life. I married a young lady ten years ago who never had been hunting before. Over the years she has taken up the hobby. Last year she was unsuccessful on a guided pig hunt. Excellent guide but she couldn’t shoot 250 yard moving targets yet. Our hunting trip was canceled in Paso Robles and my friends told me about BHC Ranch. It is an awesome confident builder for new hunters. I will take my daughter next year. We were able to bag a huge pig and my wife shot a ram successfully. Good memories and lots of meat. I would recommend this ranch to all new rifle hunters. If your an avid bow hunter you would love it just for the practice.

Came her on a Saturday afternoon with a buddy of mine, there were 6 people hunting that day, 3 groups of 2. The ranch was divided into 3 and we were off… it was a good experience, I had never been hunting before so I didnt know what to expect. It was a very «controlled» environment. There is a fence line so you cant go «too far» or off the property. The pig my buddy killed did charge at us once being shot so don’t be fooled, the dangerous animal is the wounded animal. Overall it was a good experience for some novice hunters, **be advised** terrain is steep and rugged. no special equipment is required but you will be sore from hiking the next day. I learned to skin and quarter an animal which was helpful. I would probably come here once again and then take a real «survivalist» type hunt in the woods. Overall ⁴⁄₅ stars, staff was super nice and the young man Alex that worked there was sharp when it came to his craft. Kudos to the staff– Will be returning.

Took my 12 year old son here for his 1^st hunt. It’s a great hunt for any 1^st timer, beginner or one looking for an easy meat pig. We stayed at the bunk house. It was nice. Limited power and no running water, but it’s hunting and a cabin with comfy beds is far better than a tent on cold ground. Charlie, Alex and Merrill were great. Super helpful with a lot of latitude. We had the place to ourselves over night. Enjoyed the shooting range as well. Bring your guns.
Take your time. You’ll have plenty of opportunity. We were done within 30 minutes of our hunt. This is fenced hunting, but they don’t hide that fact at all. It is what it is. Again, a great 1^st hunt or easy meat hunt.
We’ll be going again with the youngsters.

This place is a FARM!!!
My husband and my brothers all went, so excited about the exaggerated huge lot and the «wild animals»
Come to find out, these domestic animals are so used to human, they will walk up to you. These so called «wild boars» also known as Ms. Piggie. Literally!
You’re just pathetic if you shoot them while they’re 10ft away from, you can walk up to them and slash them if you wanted to!
They went home empty handed of course! Such a waste of money! Should’ve spent that money on a trip to Midwest for some real hunting!

I hate giving this place one star. I really do. I love that this place exists in Southern California, it feels like a piece of freedom in this land where freedoms are limited The lady involved in the operation that goes by «Z» or «Zee» is wonderful, and very accommodating. I was expecting a lot after her and mines interaction, unfortunately things would not end well… I will skip the in between stuff. You show up, you hunt, you’re guaranteed a kill… Most of the animals will even walk up to you, as they are used to humans bringing food. There are some harder animals to site, and find, but the stock is great… I won’t go into the details on the actual hunt… You will bag an animal, if you so choose.
Here is the reason for one star. Unfortunately our business transaction can be defined as fraudulent. I paid for the animal I harvested. An exotic sheep, with a nice set of horns. I was orginally there to get a pig, however after seeing this animals horns, I knew I had to have them in the man cave. The property owner and «guide» took the money for the animal, as well as his quartering service. He then took the money for the mount. He informed me that a third party would be doing the mount, a taxidermist that he touted as the best in the business and someone he had been doing business with for years, and whom he trusted implicitly (I wanted to make sure, as my buddy has a great taxidermist). He took the money, brokered the deal, and informed me that the mount would be ready to be picked up at the ranch in 9 weeks (a time frame he touted as being amazingly fast), or that it could be shipped to me for an extra charge. I agreed to pick it up. We shook hands, and my buddy and I left him a large tip.
Starting at 15 weeks, I started inquiring about my mount. I was given the run around multiple times. Finally at 8 months, I had enough. I called, and was informed the people that were to do the mount had gone out of business in the middle of the night. I was told my money was lost, they wouldn’t be refunding it and I was out of luck.
Whelp, that’s not how I do business. Big Horn Canyon Ranch had taken my money for a service that was not rendered. I took recourse through my credit card company, in response to my inquiry, the «guide,» Charlie, who is the legal owners son, and Z’s husband wrote a letter slandering my integrity, moral fiber, and business ethic. My credit card company sent me the letter. I had a good laugh at it. These people are exactly how they described me in their false letter. They are unscrupulous, greedy, and out of touch. I suggest going elsewhere for a private hunt experience. I have since been to Hog Wild. Check it out. It’s awesome.

If you paid to have taxidermy work done don’t expect to get it.
Back in Dec 2013 me and my sons went here for the purpose of getting a ram head mount for my living room. They said they had a taxidermist they partner with who would do the job for a good price and get it done quickly. Long story short, I paid for the hunt, taxidermy work, and got nothing.
Big Horn took my money for the taxidermy work, negotiated the contract, and did the paperwork on site. I never went to their partner’s outfit Kodiak Taxidermy. Months went by and I checked in to see what was going on and was promised it would be delivered in a few weeks. That time went by and I called again. I was told there were delays and it would take a little longer. More months go by and then I was told the typical job takes the better part of a year and that I was being unreasonable expecting them to keep the promise they initially made. They said I needed to wait a while longer since Kodiak was backed up in work.
That year went by and the story changed to their taxidermy partner making off with money, mounts, and other things. I was then told it was my problem. Under the law, Big Horn is responsible since they took my money, negotiated the contract, and secured the paperwork on site. I made an offer to have me go back and re-​do it again without charging me. To that Zee said no. They kept my money and told me they weren’t doing anything.
This is a worst practices business. Zee, who I believe is the the wife of the son of the owner was who I had an e-​mail exchange with recently. She ultimately told me that since Rex of Kodiak allegedly ripped them off that it releases them from any liability they had to me for taking my money. I believe a court would disagree and if you are in the same boat we should get together and form a class action.

I’d like to start off this review by saying the staff at Big Horm Canyon Ranch were awesome. From my first call with Zee through the entire hunting event, the people I dealt with were great. They really made a difference in how much we enjoyed our first experience of this kind.
There were four of us that decided to try feral hog hunting. It looks pretty awesome on youtube, what with chasing down the fierce hard-​to-​kill beasts with razor-​sharp tusks. We brought folding tables and charirs and tons of stuff to make targets out of. It didn’t take us long before we had the range set up and the beer flowing. I want to say right now, this was maybe the most fun of the whole event. Unsupervised drinking and shooting out in the desert with some buddies is irresponsible and SUPER FUN! We did it for HOURS and only stopped because we ran out of daylight.
We booked the bunkhouse so we could sleep over and avoid the early morning drive. GOOD IDEA. The sheds were fully equipped with carpeting and bunk beds. Awesome and MUCH nicer than we expected to find. In the morning Merle met up with us and gave us the low down on what to expect.
Merle explained that the ranch is stocked frequently with animals from out of state. They had 6 – 8 pigs on the property, but nothing that resembled the dark colored wild pigs you see online. Merle told us these were «meat pigs» and that they would not be trying to run away from us. He said we could try to make the «hunt» as much fun as possible by taking challenging shots. While we were briefing with Merle, more people showed up. The rule is FIRST-​COME, FIRST-​SERVED and some of the guys that showed up late did not harvest animals as a result. Another reason to go Friday afternoon. Anyhow, our group was given directions for where to go and got started down the steep mountain road on foot.
We climbed to a bluff about 300-​yards above a clearing with a large tree with a watering trough under it. There we saw a few pigs wandering around near the water. Merle was right. They weren’t hard to find and would not be hard to hit. They pretty much hang out by the water troughs. It was only 7:30AM and still cool in the valley– so the hogs were out walking around. Two hours later the remaining stock was sleeping in the shade. The next round of hunters had to throw rocks at them to get them to wake up!
We took our shots from distance to make it more challenging. We had a mix of hunting rifles and AR’s. By the way, anyone that says .223 is inadequate to take down a 175-​pound hog just isn’t a good enough shot. My brother did it from 150-​yards. Bang-​flop. .30−06, .270, and .308 all did the trick too. The way we went was all dirt fire-​road. Slippery, but no special equipment required for hiking.
Merle helped us load the animals in the back of his truck. Each one weighed over 150-​pounds, so it was hard work to get them into the bed of the old pickup. One of them was so freakin’ big that Merle had to drag it up the hill (see Joe’s pig in the photos). After a scary ride back up the steep road, we took photos and worked with the rest of the staff to have our animals skinned and butchered.
You can have the team skin and quarter the pig for you, or for a little more money they’ll cut them all the way up. Individual preference, and we did some of each. I was really happy to learn the skinning and quartering myself and took my animal to Pomona Food Locker, where it cost me about 100-​bucks to have the whole animal processed. I totally recommend that. I walked away with 130 pounds of cleaned and wrapped meat, seasoned and packaged into the portion sizes that I requested.
I have to say I was disappointed that this was not the kind of hunt I wanted. I thought i was going to have to quietly track and stalk animals that would haul ass if they saw or smelled me. I was looking forward to the element of danger that they might turn and charge if threatened. These animals were standing around like they were at a petting zoo. Our joke was that if you could make the noise the little feel dispensers make at the county fair petting zoo, they’d probably come-​a-​running.
Our group took shots from distance to increase the challenge. We thought it might make it more entertaining to remove the scopes from our rifles, randomly switch rifles, down three shots of tequila, or perhaps even to shoot left handed to make it harder. I might even consider taking one down in hand-​to-​hand combat. :-)
That said, though, I still had a GREAT time and will definitely want to do it again. The fun we had as a bunch of friends hanging out shooting and drinking beer at the range, grilling burgers up by the sleeping quarters, and then experiencing killing an animal for food was WELL worth the money we spent to do it. I even took the challenge and skinned/​quartered my own animal to add to the experience.
Great job to the team at Big Horn Canyon Ranch. I’m sure we’ll be coming back again.

Just hunted the property with my som and his friend for his birthday. We had a great time. We got a good hike, saw some beautiful animals, and took home the meat. The butcher they recommend was there before we left. He was informative about the meat and the cuts available. Everybody there was friendly and very professional.
We had a great time and will defiantly return. The day could not have been better.

Just got back from a weekend hunt. We booked the hunt to secure it for just our group and we got there around 2pm Saturday. and hunted sunday.
The place is beautiful, plenty of room for RVs and 2 bunk houses. The view was amazing and 2 locations to sight in rifle and shotgun practice.
Charlie and his team were great. Easy going friendly and helpful.
We will be making this a regular guys trip for sure.
thanks guys for a great trip!

Went out to try and learn how to hunt. So let me start off by saying this. The bunk house is worth the extra $ 50.00. Nice, clean and comfortable. Nice scenery while relaxing waiting for the following days hunt.
When we (buddies and I) woke up the morning of our hunt, it was super foggy. There were 3 groups of hunters. Due to the fog they wouldnt let us out (hunter safety). Instead of letting us twiddle our thumbs, they talked to us and gave us some tips. True this is a stocked ranch. However, the hunt is what you make of it. Right out of the gate saw a herd of goats on a hill side. They couldnt have been more then 50 yards down hill. Could have easily taken a shot then. However, Wanted to make a day of it. Sooo I moved around and «Stalked» the herd a bit. Finally after about an hour, I was able to set up on a ledge over looking the herd and POP. Nice clean shot at about 125 yards. Dropped and rolled down the hill. There was a lot of brush. We went searching, hint its rough climbing the hills. After about twenty minuets, my buddy found my ram under a tree. THANK GOD for that tree. It kept my game from rolling down the hill.
After my shot we saw several pigs about 250 yards away. So with my game harvested, my buddies were after pigs. And a tracking we went. So we went looking but by then they moved. After about 2 hours, they were able to take a shot. POP pig went down nice and clean.
Charlie came in to help recover the pig. Talk about an honest to God nice guy. It was evident Charlie wants his customers to enjoy themselves. He took the time to see we all had fun. He took the time to help us out. Even with over 30 years experience, he never made us feel dumb. He answered our questions and took the time to explain what and why he was doing stuff.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get into hunting. Reminder, like all hunting, Youll get out of it what you put into it. If you want to go and just harvest an animal you can. If you want to have fun and spend a day stalking a herd you can. So I say go out and have at it!!!
Thanks again to Charlie and the crew at Big Horn Canyon Ranch. You have a repeat customer in me.

Unethical. Took my money and never delivered on the goods. After my hunt at the Ranch I paid $ 400 to have my animal mounted by their on-​site taxidermist Rex Meikel. I called him every month for 16 months and he kept on promising that «it would be sent out next week.» For the last three months he stopped returning my phone calls. Rex runs a place called Kodiak Taxidermy and his number is (951) 205‑2953. My complaints to Big Horn Canyon Ranch were ignored; they told me «you have to take that up with Rex» even though Rex was their on-​site taxidermist.

This was one of the most fun adventures I’ve been on in a long time.
My girlfriend and I went there today right after the heavy rain. Park at the bottom of the hill nearest the road if it rains at all or if you have a low clearance vehicle. Just a tip.
Merle met us halfway up the hill and we proceeded to fill out a waiver, and he explained which trails we should head down. He gave us some tips on where the game would be, and had some helpful safety tips for the hike. This is rugged country if you stray off the trails. Be mindful of your footing.
We looked out across the hillside while we were planning the hike, and we saw five rams on a distant hill. Oh, how I wanted to bag them all!
After a short hike in, we were within killing distance of a mature mouflan ram. I passed because I really wanted two of the rams I saw on the distant hillside.
As we hiked in a little further, we came upon some hogs in a wallow. You could smell them before you saw them! I took aim with my crossbow and I harvested a 150 pound hog! I called Charlie and he drove down within a minute on an atv and loaded the hog up. He then gave us a ride on the atv back to the cleaning area where he posed the hog for us.
Charlie then skinned and butchered the hog for us. $ 25 for skinning and gutting. $ 25 for processing into loins, hams, hocks, picnic shoulder, pork chops, neck roast, and of course BACON! By having him butcher it, we saved around $ 125 in processing, had we gone to a butcher! I ended up with around 90 pounds of meat. Charlie was also very informative about showing us each cut of the animal. He couldn’t have been a nicer person. Merle was also very corgial and welcoming!
If you want to bring your girlfriend, they are very accommodating. If you are a first time hunter, I recommend hunting here. If you are experienced and want a challenge, this probably isn’t your place. If you want to put meat on the table for a low price, you need to come here!
I will be back in February!

Hunted there and my pig was given to another hunter! Paid $ 500.00 and shot a monster pig. When I went to pick it up the meat they handed me a 47 lb pig. I told them that that was definitely not my pig and he tried to give me another hunters pig! Turns out the pig they tried to give me was my buddy’s monster pig! Elk Canyon Ranch tried to blame another hunter for taking my kill instead of accepting responsibility. This is supposed to be a professionally run hunting establishment but it obviously isn’t. They gave my pig to another hunter then asked for $ 200.00 from me to go shoot another pig… as an avid hunter, and this isn’t hunting, this is some BS!

I don’t think it gets any better than this place! My husband, my son, myself, and our dog (dog needs approval) just spent one night and a day here. It was so great! There was a fire pit, cooking pit, electricity (to my surprise), porta poties and cozy bunks. The views were spectacular!
The hunting was so fun. We hiked up and down hills for about 3 hours and my boys were able to zero in on a Russian Boar and a Texas Dall. The people there were kind enough to offer services to clean, cut it, and even mount it (of course for an additional cost). I honestly feel like the cost was worth the experience and we hope to come every year!
Oh and if it matters… good cell phone service!
Thank you again for providing a fun experience for me and my family! We are grateful for your ranch :)

Big Horn Ranch is out in the middle of nowhere Riverside! The animals are planted, but a great way to learn how to hunt. This place is appointment only and the workers are super helpful. You really need to follow the direction to get there or you will be lost. Bring a group of guys and hunt! This place is not cheap but have quality hunts.
You are not so much paying for the meat but the cost of the experience to hunt nearby. They have lots of pigs to hunt!

Yep Im a fan! for local hunting this is the place! You only pay for what you shot, its So Cal close, and the owners are super cool and friendly.
Three of us started out at 7am and by 8am we all had bagged our pigs, 2 of them around 400lbs and one at 200lbs. Chuck will skin them an clean them for you. They also have ranges there and you can shoot to your hearts content. For over nighting, we took a RV but they also have a bunk house if you prefer.
This place is a quick and simple way to get you some meat and enjoy some hunting. Check out the website as there you will see the types of animals they have available.
Highly recommend this place!

Previous to yesterday, I’d hunted only birds. This was a great experience. We came up the afternoon before & set up camp at the bunk house. Watched the sunset, hung out, made dinner and turned in. We woke up at 5:45AM, had coffee & set out. The terrain was much more rugged than I anticipated. We ran into some angora goats & rams, but our goal were meat pigs, so we pressed on. 4 hours later we happened upon a group of feral/​boar mixes. We patiently waiting for a broadside presentation of the animal we chose, a 240lb sow. A perfect head shot with a .300 Weatherby Magnum and our 80 person BBQ back home was born.
Great experience. I’d do it again in a second.