CA Tag Soup (again)

[YosemiteSam]

Well, I went out for 4 days in a remote coastal canyon for an either sex hunt.  Figured the meat was all but in the freezer.  "Play the wind," I've been told.  That's a good one!  Playing the wind in that canyon during weather changes is like chasing your tail & probably looks like about the same thing.  I could watch the wind coming high in the trees straight toward me and then feel it at my back.  It was like the mountains were breathing.  Inhale/Exhale.  East/West.  North/South. Uphill/Downhill.  Tough conditions for a hunt against an animal with a sensitive nose.

I finally saw one deer about 200 yards away on the way back to camp from my final hunt to pack up & head out.  It looked to be a mature buck but he disappeared under a ledge -- giving me a chance to nock an arrow and begin my stalk.  I gambled that he was heading my way (downwind from me but he was also very uphill & the wind had a downhill bias) and took my time closing the gap.  Unfortunately, the gamble didn't play out and he must have headed down into the creek bed (making a 90 degree turn), never reappearing.  I heard a faint snort pretty far off but downwind so, all things considered, I figure I did okay on the stalk since he still didn't know I was there for quite some time.

I was pretty frustrated with that hunt, though.  Not seeing a single deer for 3 days straight is discouraging.  I know some people say that they just enjoy getting out.  But I get out plenty during the off-season.  If I want to watch wildlife, I'll just go to the National Parks -- plenty to watch there.  But to hunt and not see anything is like getting ready for a long backpacking trip and suddenly being told you are going to be stuck car camping at the trailhead for several days instead.  Yes, car camping is still fun but that wasn't the point of the trip.

That stalk redeemed the trip, though.  And, as I realized on the steep 7 mile hike back, I need to be grateful that I didn't have to make a second trip for a pack-full of meat & hide.

Now it's time to put away the hunting clothes & broadheads for a few months until the Spring turkey season opens.

[Michael Pfander]

If it gets to be too much for you..... AZ deer is otc and open until jan. 31

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by Michael Pfander:
If it gets to be too much for you..... AZ deer is otc and open until jan. 31

Is that for nonresidents as well?  Might be able to convince the wife to go visit some of her family near Prescott  

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

Hey Sam, try smoking yourself with green sage/juniper/spruce/pine boughs. Any of those branches while green have enough oomph to give you a lot more time against the wind on deer and elk.

[YosemiteSam]

We think similarly.  I smoked my clothes with oak scrap wood from bow building beforehand & have done pine for the regular season when I'm in the sierras.

Unfortunately, it was too wet to build a fire this time.  I managed to scrape a little twig fire together the night before I spotted that deer from a downed bay tree & stood in the smolder.  Those leaves and branches are wicked flammable -- even when damp.  Wet didn't work but a little damp caught just fine.  Made a note in my journal about that little trick when it worked.

I also do a homemade "dry bath" powder using juniper essential oil to keep the BO down to a minimum.  Homemade sunscreen cream in the regular season has the same oil.  I like to think it helped me get so close to the deer I've spotted this year.  Hard to tell causation from correlation  

[M60gunner]

I was wondering how the drought has effected the deer herds? Even 4 years ago when we went out deer were getting scarce.

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by M60gunner:
I was wondering how the drought has effected the deer herds? Even 4 years ago when we went out deer were getting scarce.

Drought has undoubtedly had an effect.  But it pales in comparison to development and grazing, in my opinion.  Up high, where the deer spend the summer, the woods are swarming with cattle that, by October, have mowed down an alarming amount of forage.  I've met some very pleasant cowboys up there so it's nothing personal against them -- they're just trying to earn a living, the same as me the rest of the week.  But I can't help but question the impact it has on wildlife.

But I've seen a fair number of deer this year as well as last.  Mulies and blacktail aren't the same as whitetails and act differently.  Put mule deer behaviors (migratory, wandering habits instead of patternable behaviors) in whitetail-like habitat (deep woods), hours away from where you live and things get difficult fast.  My difficulties are more related to time and experience.  But I know of some old-timers with decades more experience and who spend a month each season in the woods (retired), carry a rifle and still come home with nothing many years.  It's just the way it is here.  10% success rates are the norm.  As a kid, I hunted for 6 years and only saw 2 bucks during the hunting seasons.  Ever.  It just isn't like other places in America.

Unless, of course, you want to spend a chunk for a canned hunt on a private ranch or get a special drawing.  But those are different topics.

[M60gunner]

Used to hunt San Diego County, mostly late season. Numbers started to drop when Mountan Lions started to increase in numbers.  Used to see deer on the range all the time even with the police range on same property.  Yes, development has killed off many as well. New roads, new homes in the high country have taken there toll.

[Michael Arnette]

Sounds like a tough hunt! Blacktails are a fascinating species to me, I'd hunt them over mule deer any day