California hunters

[hat creek]

I live in extreme Northern California, Humboldt County. Been hunting up here over 25 years. Snag: The Trinity Alps used to be a great place to hunt, but the last couple of years the fires have kept hunters out and the animals are fewer and farther between. Now if you want to still hunt bears, that's a different story. Lots of those around.
The public land has been hard hunting the past ten years or so. Lots of pot gardeners shoot deer year round to protect their gardens. The only luck I've had the past few years is hunting private land. With cutbacks in the state, game wardens are only visible opening weekend of each respective season, then they seem to disappear.
Heck, three seasons ago I was actually stalking a buck and heard a .22 shot, sure enough it was the buck I was trying to get a position on. Stalked out of the woods, got thelicense plate of the only car I could find and turned the poacher in. When I checked with Fish and Game, nothing had been done!!!
I see deer all the time, but it's usually on the golf course or in someone's yard near small tracts of woods. When I moved here in the 70's I could guarantee a filled tag, now, I'm lucky to see a few legal bucks. Then, of course, when the rut comes in (when we can't hunt) the big bucks come out. I saw a 25" blacktail in a lady's yard up the road from my house last mating season!!!

[Bjorn]

We live South of the San Francisco area, in August we are hunting Elk in Utah, and September-October Elk in Oregon, after that it is Hogs- North of San Francisco, regularly till April. The challenge in California is getting
access to decent private land.
The public land is overrun with the 45 million bird watchers who call this place home.
Just don't wear your camo to the coffee shop!

[casady]

The problem California has is that fish a game isn't aloud to run things.Arnold and the boys or the counties make all the decisions....fish and game just gives suggestions.

[Raminshooter]

NorthernCaliforniaHunter

I too am originally from Santa Rosa and my parents live in Alexander Valley on 63 acres in the hills overlooking the valley.  Am up there all the time so we should have a cold one some time.

Regarding the rut hunt:  years ago we have a few seasons where our mid September weather was cool and the rut kicked in...it was a great time to be in the woods and I killed a few nice bucks then.  Since that time Fish and Game has told me that in the A zone they don't believe the deer herd can sustain a rut hunt which is why we have to hunt in the heat.  Of course, the reason things are so bad is becuase of the poor range mangement and not being able to control BLM that allows cattle on public wild lands (along with all their deseases that infect/kill deer).  But don't get me started on that.  

Hope everyone who hunts in California is successful this season regardless of your tags!

[huntindad]

Snag, there are still alot of big bucks in the trinity alps.They are tough to find in the brush though , too many years of fire suppression.Last couple of years has changed that however and in a few years it will be good the deer are still there they just moved deeper in to find habitat.I've hunted that region for blacktails for 20 years and have killed a couple nice bucks and friends have too.I must warn you its tough country ,steep with sluffy dirt over granite and BRUSHY in the old burns also very hot in bow season.Where will I hunt this year? B-zones in CA bow and rifle ID general deer and OR Trout creek with my recurve(hopefully money is a little tight as with everyone). Bill

[Angus]

I can't tell you guys how glad I am to have left the CA looney bin behind.  Last time I hunted on opening weekend with my son, SE corner of Mendocino NF, the only thing we saw was a bunch of idiots dressed in full camo, riding atv's. No deer, no tracks in the dust, tons of acorns all over the ground, and the only wildlife were squirrels.  Even saw one guy ride his atv from his trailer to the head, maybe a distance of 75 yds, and back.  No disabled tags on his auto licenses, so I know he actually could walk.  We talked to the warden on the way out, and he said only one deer had been validated from the entire area.  Nope. CA's too interested in protecting kangaroo and cougars, and funding in-state tuition for illegal aliens (I know, I had to admit the little criminals to UC Davis, and we could tell they were illegal from the application).  I've seen more deer here in Leavenworth, right by my house, than I saw all year in CA.  I feel for you all who are stuck there, and wish you all good hunting, but you're gonna need to go out-of-state to get it.  Hunting in CA's gone, courtesy of mismanagement and politics.

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

You're on RAMINSHOOTER!

Just PM me when you're in the area. I'm sure we could swap a hunt on some honey spots too.

Good point Huntindad, the intensive fire suppression efforts in CA have severly hurt habitat and the ease of access to the woods. I spent a decade of my life fighting fires with CALFIRE and I honestly believe the only smart thing to do is light a lot of control burns in the spring, but politics kill that too.

[donw]

i think angus is more on target that we care to admit.

now, the fish and game is considering making the whole state a "lead free" hunting area. what next?

political correctness and politicians will soon kill hunting on public lands if we're not careful.

near where i live, in riverside county, all the folks with floppy bush hats, backpacks, seirra club bumper stickers, bottled water and camera tripods swarm the area on weekends.

[coaster500]

Just got back from a morning hunt. Saw a couple of deer all fe and no male    :(    It got hot early. I'll try again tonight.

NorthernCaliforniaHunter is right. Our state needs to burn (selectively not out of control). It is amazing to me that the powers that be can't see that. When I was living in Lake County (for 26 Years) everybody burned in the spring. The indians, ranchers, everybody. It helped the game and keeps fires from burning out of control.

[pshooter1]

NCH how goes it?  I live in Sebastopol and would like to find others who like to hunt traditional in our area.  I hunt with all compound shooters, just me and my longbow, and would like to find some traditional minded folks to get together with.  I hunt a lot in Mendocino and Trinity Counties and manage to kill a few nice bucks there over the years.  Send me a pm if your interested in getting together.

[coaster500]

It's almost rifle season. Have any of the California hunters harvested a deer yet? I havn't been able to close the distance and connect yet.

How about it Juan (NorthernCaliforniaHunter) have you had any opportunities?

[BTH]

Check out my posts on the Adventures of Hope and Faith.
I am very blessed with the land I'm on. My uncle married into it a very long time ago. I've been hunting on it for over 20 years now. Just until recently it's been rifle only but I finally talked my uncle into letting me bow hunt the place.
We're in A zone in Mendocino County. NorthernCaliforniaHunter has been there a couple of times.
I've had Faith up there the last three weekends and I've shot at one four pointer, had a close encounter with two hogs and two forked horns in the same day, and another close encounter with another big forkie last Friday night. Now Faith has moved on to the next 'ganger in line I'll be back to using my familiar old Morrison. Be going up again this weekend to check the cameras and maybe do one evening hunt.

[coaster500]

BTH. you've got the toughest part of hunting worked out with a great place to hunt.
Great story in Hope and Faith post....
I hunted Mendocino County years a go but the people that let me hunt the ranch sold it. I have a place in Lake County but it's a six hour drive from Morro Bay and it's tough to get the time. I've got a couple of places here in San Luis Obispo county to hunt but mostly hunt public land. Good Luck with the rest of the season......

Ryan

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

BTH is as close to a lottery winner as I know   :cool:   That place is crawling with deer! NOW TOBY YOU TAKE THE FIRST GOOD SHOT AND STOP WAITIN' ON THAT IDEAL ONE!! They aren't gonna walk onto your lap you know!  

[Raminshooter]

Dan,

The reason they make us hunt in the heat is that Fish and Game here has so mismanaged the habitat (#1) and the BLM has allowed public land grazing of cattle and sheep for so long, polluting water holes and streams with cattle/sheep borne illnesses (#2) that they do not believe that the coastal regions deer population can sustain a "rut hunt" and therefor do not allow it.  That comes from the inside of Fish and Game here.

[BTH]

Oh Juan...you have zero patience and appreciation for a good stalk or a close encounter    :rolleyes:  And who've shot arra's at deer AND hogs this year?  I've learned much the last few weeks. And had a ton of fun to boot. Heck, we still have to late September to fill tags...no need to get it done too early! That four pointer though...I'd have loved to get that one on a tag...

Between the pot growers, illegal vineyard workers, poachers and the asian wave, as well as all the bubba's on atv's (did I miss anyone...I'm all for equal opportunity...I diss on every one equally) public land sucks for hunting for the most part. If you use the quads that God gave you and get a couple of miles off of the roads you will see big bucks and have the opportunity to take them. Done that twice now in B2 on public land. We passed five members of the a-wave carrying M1 carbines and SKSs    :eek:      :mad:   on the way to the back country and hiked back with a couple of nice deer...
I've been a firefighter for many years...now in the prevention office...and I can tell you first hand how messed up we are in CA with suppressing all the fires that start from natural causes, heck, even arson. We put hoses on the ground, aircraft in the air, dozers and handcrews in action, when we could let some of this stuff burn to control points instead of doing direct attack.
The air quality folks and the fire service are way too reactionary regarding private property control burns. I'd love to burn the ranch, but no permits were issued this year and other than cutting brush and building burn piles we couldn't do any worthwhile burning.
One major problem with the wardens in this state is that there are no where near enough of them. Then they bring them all together in one place during abalone season to catch the poachers rock picking or scouring the rocks in low tide. While hunting B2 in the later part of the season I did run into wardens on the road. But those guys have a lot of ground to cover.

[BTH]

Heading up for an evening hunt and to check the cameras. Hopefully I'll get a shot tonight!

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

Who says I don't appreciate a good stalk or a close encounter?    :mad:   It's the missing part that eats you up until the next opportunity - you know that!!!    

[BTH]

I'm back! Another great evening on the ranch. The camera at the gate showed a neighbor's full moon...I about fell off the chair laughing at that! Other than that neither camera showed any bucks...just cows and does. The gate camera stays on security duty...I let my wife choose the location for the other camera. Trust me...I won't be sharing the aforementioned photo on the trail cam thread...

On the way out to the far end of the ranch we scared a bunch of buzzards off a carcass next to the road, which runs along the neighbor's fence. Turned out it was a big old boss boar hog that got his tusks and cutters caught up the wire while trying to get under the fence! Poor guy died a horrible death. I hope it wasn't the one on my trail camera that I've been hoping to get.

After setting the camera on the far end of the ranch we came back to the area we'd been hunting the deer in. Snuck down a drainage to position ourselves with the wind properly to conduct the hunt. I put the wife and the Ridgeback on stand at the escape route used by the buck last week. Then I went on spot and stalk. Long story short...I spotted and I stalked. Darn hard to get close to a nice blacktail buck with the wind at his back, in his bed, with 40-60 yards of open grass around him. I thought I had him when he was focused on where I had been and not where I was. I had him at about 60 yards broadside looking uphill at the tree I had been under when I first spotted him. I closed to about 50 yards when he turned his head towards me. From there it was a hop, skip, and jump to the bottom of the drainage and up the other side.

This was the same buck I've been working on for three weekends now...I've been watching him and his buddies since April...seen him growing his antlers, in full velvet, and now hard antlers.

Unfortunately general season opens next weekend and it will be rifle only at the ranch for at least the first two weekends. After all we've been through together during bow season he'll probably get shot with a rifle. Hopefully he'll make it through until I get the ranch to myself again for some bow hunting.

[Thumper Dunker]

D6 for me close I get tierd of deer hunting pretty fast and start chasing coyotes.  Our fish and game has no clue what they are doing.