seems like when the discussion turns to big game hunting in the U.S. the discussion most of the time revolves around the states of montana, wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado.

Why don't people talk much about the big game hunting in northern california. I have never looked at the laws for that state, but it would seem to me there must be a lot of opportunities for hunting elk, deer, sheep, moose, and goats in california.

Many species here are resident draw only. Ssome once per 10yrs or once per lifetime. Much of the decent hunting land is provately owned & the state is not exactly "gun/hunting friendly. It's why I pretty much hunt out of state.

Great question, 22WRF!

Heck, most of the resident only draws (elk, sheep, and antelope) are extremely hard to get, even if you try for ten years or more. So, not a lot of experience to draw on unless one can afford to hunt on Tejon Ranch (or a place like that), which is about $20K for a bull elk.

Plus, we have a ton of bone-head hunters who ruin hunting for the rest of us. For instance, two years ago I saw a Toyota SUV being inspected by a pair of Rangers. They had 4 guys pulled out of it and lined up against the brush. The rangers had the spare tired laying on the ground, which had several species of birds and a doe laying on it. Shooting does is a BIG no-no where I hunt. I imagine that these guys shot the doe, and then tried to hide it underneath the SUV.

Three years ago, I saw some guys (gang members, really, or at least they appeared to be) shooting at a little buck along side a main highway. They were using pistols (9mm, 40s, who knows). They had on the color bandanas, saggy pants, "chains", etc; all the while cars were passing them by. They didn't even try to hide it. Plus, it was the day before the season opened. Now, if I was one of the land owners driving along the road then, why would I want to let anyone hunt (such as allowing a walk-in area, like in WY or CO) on my property? Chances are that one of these guys are 1) going to hurt someone, then 2) sue YOU for it, and then 3) shoot ALL the game in your area. The politicians LOVE these kind of guys (poster children for more damned gun control ).

On another note, there is public land to hunt, but no one wants to share their secret spots. I don't want to share the few spots I know about, for sure (who does, really?). One would have 200 hunters in the same area the very next year. Loose lips sink ships!

For deer, I think CA should have a point restriction for a few years, which would allow for bigger bucks, especially during the drought seasons. I might get flamed for saying this, but this is just my opinion. The area I hunt has a ton of bears, plus mountain lions (which cannot be messed with), coyotes and bobcats. They hit the fawns pretty hard. Can't really do much to control that though, but we could let the little guys grow up a bit first.

Also, some folks in CA, who like to hunt, are reluctant to talk about it too much, for fear of reprisals at work and/or with friends. It seems that there are still a few hippies/tree huggers around, and most are bitter for some reason.

I guess, to sum my response up, I now only discuss hunting here in California with other hunters [who I know]. Sad, but true.

Recently, I started to hunt out of state too, and I love it. I'm grateful that states like WY and CO share with CA hunters. It must be hard to watch a bunch of smart-a$$ Californians drain into your state every year, and yet most everyone I've met [out-of-state] has been extremely nice and helpful. I think we should allow more out-of-state hunters here though, to be honest. California does not seem to be about bringing business into the state these days though.

Sorry for the long response,

So...let me give you a run down...

Feral Pig...while the is plenty of public land there are very few pigs on it.

I hunt with Kyler Hamann all the time great time good operation.

There is no Doe season in CA. well they actually issue like 20 tags a year or so for some juior hunts and landowners if they submit a managment plan can can issue landowner doe tags but very few do.

Are buck do to doe ratio is probably 1 to 20 or worse so trophy quality is down. Granted bucks are more reclusive but I easily see a 100 does for every buck in the foothills near my house which have no hunting pressure.

Black Tail Deer...lots of public land. Average success rate in the state I believe is below 15%. The good hunting is obvioulsy private land.

Mule Deer...lots of public land in the sierra's but the good zones are all draw. The best zones are the Xs zones. I believe draw percentage is about 15% in the good zones.

Dessert Big Horn Sheep. Gosh they may issue 18 tags a year...limit is one tag per life time.

Tule Elk - Between tule elk, roosevelt elk, and rocky mountain elk including both cow and bulls they issue about 300 tags for the year spread across about 15 or so areas...with preferenc epoints you probably have a good chance of getting drawn eveyr 6 years...but there maybe a 10 year wait after you succesfully draw...not sure.

Antelope - limited number of tags not much public land. 2003 the last full year that drawing stats are available for there were 140 tags and 7300 applications submitted...so that is a less than 2% success rate.


Black bear not bad but it is mostly incidental to deer hunting.

So that is kinda the run down...

Where I am at in northern Calif...just 2 hours from the border and hunted all of the ground here to Oregon, there are no....sheep, moose, and goats. Elk are draw only and the blacktail deer are excellent eating.

Did I mention that as a Biologist [wildlife] I am sorry to say there is really no game management i nthe state. We are too worried about offending a veggy's civil rights.

The real problem with California hunting (and fishing) is that the tag fees go directly into the state general fund rather than to the DF&G.

As if that weren't enough, because the state legislature is controlled by the Communists, ahem, excuse me, the Democrats, the DF&G board has a voting majority of anti-hunters ...

You couldn't make it up.

California is utterly dysfunctional at managing its hunting resources; the ocean fishing situation for non-pelagic species is just as bad or even worse, if you can imagine that.

The preceeding posts are all quite accurate, but I must add a more positive note. Hunting is not a popular sport in California, and pressure is low. I have hunted deer every year since 1981, usually ten to fifteen day afield each year. Several years I have seen NO OTHER HUNTERS in the field, once you are out of sight of a road. It's tough hunting, but if you can draw an X zone tag you have a chance at some really huge Mulie bucks. I have drawn and filled an Elk tag and keep trying for an Antelope tag. If we could get the politics out of game management this would be a great hunting state.

I am a California hunter and I don't find the hunting to be all that bad here. The harvesting is real tough though in this state. State wide, the success ratio on deer probably runs less than 10 percent. The area I hunt was at less than 4 percent last year, but I got a good buck anyway. Never mind that it was my 11th year of trying, and I am a backpacking high Sierra hunter. Finding legal bucks here is my main problem.

I am also a fly-fishing back country angler, specializing in small stream and high lake angling from when the snow melts until the season ends by mid November or until the snow shuts it down. Streams close in November but the lakes can be fished year around if you can get to them. I don't scout for deer much but I do spend a lot of time in the mountains because of my fishing. And I am always looking for deer and deer sign driving back and forth and in hiking into and back out of my fishing destinations.

The road hunters are a pain in the butt around here, and that's part of the reason that I pack back in. The season opens here tomorrow and I am leaving today. I enjoy my hunts greatly whether I get anything or not. I may hunt out of state someday, but I would rather hunt than spend a good part of my hunting time driving. To each his own.

I have never put in for a draw hunt. 9,000 deer tags are issued for the D-7 Zone that I hunt. They are all sold out every year long before the season opens but they are over the counter tags that do not have to be drawn. And you can get a second deer tag if you want to pay for one. The same tags can be used for both archery and the general gun season in this area. This is one California hunter who likes the deer hunting we have here just fine, Rusty.

There is way over abundents of game at the Calif/mexican border. Unlimited bag limit.

The whiley Border Sasquach.



Known for their fence jumping ability, underground burrowing, and swimming of the great colorado river.

I was stationed in California from 1992-1995 and was based out ot of the Alameda Naval Air Station and the Concord Naval Weapons Station. As a native born son of the Rocky Mountain west I felt honor bound to do some hunting. What I found was both good and bad.

First the good:

I found an abundance of wild hogs to hunt. I friend of mine lived in Napa and knew some of the people that worked in the vinyards. Didn't take too long to find out the pigs raised hell with the expensive landscaping. We ened up with access to a couple big vinyards including Christian Brothers, Sutter Home and Robert Mondavi and could take pigs whenever we wanted. Couldn't touch the deer, quail, turkeys or anything else, but we shot a bunch of pigs. And since the season ran year round, we could go whenever we wanted, which was something like every other week or so. Those grape fed pigs supplied the protein for a lot of BBQ's.

I also did fairly well on pigs on public ground up around the Mendicino Natl Forest in Lake County. Had to work for them, but we could usually kick one out if we were diligent. Also got into quite a few coveys of California Quail around Cache Creek and there was always a coyote or 2 to chase.

Saw a fair amount of bear sign, but never actually got a shot at one. Probably could have if I wanted to try hard enough, but at the time bear wasn't high on my radar screen. Took a couple turkeys along Cache Creek and almost always saw some Tule Elk, but they were always on private land. I tried to pull a tag on Grizzly Island for Tule Elk, but was never successful.

So, there is some fairly decent hunting if you try, including the earliest rifle season for deer in the land.

Now for the bad:

The California deer herd is the poorest example of game management I've ever seen. Every county seems to have it's own rules and you literaly can not shoot a doe unless you have some sort of connection with God. I would guess that I saw 100 or more does for every buck I saw. I hunted Blacktails in the "A" zone along the coast and was actually fortunate enough to take a couple bucks. But I will be honest in saying that I shot every legal buck I saw during the season since it was probably the only shot I was going to get. None of the bucks were bigger than forks, but they are the only California Blacktails I'll ever take.

Even with all the potential and great game habitat available, the state simply isn't worth it in my opinion. But, I may be spoiled since I grew up hunting places like Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.

Cheers

Mac

We've got a bunch of Cal Hunters in our forum since we started out a CA Deer Hunting forum. Current pics and tales on Rosie Elk, desert bighorn, tule elk, blacktails, muleys and some big bruins.

http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums

These are all good honest posts.
The differences are huge from one area to the next. I pass on forks and have not done "well" by many standards. I shot the biggest buck I've seen here two years ago. Missed a chance at one nearly as big last year. But I tend to hunt some very rugged ground when on public land and joined a hunt club for land access but still find the hunting to be quite poor. Very high count on predators, bad buck to doe ratios, drought, and zero game management are all very real. In the area nearest to me the Hmong (sp?)go about their "hunting" all year round with little if any harassment. They shoot everything, literally everything whenever they are out.

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
seems like when the discussion turns to big game hunting in the U.S. the discussion most of the time revolves around the states of montana, wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado.

Why don't people talk much about the big game hunting in northern california. I have never looked at the laws for that state, but it would seem to me there must be a lot of opportunities for hunting elk, deer, sheep, moose, and goats in california.

I drew a 'B' zone deer tag, hope to get enough time to go hunt this year...

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty Hook:
I am a California hunter and I don't find the hunting to be all that bad here..........

This is one California hunter who likes the deer hunting we have here just fine, Rusty.

Holy Cow Rusty, seriously man I do not mean to offend in any way, but you have absolutly got to try some other states.

Please.

With any effort in rural Alaska you could depend on harvesting 1-3 big game animals per year. I've hunted Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, and I think it's reasonable to say about the same thing. Somebody help me here with how many white tail tags are available per hunter in some of the eastern states? My friends 82 year old father regularly takes 3 deer a year in Indiana. Rusty, did you mean to say one buck in 11 years of hunting??!?!?!?!?!?!

I moved from the Bay Area to Alaska. Based on my experience as noted above, the hunting in California sucks. I have purchased my last Calif hunting license.

quote:

Originally posted by 333_OKH:
Where I am at in northern Calif...just 2 hours from the border and hunted all of the ground here to Oregon, there are no....sheep, moose, and goats. Elk are draw only and the blacktail deer are excellent eating.

Did I mention that as a Biologist [wildlife] I am sorry to say there is really no game management i nthe state. We are too worried about offending a veggy's civil rights.

I lived in Scott Valley in the mid-60s, hope to get back there with a 'B' tag one of these days.

I grew up in NorCal, Fortuna to be exact, and did most of my Hunting in Trinity County, B1/2 zone IIRC. Opening weekend there would be people everywhere, mostly just driving around, then after that, there wasnt a whole lot of people. every year I hunted I tagged out, as did my Dad, and my grandpa who tagged out long before anyone else. Course he lived where we hunted, and new where to go.. This was all up Hyampom way, public land mostly

lots of forkie pointers and one toyota following another toyota

Except for the salt water fishing, why bother. Why would I want to fight all of the liberal dementia just to hunt there. We have all the hunting we need right here in the rockies. Anyway, if cal was such good hunting, why do you keep coming to my state?
wapiti7

California duck hunting is some of the best in the nation, in my opinion.

Deer hunting is rather strange, as we cannot hunt during the rut.
Where I went for deer in CA, it was shorts and t-shirt weather! A far cry from the Montana rut!!

quote:

Originally posted by Irish Paul:

Where I went for deer in CA, it was shorts and t-shirt weather! A far cry from the Montana rut!!

I went out this last weekend, which is traditionally 90-80 degree weather in the Southern Sequoia for this time of year. It was foggy and it rained and hailed the whole time. Temp dropped right down to 32 degrees.

Surprisingly though, we saw lots of deer, and a bear too. Only does, spikes and a single forked-horn, but they were still nice to see. A few times, we were able to almost walk right up to bedded animals because the fog was hiding us from sight. Of course, we didn’t couldn’t see them until we were right next to them. Visibility was about nil.

I'll be back in a few weeks, without the shorts, looking for older bucks.

I took the family out opening morning in the Sequoia and met the first law enforcement officer ever. 'BOUT TIME!

We saw deer, one small fork I let go. It was wet but I liked it. I saw one small buck on the back of a jeep.