California Hunting?

[Mandomax]

There are few, very limited opportunities at Elk hunting. We have three different species of Elk here and as of last season, we also had the number 3 ranked Roosevelt bull in the nation. I've seen him, and hunted him last year and 4 years ago. He is 400+ inches and lives in the same area where a high 300" bull was taken 4 years ago.

However, a tag for that area is a once in a lifetime draw. It is right in the middle of the rut, so you call them in and don't hunt them like Rocky Mt. Bulls in CO second season. I've never been drawn, but I have learned where they are and how to call them in, being successful twice.

We have some of the largest mule deer around, but very limited. Very very limited...

Black tail-some trophies there too. Backpacking is the most successful way for the public land hunter. Otherwise, get ready to pay for private land access.

The cost of tags and licenses for residents and the way the herds are managed here and is causing people to flat out stop hunting where they live and stop contributing to the CA DFG hunting scam. To hunt deer it costs nearly $90. Regulations are always changing and lead will be banned in the next few years.

The DFG doesn't run the hunting programs with hunters in mind. They seem to run it with all of the environmentalists in mind and really do not have any programs to improve the big game hunting as a whole. If they do, they don't advertise it. They do seem to have a lot of programs to limit hunting, although that may just be my impression... They issue A LOT of tags and there seems to be really no benefit. I can see myself saying screw California in the next few years and just taking the family to E. Oregon for either Elk or Mule deer.

Poaching is rampant here. The pot growers, rural residents and Indians decimate local populations. Sometimes shooting so many animals that they completely disappear from an area. Punishment for trespassers and poachers is almost a joke and the DFG is frustrated. Rightly so.

Hunters in CA are drastically outnumbered. All of our laws are created from people who live in the big city and really have no practical knowledge or experience to base their decision making on. If it feels good and is warm and fuzzy, they tend to just do it.

If my family wasn't deeply rooted here, along with my job, I would leave. Actually, I would run!

Well said Marble !
Hunting in California is a pretty sad deal but my extra efforts in my younger days here have made me a better hunter in other states. That being said I take my hunting dollars to either Colorado or Utah every year and most definitely other game rich states in the near future. If you dont get drawn for an X-Zone here in California your pretty much making a donation to the DFG in the other general zones.The wildlife management here in California is a joke ! Soon we'll only have lions to manage (protect) and when they starve to death we'll have nothing !

To me a 9 day trip per year in Colorado or Utah is much more enjoyable and satisfying than a 12 week hunting (camping) season in California.
I have 9 working years left in California and when I'm done I'll leave running !

 

[Demon061]

Awesome mulie hunting towards the sierra crest, great boar hunting. Elk hunting? If you have $40,000 to bribe an official maybe hahaha. It's very expensive to hunt, about $160 for the license then tag on top of that. That being said, big mulies are like rats in the East of the state.

 

[Demon061]

Ideal NO! but.......

I grew up hunting Blacktail in the California central coast range Monterey to Santa Barbara. If you know what you are doing and learned the country the hunting was excellent on public ground and there is a lot of it.

In a typical 2-3 back pack trip seeing 5-10 bucks was not unusual. Finding a buck that broke 20 inches was another story like finding the elusive 30 incher here in Idaho now. The best hunting for the little blacktail was in San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties. There were and are Tule Elk in SLO county and probably Monterey by now. In Monterey county there are pockets of Aoudad if you know where to look. They were planted by Randolph Hearst on the Hearst Ranch way back when and have wondered all over that range

The average daytime temperature in that country during August is 85-110. So you really wanted to be there to put up with the uncomfortable conditions and water was critical and you had to pack enough for a day and know where the springs were. So I would not recommend hunting the coastal range to a non-resident but if they could get tied in with someone that knew the country the hunting could be great for that little deer.

I grew up hunting the Sierras in Nevada and Sierra counties (plus Modoc, Lassen, and Plumas). Lots of big deer, lots of public land, poor accessibility.

 

[Demon061]

Well said Marble !
Hunting in California is a pretty sad deal but my extra efforts in my younger days here have made me a better hunter in other states. That being said I take my hunting dollars to either Colorado or Utah every year and most definitely other game rich states in the near future. If you dont get drawn for an X-Zone here in California your pretty much making a donation to the DFG in the other general zones.The wildlife management here in California is a joke ! Soon we'll only have lions to manage (protect) and when they starve to death we'll have nothing !

To me a 9 day trip per year in Colorado or Utah is much more enjoyable and satisfying than a 12 week hunting (camping) season in California.
I have 9 working years left in California and when I'm done I'll leave running !

Ouch. Fair points from both though. The management programs could certainly be run better. Poachers are a huge problem, I see the wardens out all the time when I'm visiting my folks.

 

[Marble]

Well said Marble !
Hunting in California is a pretty sad deal but my extra efforts in my younger days here have made me a better hunter in other states. That being said I take my hunting dollars to either Colorado or Utah every year and most definitely other game rich states in the near future. If you dont get drawn for an X-Zone here in California your pretty much making a donation to the DFG in the other general zones.The wildlife management here in California is a joke ! Soon we'll only have lions to manage (protect) and when they starve to death we'll have nothing !

To me a 9 day trip per year in Colorado or Utah is much more enjoyable and satisfying than a 12 week hunting (camping) season in California.
I have 9 working years left in California and when I'm done I'll leave running !

I hunt in CO too, and my hunting experience in Cali is more camping as you said earlier. Yes, management is very much a joke here. Other states seem to gear their focus more on growing herds/populations, making better quality trophies, service and making the experience for hunters easier and more fulfilling. I truly believe the wardens would prefer this same approach, but they are restricted to the rules and politics that apply to them.

For those that haven't been to Cali, we have every type of landscape imaginable. There are areas where deer should be flourishing just like Wyoming and CO. But hunting is not important to the CA people as a whole. It's frustrating.

I have 16 working years left, and my youngest will be 25 at that time. So we will probably go elsewhere too. Which is unfortunate.

I still have young children and will take them out and teach them about the outdoors while I'm still around.

 

[Marble]

Awesome mulie hunting towards the sierra crest, great boar hunting. Elk hunting? If you have $40,000 to bribe an official maybe hahaha. It's very expensive to hunt, about $160 for the license then tag on top of that. That being said, big mulies are like rats in the East of the state.

I've "guided" two people here locally on the Marble MT Bull draw. Absolutely awesome hunt. Huge bulls, middle of the rut. It was almost $500 for the tag. After he figured in scouting season and the cost of food and fuel, he was somewhere around $1000 for the hunt. Not too bad, but $500 for a resident tag, draw or not, is asinine.

I have MAX points for Elk here, and when I get drawn, I know where I'm going.

 

[Marble]

I grew up hunting the Sierras in Nevada and Sierra counties (plus Modoc, Lassen, and Plumas). Lots of big deer, lots of public land, poor accessibility.

Modoc County is X3b and it takes 3-4 points to get drawn generally. Lassen county is a MAX point zone, X5a and X5b. Awesome, big bucks, lots of deer, lots of land, just wish they could keep that pattern moving over to the rest of the X zones.

 

[Demon061]

Modoc County is X3b and it takes 3-4 points to get drawn generally. Lassen county is a MAX point zone, X5a and X5b. Awesome, big bucks, lots of deer, lots of land, just wish they could keep that pattern moving over to the rest of the X zones.

My parents have a resident heard in Sierra Brooks outside of Loyalton. Big deer, hard to draw there though

 

[califoriahunter]

Ya California is great if you like long hikes in 100+ heat! You can hunt all weekend and be lucky to see any deer but I'm sure you will love it and it ant really a long range type place!




But we have a few if you hunt hard

 

[Demon061]

Ya California is great if you like long hikes in 100+ heat! You can hunt all weekend and be lucky to see any deer but I'm sure you will love it and it ant really a long range type place!

View attachment 34821


But we have a few if you hunt hard

Good success for an old co worker down in Napa, we always have deer in the high sierra if you can pull a tag *shrug*

 

[califoriahunter]

Good success for an old co worker down in Napa, we always have deer in the high sierra if you can pull a tag *shrug*

Ya but good luck trying to find public land in napa

 

[Demon061]

eh he's got a cabin lol

 

[califoriahunter]

eh he's got a cabin lol

I think the guy was asking about public land! Public land hunting is nothing like private land hunts at all!

 

[Greg Duerr]

Elk..................No, but my son kills a Black Bear over there every year. Give the Liberals a few more years and hunting will be a think of the past in that state. Hunting will be restord when the State goes belly up because no one that has a job lives there anymore. Then Deer and Bear season will be open again, with no laws or restraints and Leg hold traps will be legal again also.