California X2 mule deer tag

[dfanonymous]

I would say 33.4 Bruiser 4 point bucks is stretching it. Last year I saw 2, 4 points killed(4x4 and 4x3)... 1 was a nice one... the other was a spindly 20in one... the numbers shown by CA DFG do not give any idea as to the maturity of the animal or the hunters ability to count points correctly. That unit has 1/4 of the deer it used to have. It is not remotely close to being worth the amount of points it takes to draw.

Trophy Units in CA should be managed by Age Class not by the # of points an animal supposedly has. CA could be an awesome mule deer state but years of extremely poor management have ran it into the ground.

Because you didn't see it doesn't make up the totality of what it is. That said, I was incorrect, i listed kills incorrectly. (28) 4 point bucks were taken. That's still good. This is why ya'll should be doing your own research and studies on what you hunt. On one hand you got me with my random math error, and on the other you got a guy who think he knows more about something then he really does…

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=222330&inline

Again, there's a reason you fill out a report, and there's a reason why deer are tagged. There counts done every years before the allotment of tags are made.

As to the size of deer not disclosed, they are.
As I linked to on source, the other is here:

Every year, I run into people as I walk out with an animal, in every state I go to, and every year, every one says something to that effect. "Your lucky, that's the only buck in here" "bet you feel real lucky." "There's no deer in this unit/zone/gmu" etc

Because tags are so hard to get in the west, I hunt way harder, way less successful areas, especially for elk. Because that's how I get to go hunting.
Luck stopped being a factor in it near 20 years ago.

 

[Mark carter]

All the x zones have wolves. They've been there a decade or more ago. People, way of the internet are just now coming around to it.

I also doubt they have made a "return" all by themselves the way fish and wildlife claim, but that's beside the point.


The cats do more damage to herds I think the most. Second to winter kill, then coyotes killing fawns.

I was told by a guy who lives in the area that cal fish and game planted them and they are the Canadian wolves. I live over on the coast and we've been told that they were going to bring grizzly bears back into this area. You got a love California fishing game.

 

[Mark carter]

I would say 33.4 Bruiser 4 point bucks is stretching it. Last year I saw 2, 4 points killed(4x4 and 4x3)... 1 was a nice one... the other was a spindly 20in one... the numbers shown by CA DFG do not give any idea as to the maturity of the animal or the hunters ability to count points correctly. That unit has 1/4 of the deer it used to have. It is not remotely close to being worth the amount of points it takes to draw.

Trophy Units in CA should be managed by Age Class not by the # of points an animal supposedly has. CA could be an awesome mule deer state but years of extremely poor management have ran it into the ground.

I agree I've lived here my hole life California does not care about the game, not like other states too many Democrats

 

[MighteyWhiteHunter]

Because you didn't see it doesn't make up the totality of what it is. That said, I was incorrect, i listed the tags alotted as kills. 28 4 point bucks were taken. That's still good. This is why ya'll should be doing your own research and studies on what you hunt. On one hand you got me with my random math error, and on the other you got a guy who think he knows more about something then he really does…

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=222330&inline

Again, there's a reason you fill out a report, and there's a reason why deer are tagged. There counts done every years before the allotment of tags are made.

As to the size of deer not disclosed, they are.
As I linked to on source, the other is here:
View attachment 601687

Every year, I run into people as I walk out with an animal, in every state I go to, and every year, every one says something to that effect. "Your lucky, that's the only buck in here" "bet you feel real lucky." "There's no deer in this unit/zone/gmu" etc

Because tags are so hard to get in the west, I hunt way harder, way less successful areas, especially for elk. Because that's how I get to go hunting.
Luck stopped being a factor in it near 20 years ago.

I dont doubt that you are a good hunter... I have hunted the unit many times in the last 13 years with my own personal tags and with friends who have had the tag, I stand by what I said. Just because a buck is a 4 point or 5+ points in the DFG Handbook doesn't mean people know how to count and it definitely doesn't mean that those deer are "bruisers" or even remotely close to being mature especially since 90% of the hunters in the unit don't get more than a few hundred yards from the road and shoot the first legal buck they see.

Anyone who hunts hard and is persistent will usually be successful, that goes for every unit in every state. I said the unit is a shell of what it once was and is not worth the points it takes to draw. I am not here to argue with you but you are really making it difficult.

 

[dfanonymous]

It's not about me being good, it's about how people saying that there's no deer or elk in an area because they didn't see it means nothing or whatever else is meaningless to me, and it should be to everyone else.

Look…bad counting and skewed statistics happens but ( 6) 5 point plus (28) 4 point bucks….I don't think that many people are going to be wrong. Plus there's the ones that were never killed.

Same with the excessive 3 point, and forks. I'm
with you all on issues with DFG, but they do do counts, they have rough ideas of what's out there. A lot of these areas are managed as such.

Because you're not seeing what you want to might have more to do with you than the deer population.

The amount of allotted tags has more to do with the actual deer population as estimated.

 

[Roger L]

My wife drew a California X2 mule deer tag. I've pretty much scouted the entire zone. Just curious if anybody has drawn this tag and could provide your experience?

Hi, I drew the tag about 6 years ago. Although I did not shoot a buck, we did see plenty of bucks, mainly near the Oregon border. Your best source for information(if he is still there) is the resident biologist for CDFW, Richard Shinn. He has a wealth of knowledge and shared if freely with me. Be prepared for to encounter a lot of wild horses. They have ruined much of the habitat. If you like to shoot waterfowl, take a shotgun, there are lots of water holes,etc that hold ducks and geese.

 

[JD284win]

Hi, I drew the tag about 6 years ago. Although I did not shoot a buck, we did see plenty of bucks, mainly near the Oregon border. Your best source for information(if he is still there) is the resident biologist for CDFW, Richard Shinn. He has a wealth of knowledge and shared if freely with me. Be prepared for to encounter a lot of wild horses. They have ruined much of the habitat. If you like to shoot waterfowl, take a shotgun, there are lots of water holes,etc that hold ducks and geese.

Richard is gone. The biologist now is a lady that's been in the US less than a year. Not sure how that works. That's what I was told by a buddy that is law enforcement in the area. Modoc county also has no warden at the moment. With the refuge being national I would guess the feds will be in there keeping deer hunters off the refuge.