Looking for Respectable Mule Deer Hunt

[WYO300RUM]

I could be snarky and say I'll hunt wherever I **** well please but I hunt Utah, Arizona, Colorado and yes, California. We have like 5 species of deer and they are all pretty small. I'm the type of Californian you may like. I'm about as redneck as redneck gets.

Southern, Burro/Desert,California, Inyo, Rocky Mtn. and you probably forgot Blacktail. 6 not all deer on California are small. I've seen Desert muleys in D12 with monster racks 30 plus inches. Rocky Mtn. in the far north end. I shot some Inyo muleys in X12/Sierras near Bridgeport on Nevada border that are definitely big. They migrate into Ca. to winter. Shot couple biggins in X9A also. Shot lot of bucks and few big bucks in D14. The San Bernardino National Forest. I grew up there. They are Southern muleys. I never shot or have seen a large buck in Cleavland Nat. Forest/San Diego Co. Lived in Oceanside for 11 years and Poway 17 years. Redlands/Big Bear 20 years. Texas whitetail are generally small bodied like blacktail. It make their racks look even bigger. The farther north you go , deer are larger bodied. Whitetail here are definitely bigger the whitetail in the south and in Canada they are bigger than here. Same goes for moose. Smallest to biggest are Shiras, Canadian and Alaskan/Yukon. Ok. Biology/Wildlife class is over

 

[dfanonymous]

Southern, Burro/Desert,California, Inyo, Rocky Mtn. and you probably forgot Blacktail. 6 not all deer on California are small. I've seen Desert muleys in D12 with monster racks 30 plus inches. Rocky Mtn. in the far north end. I shot some Inyo muleys in X12/Sierras near Bridgeport on Nevada border that are definitely big. They migrate into Ca. to winter. Shot couple biggins in X9A also. Shot lot of bucks and few big bucks in D14. The San Bernardino National Forest. I grew up there. They are Southern muleys. I never shot or have seen a large buck in Cleavland Nat. Forest/San Diego Co. Lived in Oceanside for 11 years and Poway 17 years. Redlands/Big Bear 20 years. Texas whitetail are generally small bodied like blacktail. It make their racks look even bigger. The farther north you go , deer are larger bodied. Whitetail here are definitely bigger the whitetail in the south and in Canada they are bigger than here. Same goes for moose. Smallest to biggest are Shiras, Canadian and Alaskan/Yukon. Ok. Biology/Wildlife class is over

I've killed a nice 6 point buck up in the high granite rock country in the emigrant wilderness. Looked like sheep country.

I've made a more than a few killings in San Gorgonio in d14. Some hard hikes, above tree line, but worth it for big body deer than have probably never seen a human before.

X10 is was a cool hunt. Opener is like a mini war zone, with 4x4 patrols, but out in the wilderness, there's some big guys.

I've got it done with archery down in the Death Valley area in D17 when I was stationed around there. The D17 deer are Rocky Mountain mule deer; they were imported in the 1940s. They're as big as they are in Colorado if you can find them. A difficult hunt. It's easier to find sheep out there.

 

[ElJefe]

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El Jefe Outdoors | Hermosillo

El Jefe Outdoors, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. 3,664 likes · 169 talking about this. Offering the best experiences in the Sonoran desert. Free range mule deer,coues deer,desert bighorns

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[WYO300RUM]

I've killed a nice 6 point buck up in the high granite rock country in the emigrant wilderness. Looked like sheep country.

I've made a more than a few killings in San Gorgonio in d14. Some hard hikes, above tree line, but worth it for big body deer than have probably never seen a human before.

X10 is was a cool hunt. Opener is like a mini war zone, with 4x4 patrols, but out in the wilderness, there's some big guys.

I've got it done with archery down in the Death Valley area in D17 when I was stationed around there. The D17 deer are Rocky Mountain mule deer; they were imported in the 1940s. They're as big as they are in Colorado if you can find them. A difficult hunt. It's easier to find sheep out there.

6 pt. as in a 3x3 ? I hunted San Gorgino wilderness area and San Bernardino National Forest for fifty years. I'd backpack in at Whitewater fish hatchery. Sometimes up to 10 miles along the south or middle fork. That's where I shot my biggest bucks. Lots of bears and bighorns. The bighorn in my Avatar is from the San Gorgonio unit. Shot it up in Whitewater canyon 2003. Sometimes I came from above up Fish Creek Trail down into Mineshaft Flat. That all burned maybe 8-10 years ago. Was a bummer. I used to fill my water bottles where the water shot out of rocks that was the headwaters for Whitewater river. I hunted in there before they had a sheep hunt the bighorns weren't afraid of humans . They'd come down the mtn. in the morning rolling rocks going for a drink in the river right past me when I was in sleeping bag. They'd butt heads, etc. Got some great photos of bighorns and bears. There were blonde, cinnamon, brown and black phase black bears there. I heard in the 1950's they dumped trouble bears from Yosemite there. Claw marks all over on the alder trees. Creepy sleeping on the ground at night. I got some great photos of a blonde sow with two cubs. I spotted them down below me and snuck up and started taking pics. I snapped a twig and she stood up on hind legs looking then one cub did same then the other. Have a series of photos of them. In 1988 long before they had a bighorn hunt in Sam Gorgonio unit I walked to within 33 steps of 4 nice rams. Got great pics. I could of shot the biggest with a bow. Lots of memories there. Sorry for long post. I heard that about D17. There's some big bucks in that desert country but not a lot of deer. A buddy shot a buck in D17 that had a perfect 22 in. 10 pt. Whitetail rack ! Then I heard stories about whitetails Big bucks in Desert D12 south of there along Colorado river/Arizona. Lot of canals for water and alfalfa fields. I drew as non res in 2021 for X12. Shot a nice buck. Last year I applied again but like a dummy put D14 as second choice. I drew. I figured I'd visit family and friends like in 2021. When Nov. rolled around I cound afford to drive to Ca.. ate Lic. And tag $347.00. I even tried to call fish and game to surrender tag. Never got a human. Left messages. I just blame it on Dictator Newscum. I hunted X10 twice. Sucked. Kennedy Meadows there used to be the deer factory. That went bye bye by 1990. Never had luck in X9B either. Love X12 and X9A. This may be my longest post !
I don't have handy pics of bears or bucks killed there. Was in 80's and 90's. I carried a 35mm Minolta 7000 w/400mm lens in a camera holster for many years.

 

[dfanonymous]

6 pt. as in a 3x3 ? I hunted San Gorgino wilderness area and San Bernardino National Forest for fifty years. I'd backpack in at Whitewater fish hatchery. Sometimes up to 10 miles along the south or middle fork. That's where I shot my biggest bucks. Lots of bears and bighorns. The bighorn in my Avatar is from the San Gorgonio unit. Shot it up in Whitewater canyon 2003. Sometimes I used to come from above up Fish Creek Trail down into Mineshaft Flat. That all burned maybe 8-10 years ago. Was a bummer. I used to fill my water bottles where the water shot out of rocks that was the headwaters for Whitewater river. When I hunted in there before they had a sheep hunt the bighorns weren't afraid of humans . They'd come down the mtn. in the morning rolling rocks going for a drink in the river right past me when I was in sleeping bag. They'd butt heads, etc. Got some great photos of bighorns and bears. There were blonde, cinnamon, brown and black phase black bears there. I heard in the 1950's they dump trouble bears from Yosemite there. Claw marks all over on the alder trees. Creepy sleeping on the ground at night. I got some great photos of a blonde sow with two cubs. I spotted them down below me and snuck up and started taking pics. I snapped a twig and she stood up on hind legs looking then one cub did same then the other. Have a series of photos of them. In 1988 long before they had a bighorn hunt in Sam Gorgonio unit I walked to within 33 steps of 4 nice rams. Got great pics. I could of shot the biggest with a bow. Lots of memories there. Sorry for long post. I heard that about D17. There's some big bucks in that desert country but not a lot of deer. A buddy shot a buck in D17 that had a perfect 22 in. 10 pt. Whitetail rack ! Then I heard stories about whitetails Big bucks in Desert are D12 south of there along Colorado river/Arizona. Lot of canals for water and alfalfa fields. I drew as non res in 2021 for X12. Shot a nice buck. Last year I applied again but like a dummy put D14 as second choice. I drew. I figured I'd visit family and friends like in 2021. When Nov. rolled around I cound afford to drive to Ca.. ate Lic. And tag $347.00. I even tried to call fish and game to surrender tag. Never got a human. Left messages. I just blame it on Dictator Newscum. I hunted X10 twice. Sucked. Kennedy Meadows there used to be the deer factory. That went bye bye by 1990. Never had luck in X9B either. Love X12 and X9A. This may be my longest post !
I don't have handy pics of bears or bucks killed there. Was in 80's and 90's. I carried a 35mm Minolta 7000 w/400mm lens in a camera holster for many years. View attachment 572600View attachment 572601View attachment 572602View attachment 572604View attachment 572603

No, as in a 6x6. I don't count them like the eastern hunters do.

Mine shaft is overgrown last I was there, and the trail has been eroded by fell, and avalanche/rain with no maintenance. It's no problem if one knows the way or has any navigations skills. To get to big tree, you just cut down through the meadows. Thats where some of my bruisers came from. I don't even mind mentioning it on the internet because most guys don't have the umph to make the climb and drop back in there. Especially with a 5 day pack haha.

I never had a problem with any bears but we had one close to camp over by dollar lake. The weekend warrior backpacking crowd were leaving food around there, which caused some association. Anyone that goes with me hangs bags, so it was a non issue.

Seen plenty of rams, but not as nonchalant. Some on 10,000 ft ridge, some over by the tarn…which you can really only get to from San G peak.

Never hunted Kennedy meadows. X10 over on the south sierra wilderness side is where I usually find herds. You have to horse in or have a half decent 4x4, just to get to walking. Nothing like filtering some water out of the kern river next to a cow paddy.

Cali is an underestimated hidden gem if you're a good hunter. Hard hunts, but there's some cool country and decent hunting.

 

[WYO300RUM]

No, as in a 6x6. I don't count them like the eastern hunters do.

Mine shaft is overgrown last I was there, and the trail has been eroded by fell, and avalanche/rain with no maintenance. It's no problem if one knows the way or has any navigations skills. To get to big tree, you just cut down through the meadows. Thats where some of my bruisers came from. I don't even mind mentioning it on the internet because most guys don't have the umph to make the climb and drop back in there. Especially with a 5 day pack haha.

I never had a problem with any bears but we had one close to camp over by dollar lake. The weekend warrior backpacking crowd were leaving food around there, which caused some association. Anyone that goes with me hangs bags, so it was a non issue.

Seen plenty of rams, but not as nonchalant. Some on 10,000 ft ridge, some over by the tarn…which you can really only get to from San G peak.

Never hunted Kennedy meadows. X10 over on the south sierra wilderness side is where I usually find herds. You have to horse in or have a half decent 4x4, just to get to walking. Nothing like filtering some water out of the kern river next to a cow paddy.

Cali is an underestimated hidden gem if you're a good hunter. Hard hunts, but there's some cool country and decent hunting.

Awesome to converse with somebody who knows the areas. 6x6 is bad ***. I don't know what year you were there last but that fire burned down past Mineshaft Flat. Don't know if the Tarn burned but I'd guess it did. After work one night I hiked up Fish Creek Trail to... crap, I forget name. 9,900 ft. Before you drop down into Mineshaft Flat. Spent night at 9,900 ft. Ridge. Had dreams of bear pulling my legs in sleeping bag. In morning I changed plans and thought I'd drop down south a little and up to 10,000 ft. Ridge/Toothpick Forest. An old burn. That's where the four rams came up to meet me. I camped once on the north side of Dollar lake with a girlfriend on a hunt. I've mainly hunted the east side Sierras . Twice the west side D7. Once hunted X8 year after bad winter kill when it snowed too much for then to migrate down. Probably early 1990's. I saw golden trout in the Kern River X10 while hunting but no pole. Late 80's. California deer hunting went down in the 1980's. 3000 D14 tags. 3000 D16. General hunts just money makers for F&G. Limited X zone hunts way to go unless you know your general area we'll. It's nice to talk to somebody who knows the same areas and been there

 

[69precision]

My point is that he deserves the right to hunt when he chooses. Not when the state tells him he can.

That is objectively not reality. Public or private land, every state has seasons and bag limits. Game preserves where you pick your deer are something else entirely.