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I know there are better places to hunt deer than California, but there are those of us that live here and cannot afford an out of state hunt. Where do you live in California and what areas are you hunting?
I'm in Central California (Bakersfield) and hunt mainly in the Golden Trout Wilderness D8 area. I have taken some good California deer and hope this coming season I can add to my list.
Hey twp1224, yeah I agree some other states have better populations of huntable deer, but I'm in the same boat as you. I am in Orange county so I hunt D13 Los Padres NF and A22 an archery only hunt in San Diego county.
I've thought about hunting D8 and have drove through there a couple of years ago starting out of Porterville to the NF and then south through the Kern river drainage to your neck of the woods. That's a beautiful area with good water and habitat. I dont know about the deer population there. I wasn't sure about switching to a new area after spending about 5 years in D13. I hate to admit I finally got a shot off (and missed) at a nice forky this past season in D13 after being skunked since I began. I started deer hunting in 2002. Had a couple close calls but no deer down in D13 for me. I just need to put more time and energy into the hunt, the deer are there. Every year I get closer, I learned to hunt on my own and hunt by myself so its trial and error style. Ive made lots of mistakes but haven't given up yet.
How do you hunt D8? Is it spot and stalk or ?
I live just north of Sacramento and have hunted the North Yolly Bollys and the Trinity Alps mostly since the early 70's and have killed some nice bucks. I hunted Idaho in 92 killed a nice buck and went on my first DIY backpack Elk hunt with my oldest son last year to colorado going back again this year.
I live in Sac, and have hunted my "begining years in X6b, and I drew X7a once". I shot some smaller bucks in the X zones, then the backpack hunting bug bit me. I spent a few years in the Wilderness areas in the Trinites, and pass up on some smaller bucks, but saw some nice 3 points, just could not get the shot. I have been going out of state pst few years, but I know I need to get back tot he Trinites to get my Blacktail.
I was raised in Porterville and know the Sierra National Forest and Golden Trout Wilderness pretty good now. For 20 plus years i would pack in by horse in late October and hunt the migration. Took some really nice bucks. Then 2 years ago I wanted to extend my season, so I started archery hunting the high country. It's spot and stalk hunting for sure. If your interested I can turn you on to some good areas to start in. Let me know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BADbuckfever
TWP1224 - PM sent
I don't live in California anymore, moved back to my home state of PA, but I had a couple areas that I had great sucess in.
The one area was in D-19 in the San Bernadino National Forest near the town of Mountain Center. The other area was D-7(I have heard they changed it to an X-zone for 2011) in the Cleveland National Forest. I had two spots here. One was up Hwy 74 above Lake Elsinore(this may not have been D-7 as it has been so long since I was in California), the other was along S-2 Hwy just off the split with Hwy 79near the town of Julian. There was a WMA and some BLM land in here that held good numbers of deer.
Whitetail101 - is that San Felipe WA? The CA DFG says its open for hunting turkeys in the spring also. Do you have any info on turkeys there? I never hunted that spot, but with so much private land around Julian the turkey and deer dance around the public land making it difficult to hunt them. I think I will check out this SFWA for turkeys next weekend on the opener.
That's too funny, you hunted D15 too! Ive been hunting off "Ortega HWY" 74 for several years now with no luck yet. Cool to see you on Eastmans!
Yes, the area was San Felipe WMA! I never saw any turkey in there, but it was a honey hole for dove and quail.Quote:
Originally Posted by BADbuckfever
For turkey I went further down 79 toward Julian to a spot adjacent to Eagle Peak Ranch on Eagle Peak road. This is Cleveland National Forest and was a honey hole for turkey. I can't remember exactly where along Eagle Peak Road the spot was, but I do know you went past the entrance to Eagle Peak Ranch to get to it.
From what I remember, there was a trail that branched off to the right off Eagle Peak Road and went down the hill into the valley where I would setup camp and hunt further back the trail within a 1/2 mile of the campsite. I remember there being a pond in the area, but I don't know if it is still there today as it has been 8 years since I hunted there. I do remember if you started down over the hill on Eagle Peak Road that you went too far, as the trail if it is still there was at the top of the hill.
If you manage to find the spot, be careful of free ranging cattle. Been more than one time that I hunted there that I was charged by a big steer in the thick brush.
good luck
WT101 - I know where you are talking about (I think). Thanks for the info. I'll post up the pics when I score.