New Hunters in Ca

[Jon_Snow]

Hello all. A friend and I have decided that we want to go deer hunting in California (we both live in the Bay Area). He’s just finished a 2 month primitive wilderness survival course in Washington that included a little rifle and bow hunting, so he’s bringing the stalking, navigation and field-dressing skills. I’ve been shooting rifles competitively for several years now, so hopefully I can bring the firearm knowledge. Hopefully between the two of us we make one half-decent hunter. What we don’t have is any idea where we should be looking for a decent spot. Should we be looking at national parks, BLM land, private land (with landowner permission of course)? What's a good resource for researching possible locations?

 

[OYE]

First place would be to talk to biologists at your state F & G department (or whatever they call them there). Talk to several of them in the different regional offices. Read your state hunting regulations. That's where I'd start. Everything else comes later. Then the BLM and Forest Service for access and maps. National Parks generally don't allow hunting. OYE

 

[gspn]

Do a google search for "california hunting forum". You'll get lots of good places to start that are full of people who have the knowledge you need.

This is a great forum...but a state level forum will be 100% populated with people hunting the area you're looking at. Good luck...sounds like y'all have some adventures ahead.

 

[bldsmith]

BLM and National forests are GTG. You may even be able to find some private land if you know any ranchers in the east bay. Used to see tons of deer in the Livermore Hills. There is some public hunting there as well. Always nice to see someone new getting into the sport. Good luck

 

[Fremmer]

If you can, go with another hunter who has hunted and gutted deer before. It helps to have some help...

 

[T.R.]

Years ago, I was stationed at Travis AF Base in Solano County. Key to success is to hunt near water sources since deer season for A Zone starts in August. I hunted on Bureau of Reclamation Lands along public reservoirs or Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs. We had good luck at Lake Sonoma in Colusa County by using a rented canoe to reach remote areas. We found wild hogs there, too.

But for a true wilderness mule deer hunt, I suggest the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness of Alpine County. You'll need these items:
- wilderness permit issued by USDA
- camping permit
- appropriate hunting zone license
- fire permit and small folding shovel
- water purification system
- good rifle; I hunted with a lightweight Marlin 30-30 lever gun
- plan to rent or buy featherweight camping gear & backpack
We entered the Wilderness at the Tyrol trailhead and hiked to Peep Sight Peak where we set up camp and hunted from there. We never saw a living soul within this area. We took some excellent mulies from there. But one year, my partner took a fine 3 X 3 buck near Milk Ranch Meadow hunting a ridge line along base of Folger Peak. In summary, Carson-Iceberg Wilderness is worth the drive to hunt mulies in a genuine wilderness environment.

Why am I sharing my success spots? I now live in Pennsylvania and have zero plans to return to northern California for hunting.

Good hunting to you.
TR

 

[bison]

Welcome to hunting - far too few of us in the Bay Area!

Deer hunting in CA is a tough proposition due to the early season (in the heat of the late summer) and lack of decent deer populations on public land. No doubt that getting permission to hunt private land is by FAR the best single thing you can do to increase your chance of filling your tag. I talked my way on to a friend's property in Marin and got my first buck on day one. He's a far left, anti-gun, Marin liberal... but loves to cook and eat well so my offer to share meat won him over.

As for resources, try Jessie's Hunting forums, great resources for blacktails and hogs. http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/forum.php Just don't expect anyone to share their favorite hunting spots.

Speaking of hogs, you might consider going after a hog for your first hunt on a guided trip. It ain't cheap, but the odds are far greater that you'll get an animal. A good guide will teach you how to field dress and pass on other tips that are applicable for deer.

When it comes to deer season, be ready for a lot of time in the field, hot days, and few opportunities. Blacktails are notoriously clever, hard to pattern, and bed down most of the day. They like to bed down on ridges where they can get an afternoon breeze, so sometimes slowly walking ridges can be successful. Get good binoculars and use them, particularly at dawn and dusk. Glass, glass, glass... then glass some more. You need to look for an ear, an antler tine, or an outline that just isn't natural. Go slow... no, slower.... no EVEN SLOWER!

Good luck!

 

[Stony]

I lived just north of the bay area for many years and was an active gun guy the whole time. If you are hunting deer around the area, you might as well just leave your guns at home and make it a nice camping trip. I hunted the areas off of hwy. 88 a lot, and saw many more hunters tramping around than I ever did deer.
BLM lands can be iffy around there too, due to over zealous rangers. I had problems with them on BLM land between Berryessa and Clear Lake. They decided the only shooting that could be done would be in their designated area, which consisted of a small bluff of dirt about 25 yds from where you could park. I am not a drinker, but they would randomly stop vehicles in that area and check coolers to make sure nobody was drinking and driving through there. Basically they discouraged a lot of people from using the area...period. The rangers are given the powers to search your stuff without probably cause.
The point I'm making here, is you are probably better off working up a trip to Oregon, Utah, or some other state within reasonable distance. In these states some common sense prevails where hunting and firearm usage is concerned.
Heading south, you might get into some hog hunting areas around Salinas or that general area. If you could find some private land down there, your chances of success are much greater than deer hunting in the north.

 

[Sav .250]

Most if not all the info you guys are looking for should be listed on the Cal DNR site.

" A friend and I decided we want to go hunting." Bowling you decide to do.
Hunting you learn to do.

 

[Jon_Snow]

Great information everyone, thank you. I'm checking out jesseshunting.com and the calgun hunting sub-forum now. We'd planned on starting with deer and maybe graduating to other big game after a few years experience, but now it sounds like pigs may be a better bet.

If you are hunting deer around the area, you might as well just leave your guns at home and make it a nice camping trip.

Good to know. I'm not worried too much about unsuccessful trips discouraging us, we're both pretty happy to just go camping for a few days. That said, we're willing to drive quite a ways to improve our chances.

" A friend and I decided we want to go hunting." Bowling you decide to do.
Hunting you learn to do.

Good point, I should have said we "decided we want to learn to hunt".

 

[Fremmer]

And I didn't mean for my response to sound snarky, Jon. But it really helps to hunt with a landowner or someone familiar with that land when you're a beginner. They'll know where the deer hang out, where to place you, and how to properly field dress a deer without butchering up the job. But good luck!

I'll tell ya, I recently hunted in a brand new area. The most productive thing I did to get ready for the season was to scout that area (look for deer and evidence of deer like tracks, rubs, etc., and landmarks like water sources, trails, etc.) and ask the locals where the deer are seen on that property before the season started. It still took hours to figure out where the deer were. And I got lucky. Hope that helps.

 

[alko]

I live in Sacramento and hunting mostly in northern part of CA. First of all read regulation and start building points for some big game, like sheep, elk, antelope, and some deer prime areas, if you might be interested hunting them in future. You can get two over the counter deer tags every year, one bear tag, unlimited pig tags and get some meat in your freezer, sometimes even trophy opportunity in those OTC areas, depends how lucky you are and how much time you invest. Get some map of the area where you are planning to hunt and GPS would be really helpful, get enough water and food in case you get lost if you decide to save on GPS : ) I always carry handgun and pepper spray as I got stalked by bear twice and got very close to bear couple times, you can not carry handgun during the archery season.

Most of the hunters are hunting from the car or 50-100 yards from the road, but if you walk 1-2 miles from the road and find some nice spots, you can find some nice deer.

Don't worry about field dressing, just watch few videos on youtube how to field dress deer or pig and buy some nice knife and sharpenter. I have many different knifes and you can try Old Timer by Schrade, it is about $25 and you should like it.

Remember, hunting is not just killing, dont get disappointed when you go home with empty hands. Hunting is spending time in woods, relaxing, enjoying nice weather, watching animals, birds, and sometimes you get to bring home some meat or trophy as a bonus. It happened couple times that I got something withing 10 minutes after I started hunting but there was time when I didn't see anyting for couple days, just be happy

Good luck!