Anyone in NorCal doing Elk in Cali?

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Jan 19, 2025
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I moved here to Sacramento from Utah and I am wondering if there's any good spots for elk hunting in NorCal?
 
Ah well there goes my plan 😂 which units are good for draw? I'm curious which hunt is considered good hunt for this state another then upland bird game?
 
All elk hunts are extremely difficult to draw. It’s a preference point system with some portion allocated to random draw. For deer, it’s 10% of the first choice applications go random but the random portion for for elk, antelope, and sheep varies depending on number of tags available. Generally, NE is Rocky Mountain, NW is Roosevelt (some Tule), and everything else is Tule. Here is a screenshot from the regs
 

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CA has some the biggest Rpcky and Rosie bulls in the US. There are 400" bulls killed in multiple units every year.

I have called in bulls for five different guys since 2011. We ga e a healthy population here. Still waiting for my chance.....

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Looking at 20+ years of preference points for a chance at drawing an elk tag. Best thing you can do is apply every year, pick one zone, and hope you get that 1 or 2 random draw tag out of the thousands of applicants until you eventually pull a tag from preference points. Or spend the 30K+ to hunt a private land tag if you can find one. Unfortunate but reality of elk hunting in Cali :cry:
 
Unless you started applying the first year they started the system and didn't miss a year, your chances of drawing are slim and none. And slim is leaving town.
Cow tags are just a might better odds.
 
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