Archery Antelope- likely tables, Modoc, CA

[Cplace]

Won the lottery on an archery antelope tag for likely tables California. Season opens Aug 7th. Haven’t been up there to look around. Planning to scout/look around several days before it opens. I’m hoping to be able to spot and stalk. Should I try to borrow a ground blind? I’m 3” bull at 75 yards daily practice and shooting the Wednesday night 3D shoots weekly. I’m excited. 1st time going for archery. I have killed antelope (1 WY hunt) before with rifle. Anyone from up there or who has had the tag? Experience?

 

[JohnnyB]

Congrats! I don’t know anything about antelope hunting but I am sure others here will be able to help. Good luck.

 

[Cplace]

Thank you.

 

[sworegon201]

I did it once, but too long ago to be of any help. I did the hunt in 1992 when there were only 5 tags in the area. It was an archery hunt. After that date the winter of 1993 was so bad the state closed most of the hunts to allow the animals to recover.

I hunted water holes from tree stands and pit blinds. Ground blinds were pretty rare in those days.

Good luck.

 

[mighteywhitehunter]

Good Luck!

 

[Cplace]

Small pool of experienced tag holders out there on this one….

 

[nickstone]

I have a buddy that drew it last year. Because it was a once in a lifetime deal he paid the $1500 trespass fee hunt a private ranch. He had some medical stuff go down between when he drew and the opener, so it actually worked out pretty good. We found a lot of nice goats on the alfalfa the night before the hunt.

After him missing the first one, me blowing out a 2nd one with a decoy he ended dropping the 3rd one we found the next morning.

From talking with the biologist the population seems to be down.

Also one of the ranch hands watching the hunt mentioned that decoys spook them the majority of the time up there for whatever reason?

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Nick

 

[Cplace]

Thanks for your input Nick. Did you guys look around at public, see any? Good note on the decoy thing.
Really, it’s not a once in a lifetime hunt. You can hunt speedgoats yearly or every couple years in other states. Unless you just want to say your goat is a Californian??
So, I can’t justify $1500 even if it means I hunt hard and come home with my tag, that will buy a lot of goat tags out of state.

 

[amassi]

Plenty of goats on public
Pretty dry up there this year, might be a good year to check water and a blind might come in handy

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[Warmsy]

I was really hoping I'd draw that hunt this year. Good luck!

 

[Cplace]

Ya, I was hoping to get the rifle tag for more years than I care to remember. I was 1 or 2 points shy so I decided to go for the archery. Took 2 years.

 

[nickstone]

Thanks for your input Nick. Did you guys look around at public, see any? Good note on the decoy thing.
Really, it’s not a once in a lifetime hunt. You can hunt speedgoats yearly or every couple years in other states. Unless you just want to say your goat is a Californian??
So, I can’t justify $1500 even if it means I hunt hard and come home with my tag, that will buy a lot of goat tags out of state.

I meant that possessing a California antelope tag was pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you drew it with max points your chances of drawing it again on the random are pretty low.

Although I guess anything is possible, because the friend that drew it also drew a SHARE hunt elk tag last year too.

We spent 3 days up there. The hunt itself was pretty short so we spent the rest of the time exploring the area. We saw alot of nice deer- a few of which were on public land, but every goat we saw was on private ground- several of which were on private ground we weren't hunting.

I'm sure that there are some on public ground, but I just can't tell you where since I didn't see any.

If you're dead set on hunting public and trying to get one spot and stalk I would probably try to find a spot where they cross from the private and lay in the shade of the trees right not far outside the ag fields.

Good Luck

The tag numbers for the Likely gen hunt were nearly cut in half from 45 each period to 25.

Here's a link more info on the cut

chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://www.solanocounty.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=33915

 

[Cplace]

Looks like a lot of water, lakes and ponds up there. Have to check them to see if their holding water, but anybody sit water on this hunt? Gotta be some more out there who had the tag.

 

[amassi]

Looks like a lot of water, lakes and ponds up there. Have to check them to see if their holding water, but anybody sit water on this hunt? Gotta be some more out there who had the tag.

Add to that tons of irrigation ditches and seeps so hunting some random water hole might not work out I've seen blinds and cameras on Water so some people do it. Really going to depend on finding a buck you want to kill and patterning that particular goat. You should have plenty of time and little competition.

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[Cplace]

Bought a blind, so I’ll have it if I need it. Hopefully I’ll get lucky trying to stalk one….

 

[horniac]

Congrats on the tag and good luck on your hunt!

Just a heads-up you might want to double check the regulations if you are planning to sit water. I don’t know if is enforced but I don’t think it is legal to hunt within 200 yards of a wildlife watering area on public land in CA…

Horniac

 

[Big Smokes]

I have a buddy that drew it last year. Because it was a once in a lifetime deal he paid the $1500 trespass fee hunt a private ranch. He had some medical stuff go down between when he drew and the opener, so it actually worked out pretty good. We found a lot of nice goats on the alfalfa the night before the hunt.

After him missing the first one, me blowing out a 2nd one with a decoy he ended dropping the 3rd one we found the next morning.

From talking with the biologist the population seems to be down.

Also one of the ranch hands watching the hunt mentioned that decoys spook them the majority of the time up there for whatever reason?

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Nick

Hey I’m new to this forum and currently possess a big valley generally buck tag that I randomly pulled first time entry. The fire is hindering the area bad right now. I went to scout this weekend only saw 1 buck on private land that was barely legal. Just curious as to where you guys were in the zone and how did you get in contact with a farmer. As I said earlier I am new and couldn’t figure out how to dm you. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[amassi]

Hey I’m new to this forum and currently possess a big valley generally buck tag that I randomly pulled first time entry. The fire is hindering the area bad right now. I went to scout this weekend only saw 1 buck on private land that was barely legal. Just curious as to where you guys were in the zone and how did you get in contact with a farmer. As I said earlier I am new and couldn’t figure out how to dm you. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Call the bios on this form

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[Cplace]

Can’t help you on the big valley tag. I just got done with archery likely tables. Herds are in bad shape but I found bucks on public land. could have tagged with a rifle just about daily, but archery is another story….

 

[Cplace]

My hunt results:
Couldnt hang a tag, but I got to hunt speedsters(blind, stalk, glass), learned a lot, and had a great time. They are there, and they are on public, but as said before herd size is down. Seemed average of 1 fawn per 3 does or less.