New guy from California

[Hoofing It]

Welcome fellow Bay Area hunter! Also been mostly solo for me - feel free to DM me if you wanna talk hunting.

 

[Justin_Tree]

Welcome. I’m from the Central Valley. As many have said, there is a lot of opportunity it just take’s persistence in this state.

 

[BPAZ223]

Thanks. I’m in the SF Bay Area, but open to driving just about anywhere north of Santa Barbara county for good hunting.

I saw a ton of pigs on a big plot of private land last year but almost never see them on public!

I grew up in the bay area yes there are pigs and even goats. There's a spot in the delta where they have limited pig and goat shotgun hunting. There's also the golden ram sporting club.

Now Arizona is my home but I really, really miss California. The sierras, the lakes. Arizona everything is dry and dead it really is the desert.

 

[Trevor_Luescher]

I grew up in the bay area yes there are pigs and even goats. There's a spot in the delta where they have limited pig and goat shotgun hunting. There's also the golden ram sporting club.

Now Arizona is my home but I really, really miss California. The sierras, the lakes. Arizona everything is dry and dead it really is the desert.

My grandparents live near Sedona. I’m planning on hunting near there sometime. Not quite as dry as the phoenix/valley area.

 

[Johnddavisjr]

Welcome man another fellow hunter from Santa Cruz

 

[TheBrk]

Hello, another Cali hunter near Watsonville.

 

[Bankem]

How did some fellow California hunters do this season? Was some hard hunting in D5 for me.

 

[999delta]

Welcome from another Cali hunter. Got lucky and filled my D5 tag on the opener.

 

[Bankem]

Welcome from another Cali hunter. Got lucky and filled my D5 tag on the opener.

The opener was the only day I saw any bucks and they were bumped into us and they never stopped for us to get a look at a shot. 6 more full days not seeing one and this past weekend did not even see any doe’s which I was consistently seeing. 6500-8500 elevation.

 

[j3h8]

How did some fellow California hunters do this season? Was some hard hunting in D5 for me.

Put my buddy on his first. Just a little antlered fella but pulled about 60 lbs of venison off him. Buddy couldn't have been more jazzed about it after 2 days of nothing.

 

[fuzzymarindave]

Welcome from the north bay. Just keep chipping away at it as you are in for a lifetime of adventures.

 

[Bankem]

I’m now three years into it and nothing, I would have settled for that yesterday. I passed on a couple of those my first year hunting.
My six year old is giving me a bad time. He thinks it should be as easy as duck hunting.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Anyone who regularly kills bucks on public land in California is a damn good hunter.

What’s interesting is most good/decent CA hunters that I know will do very well in other states when drawing tags.

The opposite situation is a stark difference. Take a guy or gal who has never hunted California and stick them on public land, they almost never kill without help.

 

[jzeblaz]

How did some fellow California hunters do this season? Was some hard hunting in D5 for me.

My wife shot her first buck last Saturday. It was tough going and the only one we saw, but nice little 3x3. She was beyond stoked.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

How did some fellow California hunters do this season? Was some hard hunting in D5 for me.

I killed a D5 buck. I’m an out of state hunter these days so only had 3 days to get it done. Managed to kill a black bear on day one and a deer on day two. Some old stomping grounds paid off and it doesn’t look like it’s been hunted much at all.

 

[Bankem]

I may go back out for bear. Duck hunting takes up a lot of my time now but love being out in the mountains. My duck club is in the Suisun marsh and we shoot birds but view sucks compared to the sierras.

 

[throughhiker]

welcome from idaho!

 

[Bubblehide]

Anyone who regularly kills bucks on public land in California is a damn good hunter.

What’s interesting is most good/decent CA hunters that I know will do very well in other states when drawing tags.

The opposite situation is a stark difference. Take a guy or gal who has never hunted California and stick them on public land, they almost never kill without help.

That is sooooooo true. The old saying applies, the same 10% of hunters harvest 90% of the deer season after sesson.

 

[Trevor_Luescher]

Went up to D6 a few times this season and saw a few does, but no bucks. I went on my first solo backcountry trip and it dipped into the 20’s overnight. Great experience and I plan to continue getting comfortable with longer solo trips. I know I need to spend a lot of time in an area to nail down the bucks’ habits. Still putting the work in

 

[j3h8]

Went up to D6 a few times this season and saw a few does, but no bucks. I went on my first solo backcountry trip and it dipped into the 20’s overnight. Great experience and I plan to continue getting comfortable with longer solo trips. I know I need to spend a lot of time in an area to nail down the bucks’ habits. Still putting the work in View attachment 787242View attachment 787243

You aren't seeing anything because your rifle is pissed at you for leaving it so far away from the warmth of the stove. If you're cold, it's cold.