Understanding California Public Turkey Options

[Warmsy]

Lake Sonoma manages its own hunts. You need a state issued tag for pigs or turkey, and then you need their permission or get on the schedule to hunt (I forget which). Weapon choices are limited. Go to their website. It's a painless process to get in on a hunt.

There are several state WA closer to the Bay area, a and they all have their own specific rules. It's kind of a pain to sort through them all and there really isn't a comprehensive place to gather all the needed information. Some are draws for specific days.

As other people have mentioned, federal land offer you much more flexibility. If you're headed north pm me maybe I can get you pointed in a good direction with a similar driving time.

 

[Taudisio]

I lived in California for 26 years. I killed a load of public land birds. Even one last year when I visited family for a weekend. You are going to find more hunters than birds on any WA. You will have better luck spending 2 days of your 4 day weekend asking landowners. The last time I hunted opening day, guys were sitting under roosts, shooting right at shooting time, and walking the area in pheasant lines. I called in 3 different guys in one morning. Place was a zoo. There are honey holes that don’t get hammered. Good luck. Please post a hunt report!

 

[hawkman71]

I'm looking into this now, as well. I have a short work trip to California coming up and looking to shoot something different than an Eastern. I'll be in the Tulare County area and possibly headed to southwestern AZ during the trip. I might have 1 to 3 extra days.

Considering a guide, though, but not looking to spend a lot of money on it.

I love the idea of walking into some BLM but it's daunting on one hand, too. I had to drag Google Maps into 3D to realize the type of topography I was dealing with! I was ignoring the switchbacks I had been seeing.
The vegetation in the area I was looking at is sparse compared to North Carolina so that's a whole new world for me.

I can imagine striking out on my own and failing miserably.

 

[hawkman71]

So, BLM land is fair game? It's hard to understand coming from a place with no BLM. (eastern NC).

There's a spot I'm looking at, for example, where the road skirts the edge of the BLM land. There's a road that eventually gets up into the BLM where there's a small reservoir with two aqueducts leading from it. But to get into the BLM from the paved road, you have to go through S. Cal. Edison Co. property and then cross private property, into BLM, back into the private, and then into the BLM for good. It seems to me like that's a no-go, especially with the reservoir up top.

In my reading of accessing public land in Wyoming (never been but tried this past year, no draw luck), it seems you have to make sure a road is public. It sure SEEMS like this road MUST be public if it's mostly in public land.

If anyone with some Cali/BLM/turkey knowledge would mind chatting with me on the side, I can share a screenshot or the coordinates and you could point out what I'm missing.

 

[Warmsy]

So, BLM land is fair game? It's hard to understand coming from a place with no BLM. (eastern NC).

There's a spot I'm looking at, for example, where the road skirts the edge of the BLM land. There's a road that eventually gets up into the BLM where there's a small reservoir with two aqueducts leading from it. But to get into the BLM from the paved road, you have to go through S. Cal. Edison Co. property and then cross private property, into BLM, back into the private, and then into the BLM for good. It seems to me like that's a no-go, especially with the reservoir up top.

In my reading of accessing public land in Wyoming (never been but tried this past year, no draw luck), it seems you have to make sure a road is public. It sure SEEMS like this road MUST be public if it's mostly in public land.

If anyone with some Cali/BLM/turkey knowledge would mind chatting with me on the side, I can share a screenshot or the coordinates and you could point out what I'm missing.

A road going through federal land isn't necessarily public road. You can call the field office of the blm area you're trying to access and they will tell you if and where public access is. If it's far away, don't risk driving and hoping it's open... I've done that a few times and it sucks to turn around after hours of driving . And yes, blm land is usually open to hunting.

If there's private land, westerners really don't like trespasser s.