Hey eel!

After I recalled that they called it Redwood Creek Ranch, I think I found the place we hunted deer. It's part of the Barnum Timber Co.

40.959848, -123.835615 on your radio dial...



This is a more blown up view. Most of the open meadows were part of the ranch area open to us. I glassed up a buck from farther up the road & snuck my way back to the spot where the white line begins. It's my bullet flight from a rest I took against a tree trunk to the deer. Can't tell from this image but it was a fairly steep downhill from me to the deer, and there were a couple small grassy hills in front of him. He was with two does feeding behind but between the hills where I could just see his upper body. He was facing me so I held on his brisket. Distance was about 200-225 yds. When I shot, a big puff of smoke appeared. I soon discovered that he had lowered his head enough that the bullet caught the antler burl -- the 'smoke' part -- then went through the top of his head, splitting the top of the skull in half.

Thanks Tony. I know that ranch. One of the Barnum's built a new house in town and I built the cabinets for it. I was a licensed contractor at the time. The ranch had a reputation for good land/wildlife management. I don't know what the situation is now but I think it's part of California's PLM (private land management) program. They get special tags that they can sell/use.

When I hunted it in the 80s, it was the first year of the special program for them. That's why we were able to hunt over Thanksgiving during the rut. My wife even came along for a mini vacation and spent her time reading, while I hunted. The chef they hired for the weekend had cooked in the restaurant of the once mayor of Palm Springs, the late Sonny Bono.

Bill Barnum is an attorney with his own practice in Eurecka. You should see if you can wrangle a hunt there. It's great place for glassing for spot-&-stalk hunting.

OutdoorWriter said:

When I hunted it in the 80s, it was the first year of the special program for them. That's why we were able to hunt over Thanksgiving during the rut. My wife even came along for a mini vacation and spent her time reading, while I hunted. The chef they hired for the weekend had cooked in the restaurant of the once mayor of Palm Springs, the late Sonny Bono.

Bill Barnum is an attorney with his own practice in Eurecka. You should see if you can wrangle a hunt there. It's great place for glassing for spot-&-stalk hunting.

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Bill Barnum is the guy I built the cabinets for. He and his wife are very nice people.

eelgrass said:

Bill Barnum is the guy I built the cabinets for. He and his wife are very nice people.

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So I did a bunch of google seaching today to see if the Barnums are still offering hunts. I can't find any indication that they are, including not being on the CFGD recent PLM listings of properties in Humbolt County.

The only thing I did find was an article from Field & Stream. It mentions the 1986 hunt results; 5 of the 7 bucks were killed by our group -- booking agent Mike Bond, his partner Greg something, SCI honcho Holt Bodinson, Petersen's Bob Robb and me. I have no idea who killed the other two & when. Jim Matthews could have been one, tho.

This is the pertinent page:

OutdoorWriter said:

So I did a bunch of google seaching today to see if the Barnums are still offering hunts. I can't find any indication that they are, including not being on the CFGD recent PLM listings of properties in Humbolt County.

The only thing I did find was an article from Field & Stream. It mentions the 1986 hunt results; 5 of the 7 bucks were killed by our group -- booking agent Mike Bond, his partner Greg something, SCI honcho Holt Bodinson, Petersen's Bob Robb and me. I have no idea who killed the other two & when. Jim Matthews could have been one, tho.

This is the pertinent page:

View attachment 50048

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Very interesting article. It must have been around 1985 that I was a contractor. I only had my license for about 3 years. I went to work in the sawmill in 1987. Barnum and a guy named Lunblade were co-owners of the ranch at one time. Then Barnum bought him out.

It was in the 80's that I hunted on the Fort Baker Ranch, out near Shower's Pass, owned by Jimmy Hunt and his brother Albert. It was great hunting there too back in the 80's. We could shoot two bucks and the cost was $200/year.

I have a couple ranches I can hunt for free but I haven't hunted them in a few years. The herd is in bad shape so I'd rather hunt public land and see if they come back.

I'm not positive, but I think Barnum might still own it. The other day, I found an appeal he won against EPA in 2011 over Redwood Creek issues.


Sounds as if you're set for deer hunting. Free is always best anyhow.

OutdoorWriter said:

I'm not positive, but I think Barnum might still own it. The other day, I found a lawsuit appeal he won against EPA over Redwood Creek issues.

Barnum Timber Co. v. U.S.E.P.A., 835 F. Supp. 2d 773 | Casetext Search + Citator

Read Barnum Timber Co. v. U.S.E.P.A., 835 F. Supp. 2d 773, see flags on bad law, and search Casetext’s comprehensive legal database

casetext.com

Sounds as if you're set for deer hunting. Free is always best anyhow.

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Free is about all I can afford, so it works out.