B zones

[BigMass]

This will be the first time in over thirty years that I have hunted the B zones. Any suggestions? I will have a bear tag also.

 

[sageadvice]

Look for fairly recent fires off the beaten path and if limited on hunt days, hunt Tues-Fri, later on toward the end of the season. Rain helps!

Joey

 

[BigMass]

I'm hoping to have two weeks.

 

[buckspotter7]

That is some sage advice. I might add that if you go early, hunt high or get away from the crowds. At least, use the crowd to your advanatge. If you go late, hunt the oaks especially right after a rain. You should run into something if you hunt for two weeks. Good Luck!

 

[BigMass]

Thanks guys. I will most likely hunt the last two weeks of the season.

 

[eelgrass]

If it's been over 30 years, it would be a good idea to get out as much as you can this summer to look around. There are not as many deer now as there was 30 years ago, in most public places. Places that held deer in the past may or may not have deer now.

Burns, fresh logging cuts (if you can find any) are a good clue. In the last 30 years the number of archery hunters has skyrocketed. Add to that the number of quads, and just about every good habitat area is hit hard during archery season. In other words, by the time rifle season opens, a lot of bucks are killed or have turned nocturnal. If you see deer driving around in July don't expect to see them come rifle season.

If you can find a spot this summer away from the beaten path you'll have an advantage.

If it's been over 30 years you're probably over 50. (just a guess). It's hard to get out in the summer heat and scout the older you get. But you do need to find areas that have deer in sufficent numbers to up your odds. There are no longer places that produce year after year after year,(in my observation) so you're not that far behind the rest of us. Wilderness areas are the exception, of course.

Blacktails are blacktails. That has not changed much. If you're out there and he decides to move you got a chance. So stay alert at all times. Luck is a wonderful thing.

Eel

 

[BigMass]

I'm fifty seven and very active. The heat isn't the problem so much as the distance and my schedule that will make it hard to do any preseason scouting. Realistically I might get one scouting trip in before the season.

 

[nickman]

>I'm fifty seven and very active.
>The heat isn't the problem
>so much as the distance
>and my schedule that will
>make it hard to do
>any preseason scouting. Realistically I
>might get one scouting trip
>in before the season.

...........I might just toss in that I watched this "old dog" chase G3 bucks a few years back. I know guys half his age that can't stay in his shadow....Good luck Big Guy!


"whackin' a surly bartender ain't much of a crime"

 

[eelgrass]

BigMass, I didn't mean to imply that you were out of shape, sorry. I guess I was refering more to my situation. I live at sea level where 65 is a heat wave. When I get up to elevation in 90-100 dedree heat, it takes me a couple days to get in the groove.

Eel

 

[BigMass]

No worries eelgrass, I did not take it that way, I was just stating my condition. I am very used to temps over a hundred degrees. Although this year it won't warm up enough to get my garden growing.
Hey nickman, how you doin? I see they have a special buy lots of lottery tickets hunt for tule elk down there this year. I was kind of surprised by that. You guys have a few elk but I would have thought it would have made more sense to have that kind of hunt out here at grizzly island where we have a ton of elk. I never have been able to figure out what the boys up in Sacramento are thinking, or if they are for that matter.