D7 first timer, looking to get son first buck?

Jeffery2328

Member
Messages
11
Hey guys, I’m planning to head to D7 this yr. taking my son on his first deer hunt. Just looking for roads and general areas to start off. Looking to fill tag with a forky or maybe something bigger. Never been there. My dad and brother have hunted G3, so maybe thought to head in that direction. Info would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Hey Jeffrey. That's awesome that your taking your son. Been hunting D7 all my life and it is an extremely difficult zone. If you plan on hunting opening weekend you are going to run into an immense amount of hunters especially in the area of shaver lake all the way east to wishon and north to Edison Lake. Its difficult to hunt opening weekend because of the amount of people. If I was going to tell you to go anywhere it would be north above bass lake off of the beashore road. Less people on this side of the mountain. Plenty of roads and area to explore on this side plus you have the Yosemite park gene pool. D7 had an extremely good year last year only because the entire season was shut down due to fire in 2020 and there were storms last year otherwise the zone only shoots about 4%. The herd, like a lot of herds have declined since the 70's. If you can, your best bet is to hunt in the middle of the week after the season opens.

Regards,

Built Muscle
 
Thanks Built Muscle! Yeah I’d like to go midweek. I know lots of people hunt the openers so I try to avoid it. Are the roads atv friendly? Or is it better to just drive the truck? I’m just looking to make it a good time and if a tag is filled it’s a bonus.
 
Good morning Jeffrey. The roads are conducive to atvs and trucks for the most part. I know there are some roads that are a little overgrown that can give your truck some custom pin stripping. There are roads that will take you all the way from beashore to quartz mountain which is at the southern park border and northern D7 border. If your son can walk a bit look for gated roads and park and walk some. If the beashore road is open all the way it will take you to the mammoth pool road East. They were doing bridge work at Chiquitto creek last year and it was blocked to go to the mammoth pool side. Still plenty of area to roam.

Regards,

Built Muscle.
 
Good morning Jeffrey. The roads are conducive to atvs and trucks for the most part. I know there are some roads that are a little overgrown that can give your truck some custom pin stripping. There are roads that will take you all the way from beashore to quartz mountain which is at the southern park border and northern D7 border. If your son can walk a bit look for gated roads and park and walk some. If the beashore road is open all the way it will take you to the mammoth pool road East. They were doing bridge work at Chiquitto creek last year and it was blocked to go to the mammoth pool side. Still plenty of area to roam.

Regards,

Built Muscle.
Thanks for all the info! I’ve already start looking at the area on google maps. 1 quick question, are there camp grounds or it just find a flat spot and make camp?
 
You can camp anywhere. My advice would be not to pass any legal buck because that might be the only one you see all season. You should see a decent number of does and spikes to keep things interesting.

Best advice would be to take a look around before archery season, scout from the road and learn where deer are hanging out. Once season starts they will not be as visible from the roads but they will not have gone far and you can have some areas to be hunting at first and last light.

Feel free to PM me, been hunting d7 my whole life. If anything bring some fishing poles, shotgun for quail, enjoy the beautiful warm weather and experience with your son!
 
BUILTMUSCLE, WILLFRYE ............NICE JOB IN PROVIDING A NEW HUNTER WITH GOOD INFO. TOO MANY TIMES THEY GET A BOOT IN THE REAR BY SOME KNOT HEAD. I TOO HAVE HUNTED D-7 SINCE 1967, HAVE TAKEN A FEW BUCKS. JEFFERY, KEEP AN EYE OPEN FOR OLE BUZZ TAIL, CAMPING IS GOOD / LOTS OF BLACK BEARS............GET A TAG !!! POP ALL THE YOTES YOU CAN, THEY RESPOND TO A CALL WELL. FOLLOW THE FIRE REGS, AND HAVE A GOOD TIME !!! PEOPLE ARE GENERALLY FRIENDLY. GOOD HUNTING..........................YD.
 
Good day. Thanks YukonDall. Jeffery. Also take a look at the upper Chiquitto creek camp ground at the bridge. This is the bridge about 7 to 10 miles east of Jones's Store at beashore meadows. It is a decent camp ground on the east side of the bridge if the bridge is open. The west side of the bridge does have some open area also. D7 is tough. I have taken some deer over my years. Missed some very good ones and lost one with a Christmas tree on its head. I hunt now for piece of mind and tranquillity and to see deer. I really do not care anymore if I shoot a deer. If I do great. I will not pull the trigger any longer if it's a fork unless it's an absolute toad. Decent three point or better. I'm getting too old anymore. Like Dall said, watch all restrictions in place. Be safe, enjoy and cherish this time with your son. If you want to talk more call me. 5599703177. By the way, I also have a thread going about G3. I finally got drawn after 20 yesrs. Look at the thread as there are a lot of pictures of D7 deer from last year.

Regards,

Built Muscle
 
Good day. Thanks YukonDall. Jeffery. Also take a look at the upper Chiquitto creek camp ground at the bridge. This is the bridge about 7 to 10 miles east of Jones's Store at beashore meadows. It is a decent camp ground on the east side of the bridge if the bridge is open. The west side of the bridge does have some open area also. D7 is tough. I have taken some deer over my years. Missed some very good ones and lost one with a Christmas tree on its head. I hunt now for piece of mind and tranquillity and to see deer. I really do not care anymore if I shoot a deer. If I do great. I will not pull the trigger any longer if it's a fork unless it's an absolute toad. Decent three point or better. I'm getting too old anymore. Like Dall said, watch all restrictions in place. Be safe, enjoy and cherish this time with your son. If you want to talk more call me. 5599703177. By the way, I also have a thread going about G3. I finally got drawn after 20 yesrs. Look at the thread as there are a lot of pictures of D7 deer from last year.

Regards,

Built Muscle
Planing to go scouting first weekend in August. It’s looking to be warm. Was thinking of heading towards bass lake area? Not sure if I can scout there and around beashore meadows in the same weekend. I dont know the distance between them. Also, should I be on the lookout for tics? Snakes? Thanks again for the help!
 
Hello Jeffrey. Sorry for the late reply. Was out of the country on vacation. In my opinion you want to be scouting the area on beashore road between Cold Springs and Upper Chiquitto Creek. There are a lot of off shoot roads that you can take and drive plus it's at a better elevation. The beashore road takes off on the north side of Bass Lake at the pines resort and duecys. It's all paved and extremely windy until you get to Jones's store and beashore meadows itself then it smooths out. The beashore meadows area always has water running in a lot of areas for the deer. Please keep in mind that the bridge at Chiquitto creek may still be closed or under construction. If the bridge is open you can drive a long ways.

Regards,

Built Muscle
 
Planing to go scouting first weekend in August. It’s looking to be warm. Was thinking of heading towards bass lake area? Not sure if I can scout there and around beashore meadows in the same weekend. I dont know the distance between them. Also, should I be on the lookout for tics? Snakes? Thanks again for the help!
With all the exposure that area is getting from this thread you are probably better off taking your binoculars out on the deck at Ducey’s and finding out why they call it bASS lake.
 
So I went scouting in this weekend. The bridge is still closed. But I’m planning to hunt the chiqqutto trail that takes you right to the park boundary. Then if that doesn’t pan out. Possibly going out to mammoth pools area of clover meadows but it’s 40 miles out there as the bridge is closed. Worth the drive? Anything good around the mammoth pools area ? Thanks!
 
So I went scouting in this weekend. The bridge is still closed. But I’m planning to hunt the chiqqutto trail that takes you right to the park boundary. Then if that doesn’t pan out. Possibly going out to mammoth pools area of clover meadows but it’s 40 miles out there as the bridge is closed. Worth the drive? Anything good around the mammoth pools area ? Thanks!
Sounds like a good plan. You will be driving through a lot of good country to get to mammoth pools from chiquito. That area around mammoth pools was burned badly in the creek fire. Like wasteland bad. The lower elevation there is more of a migration area that I would personally skip during early season. Late October with snow it will be packed with guys trying to hit the migration. I did kill my second ever buck in that general area, when I was 17 years old. It was the last weekend of season and storming so the deer were coming down the mountain. Shot him hunting by myself in an absolute downpour of rain. My old jeep was sliding around like crazy on those dirt roads. The entire mountain range between 41 and mammoth pool has plenty of deer (for d7) and places to hunt. Clover meadow is a cool area too; I have not been there in many years but it does hold deer as well in the summer/early fall and much prettier for camping. There is decent fishing in the creek there as well (forgetting the name).

Personally if that area interests you I would just hunt there and skip the other stuff. You will have better luck focusing in on one area that holds deer and learning the country, rather than bouncing from spot to spot. Much better chances when you hunt the same area multiple times. There is not a secret or great spot that you will just stumble into..it takes learning one smaller area really well. What trail cams have shown me is there are actually quite a few bucks in D7 but they are difficult to hunt effectively. Last year I had 13 different bucks in a 2 mile square area on camera, but only saw/hunted one of them on the hoof. They are very accustomed to outsmarting people and will stay just out of view when they smell/hear you coming.
 
My opinion, a lot of specific information on any hunt/zone should be saved for PM's, you might not plan on hunting a area again, but no use in blowing up spots so the whole world via the internet can read. Other guys with time and boot leather spent learning country will appreciate it.
Mike
 
My opinion, a lot of specific information on any hunt/zone should be saved for PM's, you might not plan on hunting a area again, but no use in blowing up spots so the whole world via the internet can read. Other guys with time and boot leather spent learning country will appreciate it.
Mike
Yep!!?
 
My opinion, a lot of specific information on any hunt/zone should be saved for PM's, you might not plan on hunting a area again, but no use in blowing up spots so the whole world via the internet can read. Other guys with time and boot leather spent learning country will appreciate it.
Mike
Exactly! They think they’re just helping one guy, but in reality they’re helping thousands because these threads don’t just disappear! Fastest way to ruin good spots is by posting them on an open forum.
 
Eh, the areas I see talked about above are pretty big and already very crowded. You will see the same areas mentioned in the departments “hunting guide” for d7 which is probably 30 year old information. Nothing secret or groundbreaking. Nobody’s honey hole is getting exposed here.

OP feel free to PM myself or other helpful members if you want to discuss some of these areas in more specifics.

To the future readers/google searchers of this thread:

Pick one of the highways that is closest to your house. Drive up into the mountains and start exploring. Get out of the truck and walk quietly with the wind right. There are deer scattered all across the unit. Learn some locations well rather than bouncing around hoping to stumble into some honey hole. Highway 168 is no better than 41 and vice versa. There are bucks in D7 but they require you to hunt effectively and have intimate knowledge of a smaller area that holds deer.
 

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