Calif_Mike
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Since I'm new to this site I figured I would give a little story about myself and a story of this years California hunt. I'm 39 and have been hunting since I was about 12. My dad has been my steady hunting partner for all of this time. He turned 70 this year and the drive to hunt still burns in him. 10 years ago he had a triple bypass and 3 years ago he had a hip replacement after falling off his bike. You?d never know this by watching him climb the hills.
We hunt the general rifle season here in Calif. in Zone D-6 and the go to CO each year for 3rd season elk in late Oct. Our rifle season here in Calif starts in the middle of Sept which is usually hot and dry. We figured out a special area back in 2001 and have taken 7 deer out of there in the last 7 years. During several of those years, one of us has also missed a deer, so we've had a lot of chances. Most of the bucks have been small forkies but that's general deer here in Calif.
The country we hunt is in the 8,000 to 9,000 foot range and heavy fir with open parks of manzanita. Here are a couple of photos of the general area.
This year the season opened on Sept. 15 so we headed up early on the 14th to get our camp setup and to hike into our hunting area to drop extra clothing, food, water and our deer sled. Our hike in is just over a mile with 1,000 feet in elevation gain so I try to pack stuff in the day before so I don't have to carry a lot of gear on hunting day. Got back down to camp in the afternoon and just hung around getting ready for the opener.
Opening morning got up at 4AM, ate a lite breakfast and headed off in the truck to the trail head. Spent the next hour huffing and puffing up the ridge to our spots. Dad and I sit about 70 yards apart with me looking up the hill in a clearing for about 400 yards and dad looking down the ridge about 400 yards. Basically if a deer moves around this mountain, one of us will see it. We sit until about 11 AM each day then head back to camp for some breakfast, a nap, then an evening hunt in some other spots. We got to our spots about ? hour before daylight and settled in. Opening day showed us just does moving through. That evening I saw a couple more does.
Sunday found us huffing and puffing in the dark again. A few does and fawns moved through at various times during the morning but no bucks again. Evening hunt had a couple of does and a spike.
Monday we worked into the same spots again. Nothing moved across my hillside in the first couple of hours, then about 8AM a rifle shot from my dad scared the hell out of me. I spun around and looked at him to see what was up and he was still on his shooting sticks looking to the south. I followed his look but saw nothing. He came off his sticks and pointed south. I got up and hoofed it over a small rise to find a great buck lying dead in a small depression. Apparently dad had just been looking in the right direction with his rifle up on the sticks when he saw a set of antlers coming over a rise. The antlers kept getting bigger and taller as the deer got closer to the top of the rise until the deers head appeared over the top, and then he stopped. Even though my dad was not moving the buck suspected something was amiss and wouldn't budge. The only shot my dad had was head on, straight into the buck?s throat at about 100 yards. Dad figured he better do something and took the shot, dropping the buck in his tracks. I gutted dad?s buck and loaded it up on the sled for the long, steep trip down to the truck. The buck was a nice 3x4, which is pretty big for this area and my dad's best buck ever. Here are the pics we took down in camp.
I hunted a couple more days with only does another spike seen so we wrapped it up and headed home. Another great hunt for us.
Calif_Mike
We hunt the general rifle season here in Calif. in Zone D-6 and the go to CO each year for 3rd season elk in late Oct. Our rifle season here in Calif starts in the middle of Sept which is usually hot and dry. We figured out a special area back in 2001 and have taken 7 deer out of there in the last 7 years. During several of those years, one of us has also missed a deer, so we've had a lot of chances. Most of the bucks have been small forkies but that's general deer here in Calif.
The country we hunt is in the 8,000 to 9,000 foot range and heavy fir with open parks of manzanita. Here are a couple of photos of the general area.
This year the season opened on Sept. 15 so we headed up early on the 14th to get our camp setup and to hike into our hunting area to drop extra clothing, food, water and our deer sled. Our hike in is just over a mile with 1,000 feet in elevation gain so I try to pack stuff in the day before so I don't have to carry a lot of gear on hunting day. Got back down to camp in the afternoon and just hung around getting ready for the opener.
Opening morning got up at 4AM, ate a lite breakfast and headed off in the truck to the trail head. Spent the next hour huffing and puffing up the ridge to our spots. Dad and I sit about 70 yards apart with me looking up the hill in a clearing for about 400 yards and dad looking down the ridge about 400 yards. Basically if a deer moves around this mountain, one of us will see it. We sit until about 11 AM each day then head back to camp for some breakfast, a nap, then an evening hunt in some other spots. We got to our spots about ? hour before daylight and settled in. Opening day showed us just does moving through. That evening I saw a couple more does.
Sunday found us huffing and puffing in the dark again. A few does and fawns moved through at various times during the morning but no bucks again. Evening hunt had a couple of does and a spike.
Monday we worked into the same spots again. Nothing moved across my hillside in the first couple of hours, then about 8AM a rifle shot from my dad scared the hell out of me. I spun around and looked at him to see what was up and he was still on his shooting sticks looking to the south. I followed his look but saw nothing. He came off his sticks and pointed south. I got up and hoofed it over a small rise to find a great buck lying dead in a small depression. Apparently dad had just been looking in the right direction with his rifle up on the sticks when he saw a set of antlers coming over a rise. The antlers kept getting bigger and taller as the deer got closer to the top of the rise until the deers head appeared over the top, and then he stopped. Even though my dad was not moving the buck suspected something was amiss and wouldn't budge. The only shot my dad had was head on, straight into the buck?s throat at about 100 yards. Dad figured he better do something and took the shot, dropping the buck in his tracks. I gutted dad?s buck and loaded it up on the sled for the long, steep trip down to the truck. The buck was a nice 3x4, which is pretty big for this area and my dad's best buck ever. Here are the pics we took down in camp.
I hunted a couple more days with only does another spike seen so we wrapped it up and headed home. Another great hunt for us.
Calif_Mike
