Anyone headed to the Marbles? (California)

mireland62887

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
151
Location
Vacaville, CA
We are headed up first thing Friday morning for 5 days. While we will certainly chase deer, we are really hoping to find the elk. A buddy and I both drew tags this year, and the opener is in 3 weeks. He's been up once already scouting, but we will likely be up there every weekend until the opener.

For those that are headed up for the archery opener, if you see any elk and don't mind sharing, I'd love to pick your brain.

Good luck to everyone this weekend!
 
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mireland62887

mireland62887

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
151
Location
Vacaville, CA
Home now. A buddy killed a nice 4X3, we saw a couple of forks, but most importantly, we found some elk. We will be back up in two weeks!
 
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mireland62887

mireland62887

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
151
Location
Vacaville, CA
Lots of hikers! The SB through hikers were thick. Not really a bother though. Some were fascinated by 'hunting'. A Chinese guy had question after questions. It was entertaining. We got a couple strange looks hiking the buck out, but most people were super congratulatory. Being in California and on the PCT, it was refreshing.

There were a handful of bowhunters, but we bailed off into some canyons pretty quickly and likely missed seeing other hunters. Smokey as hell though. We were smack in the middle of the Carr fire, the Natchez fire, the Ranch fire, the Hertz fire, and the new Hoopa fire. Glassing was worthless. Couldn't even see a 1000 yards.
 

iseebucks

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 25, 2016
Messages
148
Location
CA
Thanks for sharing your experience so the less fortunate people like me that have to work get to live vicariously through your stories.

Other than the three bucks, did you see many does/fawns?
 

Tleek

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
195
Location
Northern California
Just got back from a quick two day scouting trip in the marbles. The smoke is nuts! my lungs are a little sore and I was only out there two days. I checked out
A couple of areas one near the pct. saw more game there than anywhere else despite the traffic.
 

OFFHNTN

WKR
Joined
Apr 10, 2015
Messages
472
FYI - I was out there last week and ran into a Forest Service worker saying they have closed almost all of their roads in that area. My buddy I was with lives out there and they both stated how it will raise heck with elk hunters going into the marbles. Just an FYI to check into it as we you may not be able to get into some areas.
 

Beendare

WKR
Joined
May 6, 2014
Messages
8,296
Location
Corripe cervisiam
I was thinking about making a Marbles or Trinities run with a bear tag in my pocket later this week.....but that smoke just makes it not worth it.

I think I will swap my recurve for a rod and backpack in to do some fishing somewhere in the eastern sierras instead...I need the workout before elk season. If anyone has a nice loop with decent fishing I'm all ears....
 
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