California D3-5 Hunters... Smarter Not Harder!

[mxgsfmdpx]

I keep seeing so many posts of “high country” “going in deep” “hunt super hard” etc. And I always see guys continuing to complain year after year that “deer numbers are awful in California” and “didn’t fill my tag this year again”. You need to hunt smarter not harder. Here is one of example of many...

Let me point you to a video of a trail camera set up on public land in D5 no more than 500 yards from the road.

Hope this helps some of you rethink your strategy for this season and encourages you all to do your homework and get those boots on the ground early!

 

[Rob5589]

Good stuff. Now where is that?

 

[68Plexi]

That was 2016. The deer have clearly all left since then . Probably should stay home. Or join us and the other 33,000 hunters in D3-5.


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[mxgsfmdpx]

That was 2016. The deer have clearly all left since then . Probably should stay home. Or join us and the other 33,000 hunters in D3-5.


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Yep they are all gone. Might as well just stay home

 

[ReddingArcher]

Some super nice bucks in there!

 

[As_west_as_it_gets]

Can I ask what months you had the camera up? And approximately what the elevation was?


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[mxgsfmdpx]

Can I ask what months you had the camera up? And approximately what the elevation was?


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Dates are time stamped on the game camera screen in the video. The elevation is 6,500-7,000 feet.

 

[As_west_as_it_gets]

Thank you. Awesome work!


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[rolocasi]

Great video! thanks for sharing! I have been skunked on D3-D5 for the last 4 years, clearly I am doing things wrong. If I gave it more effort, perhaps i would be a little more successful. Great post!

 

[PVHunter]

There aren't any deer in California, or haven't you heard?

Thanks for sharing! Trail cam tree removal was a hoot.

 

[Ucsdryder]

A lot depends on where the area is. There are tons of great bucks on private down lower. Moving from property to property. Let that sink in for a minute. 33,000 tags!!!!!! I had keys to a huge tract of land that is owned by a timber company in D. I still struggled to find ANY deer and this was miles from public, in a place I wouldn’t see a hunter all season.

 

[Muley Buck]

A lot depends on where the area is. There are tons of great bucks on private down lower. Moving from property to property. Let that sink in for a minute. 33,000 tags!!!!!! I had keys to a huge tract of land that is owned by a timber company in D. I still struggled to find ANY deer and this was miles from public, in a place I wouldn’t see a hunter all season.

Yep. I've found in California D zones it is feast or famine where the deer are. There can be areas that have some of the best deer habitat that are virtually void of deer. Then others that will hold a fair amount. Then yet some places that you would think nothing could live there, and lo and behold good bucks are inhabiting it. It's a crap shoot, it seems there is no rhyme or reason why. At least that's all my pea brain comes to. I'm sure there are answers to this phenomenon that are above my pay grade.

 

[CApighunter]

My issue with hunting the ~7kish elevation range is that it’s mostly dense timber and near impossible to sneak in on a buck when the ground is covered in 4 inches of dry twigs and pine needles. I’d rather hunt high where I can glass up deer and plan a stalk.

 

[bohntr]

Nice mule deer

 

[CaliforniaMuley209]

some real nice d zone bucks on those cams! Did you guys end up killing any of them that year?

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

some real nice d zone bucks on those cams! Did you guys end up killing any of them that year?

This was a friend of a friends camera set up. Yes. He was able to get a nice one in that spot.

 

[Muley Buck]

Damn, how many people hunting in that spot? Not gonna be many deer if that keeps happening.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Damn, how many people hunting in that spot? Not gonna be many deer if that keeps happening.

One guy and his friend hunted that particular spot. The deer are still there. You just have to find them and scouting is key.

It’s not about one particular “spot”. People get so hung up on a “spot” or “honey hole” when they happen to see decent deer numbers in a particular area in a given time frame. Whether that’s 2 or 3 seasons or guys who’ve been successful hitting the same spots for 10+ years.

If you’re in the habitat at the right elevations, the point of this post is that you don’t need to be 8 miles back in. I’ve seen more nice quality blacktail deer within 500 yards of a road than I have in the “high country” a million miles into the woods like everyone thinks they need to be.

Friends keep striking out thinking they need to work harder when they need to be working smarter to get into deer.

 

[Muley Buck]

I understand and agree with what you are saying. I have personally witnessed and experienced this as well. I had one spot in a D zone I could hike to in 10 min from the highway and glass 3 different bachelor groups ranging from 4-6 bucks per group. 13 of which were legal bucks and 4 were very nice 4x4s. Point being, those bucks are there because nobody is shooting them. Bottom line, if a given hillside has bucks and they all get shot out it may take years to recover and see huntable bucks there again, if ever. I don't subscribe to the idea that if the elevation and feed are right there will automatically be bucks there. There is much more at play in the sierras here in California.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I understand and agree with what you are saying. I have personally witnessed and experienced this as well. I had one spot in a D zone I could hike to in 10 min from the highway and glass 3 different bachelor groups ranging from 4-6 bucks per group. 13 of which were legal bucks and 4 were very nice 4x4s. Point being, those bucks are there because nobody is shooting them. Bottom line, if a given hillside has bucks and they all get shot out it may take years to recover and see huntable bucks there again, if ever. I don't subscribe to the idea that if the elevation and feed are right there will automatically be bucks there. There is much more at play in the sierras here in California.

I like you have been hunting and backpacking the sierras for a long time. I’ve spent at least 7 days in D zone (most years a lot more than that) every year since 1994 and haven’t missed a year yet. I def agree with you that there is a lot in play in our neck of the sierras. What I’m telling you is that is has way more to do with vegetation and micro climates than it does hunting pressure.

What I can tell you from what I’ve seen, and maybe I’m just not the best hunter but it works for me year after year and that’s all that matters to me...

The deer are there. They may not be there during the season, but they don’t just disappear and “abandon” areas like guys think just because a few of them may get shot at for a few weeks out of the year. Or Billy Jack with his bow goes stomping through beds thinking he knows what he’s doing.

They flat out don’t just disappear never to return again like everyone says. “Ah hell that good area we used to hunt is just shot out”. I always ask those guys how many times have you been to that spot in April May and June? Or for that matter, seeing how long after the season they stick around on dry years where late November and December snow packs are low enough? The biggest and baddest deer I ever laid eyes on stepped out 30 yards away from me on a hiking trail in D5 right at 8,000 feet of elevation. This was the 2nd week of December in 2006. I wish I had a camera he was just a thing of beauty. I looked for him the next year starting in late April, saw lots of deer but never found “the one” as I fondly refer to him lol.

You’re right though there are a ton of arguments and strategies that work for guys that hunt this specific area. I was just offering a bit of advice for the guys who think they have to get out into the middle of nowhere when they simply don’t.