D3 Closing weekend elevation

[Banded_spooney]

Let’s just get this out of the way. I’m for sure looking for honey holes from anyone willing to give them

Since most of you stingy SOBs won’t do that for me, even though it says Well Known under my name I’ll ask it this way. At what elevation would you concentrate most of your efforts for closing weekend to just fill a tag? Size is irrelevant.

I know Bucks and Laporte got a dusting of snow Saturday, I won’t go higher than that but should I disregard anything over 5k?

 

[Rob5589]

No help here but good luck!

 

[PVHunter]

I thought we were going to have a bigger system moving through, but that one dropped off of the near-term forecast. The only difference as I see it between right now and two weeks back is that there are even more acorns dropping and we're closer to rut. Well, that isn't entirely true. We also had a new moon yesterday.

At any rate, if you'd have hunted the 4,000 - 6,000 foot stuff a few weeks back, there's no sense in changing that plan now. Similarly, if you were going to head up high, I don't think that there's been enough snow yet to push them down to lower elevations. I'll be out there, too (but in a different zone). Good luck.

 

[bohntr]

D3 in Ca…..as in mule deer?

 

[Banded_spooney]

D3 in Ca…..as in mule deer?

Oh god.... not this again

 

[Banded_spooney]

D3 in Ca…..as in mule deer?

This has been posted in other threads on here. Its not perfect but its damn close to what I see on the ground (except for the sacramento river coorador not showing any deer. -- Its almost like people forget deer cross highways and swim.

 

[Jimmy]

There are deer still up high

 

[bohntr]

Not one deer from D3 has ever been DNA tested as a Columbian Blacktail. Not one! It is what it is. But it’s all good, and I hope the original poster finds something to get on in that unit, and let’s the air out of a good one. But he may get additional info from the mule deer forum as well. Just a thought.

 

[Turkeycallin' PolRefugee]

I used to hunt D3 when I lived back in Cali. Even managed to tag a buck once... I hunted smaller pieces of public in the foothills mainly but occasionally would drive up the hill a bit. In my experience, it takes a few inches of snow to get them moving down hill much during the season, a dusting doesn't usually cut it. That being said, as the season progresses some deer seem to filter out of the alpine country and into the "lower montane" ponderosa and black oak zone. They get spread out a bit. That is why I liked to hunt resident deer in the foothills, even though they were more nocturnal due to hunting pressure and heat.
I used to live in Lincoln, CA and traveled over much of D3 (and westlope Sierra from Lake Almanor to Tehachapi), so I got to see a few deer. I would call most of the D3 deer "California Mule Deer"-basically a blacktail/Rocky Mt. mule deer cross. The resident buck that I shot in the foothills of D3 looked like a straight blacktail in terms of his tail, etc. but was fairly big bodied and had some decent mass to his antlers for a average three pointer. Around Lincoln, I would come across groups of deer that were all over the board in terms of their tail color-within the same group some would look almost like Rocky Mt. or Inyo mule deer and others like coastal blacktail but in terms of body size most were basically blacktails. Not much different from deer anywhere in the west slope really. Some people like to call the Sierra Foothill bucks north of Fresno "Inland Blacktails" but most of them are mutts in my experience.

 

[Banded_spooney]

Not one deer from D3 has ever been DNA tested as a Columbian Blacktail. Not one! It is what it is. But it’s all good, and I hope the original poster finds something to get on in that unit, and let’s the air out of a good one. But he may get additional info from the mule deer forum as well. Just a thought.

if a deer tests at 85% blacktail does that make it a mule deer? If fish and wildlife for the state say they are a blacktail and they act and look like blacktail rather than mule deer, they are blacktail enough for me

 

[JohnnyB]

Is Elizabeth Warren Cherokee?

 

[Banded_spooney]

Let’s play pin the blacktail on the mule deer…

 

[bohntr]

if a deer tests at 85% blacktail does that make it a mule deer? If fish and wildlife for the state say they are a blacktail and they act and look like blacktail rather than mule deer, they are blacktail enough for me

View attachment 468293

It’s far too in depth to explain the process here. But hey, it’s all good…..BTW, you should see my giant Tule Elk……that I arrowed in AZ!

 

[SouthPaw]

Looks like some weather is coming a couple days too late...

I live in the Sierra foothills and just last night saw 2 bucks out chasing does.

 

[Banded_spooney]

It’s far too in depth to explain the process here. But hey, it’s all good…..BTW, you should see my giant Tule Elk……that I arrowed in AZ!

Fun coincidence, hunting buddy had a Tule on camera in D3 this year actually. But pictures are useless to you and eLK cANt SwIM

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

All depends on snow accumulation and rut timing.

They won’t “move down” just because it gets colder and some mild storms come through. If the snow has accumulated enough to affect browse and water supply, that’s when they head down. And not always as far down as you’d think.

If the does are cycling they will head as far down as necessary to breed them. I’d recommend something that almost nobody does. Some post season scouting to educate yourself on the various stages of the rut. Also if you are into some decent herds, learn their fall patterns for seeking lower elevations with food and water.

 

[bohntr]

Fun coincidence, hunting buddy had a Tule on camera in D3 this year actually. But pictures are useless to you and eLK cANt SwIM

Yaaaaaawn.

 

[PHo]

If these deer mostly look like blacktail, behave like blacktail, and thereby provide a blacktail hunting experience, why does it matter if someone calls them blacktail deer instead of mule deer (except for when entering for B&C/P&Y of course)? I find it interesting that people would refer to them as straight up mule deer instead of blacktail crosses, especially since it’s apparent that they look and behave more like blacktail than mule deer.

 

[Rob5589]

Mule, blacktail, hybrid, blah, blah, blah. I just want a legal buck!

 

[PHo]

Mule, blacktail, hybrid, blah, blah, blah. I just want a legal buck!

Amen! A stud buck is still a stud buck!