CA A 110 South

DEEF

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
134
Location
Central Coast California
Last year was tough, I hunted different areas in the Los Padres. Saw some doe and fawn but no buck. I saw one cougar and more cougar and bobcat track than deer in SLO—it was ridiculous. It's a houndsmans dream over here! Between the long drought and the abundant cat, bobcat, and black bear populations, our blacktail seem to be scarce. I did hunt the last days of the general season and my late season SLO tag; so, that didn't help me any. I found some bucks late season but not in my tag area. Overall harvest success in 2017 for A 110 South/160 North was 17.1%—I suspect the better part of that stat is in the North unit. AO harvest success was 7.0% for both areas! With all the rain, hopefully we'll see some improvement in the population the next couple of years. CA management S U C K S right now.

Did anyone have success in A unit last year?
 
Joined
Oct 8, 2012
Messages
2,123
A zone is definitely a tough but fun hunt. Sure makes going out of state even more exciting. 100+ degree deer hunting isn’t for everyone!
Stick with it. There are bucks around!
 
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
2,238
Deer numbers should be improving with all the good rain in the past few years. I’ve seen deer around my parents place near town in morro bay the last few times I’ve been, hasn’t been that way in a while. Yes the predators are terrible but on private land that gets managed with enough food for the deer, there are tons of them. My buddy and I shed hunt a local place and there are plenty. We need the good moisture to keep up and a few more good fawn crops and things should improve on public.
 

bitbckt

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
239
Location
Northern CA
We still have another year on this 3 year management period before allocations get re-assessed. Keep at it!
 

bowuntr

WKR
Joined
Mar 5, 2012
Messages
1,063
Location
Prescott, Az
Sorry, but California does not manage tag #'s (deer)... especially in the A zone. Hunted California for 30 years, tag #'s are virtually the same. A major change in G&F direction would have to take place... and we all know that's not gonna happen. Ed F
 

bitbckt

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
239
Location
Northern CA
I didn't say they'd change. Particularly not for general zones (OTC) zones. The 3 year management cycle is a re-assessment, not a promise that all your hopes and dreams will come true.
 

iseebucks

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 25, 2016
Messages
145
Location
CA
Honestly the overwhelming majority of success in the A zone is on private land.
 

Azone

WKR
Joined
Apr 21, 2018
Messages
1,537
Location
Northern Nevada
I do the majority of my deer hunting on Ft. Hunter Liggett during our deer season out here, and last year was about as bad as I've ever seen it. My wife and I can usually pull 1 to 3 deer off of Liggett every year and last was the first time in several years that we did not. The lions are obviously outta control and putting a major hurt on our deer out here. It use to be a rare occasion to see cats or there tracks down there, but last year it seemed every weekend someone was seeing a lion. The coyotes are also doing extremely well out here to, it seems for everyone that gets shot two more come and take its place.
The only deer my wife and I killed last year were off a family friends ranch, and they were nothing special but man did they eat good. Even the guys on the ranch were only seeing half the deer they use to up there. The bad part is to, that alot of does did not have fawns with them either, maybe two or three out of each ten did. Its gonna suck the next few years but hopefully the deer make a rebound. I would definitely recommend extra scouting this year, because from what I'm already not seeing, this year is looking to be really tough as well.
 
OP
DEEF

DEEF

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
134
Location
Central Coast California
Thanks for the private info.
I do the majority of my deer hunting on Ft. Hunter Liggett during our deer season out here, and last year was about as bad as I've ever seen it. My wife and I can usually pull 1 to 3 deer off of Liggett every year and last was the first time in several years that we did not. The lions are obviously outta control and putting a major hurt on our deer out here. It use to be a rare occasion to see cats or there tracks down there, but last year it seemed every weekend someone was seeing a lion. The coyotes are also doing extremely well out here to, it seems for everyone that gets shot two more come and take its place.
The only deer my wife and I killed last year were off a family friends ranch, and they were nothing special but man did they eat good. Even the guys on the ranch were only seeing half the deer they use to up there. The bad part is to, that alot of does did not have fawns with them either, maybe two or three out of each ten did. Its gonna suck the next few years but hopefully the deer make a rebound. I would definitely recommend extra scouting this year, because from what I'm already not seeing, this year is looking to be really tough as well.
Thanks for the input. I heard a similar report from John?, a guy I met out there. He said deer have been seen less and less at the Fort over the years.
 
OP
DEEF

DEEF

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
134
Location
Central Coast California
Honestly the overwhelming majority of success in the A zone is on private land.
I agree with that. Until predation gets managed, I think the deer are going to stay closer to private. I've seen more bucks in Monterey city than in the backcountry. There's a nice herd living around the Presidio. A fawn and two does are living fat on Cass st.
 
OP
DEEF

DEEF

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
134
Location
Central Coast California
Sorry, but California does not manage tag #'s (deer)... especially in the A zone. Hunted California for 30 years, tag #'s are virtually the same. A major change in G&F direction would have to take place... and we all know that's not gonna happen. Ed F
Maybe not; but one thing is certain, all hunters know it should. I'm up for the challenge.
 

MeatBuck

WKR
Joined
Aug 30, 2018
Messages
783
Location
woodpile, Commiefornia
Sorry, but California does not manage tag #'s (deer)... especially in the A zone. Hunted California for 30 years, tag #'s are virtually the same. A major change in G&F direction would have to take place... and we all know that's not gonna happen. Ed F
tag numbers are meaningless, harvest reporting is where they get their numbers from. There will never be a time when the dfg regrets having sold 65000 a tags because not 6500 would ever be filled with the current season dates and herd numbers. Just an opportunity for them to make more money. They'd love to sell out of tags knowing there's no way to hurt the population of deer by doing so. Poor predator management and (correct me if I'm wrong) governor appointed rather than elected officials at the helm is the real problem here.
 

Azone

WKR
Joined
Apr 21, 2018
Messages
1,537
Location
Northern Nevada
Thanks for the input. I heard a similar report from John?, a guy I met out there. He said deer have been seen less and less at the Fort over the years.
[/QUOTE]

It's sad what shitty management has done to that place. In my opinion, it could have been the crown jewel of public land hunting in California had they not shot the shit outta that place. There would be years they would let 25 deer get shot out of one training area, which most training areas average 5K acres. Some areas are smaller some are bigger, some years the final take would pushing 400 deer between archery, general and the late season hunts if my memory serves me right. You can't kill that many deer off 150k acres and not expect a crash, time that perfectly with a 100 year drought and exceptional predator numbers and it's a depressing picture to say the least.
I could go on and on about how they screwed that place up but I'm gonna spare the forum my rant.
I know a couple John's that hunt down there pretty well. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you want to discuss Liggett some more in detail. But given what your location says about you being in Carmel Valley I would go pound that coast hard, it's some straight up and down hell hole type country but there are some big bucks to be had if a person is crazy enough and can carry enough water.
 

Azone

WKR
Joined
Apr 21, 2018
Messages
1,537
Location
Northern Nevada
tag numbers are meaningless, harvest reporting is where they get their numbers from. There will never be a time when the dfg regrets having sold 65000 a tags because not 6500 would ever be filled with the current season dates and herd numbers. Just an opportunity for them to make more money. They'd love to sell out of tags knowing there's no way to hurt the population of deer by doing so. Poor predator management and (correct me if I'm wrong) governor appointed rather than elected officials at the helm is the real problem here.

Poor predator management and a bunch of anti or anti sympathizers running the show will be the down fall for deer in this state.
 
Joined
May 19, 2014
Messages
320
Location
So Cal
A-Zone is tough but if you put the time in you will be in that 17% Success rate almost every year. There is a lot of public land, you just got to get out there, put the time in and hunt hard. It will happen.
Concentrate on Areas that have recently been burned (2-10 years old), Areas that have year around water, Areas that are off the beaten path (farther than average hunters hike) think 4+mi from a road. Glass, Glass, and Glass some more. 95% of animal movement will be from Sunrise to 10am and then the last hour of the day. Here are a couple of bucks from A-Zone, on public land to get you fired up for opening weekend.
 

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Azone

WKR
Joined
Apr 21, 2018
Messages
1,537
Location
Northern Nevada
A-Zone is tough but if you put the time in you will be in that 17% Success rate almost every year. There is a lot of public land, you just got to get out there, put the time in and hunt hard. It will happen.
Concentrate on Areas that have recently been burned (2-10 years old), Areas that have year around water, Areas that are off the beaten path (farther than average hunters hike) think 4+mi from a road. Glass, Glass, and Glass some more. 95% of animal movement will be from Sunrise to 10am and then the last hour of the day. Here are a couple of bucks from A-Zone, on public land to get you fired up for opening weekend.

Four days to go!!!!
How recently were those deer killed?
 

J Batt

WKR
Joined
Sep 13, 2018
Messages
427
Filled my tag on Sunday of opening weekend, of this year and last. Public land, Los Padres.
 
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