Never saw one on purpose

[LionHead]

Last night was the close of the 2015 California D-6 rifle season. It ended for me chilled, damp and with an unfilled tag.
I'm a little disappointed to say the least. Not just because of the empty tag, but because I failed to spot a single deer while glassing. zero, (0), zilch, nada, donut, zero deer seen through glass.

However with about 18 days total in the field (10 hunting and 8 scouting) I have seen deer by accident/chance EVERY single time i have gone out. I seen them on the road in, seen 'em AT the trail head across the street from the highway, in a draw while moving between vantage points, i've bumped them in the middle of the night while heading to my hunting area, I've had them in my camp out of season, and last night i had a spike determined to become roadkill on the way home. (i braked and swerved to avoid him and he cut back into my truck at the last second, knocking my tail-gate with what i assume was his head before he bolted off into the night)

I've passed successful hunters tagged out transporting meat out around the areas I'm hunting in, so i'm in the right areas. But they seem to be allergic to my glass.

My strategy has been to get out in wilderness areas that aren't swamped with road hunters. I pack in between 4-7 miles, get to the highest vantage point that fits my skill set (a lot of night hikes lately) if I can i try to keep the wind in my face and the sun at my back come first light, and to glass from 1st light for about 2-3 hours. Then either take a nap or move locations mid day, sometimes both. Glass on/off throughout the day depending on logistics and fatigue. and then glass again from about 2 hours before sundown till dark.

I don't have a spotter but have upgraded to a pair of 10x42 Minox HG binos from the POS $100 pair i had last year. I feel i can see 2-300 yards in fairly good detail for picking apart brush and shady pockets looking for bedded animals. Further than that I glass open rocky terrain, meadows and ridglines between foliage looking for movement.

So either my technique sucks, im in the wrong areas at the wrong times or i need better equipment.

I'll try to get some pics up of the areas ive been and the vantage points ive been using. But any pointers or experiences to learn from would be much appreciated.

At this point i'm willing to become someones apprentice just to gain the experience, I'm in good shape, I can pack a decent load all day and i'd be willing to carry your entire camp on my back next season just to gain some insight LOL.

Seriously though anybody else in Cali have it similar this year ?

 

[slvrslngr]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with finding deer. Sure beats being at though, eh?!

I hunt Cali as well, this year and last I had D8 and G38 (late season X10) tags. Almost without exception, I found deer in one basic area, the north face of a 5-10 year old burn that had a water source in the bottom. I filled my G38 tag, but missed 2 different bucks in D8, all 3 shots were taken in virtually identical areas.

Don't give up on the glassing, your Minox should be plenty good for finding deer. I use a spotter to check out odd looking stuff, usually it's just a stump or piece of wood, but sometimes it's a deer. Find these burn spots and keep looking, even if it's the same spot 10 times. I also like to focus on pockets of burn which are surrounded by timber (on north facing slopes). Another thing is to not go back to camp during the day. While deer bed down mid to late morning, they also stay up feeding, sometimes all day. The first buck I missed was in a big open burn with a group of does. I spotted him at about 0900 then lost sight of him shortly after. Late in the afternoon I found him again and worked into shooting position, promptly missing. The does he was with were up and down feeding/bedding all day long. The second buck I missed was up feeding with another buck at 1130.

Keep at it, be patient and use your glass until your eyes fall out. Remember, focus on open pockets on north facing slopes!

Spot the doe! Only reason I knew she was there was she was up feeding for a few minutes when I spotted her.

 

[focker34]

I got away with my brother for a quick weekender in D-6 a couple weeks ago. We noticed a lack of sign up high right off the bat. Hardly any activity in spots that should have been loaded, or so we thought. We moved down a bit and started to cut fresh sign. Couldn't close the deal before we both had to get back though.

We typically glass from first light until 1ish. Since it was so cold and a there was a good moon that night, we decided to stay on the tripods and see if we couldn't pick anything up as it got later and warmer. Sure enough, we saw more activity in the afternoon vs. in the early morning. Also, we try not to go anywhere that has a trail, especially in D-6. It seems like wherever there is a parking lot or a trail head, there are a dozen guys "still hunting" through the middle of every basin worth a darn.

Just out of curiosity, are you sleeping on the mountain, or packing back out to the trailhead every day?

Like I said, we didn't fill his tag, so take the advice for what it's worth.

 

[LionHead]

Spotted these three bucks the day before opening weekend. Technically i spooked 'em up after i tripped and ate shit on the shale about 200 yards above them. So i saw them with the naked eye first. Doesn't count as glassing them though lol. After these 3 that was all I saw the rest of that weekend.

Sorry for the crappy phone-to-bino ghetto digi-scoping

 

[LionHead]

Just out of curiosity, are you sleeping on the mountain, or packing back out to the trailhead every day?

I'm most definitely staying out on the Mountain. The prospect of a 3-4 hour hour walk back to the truck each day doesn't appeal to me.



my water filter system is 2 source bladders tied together with a sawyer mini. My MO has been to top off my Bladder and nalgene with clean water, load up the dirty water bag at the last water source I can and i'll haul 7L with me up to camp. Some times Camp is my glassing spot. Or like in the photo i've got camp about halfway up the Basin and then i climbed another 2-300 ft and hunted about another mile further out from camp.

This way i feel like im limiting excessive movement to drop down for water refills. Gives me more rest and more time to hunt. Vs giving away my position dropping down for water

 

[69ChrisCraft01]

I feel your pain. I filled my AO tag on opening weekend in B zone......

Then proceeded to hunt 3 locations in D7 and back to my B zone spot and didn't spot another buck all season....not one. Fit Bit tracked 132 miles of backcountry hiking over 10 days....dozens of hours behind glass. I am befuddled. These are wilderness areas where I've seen great deer numbers before (saw 37 bucks in the same time span in one of the spots last year). Elevations ranged from 3,250' to 11,200'.

132 miles and not a single buck.....I can't explain it.

 

[rmekus]

Lionhead I feel you! I could not have told my story better then your words. The places I have expected to see deer and have seen them before nothing nada. Then while relocating or something stupid I will see a doe or two but not a single buck since opening weekend of last season. I too am really questioning both my strategy and skill! I have been hunting D11 and D14 and trying to stay behind the glass all day and only get more frustrated with the money I have spent on a good spotter being all but worthless with the mirage from the mid day sun/heat and being limited to lowest power or my Zeiss conquest HD 10x42's. Robby gave me some good advice....Buck hunting is tough and while we may not fill a tag we should be filling our knowledge bank! Always learning. So that is my little morsel however it sure does not taste as some venison on the grill! lol Good luck

 

[LionHead]

Ha! Ok i don't feel so bad then, i'm not the only one. I just figured i must be doing something bass-ackward to have this little luck.

I've heard mixed reviews about finding deer in D-6 some say its sucks some say they're there if you put in the work. Due to job/time commitments D-6 is the zone I can hunt/scout the most often so i may as well get good at hunting this area. I could swing up to D-5 or down to D-7 or even over to X-12 if I can draw a tag, but then I'll have to learn a whole new zone. In the last 2 years i'm getting a pretty good hang of navigating this Zone and keeping notes on what works, what doesn't, travel corridors, and seasonal migrations.

for instance last year I was hunting too low to early in the season. Not to say there weren't deer but the majority of them where up top at the Sierra crest. This year I think i may have been too high too late. Especially last weekend. We've had 2 storms blow through in the last 2 weeks and the top 3rd of eagle pass is blanketed in snow on the north face.

I didn't see deer tracks any higher than about 8000ft but there was some down the meadow and the road hunters where pulling deer from the denser forest lower down. Although I did cut some fresh tracks in the snow with a momma bear and her cubs as well as a mountain kitty up at 8600ft on the way in, a 1am. That made for an intense last few miles lol! i kept checking my back-trail for those green eyes.

 

[rmekus]

Boy you sure sound like me I too often hike in at night due to work. No Cats but I did get a "Hey" at midnight in the middle of nowhere from a couple of hunters who were lost having dropped down a ridge after dark. He asked which way is the camp ground I said 3 miles and 2300 feet back up that trail lol I think a Cat or bear would have startled me less then that human voice in the dead night.

 

[LionHead]

Spot the doe!

Nope! i been looking on and off for the past hour at this photo. I want to say she's some where in that darl spot-mid-lower right side or under the dead-fall center frame but i can't be sure

 

[LionHead]

Boy you sure sound like me I too often hike in at night due to work. No Cats but I did get a "Hey" at midnight in the middle of nowhere from a couple of hunters who were lost having dropped down a ridge after dark. He asked which way is the camp ground I said 3 miles and 2300 feet back up that trail lol I think a Cat or bear would have startled me less then that human voice in the dead night.

HAHA! no shit! i think a voice in the dark would be way creepier!
to be honest last weekend was only my 3rd solo, and first solo i traveled at night. I had to read up on all the "hike at night" threads here on the Rok then decided I'm no sissy and just did it. to be honest its not all that bad. Kind of peaceful, plus i feel i got more efficient hiking done because i wasn't trying to "hunt" on the way in. The only part that sucked was waking up 2 hours later to start glassing. Definitely an exhausting day. But better than being stuck in the valley for the weekend

 

[LionHead]

mountain kitty


Sow and cubs prints

 

[slvrslngr]

Nope! i been looking on and off for the past hour at this photo. I want to say she's some where in that darl spot-mid-lower right side or under the dead-fall center frame but i can't be sure

Center frame, underneath the deadfall and the branch that is forked. You can just make out her nose, eyes and part of her neck. If I didn't see her bed down I would have never spotted her.

Sounds like you all are putting in the effort. If you're not finding fresh sign or live animals, it's time to look elsewhere.

 

[Mike7]

I could not see the deer until you pointed her out...I guess that is where the tripod really helps a person pick out movement like an ear flicker, etc.

The top print in the snow looks like a canine of some kind.

 

[LionHead]

Center frame, underneath the deadfall and the branch that is forked. You can just make out her nose, eyes and part of her neck...Sounds like you all are putting in the effort. If you're not finding fresh sign or live animals, it's time to look elsewhere.

Ok yea I see, that was my second choice, for some reason my eyes where really drawn to that shadow to the right of her.

I agree with the second part.
Slip in, find fresh sign, get high and glass or beat feet to a new area will be my plan now.

 

[LionHead]

The top print in the snow looks like a canine of some kind.

Roger that, after looking at some images online, those tracks do appear more canine in nature.