Bowhunter60
New member
STARTING OUT
Since I was unsuccessful in the California units containing my prized honey-holes. I opted to go into a unit I've never hunted before and try something a little different. Since A18 had some left over, undrawn, tags, I simply picked up one of those tags and began to plan my hunt.
I contacted the Biologist for the area who had some lukewarm answers. Nothing enthusiastic in terms of numbers of deer in the unit. But, ever the optimist, I didn't let that deter me from just getting out for some hunting.
I made calls to whom ever I could. Conducted countless house of virtual/digital scouting. And, after having identified what I thought were good areas made my decision on 3 areas that deserved some scouting. In the interim, I have a nephew who has never been hunting. He's had some run-ins with law enforcement and I thought; this might be a good opportunity to introduce him to the sport and do a little mentoring.
I got in touch with him, and, not surprisingly he jumped at the chance. So, I bought him a good starter bow, some good arrows, and a few camo items. Then, it was time to get him shooting the bow and get him proficient with it. Which, we continued on the days we were up in camp scouting.
SCOUTING
We arrived at our camp, at about 8,700 feet up, about 4 days before the opener. We scouted everything from 7500 - 12000 feet. It's dry in California as you know, so my focus this time of year was bachelor groups, water, cover, and food. We found sign, but it was not nearly what we'd like to have seen, and frankly, I was getting a little discouraged. I talked with some other hunters who were up there, and a couple of them were having the same issue. A couple of them also said, "If you find the sheep, you'll find the deer." Good advice. But I cannot tell you how many hours I spent behind the spotting scope and bino's looking for movement at 12000 feet and lower from dawn, dusk and in between. NADA!
The deer had to be here, but I was having no luck finding them.
OPENING DAY OPTIMISM TO DEPRESSION
We were up early, had some coffee and light breakfast and drove the few miles to the area I'd decided to hunt. On the way in, I spotted three nice bucks, about 50 yards off the road. I told my nephew, sit tight, we're gonna drive up the road and get out of sight. About a 1/4 mile up I pointed out some trees about 75 yards away and told him to get sit down there and wait. The deer were gonna walk within 25 yards of that spot. Once he was settled in where he needed to be, I continued down the road a bit further and out of sight, got out my binos and started watching my nephew and the deer. After a while, and nothing, I went back his direction and got eyes on where we'd seen the deer. No deer, only a white pick up pulled over on the side of the road. CRAP!
I walked over to the two guys in the truck and asked if they'd seen the deer. The driver said they had, and his partner had arrowed one of them. I said to him, "From the road!". Of course, you know the answer. My effort and desire to teach my nephew some ethics and respect for the harvest, had in some ways been wounded by two guys who looked like they came right out of Haight-Ashbury. I simply took the opportunity to explain why, what they did was improper. You may think I'm splitting hairs here, and that's fine. I know what they did, unethical or illegal, is a very common occurrence among those who are out for the kill only.
After a long day of hunting, and seeing no other deer it was back to camp. I met up with another hunter I'd met up there who related an even more maddening story. Before I go into that, let me put in a little history here. We got to our camp location 4 days before opener, the only ones up there. As the week went on, we noticed more and more Subaru wagons, Fiats, Audis, and other such vehicles arriving in the area. I got a bad feeling about it, but, what the heck, keep hunting and try and stay away from them.
My friend told me that night, he'd stuck a decent buck. Sat down as we all do and let the animal expire peacefully. NOPE. One of our friendly, "open-minded", love children from California came walking up the trail whistling and whooping. He'd seen my friend shoot the deer and was now doing everything he could to keep the deer moving. My friend approached him and said, "you realize you just scared off a wounded deer?!" His answer, "Yes! You hunters!"
WRAP UP
Anyway, after 8 days of hard searching, and little to show for it, we headed home empty handed. Had it not been for the unethical actions of two other hunters and the presence of anti-hunters in the area. I'd call this trip a huge success. But, as if to throw gasoline on the fire. On the way out, we stopped at a USFS campground to dispose of our three bags of trash. We stopped at the dumpsters and unloaded the trash. Wouldn't you know it, and I am in no way exaggerating, some guy in his 50's, with a ponytail, shorts, and birkenstocks, walks over to us and says, "Would you mind turning off your truck while you do that?" My nephew and I looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Yes!"
Would I try that unit again? Not sure, it will depend on whether I get drawn for my out of state tags. Those will be my priority.
Since I was unsuccessful in the California units containing my prized honey-holes. I opted to go into a unit I've never hunted before and try something a little different. Since A18 had some left over, undrawn, tags, I simply picked up one of those tags and began to plan my hunt.
I contacted the Biologist for the area who had some lukewarm answers. Nothing enthusiastic in terms of numbers of deer in the unit. But, ever the optimist, I didn't let that deter me from just getting out for some hunting.
I made calls to whom ever I could. Conducted countless house of virtual/digital scouting. And, after having identified what I thought were good areas made my decision on 3 areas that deserved some scouting. In the interim, I have a nephew who has never been hunting. He's had some run-ins with law enforcement and I thought; this might be a good opportunity to introduce him to the sport and do a little mentoring.
I got in touch with him, and, not surprisingly he jumped at the chance. So, I bought him a good starter bow, some good arrows, and a few camo items. Then, it was time to get him shooting the bow and get him proficient with it. Which, we continued on the days we were up in camp scouting.
SCOUTING
We arrived at our camp, at about 8,700 feet up, about 4 days before the opener. We scouted everything from 7500 - 12000 feet. It's dry in California as you know, so my focus this time of year was bachelor groups, water, cover, and food. We found sign, but it was not nearly what we'd like to have seen, and frankly, I was getting a little discouraged. I talked with some other hunters who were up there, and a couple of them were having the same issue. A couple of them also said, "If you find the sheep, you'll find the deer." Good advice. But I cannot tell you how many hours I spent behind the spotting scope and bino's looking for movement at 12000 feet and lower from dawn, dusk and in between. NADA!
The deer had to be here, but I was having no luck finding them.OPENING DAY OPTIMISM TO DEPRESSION
We were up early, had some coffee and light breakfast and drove the few miles to the area I'd decided to hunt. On the way in, I spotted three nice bucks, about 50 yards off the road. I told my nephew, sit tight, we're gonna drive up the road and get out of sight. About a 1/4 mile up I pointed out some trees about 75 yards away and told him to get sit down there and wait. The deer were gonna walk within 25 yards of that spot. Once he was settled in where he needed to be, I continued down the road a bit further and out of sight, got out my binos and started watching my nephew and the deer. After a while, and nothing, I went back his direction and got eyes on where we'd seen the deer. No deer, only a white pick up pulled over on the side of the road. CRAP!
I walked over to the two guys in the truck and asked if they'd seen the deer. The driver said they had, and his partner had arrowed one of them. I said to him, "From the road!". Of course, you know the answer. My effort and desire to teach my nephew some ethics and respect for the harvest, had in some ways been wounded by two guys who looked like they came right out of Haight-Ashbury. I simply took the opportunity to explain why, what they did was improper. You may think I'm splitting hairs here, and that's fine. I know what they did, unethical or illegal, is a very common occurrence among those who are out for the kill only.
After a long day of hunting, and seeing no other deer it was back to camp. I met up with another hunter I'd met up there who related an even more maddening story. Before I go into that, let me put in a little history here. We got to our camp location 4 days before opener, the only ones up there. As the week went on, we noticed more and more Subaru wagons, Fiats, Audis, and other such vehicles arriving in the area. I got a bad feeling about it, but, what the heck, keep hunting and try and stay away from them.
My friend told me that night, he'd stuck a decent buck. Sat down as we all do and let the animal expire peacefully. NOPE. One of our friendly, "open-minded", love children from California came walking up the trail whistling and whooping. He'd seen my friend shoot the deer and was now doing everything he could to keep the deer moving. My friend approached him and said, "you realize you just scared off a wounded deer?!" His answer, "Yes! You hunters!"
WRAP UP
Anyway, after 8 days of hard searching, and little to show for it, we headed home empty handed. Had it not been for the unethical actions of two other hunters and the presence of anti-hunters in the area. I'd call this trip a huge success. But, as if to throw gasoline on the fire. On the way out, we stopped at a USFS campground to dispose of our three bags of trash. We stopped at the dumpsters and unloaded the trash. Wouldn't you know it, and I am in no way exaggerating, some guy in his 50's, with a ponytail, shorts, and birkenstocks, walks over to us and says, "Would you mind turning off your truck while you do that?" My nephew and I looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Yes!"
Would I try that unit again? Not sure, it will depend on whether I get drawn for my out of state tags. Those will be my priority.
