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My wife and I finished out the early deer season here on Sunday. We only filled one tag but had the opportunity to fill both. Yours truly needs to go back to shooting school and range estimation school. Anyway here's our little forkie, not killed with a levergun however.
This little guy was tale end charlie in a herd of three bucks. The first one was a good buck that I carefully shot over. He was at least a three pointer that probably measured 17-18". A good buck in this country! I violated the cardinal rule. Always shoot at hair at least on your first shot. In my defense it was early-right at the beginning of legal shooting time-30 minutes before sunup. I could only see him with binoculars or through the scope. There were a couple of low ridges between us and him and I thought he was about 400 yards out heading up hill for bed. After the sun came up I could see it was more like 300 yards.
But we got to hunt til the end, we saw a total of eight bucks and we had a great time.
Congratulations - nice buck...for those that don't know it, Marc is "Mr. Automatic" when it comes to getting a California buck every year. Whereas the rest of us will be lucky to get one every ten years.
So, how many does did you have to see to see 8 bucks? I saw about 10 does this year but no bucks. Of course, that is mostly in low country.
Any game wardens asking about copper ammo? Where I camped, the game warden came by, but didn't check ammo or even mention it. I got the feeling the rule will be ignored by the game wardens.
"I'll tell you what living is. You get up when you feel like it. You fry yourself some eggs. You see what kind of a day it is."
Congratulations on your buck. At least someone bagged something this year.
The opener of the C Zones was a bust. After 4 days in the field up near Caribou Peak in C4, I saw a grand total of 4 does. Two other hunters whom I met saw only 6 does and 2 spikes the entire week. They put away the rifles and took up fishing for their weekend. I spoke to a warden who validated only 12 tags the entire weekend. Said it was the most dismal season she's seen in a decade. Another Fish & Game warden said they had predicted a drop of 80 - 90% in deer numbers for the Northeast portion of California!!! He said the drought and loss of habitat from fires has really killed off a lot of the fawns over the last few years. The bad news for the California deer herds just keeps piling up.
As for the copper ammo, it's not an issue (yet) up here in the North. Haven't had a single warden even care or ask about it. Each one, though, sure liked checking out my Browning 1895 though! In a good way....
Some people just need a sympathetic pat on the head.....with a hammer. Repeatedly.
Sweet little buck. I missed the last weekend, but already scored anyway. It was typical to see as many as 8-10 bucks every day, but most were forkies so not shootable for us. By choice, we limit ourselves to 3X3, or better. I saw no 4X4s, either. Prob'ly see a bunch now that the season has passed. I haven't made up my mind whether or not to get a D zone tag. Next month will be pig time. 1 Nov will be time to head for Colorado for 3rd season elk. Hopefully the 71 will score.
"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged"....President Abraham Lincoln
Thanks! I will say I earn these bucks. This one fell about 8 miles from the truck. He got to the truck by muscle power.
What's a game warden? Haven't seen one in years!
I don't know how many does we saw. I know we saw over 10 one day. The reason we saw them is because I was hoping the rut would start so I went where the does live. Unless the rut is on we often don't see very many does where the bucks hang out. They did not go into the rut however.
The season here wasn't real good either. The area where we got the buck burned two years ago and is coming back. The area we hunt just to the south burned last year and is barren. Very little new growth and very few deer! There were a bunch of little forkies killed but probably not that many considering how many hunters were there. Nobody else I talked to even saw any bigger bucks. We also saw a decent forkhorn bedded way down in a canyon. He was probably 15" or so with 5-6" tines. If he had been a better buck I would have gone down there. We watched him until he moved into the brush. I am sure I could have killed him. Since he was just a fork I didn't want to work that hard.
We really need a couple years with good rain!
I am going to Colorado for the first elk season. I think I will get a D tag. I will have two weeks to hunt after Colorado and Lordy, I love to hunt! I hate to kill one early because then I can't hunt anymore. Good luck with the 71!
Marc, we are way up north in San Benito, Co, smack in the middle of Pinnacles Condor Country. I certainly do not mind the copper bullets, either. Lot's less bloodshot meat and through penetration on the blackies.
I do wish that the ranch was a bit flatter, though.
"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged"....President Abraham Lincoln
Mike, we have been using the copper bullets since the mid 90's and like them a lot.
A lot of this country down here is pretty flat. Trouble is, it is all standing on edge! I always said the Los Padres might be big but it would be huge if they would pull all the wrinkles out. On the other hand it keeps the flatlanders out.
What unit do you hunt in Colorado? Last year was my first trip and was a bust. I think we went third season to 21 and 30. It was very warm and dry and the elk stayed in deep cover. They were even whining about how bad the season was on the local radio station. Those units are premium deer units though. It took 10 preference points to draw last year. 4x4's are a dime a dozen. It was fun looking at all the bucks!
