CALIFORNIA HUNTERS’ OPINIONS ON DEER HUNTING, SEASON STRUCTURE, HUNTING REGULATIONS

[pieeater]

I'm not against doe hunts where there are enough deer. In this state I would probably just do limited doe hunts for youth Hunters when and if the herds could support it.

[elk hunter]

Yes that would be a good thing. But you have to have hunters that know how to hunt them and which ones to shoot. I don't think the majority of the weekend warriors Joe Sixpack types would know how to decide to shoot or not shoot. It often takes a keen eye, some good savy and careful study of the animals when deciding on which one to pop the cap on and the ones to let go.

[pieeater]

Its extremely tough to judge. California with its human population could probably never sustain many doe hunts. If they did any it could be youth only and in a state area not traditionaly opened to deer hunting. The only reason I would have doe hunts is if the tags were cut way back. And that would be to give beginning youth hunters something to hunt

QUOTE=elk hunter;15857645]Yes that would be a good thing. But you have to have hunters that know how to hunt them and which ones to shoot. I don't think the majority of the weekend warriors Joe Sixpack types would know how to decide to shoot or not shoot. It often takes a keen eye, some good savy and careful study of the animals when deciding on which one to pop the cap on and the ones to let go.[/QUOTE]

[Don@Tahoe]

D5 is the only area I hunt and have been hunting the same areas for the last 35 years, with that being said I know nothing about other areas in CA.
Our local herds tend to be all migratories from both the West and East slope, the vegetation and water is always abundant up here, the deer do not have to compete for food. Migratories tend to come back to the same areas they were raised as fawns, that's why once a herd is decimated like the West slope X8 herd was about 14 years ago by the cow disease Bluetongue it takes an extremely long time for the herd to recover. I'm not sure that herd will ever fully recover, lions, bears, and coyotes are taking a toll on the fawns every year, the total number of deer in that area is probably less than 20, used to be several hundred. My point is these migratory herds are pretty delicate, when I see a grown man coming out with a little two finger forkie I feel like ***** slapping him, the words are always the same "I filled a tag" my hunting buddies and I probably pass on 10 to 20 a year but, that's why we have huge bucks around us, we all know they will be back next season bigger and better. If us local guys shot every legal buck there would not be any deer left around here, I like the fact we take responsibility to keep the herd healthy and let young bucks grow into trophy animals. Obviously I'm talking about our honey holes not the popular D5 spots, also, I'm not talking about kids shooting their first deer, don't have a problem with that at all.
Doe hunts in D5? I would say no, Does are way to valuable to the migratory herds, look at how many get hit by vehicles during the migration, a friend of mine counted six one morning in a 5 mile stretch, that plus predators and other things I would say no.

[elk hunter]

I would have to say that your doing your part right, but what about the other 10,000 other guys? They don't give a chit about which tiny forky they shoot. I've seen some 50 pound legal bucks and even ran one off because he was following me only to have the poor little son-of a buck run into someone who was willing to pop a cap on him. You could tie his feet together and pick him up like a suit case, suit case deer.

[Don@Tahoe]

"Suitcase deer" that's a first, LOL!

[HUTCH 7.62]

Doe Season!

[chris]

managing the deer herd in this state is an oxymoron. they have no interest in doing that here ever.

[LynnJr]

D5 is the only area I hunt and have been hunting the same areas for the last 35 years, with that being said I know nothing about other areas in CA.
Our local herds tend to be all migratories from both the West and East slope, the vegetation and water is always abundant up here, the deer do not have to compete for food. Migratories tend to come back to the same areas they were raised as fawns, that's why once a herd is decimated like the West slope X8 herd was about 14 years ago by the cow disease Bluetongue it takes an extremely long time for the herd to recover. I'm not sure that herd will ever fully recover, lions, bears, and coyotes are taking a toll on the fawns every year, the total number of deer in that area is probably less than 20, used to be several hundred. My point is these migratory herds are pretty delicate, when I see a grown man coming out with a little two finger forkie I feel like ***** slapping him, the words are always the same "I filled a tag" my hunting buddies and I probably pass on 10 to 20 a year but, that's why we have huge bucks around us, we all know they will be back next season bigger and better. If us local guys shot every legal buck there would not be any deer left around here, I like the fact we take responsibility to keep the herd healthy and let young bucks grow into trophy animals. Obviously I'm talking about our honey holes not the popular D5 spots, also, I'm not talking about kids shooting their first deer, don't have a problem with that at all.
Doe hunts in D5? I would say no, Does are way to valuable to the migratory herds, look at how many get hit by vehicles during the migration, a friend of mine counted six one morning in a 5 mile stretch, that plus predators and other things I would say no.

Don
I am starting to think you and I are very similar in our thinking.

The only thing doe hunts will do is to further decimate what is left.

The big cats haven't been legally hunted in 40 years so what does the fish and game think those things are eating and how many per cat per year?

The fire suppression is huge were I hunt because deer need quality feed to breed enough to actually grow a herd and not just sustain it.
We are no longer allowed to control burn our properties so all the things deer eat are all old growth and dont offer any nutrient value.

Limiting the tags won't do anything to grow the herds were I hunt. They could force everyone in the state to hunt here and with our current season dates the kill ratio wouldnt change. The guys that get there bucks each and every year wont change and the guys getting a buck every ten years wont change.

In the good ole days we burned every third draw and made sure the deer had guzzlers which were called improved springs back in the day.

We also had fewer frustrated hunters back then so you saw less does shot for target practice in the past.

Today we shoot mainly longrange and the shot is more important than the antlers but we rarely shoot deer with antlers so small you have to hang a ring on them to make sure they are legal.

[DSMeyer]

I concur about the doe seasons here in California. The herds here just can't take the hit.
I to have seen way to many legal dog deer taken, sure they're tender but thats just crazy selfish. They need to fully limit tag allotment and increase the antler size/point to allow the dumb little bucks to mature a bit longer.
Somewhere I read that it takes 26 acres to support one deer for the year, it doesn't seem like a lot but a decent herd is a minimum of 50-100 animals. That's quite a bit of land. Now add in the equation of every encroaching human development and you can see how it impacts deer habitat/sustainability. Then factor in all of the don't hurt kitty or pooh bear laws. Quality and numerous Deer are doomed!
I hunt a lot of places out of state that have above par to excellent management and controlled burns, this equals to great hunting. My only gripe is that there's a good source everywhere because of this. It then becomes a hunters game of finding water and bedding locations, but that's hunting.

[MJB]

This study was done so they could say we asked the hunters...........but....

[jmonte35]

Worst deer management in the whole union....period. California will not invest the resources to properly manage the herd for the good of the public and herd.

What's even worse is California is probably one of the best states in the country when it comes to habitat diversity. What a shame.

The entire structure of big game management should be on par with what they've done for elk. Nearly all public lands should be a draw. Hunters may not be happy that they can't hunt every year but they should be happy that they will have better opportunities when they are selected. Much smaller zones, far shorter firearm seasons, and season date adjustments will help significantly and will help make tracking and statistics better show deer population.

Water problems further complicate the situation. It's an absolute shame...

[LynnJr]

I couldn't agree more with some of what you say. You got lions you don't have many or any deer, it's a simple fact. As I said they are managing money and people not deer, sell those tags and get that money is what is their priority. I probably pass up more deer here in one season than most there would see in ten years, why? I hunt for meat and a little deer doesn't give much of it a big deer does. Shooting old does is OK with me and I do it once in a while but shooting the best of the breeding stock is bad JuJu it's going to wreck your herd. A well fed healthy doe in her prime will "almost always" throw pairs of (2) fawns. Give the best does that produce the "let em go" and take out the old ones that done give you anything back. Be selective and it helps the over all. Control predators....all of them. If the animals are managed right and the range is managed right you can have both doe and buck hunts even in the rut, it wont hurt the herd. Don't do it right and you see the results in Calif. As a retired CDF Fireman I could write books about this burning but most wouldn't want to hear the truth about fire. All you do when you burn and not control the predators and the tags/season/bag is set the dinner table for the lions and yotes. I hope it gets above 0 today.

I agree with your take on the doe shooting but the current crop of hunters will not shoot the older does they will shoot the first thing they see.

Your last sentence says it all.
If you have small controlled burns the deer will flock to the new growth. The cats which are sprinters and not marathon runners will sit on the edge of the burn and pick the deer off.
If the burns are large the deer stand a much better chance.

[wfobase]

habit has a lot to do with the health of the herd and especially the predation. I did read a report where the deer herd plummeted faster than expected because of the mountain lions. the cats would normally kill a deer once to twice every week, but the bears would chase off them off their kill. forcing them to kill more then normal. the new law in place - no using dogs to hunt bears - the bear populations are going to increase, and id say that is what might happen or already started to happen, since f&w really have no clue as to the cat population.
people see big huge deer daily around their houses, so they don't think about the population around the state