New to the bay area and have a couple of questions..

[DeerHunter504]

How's it goin everybody/ I'm new to the area and to the forum for that matter, so just trying to figure some things out. I'm 32, 18yrs of that have been spent hunting, southern louisiana mostly. I'm just trying to figure out a good place/group of people to start inquiring about a possible deer lease in the area. I've hunted public and private land(currently still a member of a lease down in scooba, ms) and know that its way too far along this season to start anything out here. This would be mostly for next season. Also looking for any possible hunting buddies in the area. None of my people out here hunt, but it's become practically religion for me and I'd be willing to go the extra distance and do whatever it takes to get into a solid deer lease and/or just hook up with some like minded people.

Anyway, just wanted to kind of introduce myself. And I will be doing some lurking through the forum, see how you boys do it out here. FWIW try not and confuse my low post count with bein a noob. If i chime in on somethin, it'll usually be worth your time.

Also been doing some stalking through the woods with my camera, will try and post some pics. Ya'll have some pretty damn big deer out here.

[mcmikeblues7]

Those deer look great! never seen deer like that in the bay area before, we have a lot of deer but the biggest I've seen was a small 6 pointer. I'm in Marin County, I am not deer hunting (in California) this year but I will be next year, hopefully. Most big game california hunting is spot and stalk. Don't let the success rates fool you, deer hunting in California can be pretty good if you do your part. We just have a lot of lazy hunters, and people who hunt hard, but only get out once a season. I have not truly considered private land in California yet, as I am relatively new to this and low on cash. Are you interested in small game or fowl? I have a good squirrel spot, though it may have been burnt out, and the season lasts until January.
Good luck on your search for private land!

[DeerHunter504]

Ironically enough all of those shots were takin in marin. Yeah it's seemingly a completely different ballgame out here for me. I'm used to rifle hunting from box and tree stands/archery from 20ft tree stands, basically alot of stands. I'm into small game a couple of times a season. Louisiana I had a killer fox squirrel spot. Unfortunately my 870 is in louisiana and wont be out here till around February. I only came out here with my 700 (.270) hoping to slip into the woods some time this season, but it looks like I'm gonna do deer down south this year. I'm in the eastbay though if you're lookin for a buddy to tag along anytime though. On the private land note, I'm starting to find some places. It's a little pricey, seems less though as you go north. I'm gonna check out whats available publicly within a reasonable drive, but the regulations(too damn many) and no motor vehicle thing kinda bothers me. I've killed and dragged my fare share of deer at this point and the thought of having to lug a big boy up some of these hills isn't sitting too right yet. But we'll see, it's all a learning experience. Let me know if you want anymore pics from your neck of the woods.

[mcmikeblues7]

Ironically enough all of those shots were takin in marin. Yeah it's seemingly a completely different ballgame out here for me. I'm used to rifle hunting from box and tree stands/archery from 20ft tree stands, basically alot of stands. I'm into small game a couple of times a season. Louisiana I had a killer fox squirrel spot. Unfortunately my 870 is in louisiana and wont be out here till around February. I only came out here with my 700 (.270) hoping to slip into the woods some time this season, but it looks like I'm gonna do deer down south this year. I'm in the eastbay though if you're lookin for a buddy to tag along anytime though. On the private land note, I'm starting to find some places. It's a little pricey, seems less though as you go north. I'm gonna check out whats available publicly within a reasonable drive, but the regulations(too damn many) and no motor vehicle thing kinda bothers me. I've killed and dragged my fare share of deer at this point and the thought of having to lug a big boy up some of these hills isn't sitting too right yet. But we'll see, it's all a learning experience. Let me know if you want anymore pics from your neck of the woods.

Were they taken on Mount Tamalpais? I've seen some nice deer there. I have a shotgun as well as a .22, if we do end up going for rabbit, you could use one of them.

[yoteassasin]

have someone send your scatter gun up..duck season starts in 2 weeeks and there is a pile of public land within 45min of the east bay to hunt. Where in the east bay are you at? and where in south lousiana are you from? I had a buddy move down there for a crop dusting job 6 years ago and swears he will never come back

[DeerHunter504]

have someone send your scatter gun up..duck season starts in 2 weeeks and there is a pile of public land within 45min of the east bay to hunt. Where in the east bay are you at? and where in south lousiana are you from? I had a buddy move down there for a crop dusting job 6 years ago and swears he will never come back

I'm in the temescal area of oakland, pretty close to berkeley. I'm born and raised in new orleans, went to highschool on the north shore covington/mandeville, but grew up hunting all over southeastern lousiana. Pearl river wma, lake ramsey wma, big branch nwr, etc. I have a lease through the end of the season in mississippi I'm gonna take advantage of. In louisiana(in my area anyway) we're alotted 6 white tail tags per season.3 antlered/3 antlerless. I intend to fill at least three of those this year down there, hence I'll be in and out of the bay for the next four months.

I'm gonna get the rest of my guns out here in that period. Which I'm gonna have more questions because I'm still not quite clear on some of the legal issues. I have a nice ruger 10/22, not sure if the ten round is legal to have. I have my pump 870 12 which holds 5 3"mags but I have it plugged to hold only 3, don't know if that's too many for deer but okay for fowl, or some fowl no ducks, etc. idunno the laws here are crazy. Everything else is crackbarrel/single shot so I'm gonna assume those are okay. I also rock one of the old jennings buckmaster bows, I'll be bringing that out here too. Although I'm deadly to about 35 yds and confident. I've been reading about people out here taking 60+ yd shots? Either they're bs'ing or have some crazy bow or something, maybe thats what archery has come to out here and I need to upgrade, but thats gonna be a whole new learning curve. I'll stop rambling.

[CasperSYTFU]

I'm just now starting to get into hunting.
Will be taking my required hunters ed course and am looking to start small game hunting.
I'm also in the East Bay so if you're up to heading out with a new hunter for rabbits and squirrel I'm up for it.

[lewdogg21]

I'm in the temescal area of oakland, pretty close to berkeley. I'm born and raised in new orleans, went to highschool on the north shore covington/mandeville, but grew up hunting all over southeastern lousiana. Pearl river wma, lake ramsey wma, big branch nwr, etc. I have a lease through the end of the season in mississippi I'm gonna take advantage of. In louisiana(in my area anyway) we're alotted 6 white tail tags per season.3 antlered/3 antlerless. I intend to fill at least three of those this year down there, hence I'll be in and out of the bay for the next four months.

I'm gonna get the rest of my guns out here in that period. Which I'm gonna have more questions because I'm still not quite clear on some of the legal issues. I have a nice ruger 10/22, not sure if the ten round is legal to have. I have my pump 870 12 which holds 5 3"mags but I have it plugged to hold only 3, don't know if that's too many for deer but okay for fowl, or some fowl no ducks, etc. idunno the laws here are crazy. Everything else is crackbarrel/single shot so I'm gonna assume those are okay. I also rock one of the old jennings buckmaster bows, I'll be bringing that out here too. Although I'm deadly to about 35 yds and confident. I've been reading about people out here taking 60+ yd shots? Either they're bs'ing or have some crazy bow or something, maybe thats what archery has come to out here and I need to upgrade, but thats gonna be a whole new learning curve. I'll stop rambling.

Welcome. First off check out jesse's hunting forums (google it) as they have more traffic in the blacktail sections and you will have a lot better chance of checking out a lease. A guy posted about one in Mendo county in august for this season and he also posted some good bucks that he says were killed there. I think it was $1500.

Your Ruger 10/22 with those 10 round rotary clips are ok. The gist is 10 rounds and under = no sweat. Now if you owned hi cap magazines before the ban in 92 those are ok and so are buying "rebuild magazines" to repair them with but I believe if you were to bring them into the state you would be violating the law b/c you are "importing them into CA". Seek the 2A forum if you want more in depth. For shotguns you can have 3 for when chasing birds. For deer and other mammals I don't know exactly as no one I know uses a shotgun unless you get drawn for a shotgun only hunt.

For archery, welcome out west. With a lot of practice I was hitting grapefruit sized groupings at 60 yards a few years ago. A lot of our hunting is wide open and not from a stand so you need to be able to practice a lot and know your range limits.

[DeerHunter504]

I'm just now starting to get into hunting.
Will be taking my required hunters ed course and am looking to start small game hunting.
I'm also in the East Bay so if you're up to heading out with a new hunter for rabbits and squirrel I'm up for it.

Definitely. It seems like a couple of guys in the area are interested in getting together. Maybe we could work out a meeting day at a local range or something. Be good to get to know everybody before we march into the woods armed, haha.

Welcome. First off check out jesse's hunting forums (google it) as they have more traffic in the blacktail sections and you will have a lot better chance of checking out a lease. A guy posted about one in Mendo county in august for this season and he also posted some good bucks that he says were killed there. I think it was $1500.

Your Ruger 10/22 with those 10 round rotary clips are ok. The gist is 10 rounds and under = no sweat. Now if you owned hi cap magazines before the ban in 92 those are ok and so are buying "rebuild magazines" to repair them with but I believe if you were to bring them into the state you would be violating the law b/c you are "importing them into CA". Seek the 2A forum if you want more in depth. For shotguns you can have 3 for when chasing birds. For deer and other mammals I don't know exactly as no one I know uses a shotgun unless you get drawn for a shotgun only hunt.

For archery, welcome out west. With a lot of practice I was hitting grapefruit sized groupings at 60 yards a few years ago. A lot of our hunting is wide open and not from a stand so you need to be able to practice a lot and know your range limits.

Alright, I ran into jesses's in earlier google searches. I played around on the site a little and couldn't find any forums that had active users. I'll definitely go back and take a closer look.

Copy that on the magazine's capacity. I was worried about that. And on the archery note i hear you. I was just informed of a range in the area. Might be a trip to the shop in my not too distant future to catch up with the times as well. I don't want to be aiming at the sky for a 50 yd shot if you know what i mean.

[VFX_man]

Welcome to the State and Calguns!

You probably already know about these ranges that are really close to you.

http://www.chabotgunclub.com/

http://www.redwoodbowmen.org/

Bay area hunting does take some work for sure. I'm 99% sure those fine bucks in Marin will never be shot, just killed by a car or mountain lion.

A buddy of mine works for the Marin Water district and I tried to see if there was a chance in #### that one could hunt the area. No go

Same with the sprawling EBMUD land over near us.

Mike and I hunted Grizzly Island for rabbits this spring and got a few shots off, but the bunnies stayed just out of shotgun range (rifles not allowed).

I'm shuffling between SoCal and NorCal on a weekly basis, so connecting for a hunt will be tricky for me. But keep me posted.

Cheers!

[newcitizen]

Waterfowl hunting

Hello there and welcome to California! If you have a valid hunting license and waterfowl gear I go every Wednesday during the season and occasionally on the weekends when I barter for time from the wife. Either way I have an 870 you could use if you want to go with me some time. As you put it though, best to meet up first before heading into the woods or marshes!