Really long post
SHort story: I saw a mountain lion, 1 coyote (I almost shot), 0 deer
This is my first year hunting in 6 years I think. I use to do a bunch of predator hunting out near palomar mountain and alpine. Man I had some fun nights calling in yotes and bobcats. Anyways also use to hunt D6 for deer but never could quite close the distance. I did buy a D16 tag once and didnt do any scouting before the season and maybe hunted twice haha where I saw a mountain lion the first time I ever deer hunted. I thought man, this D16 stuff aint worth my time im just gonna predator hunt and go up to the sierras. Something gave me the itch this year to get back into deer hunting when a friend of mine texted me saying I should buy a D16 tag so I did, I decided I wanted to put in an honest effort this year since I have been missing hunting for so long. I was stoked to find out about OnX maps, like what a cool app right? I remember having to use maps or some shitty app so we usually just went with the map. I feel old writing this but I'm only 29 years old ha.
I remember the first few scouting trips how weird it felt to be out there on my own. Disconnected, slow. I could feel how fast my mind was going contrasted against a slow environment. A bit unsettling at times. Man did I love just getting on the trail because at least I was getting out of my own head. Sitting down and glassing was a bit better but damn how many times do I have to look at this mountain side before I see something haha. I resisted the urge to check for service and reach in my backpack for airpods to help my multi-tasking OCD. I was surprised how many hours I actually sat there and glassed, I'm talking all damn day
. Lots of those trips I committed to being there the whole day first light to last light. I found a bunch of quail at one point. That was pretty cool, walking down a trail and every 100 yard I bump the same set of quail for at least 6 times. I know where to go for quail now, thats pretty cool I thought. Almost stepped on a rattle snake. By my last scouting trip I had seen 0 deer. Damn I know this is gonna be a tough season if I'm gonna get it done. Deer opener was pretty eventful. I hit the trail at 4 am. Ooo its been a while since I've hiked in the dark, brought me back to my predator days. I find myself uncomfortable with the weak (not weak) headlamp I got so I keep pulling out my bigger flashlight every 100 yards or so. Saw a pair of eyes 200 yards from the trailhead. Kept going make my way down to the bottom where a little meadow opens up and boom catch a glint of some eyes. I use my bigger light and light up a solid pair of eyes at about 100 yards. The eyes got lower than the tall grass. Damn pretty sure its a predator, I can feel the wind on the back of the neck so I know it smells me. Pretty sure not a yote. Its in the way of my deer spot for the morning too haha, so I gotta go through it. I drew my glock that has a surefire light on it. I start getting closer about 70 yards and pull out my binos but still cant quite see it. Walk a few more yards and I can see rounded ears in the binos. Pretty sure thats a mountain lion. That primal shiver and tingle felt awesome. I felt uncomfortable backing out especially since I was in really thick stuff before I got to the meadow. I started talking loudly and walking towards it and it stands up broadside, sure enough long tail and a smaller looking lion. Did one little leap and skirted away. As I moved through that area to my spot I heard a big commotion in the thick stuff that I was in, I knew I bumped a deer. I get to my spot before first light and during first light a shot breaks off right next to me where that deer bumped. I was like f*ck did someone just shoot my deer?? haha. Then another shot and another and another I'm like wtf. A quail hunter walks up the little hill and im flabergasted. haha All that work to get to this one spot and it gets blown out by a quail hunter hahaha. I couldn't help but laugh. I walked over to another hill around 730/8 to try to get away from this guy and end up glassing and making breakfast. Biscuits and gravy mountain house, damn it was good. Another quail hunter comes down the canyon and I'm like I gotta get the f*ck outta here. I find a nice spot to glass during midday and started heading up a different draw and glassing at some decent real estate. I run into a dude that came in right behind me in the morning and went up the draw I had thought about checking out. We had a nice chat and talked about those damn quail hunters and the nice real estate we looked at. Then we started talking about COVID, politics, fish and wildlife regulations, bird hunting all kinds of things. I forgot the guys name but he was cool. Anyways I let him get up the draw and I took my time looking into each of these mini draws or spurs going up one of the ridges. I sat on this nice little mini bowl of mini draws and glassed it apart, I will admit that I watched the omaley/yan, oliviera vs makhachev fight on my phone but I was mostly glassing i swear. Well its almost end of shooting time so I walk up to the truck and maybe I'll see something while I walk. Nada, slept in the truck and hunted the next morning but nothing there then checked out some other spots I wanted to look at. All in all that was a fun deer opener. Oh! And I got poison oak on my my arm, that sucked. Fast forward to this weekend and I parked at a new road with another truck near by so I get ready quickly and hit the trail. I go right down to the farthest corner of that patch of land. I see him up on the opposite ridge of a nice draw. I move out about an hour after first light and scoot down this mini draws looking with my binos but nada. I felt like I picked the area apart pretty well but it was a small patch of land. I got to the other side of patch and walk through some nice trees and high grass and get on top of a ridge that was covered with oak trees. Im at the boundary so I gotta go back, as I'm heading back on top of this ridge I call my girlfriend and just slowly walking then boom I see a coyote coming up the draw, hell yeah its on. I tell my girl I gotta go and hang up. What should I do? He was heading into the wooded area of the draw. I didnt think I had time to stop him and drop to the ground for a 300yd shot. I move quickly to the top of the draw where it opens up and he never showed up. He either heard me or had a different route he wanted to go. I pullout my hand call and start calling but he never comes in, wind was real good and everything. I could see if he wanted to circle around the little ridge I was on. Nice little hike back to the truck and headed home. I should be getting out this weekend and looking forward to seeing what this weekend has in store for me.
SHort story: I saw a mountain lion, 1 coyote (I almost shot), 0 deer
This is my first year hunting in 6 years I think. I use to do a bunch of predator hunting out near palomar mountain and alpine. Man I had some fun nights calling in yotes and bobcats. Anyways also use to hunt D6 for deer but never could quite close the distance. I did buy a D16 tag once and didnt do any scouting before the season and maybe hunted twice haha where I saw a mountain lion the first time I ever deer hunted. I thought man, this D16 stuff aint worth my time im just gonna predator hunt and go up to the sierras. Something gave me the itch this year to get back into deer hunting when a friend of mine texted me saying I should buy a D16 tag so I did, I decided I wanted to put in an honest effort this year since I have been missing hunting for so long. I was stoked to find out about OnX maps, like what a cool app right? I remember having to use maps or some shitty app so we usually just went with the map. I feel old writing this but I'm only 29 years old ha.
I remember the first few scouting trips how weird it felt to be out there on my own. Disconnected, slow. I could feel how fast my mind was going contrasted against a slow environment. A bit unsettling at times. Man did I love just getting on the trail because at least I was getting out of my own head. Sitting down and glassing was a bit better but damn how many times do I have to look at this mountain side before I see something haha. I resisted the urge to check for service and reach in my backpack for airpods to help my multi-tasking OCD. I was surprised how many hours I actually sat there and glassed, I'm talking all damn day
. Lots of those trips I committed to being there the whole day first light to last light. I found a bunch of quail at one point. That was pretty cool, walking down a trail and every 100 yard I bump the same set of quail for at least 6 times. I know where to go for quail now, thats pretty cool I thought. Almost stepped on a rattle snake. By my last scouting trip I had seen 0 deer. Damn I know this is gonna be a tough season if I'm gonna get it done. Deer opener was pretty eventful. I hit the trail at 4 am. Ooo its been a while since I've hiked in the dark, brought me back to my predator days. I find myself uncomfortable with the weak (not weak) headlamp I got so I keep pulling out my bigger flashlight every 100 yards or so. Saw a pair of eyes 200 yards from the trailhead. Kept going make my way down to the bottom where a little meadow opens up and boom catch a glint of some eyes. I use my bigger light and light up a solid pair of eyes at about 100 yards. The eyes got lower than the tall grass. Damn pretty sure its a predator, I can feel the wind on the back of the neck so I know it smells me. Pretty sure not a yote. Its in the way of my deer spot for the morning too haha, so I gotta go through it. I drew my glock that has a surefire light on it. I start getting closer about 70 yards and pull out my binos but still cant quite see it. Walk a few more yards and I can see rounded ears in the binos. Pretty sure thats a mountain lion. That primal shiver and tingle felt awesome. I felt uncomfortable backing out especially since I was in really thick stuff before I got to the meadow. I started talking loudly and walking towards it and it stands up broadside, sure enough long tail and a smaller looking lion. Did one little leap and skirted away. As I moved through that area to my spot I heard a big commotion in the thick stuff that I was in, I knew I bumped a deer. I get to my spot before first light and during first light a shot breaks off right next to me where that deer bumped. I was like f*ck did someone just shoot my deer?? haha. Then another shot and another and another I'm like wtf. A quail hunter walks up the little hill and im flabergasted. haha All that work to get to this one spot and it gets blown out by a quail hunter hahaha. I couldn't help but laugh. I walked over to another hill around 730/8 to try to get away from this guy and end up glassing and making breakfast. Biscuits and gravy mountain house, damn it was good. Another quail hunter comes down the canyon and I'm like I gotta get the f*ck outta here. I find a nice spot to glass during midday and started heading up a different draw and glassing at some decent real estate. I run into a dude that came in right behind me in the morning and went up the draw I had thought about checking out. We had a nice chat and talked about those damn quail hunters and the nice real estate we looked at. Then we started talking about COVID, politics, fish and wildlife regulations, bird hunting all kinds of things. I forgot the guys name but he was cool. Anyways I let him get up the draw and I took my time looking into each of these mini draws or spurs going up one of the ridges. I sat on this nice little mini bowl of mini draws and glassed it apart, I will admit that I watched the omaley/yan, oliviera vs makhachev fight on my phone but I was mostly glassing i swear. Well its almost end of shooting time so I walk up to the truck and maybe I'll see something while I walk. Nada, slept in the truck and hunted the next morning but nothing there then checked out some other spots I wanted to look at. All in all that was a fun deer opener. Oh! And I got poison oak on my my arm, that sucked. Fast forward to this weekend and I parked at a new road with another truck near by so I get ready quickly and hit the trail. I go right down to the farthest corner of that patch of land. I see him up on the opposite ridge of a nice draw. I move out about an hour after first light and scoot down this mini draws looking with my binos but nada. I felt like I picked the area apart pretty well but it was a small patch of land. I got to the other side of patch and walk through some nice trees and high grass and get on top of a ridge that was covered with oak trees. Im at the boundary so I gotta go back, as I'm heading back on top of this ridge I call my girlfriend and just slowly walking then boom I see a coyote coming up the draw, hell yeah its on. I tell my girl I gotta go and hang up. What should I do? He was heading into the wooded area of the draw. I didnt think I had time to stop him and drop to the ground for a 300yd shot. I move quickly to the top of the draw where it opens up and he never showed up. He either heard me or had a different route he wanted to go. I pullout my hand call and start calling but he never comes in, wind was real good and everything. I could see if he wanted to circle around the little ridge I was on. Nice little hike back to the truck and headed home. I should be getting out this weekend and looking forward to seeing what this weekend has in store for me.
