Canebrake Jr quail and chukar hunt

[M4A1]

My kids got drawn for the Canebrake Jr hunt opening Saturday the 21st(gonna miss the duck opener).
I have printed and read as much as I can find on CDFW, but I was looking for anyone
who has any experience with this hunt.
Thanks.

 

[RKE]

Good luck, we struck out!

 

[M4A1]

Good luck, we struck out!

Have you got any advice as to what we need to do?

 

[RKE]

Have you got any advice as to what we need to do?

I’m pretty familiar with the area, but I’ve never drawn that hunt. I’m happy to talk more if you want to send me a DM.

 

[ilovesprig]

Pretty familiar with the area, but not the hunt....In the old days, it was the Bloomfield Ranch....Never did get in birds in the Canebrake....High sage and pretty difficult terrain in most of it as I recall...Did you draw the Scodie Canyon unit?...I would think that would be better.......

Kelso Valley. Scodie Mt., Sage, and Horse Canyon were always best......

 

[M4A1]

Pretty familiar with the area, but not the hunt....In the old days, it was the Bloomfield Ranch....Never did get in birds in the Canebrake....High sage and pretty difficult terrain in most of it, as I recall...Did you draw the Scodie Canyon unit?...I would think that would be better.......

Kelso Valley. Scodie Mt., Sage, and Horse Canyon were always best......

Thanks for the info

 

[GUNDOGLOVER49]

Pretty familiar with the area, but not the hunt....In the old days, it was the Bloomfield Ranch....Never did get in birds in the Canebrake....High sage and pretty difficult terrain in most of it as I recall...Did you draw the Scodie Canyon unit?...I would think that would be better.......

Kelso Valley. Scodie Mt., Sage, and Horse Canyon were always best......

I sure spent a lot of time in those areas. We had a lot of good quail, including Mt. quail and chukar, Devil birds.

 

[SteveHazard]

There's always quail around the entrance to the Scodie unit. You'll have to try and get them to flush away from the homes so that your far enough away from town to take them legally. But they're always there. The guzzler in the back we refurbed last year so should be good. New apron surface, tank cleaned out, and lid supported correctly so the birds can actually get in. We were able to reuse the existing tank because it was in good condition so the FW biologist was talking about putting in another near the bottom of the canyon. Don't know if they did or not but they had a tank to do so. Looks like some of the sage near the bottom may of burned?

 

[M4A1]

There's always quail around the entrance to the Scodie unit. You'll have to try and get them to flush away from the homes so that your far enough away from town to take them legally. But they're always there. The guzzler in the back we refurbed last year so should be good. New apron surface, tank cleaned out, and lid supported correctly so the birds can actually get in. We were able to reuse the existing tank because it was in good condition so the FW biologist was talking about putting in another near the bottom of the canyon. Don't know if they did or not but they had a tank to do so. Looks like some of the sage near the bottom may of burned?

thank you. how far back is the guzzler?

 

[GUNDOGLOVER49]

thank you. how far back is the guzzler?

Make sure you know the rules for hunting near guzzlers.

 

[SteveHazard]

thank you. how far back is the guzzler?

Probably about 3 miles up the Canyon from the gate at Onyx on the East side. It's not far from what would be Scodie spring and it is easily visible on googles sat images. There's another halfway down up an East side canyon but I can't speak to it's condition. The springs up there almost certainly have water this year as well. There's water all over this year tbh.

 

[SteveHazard]

Make sure you know the rules for hunting near guzzlers.

Yeah you can't squat over small sources of water for upland of mammals and use them as bait basically. That'd be a slow, boring, and not very effective way to hunt upland anyways in my opinion.

 

[RKE]

How’d it go for you guys?

 

[GUNDOGLOVER49]

Yeah you can't squat over small sources of water for upland of mammals and use them as bait basically. That'd be a slow, boring, and not very effective way to hunt upland anyways in my opinion.

I wasn't talking about setting up shop there. You are not allowed to hunt within 200 yards of guzzlers. If you are near a guzzlers you cannot hunt there for more than 30 mins. the Same rule applies for streams.

 

[ilovesprig]

I wasn't talking about setting up shop there. You are not allowed to hunt within 200 yards of guzzlers. If you are near a guzzlers you cannot hunt there for more than 30 mins. the Same rule applies for streams.

“730. Camping Near or Occupying Wildlife Watering Places.


“(a) Camping/Occupying Defined. For purposes of this Section, camping/occupying is defined as establishing or inhabiting a camp; resting; picnicking; sleeping; parking or inhabiting any motor vehicle or trailer; hunting; or engaging in any other recreational activity for a period of more than thirty (30) minutes at a given location.


“(b) Wildlife Watering Places Defined. For purposes of this Section, wildlife watering places are defined as waterholes, springs, seeps and man-made watering devices for wildlife such as guzzlers (self-filling, in-the-ground water storage tanks), horizontal wells and small impoundments of less than one surface acre in size.


“(c) Prohibitions.


“(1) Camping/Occupying is prohibited within 200 yards of the following:


“(A) Any guzzler or horizontal well for wildlife on public land within the State of California.


“(B) Any of the wildlife watering places on public land within the boundary of the California Desert Conservation Area as depicted on the Bureau of Land Management maps of ‘Calif. Federal Public Lands Responsibility,’ ‘Calif. Desert Conservation Area’ and the new ‘Desert District, B.L.M.’ ”

For example, this means hunting dove over a waterhole or a spring/seep for deer is illegal...It does state public lands....Hmmmmmm

Confusing enough?.......

 

[M4A1]

**POST-HUNT
**POST HUNT REPORT**
We got on the road at 0245, after the obligatory stop for snacks and ice at the local ARCO. After a 3ish hour drive to Canebrake via Mojave, we arrived at the plotted gps point. (FYI the Dennys in Mojave doesn't open til 0500). I wasn't even sure that we were at the right spot, as we were the 1st ones there. Few minutes later, a white truck containing the CDFW biologist for Kern County shows up and starts check in. She checked the boys for their license and safety equipment, and at shoot time, we were humping thru the flats. I had forgot something at my truck, and after getting it, introduced myself to the other gentleman that showed up with his son, who was roughly the same age as my 2. I asked him if he wanted to join up, as 5 are better than 3 and 2. Bonus, he had 2 dogs.
After 3 hours, and several miles of crawling up and down the rocks and mountains, as it warmed up, the boys were absolutely smoked. We decided to call it around 10. I got the contact info for the gentleman we met, said goodbye to the the dogs, and headed back to the check out station. When we arrived at the check out station, the local warden was there, checked for licenses, ammo and checked my oldest's shotgun for a plug(the youngest runs a Savage 311A 20g double barrel, older than I am), checked my backpack, we were on our way home. They napped the entire way home, except for a stop in El Monte for tacos(Teddy Red Tacos)

Lessons learned:
1. They got to hunt over dogs for the 1st time.
2. They learned that if you're hunting with someone's else' dogs or equipment, they get 1st shot.
3. They learned that the wardens aren't to be feared, and that interacting with them is easy.
4. We learned that hunting that far away is fine, but too far for a day trip, next time we will go up the night before.


They got off around 5 or 6 shots each, but we got skunked. It was the opener, and it's a long season. Thank you for everyone who responded with tips and info. It was all appreciated

 

[ilovesprig]

Jason,

Thanks for sharing this adventure with us...These kind of hunting trips will never be forgotten and are life long experiences that can not be duplicated.........

 

[SteveHazard]

I wasn't talking about setting up shop there. You are not allowed to hunt within 200 yards of guzzlers. If you are near a guzzlers you cannot hunt there for more than 30 mins. the Same rule applies for streams.

I wrote a thing but realized sprig posted the law.
You can walk into these zones. It's occupying them, AKA squatting in there, for more then 30 mins.
Being in violation any time you entered one of these 400 yard spheres of corridors would be absurd and irrational.

 

[SteveHazard]

Thanks for the report hope you have a good season.

 

[GUNDOGLOVER49]

Respectfully I think you have that wrong and I'll explain why that doesn't make sense. There are over 2000 guzzlers in the state. Many in concentrated areas. The state, unlike others, has chosen to not make their locations public. Being so it is very likely that somebody could be out hunting and unknowingly and unintentionally enter one of many of these 400 yard no hunt spheres around a guzzler or spring. So you are saying that there are countless no hunt spheres surrounding guzzlers, springs, and even 400 yard corridors of no hunt zones for streams? Think how absurd that would be? Is this really what the law says? It could and if it does I'll acknowledge as such but I'm willing to bet this is FUDlore like having to be x number of yards from a trail etc.

I think the law is you can't hunt near (200 yards) any small body of water (a square footage or surface area is stated) for more then 30 mins. AKA squatting. This would include guzzlers, springs, and ponds. But not necessary streams. If they are contiguous and connect to a larger bodies of water then they will exceed the surface area or what is considered small. Or possibly by just being long enough.

Don't blame me, I got info from DFG site. Also, Read Sprigs post #15, section 730(a). But like anything put out by DFG, it's as clear as mud.