D11 Report and Howdy

[Jacobs18]

Howdy everyone, new member here and also a new deer hunter.

My father and I traveled up to Guffy Campground on Blue Ridge near Wrightwood, in D11. We arrived around 5:30 in the evening on the Friday before the opener and found both Blue Ridge Campground and Guffy completely full. We found a place to sleep in the car off the road and eventually had 3 other cars pull next to us. Overall there were about 20 cars near Guffy with about the same at Blue Ridge. We had located a game trail that seemed to lead to a bedding site the weekend before and set out at 445 to get to it. Naturally, we didn't get anything. Didn't even see anything. We headed back to camp for breakfast about 9. Even with all those hunters we only heard one shot, and the wardens who checked our ammo said they had only heard 2.

Still, it was a good day scouting around trying to find a place that wasn't nearly vertical, super thick with brush, or covered with hunters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bonejour]

Welcome J. Good report. Public land... gotta work to get clear of the crowd.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[longbowhunter2]

Way to get out. Thanks for sharing. Also welcome.

Welcome J. Good report. Public land... gotta work to get clear of the crowd.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BakoHNTR]

That's public land for you brother. The farther you walk, the better it gets. Go where the others won't.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[xjon]

For future hunts, just cause theres a bed there doesn't mean they will come back to it. Make note yes, but don't rely/bet on it. They will bed whenever it suits them and will make it for that day. Especially with that much pressure....see ya!

I found a location once that I thought was perfect. It was secluded, clump of oaks with brushes on the outside. Peek inside and sure enough, looked like a party from the previous night. Beds, poop, scrapes. Left a trail cam for a month and...nothing. Found another one this year and at one spot I could see at least 8 beds around me. Left a trail cam at the middle of their bedroom and got one picture (after 3 weeks).

 

[Jacobs18]

I tried to get further out 2 years ago hiking to Cabin Flat with a buddy. We had planned a 3 day backpacking hunt but didn't scout the area first and had no idea where to go once we were down in the valley. Plus with 32 lbs of water plus sleeping equipment, we were smoked after the first day and it's a good thing we didn't get a deer.

Long story short:
We may have not seen any deer, but we didn't see any other hunters!

I'm looking forward to perusing the older threads and picking up everything I can. Thanks for the welcomes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[xjon]

Ill save you the time of perusing the older threads in two points:
#1 boots on the ground
#2 get off the couch
You will see these pretty common statements through out the threads.
BTW while you were out in Cabin flats, did you find any signs?

 

[Jacobs18]

Saw plenty of bear scat, not a whole lot of deer sign but at the time I really didn't know what to look for


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ilovesprig]

Jacob,

Welcome to SCH.......Just a suggestion.......If you find a spot, I wouldn't being say much about the location.......You may find 20 trucks there next time too.......

 

[xjon]

Bear scat!?! there will be 20 trucks there for bear now.
If I was a deer, I wouldn't hang with the bears either. Maybe that would explain the lack of deer hunters there also.

Does anyone else get excited with fresh deer poop? The ones that still stick to each other and even the dirt is stuck on it? I scream YES!, in my head. Sorry, that was off topic. Damn buck fever got me bad.

 

[ilovesprig]

Yep Jon,

Hunting deer all my life & I still love seeing it...Even when I'm in Canada goose hunting & it's in my hosts driveway...lol

.

 

[xjon]

You even took a picture!
I pinch and smell. Shhh, dont tell anyone. Gotta love private messages.

 

[Muledeerhunter]

You even took a picture!
I pinch and smell. Shhh, dont tell anyone. Gotta love private messages.

TMI.

 

[The Deer Guy]

Welcome to sch. With hard work comes success. Like Trig said... Sometimes
tight lips is a good thing. Especially with public. Just my 2 cents

 

[g791]

Is this guy on the Gteam looks familiar? D-11Big Boy!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jacobs18]

I passed that buck up, too small for me....


Sent from my Baofeng UV-5R using Tapatalk

 

[Muledeerhunter]

Great buck. Congrats to the hunter.

 

[nicapopolis]

A 140s deer in socal is a whopper.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Gteam2]

Is this guy on the Gteam looks familiar? D-11Big Boy!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not Gteam, great buck though! Lol.....

 

[Gteam2]

Welcome to SCH! Good luck out there keep at it and you'll make it happen. As been mentioned by many,find an area that is isolated and has what the deer need (WATER) but that you can get to with the energy left to get the job done. Also if you can get away during the week, you improve your chances of running in to fewer hunters in areas that are pounded on weekends. The pic is of a buck I passed on this Monday never saw a hunter, as you can see looks like he had been grazed, probably from opening weekend. I saw one other buck and 5 does after covering 8.5 miles. Again, Good Luck and have a great season!