Palomar Mountain---never saw it this dry at this time of year.

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Deleted member 31469

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Have been undergoing treatment for skin cancer on my face so I need to stay out of direct sun for a bit longer. Took an early evening hike on some MCC property up on Palomar Mountain. All the streams, water holes, springs---almost every water source---bone dry. Dust and dead grass everywhere. I have never seen it this dry at this time of the year. What are the rest of you guys finding in the mountains and foothills of So Cal? Do you think the National Forests and BLM land will get shut down again this year?
 
Water for days where I'm at... duck Haven! True statement.
 
Dr,

As dry as I've seen it...In fact, Janice is afraid Will Valley pond will go dry...She's contemplating pumping well water to it.

Going up to the best "40" tomorrow...The last couple of times up was very disappointing and that's with good permanent water on the prop.
 
Dr,

As dry as I've seen it...In fact, Janice is afraid Will Valley pond will go dry...She's contemplating pumping well water to it.

Going up to the best "40" tomorrow...The last couple of times up was very disappointing and that's with good permanent water on the prop.
 
ilovesprig said:
Dr,

As dry as I've seen it...In fact, Janice is afraid Will Valley pond will go dry...She's contemplating pumping well water to it.

Going up to the best "40" tomorrow...The last couple of times up was very disappointing and that's with good permanent water on the prop.
Click to expand...
Steve: Let us know how the 40 is. Thanks.
 
I’ve had a property up on Palomar for 10 years. I spend a lot of time there, at least 3 to 4 days a week all year long. I also watch other properties for people up there so I’m all over. All I did first quarter this year was cut dead black oaks. The property has lost all its larger black oaks, few small ones remain. The live oaks are doing better but they’re showing the strain now. Most of the loss has been due to the gold spotted oak borer which is a direct result of drought. The property has lost 40% of its shade and hasn't had any acorn production in over two years. 5-10 years ago I had a dozen deer a day visiting the place. Now I’m lucky to see two a week. Never saw a shootable buck last year on and very few in the last 3 years. Even the lions have stopped coming around because they’ve hammered the deer so badly. There were a few turkeys this spring but what I can see in the valleys, no poults have been born and I’ve been looking for them. So next year looks turkeyless. There were quite a few fawns born last year but I’m not sure how they’ll fare long term.

Its been a hard, depressing road watching long term drought just decimate the mountain. National weather service says there is no end in sight. We had 20 inches of precipitation this year instead of the normal 30 and last year was 18. I keep praying for a change, due to a three year La Niña. I wish I had better news but it is what it is. Ten more years of this and that mountain will look a lot more like desert.
 
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FSHNFRANK:

I put more credence in what you say than in what any scientist or politician has to say. You see exactly what is happening and nobody can contradict you since you see all this with your own two eyes and you've been there a long time. I'm a member of MCC now but probably won't renew. Very few turkeys this past season compared to my first year and I didn't see one single legal buck [3 points on one side, MCC rules] and only saw one forky even though I hunted hard about 12 times on what looked like good property. Three thousand bucks a year is a bit steep for taking hikes on private property. I belonged to Wilderness Unlimited 20 years ago and hunted Dyche Valley up on Palomar and the national forest beyond. I took several bucks during that time and always saw several deer on each outing, usually one or two legal bucks. Hunted the same area with MCC this past season---hunted hard---and only saw a few does and not one buck. Very few tracks.

I don't want to sound overly pessimistic, but if this drought doesn't turn around soon, I fear the hunting in SoCal will go down the crapper. Time for all of us to do our best rain dance.
 
I’ve been a MCC member for 14 years. I get a lot more out of it than just hunting since I’m walking distance to the spots you mentioned. I also like to hunt quail and mountain quail, pigeons etc. But There is no denying that the game has been decimated. No one has enough money to keep western habitat up in the face of of extreme drought. It’s just too much and god knows I’ve tried. I’ve been working on getting my wife to consider other states - I joke with her that the minute we move it will start to dump. Other western states have it worse in some areas. (SD county is actually better than a lot of other places droughtwise). I also have a house in OC with fruit trees etc. and ive had my hands full there too with pests and outrageous water bills.
 
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PS. I also took a forestry class through UCSD extension this year and drought situation is dismal all through CA. There is a lot of debate currently about doing a lot more forest mgmt via controlled burns etc. vs doing nothing and letting nature take its course. Not sure what side will come out on top.
 
Controlled burns are a hot [excuse the pun] issue, particularly in New Mexico. The gigantic fire there was started by a controlled burn, I believe. People living there are not too happy with the feds.
 
Check this out. The two New Mexico wildfires that merged into the largest ever were started by federal "prescribed burns." Read "controlled burns."

www.nytimes.com

U.S. Forest Service Planned Burn Caused Largest New Mexico Wildfire (Published 2022)

The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires, which merged, started as prescribed burns intended to prevent wildfires, federal officials said.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Can you imagine a controlled burn up on Palomar if a Santa Ana springs up out of nowhere? God Almighty!!
 
doccherry said:
Check this out. The two New Mexico wildfires that merged into the largest ever were started by federal "prescribed burns." Read "controlled burns."

www.nytimes.com

U.S. Forest Service Planned Burn Caused Largest New Mexico Wildfire (Published 2022)

The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires, which merged, started as prescribed burns intended to prevent wildfires, federal officials said.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Can you imagine a controlled burn up on Palomar if a Santa Ana springs up out of nowhere? God Almighty!!
Click to expand...
I saw that before. The problem is once you cut the wood what do you do with it? When it works a controlled burn is cheap. (They blew I with this one). Southern CAs last sawmill closed in the 1990s. Even then you have to pay to transport it there which now is a really expensive problem. So ultimately either small controlled burns or large uncontrolled wildfires are the only way to eventually get rid of the fuel. There’s no easy way out. (Kind of like our current national fiscal issues). California naturally has had many small fires, which we have now suppressed for decades, and turned a small problem, into a huge one.
 
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You should be a professor or teacher. I just met you but i have learned a lot.
 
I scouted down towards Ramona this AM. Google earth has a private pond full of water as of the image date 11 months ago. I glassed it today and it was only a mud pit. Not good.
 
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