SoCal deer hunting questions

[Marksman]

Hello all! I'm new to SCH and I have a few questions concerning the deer hunting here. I have never been deer hunting myself, but my dad has gone hunting plenty of times in Utah and Colorado. I've always asked him why he hasn't hunted here, and his answers have always been the same, the heat and the bugs. I figured the people in this forum would know more than him on how to hunt here, so my questions are these: how are you able to transport your deer after its been killed without it spoiling? My dad has always hung up his deer in a tree overnight after field dressing it so the cold helps make it more manageable for travel to a local freezer. The second question is concerning ticks, he has claimed the deer here are infested with ticks, he watched a friend of his gut one and said there were ticks all over the place from the deer. Are ticks really a big problem here?

I really want to go deer hunting, and the most economic way to do it would to hunt here in California, hence why I'm really trying to get as much info as I can before making any decisions!

Thank you in advance!

 

[Lungpopper]

I like to get the deer cut up and cooled off as quick as possible. Sometimes I can get the whole deer home skin it cut it up in quarters and in the freezer to take to a butcher later. Other times I have to DE bone the animal right there and just take the meat out. Again to the freezer as quick as possible and to the butcher later.
Yes there are lots of ticks around here.

 

[Marksman]

How do you cool it off? The only thing I can think of is to bring wrapped up dry ice and keep the deer cool with that.

 

[Sdbirds]

How do you cool it off? The only thing I can think of is to bring wrapped up dry ice and keep the deer cool with that.

There is a army of ticks on every deer here. I still find them in my car lol

 

[Lungpopper]

How do you cool it off? The only thing I can think of is to bring wrapped up dry ice and keep the deer cool with that.

I was talking about day local day trips.
For muti day trips that would work. Most of my out of state hunts I have taken a generator and a freezer.

 

[HunterBK]

I've only been deer hunting in D13. Most of the zone is high enough in elevation that ticks aren't a problem. I haven't seen ticks on any of the deer I've taken in D13.

Obviously high elevation leads to cooler temperatures too, so you can usually take a little more time to get your meat to a cooler. For example, I was close enough to my camp last year that I didn't even field dress my deer before dragging it out. I drug him out whole to avoid getting dirt on the meat and got it back to camp within an hour and a half, which is where I cut him up.

I was probably cutting it close with that hour and a half drag, but I haven't gotten sick from the meat yet!

So if you can make it to a zone with higher elevations you can avoid ticks and give yourself some cushion on getting the meat cooled.

 

[Sawfish]

Has anyone tried the GPS programs that map public/private land, and if so, how accurate are they? Thanks.

 

[NBK]

I have the downloaded maps. I would trust them..

 

[fishingkid]

I hunt deer in Southern California and I have always gutted my deer in the field I track my deer find a semi level spot to work and guy my deer. I then use my knife and poke holes along the cut in the belly and use para cord to sew it back up the best I can. I then drag back to camp and decide to either skin it there or take it home and skin it. I have skinned deer hanging from rafters in the garage or from a tree in the field. I lay down a white sheet to see where the ticks fall so I can kill them before they rescale into my stuff. There's a butcher within 20 min of my house if its a day there closed a fit mine in my garage fridge. I always put my game in fill size mesh net game bags ( make sure not to buy the quarter size bags) all my venison has turned out awesome I've never wasted any. I have gotten compliments from the butcher on how clean my game comes in. I've had people that hunt out of state only ask me why I hunt deer local? They have told me the local deer taste like shit like safe brush I've never had a problem with this. Can't keep enough venison in the freezer to last through the year.