Been seeing a lot of public land horror stories lately and just plain thinking about past years of hunting. I figured I’d share a bit of what I have noticed in the 12 or so year since I first accompanied my dad hunting in San Diego. The first thing is the amount of hunters in general. I remember the first time my dad ever went hunting and bought a deer tag in 2004 or 2005. He took the hunters safety course a week before the season and didn’t even buy a tag until the second week of the season. He killed his first deer in 2008 after he got serious about it in 2007 when I told him that I wanted to start hunting. In those first few years before he became as serious as he was after he killed his first deer, he missed, screwed up, or had buddies who were quicker on the shot at least a dozen opportunities and of those deer, more than half were 3X or better. It felt like every year until I turned 14 or so we saw at least one buck that was a big 4X or better and saw at least half a dozen legal bucks a season. If I had carried a camera I would have a lot of pictures of big deers from years past that we screwed up on. I remember when I was 12 or so I went to one of his buddies houses who I still hunt with and that has taught me more about hunting than anyone I’ve ever met. I was astounded at the number of big deer he had killed in recent years. Numerous 3X3s with some big 4Xs and a MASSIVE 4X6. We hunted turkeys in more or less the same area, and while there were some hunters, the birds stayed up on high hills on public land by hundreds off yards and would cross long distances to my not so good calling. This all changed when I was 15 or so when D16 tags sold out well before the season opener for the first time. All it took for our best areas to become what 5 years ago we wouldn’t have hunted was nearly 4 times the hunters we saw in years past shooting at everything that moved, and the drought. It took one season. The big deer all went nocturnal and moved to private land except for a few lucky sightings during the rut and the turkeys went from dispersed all over to concentrated in the safest private land areas with water. For the first time we noticed trash in our best areas miles in besides Mylar balloons and the predator population exploded. I’ve had my share of success in my old areas and new areas since then, but never anything compared to those early years. If we had the skills we have now then, I can hardly imagine the success and big deer I would have on my wall. In my opinion a lot needs to change to get the hunting on public land back to what it was years ago. We need to pick up our trash and any other that we see. Leave the area cleaner going out than going in. control the predator population better including somehow being able to hunt mountain lions again. Not over crowd spots meaning, stay 500 yards from the nearest hunter or group of hunters and not decide one more person in the area won’t matter when there’s half a dozen vehicles of hunters at the trailhead already when you arrive after first light. I’ve gotten into spots at 4 am and had half a dozen hunters set up less than 100 yards from me half an hour after first light that literally waved at me. They then shot at and maimed a buck and they didn’t bother looking for it and left the area minutes after shooting and yelling to each other that they missed. 20 minutes after they left the area my dad dicided to look for the deer and saw him immediately less than 200 yards away hobbling away with a broken back leg and dropped him in his tracks. And to add insult to injury once we get back to the truck four hours later at noon when’s it’s well over 100 degrees and drive a few miles up the road we see the same group of guys piss drunk in there camp yelling at us in broken English that the deer my dad finished off tagged and we drug out was “their” deer. We need to take shots we know we can realistically make everytime, meaning under 60 yards for archery deer and under 500 yards for rifle, even less for everyone but skilled shooters. And it goes without saying to make sure of your target and what’s beyond. Going along with that we need to put in due diligence searching for downed animals. Even if it mean going across a steep canyon to check for blood when you know you missed the buck at 400 yards, that it turns out walked about 200 yards and died where you can’t see him. For turkeys, don’t shoot over 40 yards and don’t work or try to cut off a bird that is 500 yards away and obviously headed towards another hunters calling and or decoys. And lastly under no circumstances try to run at a tom that’s in the middle of field 200 yards from any cover. I’ve seen it more times than I care to remember and seen it work exactly 0 times. If we could all be respectful of the land and others we could make the quality of hunts as good as it was years ago. Lastly, treat the public land like you own it. After spending 2 seasons hunting in Tennessee primarily on private land for deer and turkeys it’s obvious that people don’t care about public land that they are entitled to be on even close to as much as land where it’s either it’s a privilege to be on or you’ve worked hard to buy yourself. Sorry for the late night ranting I’ve just had a lot on my mind about hunting and things that have been irritating me about hunting in San Diego county for years.
The changes I’ve noticed throughout the years in D16
- Thread starter D16hunter
- Start date
Luke,
Now you know what someone my age (70) has seen and why I'm so conservative about our hunting & fishing heritage here in California.
Let's call an ace an ace....Foreigners have had a big influence on our hunting & fishing....This isn't racist, it's a fact.....They will change and learn as have many others.....We all must be better stewards of our lands.
As far as our turkeys and deer....You and your dad started at literally the hey day of turkeys and deer in San Diego county.....The fires of 2003 and 2007 provided the best habitat this county has ever had.....The turkeys were relocated in 1993....The height of their numbers were in 2010 or so.....The drought has done a number on them and there's nothing we can do about that, especially on public land.....Dispersal of water is what turkeys need and manmade drinkers does not provide that.
Predators have always been here, but with the huge increase of deer & turkeys.....We had a huge increase in predators.....Their numbers are regulated by the amount of food they have.....As prey numbers decrease, their numbers will eventually decrease.....One of the reasons I was disappointed that the pigs were wiped out was because it would've taken some of the pressure off of deer as a food source for lions.....And they would've provided hunting opps too.
Until Mother nature helps us (including big fires), we have what we have.....Try not to shoot too many jakes, hens in the fall, small bucks, does, and do our part to help our youth hunters and fisherman.
ps.....Be thankful we have so much private land amongst our public.....It's because of them, we have the game we do have.
pss.....Should I get into how I've seen our waterfowl hunting change?.....lol
Now you know what someone my age (70) has seen and why I'm so conservative about our hunting & fishing heritage here in California.
Let's call an ace an ace....Foreigners have had a big influence on our hunting & fishing....This isn't racist, it's a fact.....They will change and learn as have many others.....We all must be better stewards of our lands.
As far as our turkeys and deer....You and your dad started at literally the hey day of turkeys and deer in San Diego county.....The fires of 2003 and 2007 provided the best habitat this county has ever had.....The turkeys were relocated in 1993....The height of their numbers were in 2010 or so.....The drought has done a number on them and there's nothing we can do about that, especially on public land.....Dispersal of water is what turkeys need and manmade drinkers does not provide that.
Predators have always been here, but with the huge increase of deer & turkeys.....We had a huge increase in predators.....Their numbers are regulated by the amount of food they have.....As prey numbers decrease, their numbers will eventually decrease.....One of the reasons I was disappointed that the pigs were wiped out was because it would've taken some of the pressure off of deer as a food source for lions.....And they would've provided hunting opps too.
Until Mother nature helps us (including big fires), we have what we have.....Try not to shoot too many jakes, hens in the fall, small bucks, does, and do our part to help our youth hunters and fisherman.
ps.....Be thankful we have so much private land amongst our public.....It's because of them, we have the game we do have.
pss.....Should I get into how I've seen our waterfowl hunting change?.....lol
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J
Josh Pearson
Guest
Well said Steve I appreciate you posting that. You too Luke.
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I can’t agree more that people take our public land for granted. Great rant Luke. The rain changed the habitat last fall and gave much more cover for both prey and predator. There were areas that were wide open that now are full of 15 ft high brush. So bottom line it’s tough hunting and my tag soup for deer is not from lack of boots on the ground just lack of ethical shoots. I could have shot at deer that were out my comfort zone but did not. I saw people that did gut shots and just plain bad sportsmanship. I am not sure what we can do but I know that Steve and people like him are out there trying to set a good example.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Steve, I'd like to hear about what's happened in our waterfowl scene if you don't mind...
Jason,
Turkey hunting every day, but one day I'll type my waterfowling history of SoCal. And how it's changed with the loss of habitat, building, and society.
Turkey hunting every day, but one day I'll type my waterfowling history of SoCal. And how it's changed with the loss of habitat, building, and society.
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Y’all reminded me of the one thing I forgot to mention. There are a lot of areas that need to burn that the state won’t do anything about. The brush not only make it hard to see game, but also provides fuel that will make our wildfires worse than they need to be. Next time San Diego county burns bad, I predict it could very well be the worse wildfire the county and maybe even the state has ever seen. living in Tennessee and having the state be primarily private land, it teaches everyone how to treat public land like they treat the private meaning leave no trace and try to be good stewards of our resources. Also Steve I agree very much now that private land is the reason we have any game on public after seeing the way people who either own or lease there land treat and manage it compared to the public land free for all.
PS Steve, I’d love to hear your stories of how waterfowl hunting in SoCal has changed since you started when you have the chance to write it all up.
PS Steve, I’d love to hear your stories of how waterfowl hunting in SoCal has changed since you started when you have the chance to write it all up.
Suck it up and deal with it.......it only goes down hill every day so go hunt!
It's not going to change any time soon so do it and get involved!
It's not going to change any time soon so do it and get involved!
I blame the masses of hunters on Joe Rogan and instagram. But I agree, 2005-2007 were my most successful years. My grandpa tells me stories of SD hunting 40 years ago, and it’s a sad fraction of what used to be.
Lets hear the waterfowl stories! Pictures of goose hunts in places like oceanside blow my mind!
Joe has definitely had a huge influence. We also just have more people and less land then ever.
However, I think the biggest thing this post missed is the lack of water. I'd bet there could be 10x the amount of trash we have now but if the rainfall doubles or tripled (like it used to be) we would have much more animals.
Any chance of posting the story/pics from one of your family’s Tennessee deer hunts?
Those white tails are huge and plentiful.
Those white tails are huge and plentiful.
