After reading the newest EBJ anyone surprised about the addition of California and Washington. I'm a little surprised about California but not Washington. Anyone's else's thoughts?
After reading the newest EBJ anyone surprised about the addition of California and Washington. I'm a little surprised about California but not Washington. Anyone's else's thoughts?
After seeing photos of the buck that Sternwarning took in Washington this year, It doesn't surprise me that it's on there. But if Washington doesn't keep their wolves controlled, they won't be there long IMO.
California surprises me though, with all due respect to our Ca. hunters that are on this forum and I know that they are excellent hunters!
Thank you!! Lol^^^ but I know where coming from though
I am from California an it doesn't make sense to me. It isn't an appealing non resident spot IMO. Too many other surrounding states have a lot more to offer to the non resident.
Cali...
I have a lot of respect for anyone from CA. who gets out and hunts legally. It has to be tough.
I grew up about as CA. as it gets; Laguna Beach thru high school! Surfed a lot. Even worked at Disneyland in 1970. It's changed since then. I remember the Red Bluff area as being beautiful though.
I moved to Alaska in 1975 and never looked back. You should come up here to hunt if you haven't already. It will spoil you!!
Being a 4th generation Californian, I hunted and fished there until I retired and moved to Colorado 12 years ago. There used to be lots of great deer hunting when I was a kid. No elk or antelope seasons then. Inyo & Mono counties were great and I killed a lot of great bucks there (see my picts on my page). Also used to be some great hunting in the NE part of the state...used to call it the TriState herd as I remember. There are still some great bucks there, just seems like you have to work really hard to find them, harder than I seem to remember. Seems like i have to work harder to get any good animal now, must be that I'm getting greyer and definately older!
Colorado Cowboy
Cowboy Action Shooter; Endowment Life Member-NRA, NRA certified Range Safety Officer, Pistol Instructor, Rifle Instructor, RMEF, Boone & Crockett Club.
The Original Rocket Scientist-Retired
"My Father always considered a walk in the mountains as the equivalent of church going."
Aldous Huxley
I have not read the MRS 2013 yet but was it focused on the Columbian black-tailed deer hunt? If so, I can see why they may have added California and Washington for that species. Washington, California and Oregon are good states for that particular deer species for the record books as it is location limited.
Some game animals like turkey, pig or hunting coyote or black bear have gotten better in numbers in California too. Like most states the deer hunting good or poor depends on location in the state. Private or non huntable public land hold some good animals similar to other states. I know places I can visit and most always see some nice bucks. Public land deer hunting can be much more of a challenge, again location is key. There are still Boone and Crocket mule deer here in California but the record book shows it is well below other states in entries. The smaller Columbian black-tailed deer deer or one of the hybreds is a fun animal to hunt, and packing it out on your back makes for a bit easier pack out.
California is home to an amazing variety of native trout. Few places can boast as many types of rainbow, golden, redband, or cutthroat trout as the Golden State. Some things have gotten worse here since my stay here like salmon and steelhead fishing in the rivers but that's another fourm topic perhaps.
An estimate I saw last was 37,465,779 people live here in California. That's a lot of people. Compared with other states like Montana, 998,199 and Wyoming 568,158, that is a big difference. I sometimes wonder if we had say 37 millon less folks living here in California and they moved away would hunting and fishing oppurtunities be different here? I have to think so. If one looks back in history, there was quite a bit better oppertunity in those days to fish and hunt when the human population was lower in the state.
There are far better states for a non residents outside California to hunt big game in my opinion. I don't think while I'm alive that we will have over the counter tags for Elk or Prognhorn here like they do in other states. Until we get to closer to the point where the pronghorn population is closer to the human population number similar to states like Wyoming, it will be a lotto draw tag for quite a few more years to come.