I'm still a new hunter and now have two points as I was unsuccessful to draw my 1st choice tag. I decided to choose d3-5 as our tag this year from the zones which failed to draw all of their tags. Me and my father hunted d6 last year with no success. Do to this years dryness we felt we should go as north as reasonably possible (I'm from bakersfield). We are in good physical condition and will be hunting on foot, wanting to get away from the crowds. Which of the three zones do you believe boast the best chance of any legal buck? Also any hunting tips/relatively specific areas would be greatly appreciated. Thank john Pulskamp
D 3-5 nor-cal blacktail hunt help?
- Thread starter Father&son_outdoorsman
- Start date
Welcome John.
First the local deer in zones D3-5 are cross from a mule deer and a blacktail. None are true blacktail deer. Second any of the zones will suit you well. There is some wilderness areas you can check out (www.wilderness.net) and the El Dorado NF is HUGE!
You can call the local Sacramento BLM office and order up some maps of that area to really get it narrowed down.
As far as tips..stick to what your good at. Your coming a long ways to hunt an area that gets a lot of hunting pressure. If you prefer to still hunt, use the maps and google earth to find an area suitable for that.
Best of luck
First the local deer in zones D3-5 are cross from a mule deer and a blacktail. None are true blacktail deer. Second any of the zones will suit you well. There is some wilderness areas you can check out (www.wilderness.net) and the El Dorado NF is HUGE!
You can call the local Sacramento BLM office and order up some maps of that area to really get it narrowed down.
As far as tips..stick to what your good at. Your coming a long ways to hunt an area that gets a lot of hunting pressure. If you prefer to still hunt, use the maps and google earth to find an area suitable for that.
Best of luck
Sounds good. Have you hunted in d3-5 much? If so where and how was your success? And is it possible to get high and glass? When I hunted d6 it's seemed hard to glass due to the thick cover/brush. I've looked into it but would like to hear from someone who has hunted it themselves.
I have hunted low land d3 and mid/high land d5. never been in d4. You can get high and glass. if you got GE on a computer you can go to the wilderness website I listed and download an overlay so you can see the boundries and what the terrain looks like. I have not hunted it hard in a few years, I usually hunt in B zone.
Ok thanks, I looked on Google earth and think I found some nice areas around the border of X7a near gold lake road (but in d3). I'm really wondering though on what time of season I should go. Late season or early especially due to this years dryness. What do you think I should try? Also what areas have you tried in d5 and how was the success?
Huntinguy0120
Member
I live in D-5 and would like to welcome you to one of the largest zones with some mediocre success ratios within the state. My best advice for you is, wait for weather. The more weather we get, the lower in elevation the deer travel. We get those big mulie crosses that come out of the high sierras.. But a small percentage of the bucks taken are better than a CA 3x3.
The further north I've gone towards D-3 the farther away from the road I have to go to see game. Highway 88 from Pinegrove and east has produced some very large bucks for D-5. But, public land isn't marked very well so spend the extra bucks to get a good map!
If you want to go farther north in the El Dorado Forest, forest hill and east has produced some decent numbers for bucks and bears over the years. There's an Eastmans cover story for a CA buck taken in D3-5 within the last few years.
The further north I've gone towards D-3 the farther away from the road I have to go to see game. Highway 88 from Pinegrove and east has produced some very large bucks for D-5. But, public land isn't marked very well so spend the extra bucks to get a good map!
If you want to go farther north in the El Dorado Forest, forest hill and east has produced some decent numbers for bucks and bears over the years. There's an Eastmans cover story for a CA buck taken in D3-5 within the last few years.
Ok thanks for the info, I might even try around soda springs?? Any info around there. Like I said I have no interest in road hunting. I want to get away into the wilderness.
Musket Man
Veteran member
Think I hunted D5 once. Beautiful country, not many deer, good fishing in some high country lakes. Got rearended on the way and ended up hunting with the tail gate tied shut and no back window in my Ford ranger. Good times!
Huntinguy0120
Member
I don't know too much about Soda Springs. What I do know about it is that it's around 6,500 ft of elevation and the deer can get real spread out. I see people talk about French Meadows quite a bit and I think it has a campground there as well. That's about 40/50 miles south of Soda Springs as the crow flies.
Alright would you suggest going lower? I'd like to hunt a place pretty far from roads and crowds. Thanks
Musket Man
Veteran member
That's my plan so far. There's an old pond a friend of mine said the deer use as a watering hole so I pretty sure I'll be heading up there
Don't hunt the opener if you want to avoid the crowds and hunt mid-week if you can. Pick one of the wilderness areas and hike in a couple of miles and you will see few hunters but just because you are in a wilderness area it doesn't necessarily mean you will find deer. A lot of bucks are killed close to the major highways. Bucks will generally be up high until the first storm or hard freeze then they tend to move down in elevation. For specific areas, go to the CA Fish & Wildlife website and read the zone info. This is the link for D5 zone info;
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=83194
For areas that deer have been killed in the past and the timeframes during the season review the Spotkill map. Here is the D5 map for 2007 (most current on the website);
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/regions/2/spotkill/2007/d52007.pdf
Hope this helps.
Good luck!
Horniac
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=83194
For areas that deer have been killed in the past and the timeframes during the season review the Spotkill map. Here is the D5 map for 2007 (most current on the website);
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/regions/2/spotkill/2007/d52007.pdf
Hope this helps.
Good luck!
Horniac
Buck8541
Member
I hunt north of Lake Alpine, you will have to pack in several miles to get away fro the hikers and horseback riders. Look for water, check for tracks around watering areas, and wait for some weather to move in. I was up there last Sunday (9/14/2014), it was hot but overcast, the cloud cover alone was enough to get the deer moving, I saw lots of does and spikes, and three forks moving around all day. I was up there training for my MT hunt so I wasn't hunting, just glassing but the deer are up there. You will have to put in a lot of sweat equity to get one. Best of luck!