CA Hunters

hlee

hlee

Joined
Dec 5, 2005
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I moved to the bay area last march and this year will be the first that I attempt to hunt in CA. Does anyone here have experience hunting the national forests in CA? I don't need specifics, but did/do you have trouble with access? Are there any permits other than a hunting license, tags, and fire permit required? I know that there are use permits for some of the wilderness areas. I am also looking for info on hunting Los Padres National Forest (North Unit), Mendocino National Forest (Snow Mountain Wilderness), and Lassen National Forest. Trouble with access, terrain, were you successful? I've got the topos for the forests and will be pouring over them in the next few months, and a friend of mine and I will be making a few trips scouting shortly. My primary quarry will be deer, but I'm not opposed to shooting a pig if one runs across my path, and maybe black bear if I can get a permit.

I'm going to call the DFG in the next week to make sure that I get in for all of the permits that I need, but I wanted to get any info from here that I could.

What prompted this querry was a trip to the local gun store over te weekend. My friend wanted to buy a pistol to take with him when he and his wife go camping, and I wanted to get a hunting permit. The guy behind the counter was very loathe to start a permit app for someone that didn't have a CA permit from last year, even when I told him that I had my hunter safety and bow safety cards in my pocket. I guess he didn't realize that I'm not going to spend my hunting dollars (guns/ammo/etc) where I can't get a permit.

But, the real kicker was talking to the guy helping my friend with his potential pistol purchase. They start talking about hunting and the guy says that the problem with CA is that every inch of land is owned by someone. Knowing that CA has a lot of national forest land (huntable land at that) I mentioned such, and he said "yeah, but the problem is getting access." Looking at the maps, it doesn't look that hard to drive up to (or near) a trailhead, park, get out, and start hunting. But I didn't want to start an argument so I didn't press the issue. Then he goes on about how Texas is hunting Nirvana and the epitome of hunting access. Being from Texas, and having lived and hunted there for 27 years, this struck me as funny, as I KNOW that about 99% of Texas is privately held and the only way to get access is to pay out the nose for it, or be close friends/family with the owners. Getting back to the pistol, my friend asks the guy what auto round is most comparable to the .357 mag, to whit the guy responds, "9 mm." I'm no handgun ballistics guru, but this was not my impression, so maybe the guy was just totally full of it.

Anyway, any trouble with access to national forest land in CA?
 
I grew up near Los Padres, but have never hunted there, or anywhere in california. I'll be reading this thread with interest as I wish to start hunting wild pig sometime eventually.

My only recommendation beyond finding access is to just know the laws, etc. Like you said, texas is privately owned. You "pay out the nose", but does it afford you more freedom and privacy? All I know is from my experiences is you can't scratch your nuts in nature with out attracting the fuzz. Nothing ruins a time out like having a guy working for the government shaking you down, and writing you up for any infraction he can find. Learn as much as you can about the laws, special regulations, etc. Not trying to nag you, just trying to warn you about the bureacracy.

A .357 mags bullet diameter is just over 9mm big, maybe thats why it was recommended to you at the store?
 
Get a hold of NorCalblktail, I think is his screen name. He will be able to help you out.
 
I am not sure what he meant by limited access but he could be refering to distance from the bay area. I have hunted and camped in Mendo national forest. Most of it is "B" zone. Thats another thing that complicates it is all the zones. It might be hard to hunt or scout some of the areas described in just a weekend from the Bay Area. I was in the Yolly Bolly a few years ago with a friend on opening weekend and it was packed with people. It would be best to get off the beaten path. In my opinion the access in Mendo is really good it just takes time to get anywhere. When you leave the Bay there is really quite a bit of public land. It is just hard to find a place where you can pull off the freeway and hunt successfully on public land without putting in the work. Ft hunter-leggit used to offer some hunting opportunities but I dont know if it is still open. The easiest hunting is probably on private land.

Bear tags are easy to get and are really less restrictive than deer tags. Bear opens according to the deer season for that zone but the tags are not zone specific. Bear season closes statewide on the same day after a certain number are harvested. It makes it easier to hunt bear.

I hope that helps some.

Matt
 
Forgot the pistol question. If you want a semi auto with stopping power get a 10mm, it has close to the stopping power of a 41mag.
 
Oakietree said:
It is just hard to find a place where you can pull off the freeway and hunt successfully on public land without putting in the work. Ft hunter-leggit used to offer some hunting opportunities but I dont know if it is still open. The easiest hunting is probably on private land.

Matt
Click to expand...

I'm really not that concerned about the work involved. This buddy of mine and I brought a bull elk 11 miles out of the Weminuche Wilderness (San Juan National Forest) on our backs 4 years ago.

dbltap45acp said:
Forgot the pistol question. If you want a semi auto with stopping power get a 10mm, it has close to the stopping power of a 41mag.
Click to expand...

That was my impression and what I told my buddy as well. Although the one guy behind the counter was less than helpful, and the other didn't seem to know what he was talking about, the pistols did seem to be pridced reasonably.
 
hlee--- it seems that public land does tend to be a little harder to hunt on these days.. you really need to get out there and put in a lot of work... there is definitely game in the areas you're intersted in... you might just have to do a little more scouting and research... check out the zones and see how many tags they issue... they vary from zone to zone..
we just got back from Sequoia Natl. forest this past weekend.. we did some camping and shooting, no hunting.... it was a great time.. that is a gorgeous area.. it's about a 5 hour drive from here....

good luck...:thumbup:

mike...

p.s. have longbow(s) will travel....:D
 
If you don't mind being seen with a couple of guys with training wheels on their bows, I'm game. Just got to get a license and a tag or two.
 
Trust me, I lived in CA my whole life till 5 years ago when I couldnt take it any longer. I lived in Concord CA, and LA. So I have lived in the North and South of Cali and both suck for hunting and firearm laws and knowlege. The people are just stupid for the most part. There are few and far between when it comes to knowlegable people in CA for firearms related things. Good luck though, I left when my son was born, I will never go back there.
 
The fact that you are strong, energetic, and willing to put some miles between you and the trailhead will be the factors that lead you to the best results in CA. The problem here is that there are so many people that any easily accessible area gets hit pretty hard. But once you get a few miles from vehicular access and the less determined hunters, there are deer to be taken. My experience with pig hunting on public land (other than the military reserves, mentioned above) has not been as favorable as with deer hunting. I haven't found a lot of hogs on national forest and BLM land.

Sorry I don't have much specific advice on particular hunting spots in your part of the state. There's a big hunting forum called Jesse's and you can collect a lot of information there. I'll try to locate the website address.

DancesWithKnives

Edit: www.jesseshunting.com
 
I was just teaching a survival class in Mendocino NF a few weeks ago. I don't know about hunting up there, but the areas we were in were easy to get to. We just chose a couple of logging roads and drove to the end of them and camped. I think it would fine for hunting.

As far as ballistics, closest to the .357 is probably a 357Sig or a .40.
 
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