Have Bow Will Travel

Hi guys,

So, my girlfriend / wife-to-be has scored a job in San Francisco starting this February, and I'd like to know the honest-to-goodness hunting situation out in those parts. What can a hard-working guy who's willing to drive a good distance from the Bay Area do on public land? What is the draw system like, what are your odds with different animals, and what can your success be like? Are Nevada or Oregon worth the drive? Am I better off scheduling time to hunt a ranch in Utah/Idaho/Arizona/farther, or can a guy who's willing to do the legwork score on nice animals every year?

Thanks for any advice you've got for me!

usa

Man, I can't even imagine living in San Fransicko, but we do what we have to do to make a living ! As far as hunting in Ca. it can be great or lousy depending on your attitude and experience.Don't let anyone tell you that our hunting suck's , we have open season for Hog's all year with no limit (almost all are taken on private land ) extensive deer season's with plenty of wilderness if you want to hoof it and be alone,very liberal bear season beginning in Sept and continuing until dec 30 or sooner if 1700 bear's are taken.Coyote's are everywhere and you can call and hunt them with a bow in many places where gunhunting is not allowed. Lot's of quail/duck's/geese. the units are divided into 4 catagories A-B-C-D, A B and D can be purchased over the counter without a draw although some units sell out fast. C is a draw. A and B are terrific bowhunting units for deer and bear. you can buy 2 deer tags so if you purchased A and B you could start hunting in july I think and hunt for 2 month's, a bear tag allows you to hunt in any open season statewide and then any area open to bear hunting until dec 30, anyhow this is a great place to be a hunter in( once you get used to people/gridlock and high speed freeways, good hunting, Bill

Have Bow Will Travel

Good information, thanks! I'm just going to need to research the best units and wilderness areas in the general vicinity, I guess... and get better with wingshooting. Anybody else have opinions?

francisc

Ya, Have Bow... I have a thing to say:
Reading your question I almost fainted in my chair . Imagine I am in the same situation; my wife is trying to get me move to Sacramento. Actually I want to move somewhere west but she will not go anywhere there is good hunting (no WY, no MT, not even AK, dam it!). So, I am doing research, and talking about hunting, it looks pretty bad out there in CA.
However, considering I am now in FL (ohhh, boy!), it's an improvement. Looks like there is plenty of wildlife there (even though you cannot hunt them), and I love hunting with a camera too. There is tule elk, sheep, waterfowl, and so on. Please whoever can give some advice, are there wildlife sanctuaries with no hunting, like places you can go and be away from people, sneack up on some creatures and take pictures????

Next thing, this year I am on the road for 2 days to go hunt KS and MO (>25 hrs driving- one way). From Sacramento (well I hope is not going to be Sacramento, maybe some little town close by ) I can drive to WY, maybe MT, so what the hell?!

So, there we go, there is two of us, I hope we get more help from the veterans out there in CA.

One more thing; is there a way to hunt private land there in CA, NV... without selling your house? (I mean for a couple thousand $$).

25 years ago, why the hell didn't I marry a good hunter and a man?!

out of bounds

Ok boys here is the deal with nor cal. I live in the greater sac area and there is a ton of hunting out here. Our x zone are torphy zone and can useully be drawn every 2 to 3 years. the cool thing about the sac / sf area is you can hunt the coastal deer(blacktail) or tuley elk (draw) or you can go to the Sierras and hunt black tail on the western slops or mulies on top and the east side. we have late black powder for the herds that go out to nevda.Early bow hunts are verry productive as well.

The turkey hunting is good in the spring there is 2 seasons

pig hunting in the mid state and noth of sac is great.

upland and weter fowel is is also unbelievable .Dove hunting is awsome but hot.


then we have fishing now a hole notherdeal.It can't be beat.

when and if you relocate keep in touch and I will show you what have learned for the last 35 years. Besides Nevada is only a short drive.I can be in Ideho in 8 hrs Meeker colin 14 hrs.

Have Bow Will Travel

Good stuff so far, guys! Here's the really painful part: two years ago, I moved from Florida to be with my GF while she went to grad school - in Ohio! I LOVE the whitetail hunting in OH, so I'm soaking up all of the hunting this year while I can, and putting on my game face when we move out there. I'm actually pretty excited about the blacktail/mulie/elk combo that I can hunt out there. I'm going to do some serious research about Nevada now, too... if there's one good thing about moving out West, it's the mountains!

francisc

Ya, good job. Let's keep in touch and maybe do some work together sometimes. I will be relocating next year or the year after, don't no yet what job to get; with CA Fish and Game or with the feds. I am a wildlife bio. So, keep up with me here and I will give you tags OTC. Or UTC. Just kidding

Thanks you all!

francisc

Have Bow... you left Florida?! How could you do that? In FL there is no limit to how many deer you can take in a year. And you want to move to CA? And then, GA has a limit of 5, SC 7, gee! I sat in a tree stand for 345 hours the last 2-3 years. How many deer did I get? Well, let's not go there, hahahaha... 2 does and 1 fawn, I guess that's what was left after the other 300 hunters around did their job.

Anyway, ya, good job here.

thumper

OK Boys when you get settled out here give me a shout and I can help you out with some hunting plans private or public ground.
It is just like anywhere else you have to do your home work and spend some time in the field to be successful.

Living in California is worse than hunting in California.
Good Luck
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JNTURK

have bow.....best advice to hunt CA for public land!!! hunt with a bow and rifle....buy a good pair of boats, and expect more traffic then you will ever imagine.....bow hunters out here have great advantage and good success if you know what you are doing....the PL east of san fran is very good,,,i would go to a local gov't office (or web site) but a NF/BLM book showing the counties surrounding san fran....elk in ca, unless your girlfriend/ wife to be is going to be bringing home some serious bacon is almost not feesable, best luck to go out of state for that one...but we do have good mulies in the ranges and some great blacktails in coast and valley....you can go to F&G's web site and look for F&G land that public to hunt on and should be perty good for hunting....dfg.ca.gov......good luck!