Hunting California D14

This blog is dedicated to deer hunters who choose to hunt, or are stuck hunting California's zone D14.  This zone is basically the San Bernardino National Forest.  Hunting in California can be problematic.  Hunting and hunters rank one step higher than tax-cuts with our lop-sided political leadership in The Golden State. Hunting in Southern California can be frustrating and downright impossible at times.  California, specifically D14 hunters need all the help they can get and I hope this site can be a place where we can help each other.

When I started this hunting process around July 2017, I found the lack of information sharing and discussion regarding D14 , even Southern California deer hunting, appalling.  I didn't really expect hunters to be sharing their honey holes with coordinates and a map, but more general information like weather conditions, topography, elevation, feed/cover, herd behavior, and whatever else might have contributed to successful hunts. [ E.g. I thought falling acorns were like crack to deer.  Sunday of opening weekend, before light, I found an oak tree dropping acorns the size of my thumb on an established deer trail, near a stream, with fresh tracks all over it.  I sucked into a bush with full camo and scent control. I never saw anything that day.  What did I do wrong?  I hope to find out.]

A month prior, our family took an RV trip through seven western states where my sons saw what "real" wilderness and wild game looked like.  They asked me if we could go hunting sometime.  I've lived in Southern California for about 30 years and bird hunted about 10 of those years with mixed success.  Usually, the mixture was heavy on the unsuccessful side.  But I never tried for deer.  I looked into getting a deer tag in Utah.  My boys were excited about that prospect.  They saw about 4 nice bucks on our way to go fishing one morning in Utah.  Eventually, I decided to "practice" in our own "backyard."  People say that we (Southern Californians) are a bit spoiled and desensitized to the beauty and diversity found within an hour drive in any direction.  Utah is a 6-hour drive.  I decided California would do this time.

I chose D14, well, because it's close and we've camped, fished, and boated around there for years.  I was familiar with it.  Also, California's lead bullet ban has not reached D14 yet and I'm still not sure how this crazy state can blame the decline of the condor on lead bullets!  Years ago, when condors were much more prevalent, we had a lot more hunters with lead bullets and a lot fewer people!  You do the math!  Our state defeats common sense at every turn.  Anyway...

Although I have not shot/hunted a deer in 33 years, we were eventually successful and punched our tag, but it was in no way due to my hunting skills and more due to dumb luck! In successive posts I will show you all the places we failed and the things that we tried that didn't work.