2022 California Deer Hunting Harvest Statistics and Draw Odds

Hello everyone and welcome to a new year of deer hunting in California. Let us start by saying that we already know it's going to be a rough dry year and you could end up gambling your points away and drawing the tag of a lifetime only to have that area closed down due to wildfires or end up in an area so dry there is no water for the deer to drink. Think hard before gambling all your points on the tag of a lifetime, then go ahead and do it anyway! We are not getting any younger and if we wait for mother nature to open up and rain, we may just get too old and when we finally draw that once in a lifetime tag, we are just too worn out and can't hunt it the way we want.

I will write an article in the following weeks regarding some tag strategies and where I will be applying so check back for that.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife has not opened up their online portal for purchasing tags as of today April 9th, 2022, so you still have time but be sure to get all your Big Game Apps in by June 1st to be in the draw.

Remember when researching these figures, there is a huge difference between Reported Deer Harvest and Estimated Deer Harvest. California DFW adds 30% to some zones to establish their estimated deer harvest (false advertising). This can lead a person to believe a Unit is much more productive than it actually is, so please just use the actual reported deer kill.

Good Luck

Ken