The Results are out! Do you know where you will be hunting?
The Big Game Draw results are out in both California and Oregon, and in Nevada they came out a month before the others. In Nevada I drew a big nothing, In California I’m on the B-Team (B Zone) didn’t draw and elk or Antelope tags. However, in Oregon I drew my 5th choice an Archery Deer tag for Klamath falls Unit 32, no big deal there, matter of fact there are leftover tags for that unit. But the Elk Gods were smiling on me this year and in Oregon I drew a 247C East Northside “Any Elk” tag, woohoo!!! Yes, I’m excited, very happy as a Non-resident I only had a 1.2% chance of drawing that tag with only 2 points. You can usually draw it every year with 5 points and you’re right on the edge with 4 points and out of the draw with three so to draw it with 2 points! Yes, I’m happy.
Now comes the hard work, research, planning, scheduling, budgeting and the general logistics that come with planning my big game hunts. But in the middle of this I have committed to help guide two other hunters on bull elk tags in California during October. This hunt is way before my elk hunt in November but unfortunately its right in the middle of B Zone deer season but, its during that middle of the season during the somewhat slow period between moons and deer hunting really shuts down due to heat and other factors so I’m not too worried.
I will be hitting the B Zone Archery season hard this year both as an archery season and as a scouting season for B Zone Rifle where I will be hunting with my good friend Ben. We both are getting older and looking at getting back up into the Trinty Alps again before we die of old age or just lose the legs to do it anymore.
I haven’t decided if I am going to get another deer tag because I just seem to have a lot of stuff on my plate and will be lucky to shoot one deer so two could be too much pressure. Who am I kidding, you know I’m going to go pick up another tag, most likely a B Zone tag but I have been looking at that D 3-5 tag. It runs past October and into the first weekend in November and any other year I would pick up that tag. But this year I think I will stick to B Zone just to cut down on costs and because my Elk season in Oregon opens the second weekend in November, just too close to each other.
Now I will be buying a bear tag. And I encourage anyone deer hunting in California to buy a bear tag. There are just way too many bears in California, and they take a heck of a lot of fawns every year. I saw an estimate stating that over 80% of all deer fawns in California are killed by bears within the first 6 months of life. Imagine now that cougars are killing them too, and cars take more than we can even imagine. We can’t shoot cars and we can’t shoot cougars and wolves ……. well anyway we can’t shoot cars so the only way to help the deer is to start killing bears and coyotes. If you love deer and deer hunting, shoot a bear!
Pigs are on my hit list this year as I have a couple places to go. That will start around the same time as deer season but really kick in during the winter months. I love pig hunting and would rather shoot a pig that a forked horn buck, but hopefully with a little luck we can get both.
I hope you drew that tag you wanted, if you didn’t, try and enjoy the hunt anyway. Even if the tag is terrible and the success rate is low, go out and hunt it like it’s the best tag in the world. You never know, it may pay off with a big buck. But it will always pay off by allowing you to gain experience and put you out in the field where you belong.
Hunt like you mean it,
Ken
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