Hunting & Fishing California hunting

[moaorbust]

How do you get into hunting in Northern California?

From my reading it appears there are few legal forests near here and the rest are thousand plus dollar clubs in the south.

I know this state sucks and when I can afford to leave I will, but in the meantime, I would appreciate any relevant advice. I have my hunting license and I am slowly buying the tools and supplies I believe I will need. Ideally I would hunt pigs because everyone loves bacon but beggars may not be choosers.

 

[KnowNothing256]

“Few legal forests?” That doesn’t sound like northern CA to me. Where specifically are we talking?

 

[moaorbust]

I am in Sacramento so nothing near the city of course. I have tried reading various sites and cannot seem to locate anything even within several hours. It’s entirely possible I am not looking in the right place or misunderstanding what I am reading.

 

[KnowNothing256]

Yeah, there’s stuff within a couple hours. You’re looking for National Forest, Wilderness, BLM, and certain types of state land. You can walk into just about any of those and shoot something. BLM can sometimes be a little bit of a gray area since you’re often sharing the land with grazing cattle, but still.

Find your local chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, they’ll help you get sorted.

 

[moaorbust]

Ok, thank you for the advice. Everything seems so gray and undefined right now.

 

[hlee]

USFS website would be my first stop. I hunted the Snow Mountain wilderness a number of years ago. Beautiful area, but I wasn’t successful. We only saw one other person while there, though we found a number of recent fire rings. Like anywhere else, your chance of success increases with each step away from the trail head. But, blacktails are migratory and you can most certainly be in the right place at the wrong time. And, if it isn’t raining you might as well stay home.

 

[Modoc]

I am about 3 hours drive North of you And lived and hunted here all of my life. Start with the CADFW Website and see how the state is divided up. Pick a couple of zones and start researching Ground. As said, the farther you get from the road, the better, but it depends on animal behavior.

I am in a unique position since my father is now disabled and can’t walk far which has pulled my hunting in to the roads .

Also take into account the changes in topography from the fires, some areas have become a rifleman’s hunt where before they were a brush gun hunt.

the CA Deer Association has several chapters Down there, which may be good to hook up with too.

 

[mtwarych]

Download the onX map app for your surrounding area, it will show you what is public and what is private property. It also lets you know who owns the property.

I did a lot of hunting East of marysville around the Bucks lake area. The vast majority of my deer and pig killing was done around Black Butte lake and in the national forest, check out a place named Crystal Creek west of Tehama. If you own an atv, get away from the cities and towns and just ride an area all day and find the deer and pigs, that's what I did on my Suzuki 230 Sport.

 

[moaorbust]

Thanks! I will look those up. I found that onX Hunt app a little bit ago. Crazy useful!