Blg Lagoon, CA Elk Guide/ Private Land

[outdoorsman35]

Hello, I drew Big Lagoon, CA Antlerless this year. The book says it is private land. Anyone have any idea about the hunt? I expect some more info from F&G but until then, do I need to hire a guide?

Thank you,

Rob

 

[tacticaltj]

I drew a Bull tag for Big Lagoon last year. First of all, don't waste your time trying to scout. The property is owned by the lumber company and they will not allow scouting, camping, fires or early entry. DFG is a PITA(as you'll find out). Frankly, they are less than helpfull and were not knowledgable about the area at all. Actually, the whole dang show was ran half-assed by any standard. The location is as thick as any jungle that exists...I mean it! Much of it is completely impenetrable by anything human. So glassing is a little useless mostly. You will be vehicle hunting mostly with a little walking. There are lots of logging roads. It gets very hot so plan accordingly. Camp local or stay in town, either works as you can't enter the property until daybreak and must leave withing 1 hour after sunset. Lots of Bears!!!!! Beware.

Mig

 

[Bose]

Doesnt sound like a hunter friendly logging company! Cant understand the crazy rules, they mustve had some problems in the past with people entering their land. All it takes is 1 fool to trash someones land, and we all pay. Too bad.

 

[Humboldt Hunter]

I would suggest you contact the wildlife biologist from Green Diamond Timber Company, his name is Lowell Diller, he should be able to help you out some. Call information, their headquarters is in Korbel, Ca.

 

[DFGELK]

Tacticalti,

What exactly did Fish and Game not do to meet your expectations? This hunt is offered in cooperation with a private landowner who was nice enough to allow the public access to their property. The unit biologist for Fish and Game do not spend very much time on the area so their knowledge will be limited. What could have made the hunt better for you? The area is extremely thick, so is much of the north coast. So I am not sure why that made the hunt bad.

Joe

 

[tacticaltj]

Where do I start. I drew what I consider a once in a lifetime California Bull Elk tag. The notice I receieved basically told me NOT to contact the owner and info was on the way and nothing more. After several months I didn't receive any info so I began a series of telephone calls to DFG to obtain any info available. Like any hunt I needed to plan this hunt out and the complete lack of info wasn't helping. Finally, after multiple telephone calls, to some fairly uninterested folks, I was sent a package, with a boundary map, outlining where the area was and what I could and could not do on this hunt. Even at that time I tried in vane to contact anyone in DFG who was familiar with the area or the hunt-to no avail(Warden or Biologist). No one I contacted knew anything. So literally, the day before the hunt all the hunters were "briefed" about the area, the animals, animal movement if any and a bunch more restrictions. The restrictions were quite contrary to the way I and most ethical hunters hunt. For instance; I think its absolutely required to pre-scout the area I plan to hunt. This was prohibited on this hunt. Thats not a little thing. I couldn't enter the area before 5am and had to be out by 1 hour after dark. That severely limits my ability to hunt the area. Basically, I was limited to road hunting because of these restrictions and the inability to scout or become familiar with the area or animals. Had I known these two things ahead of time I would not have put in for the hunt. These details should be accessable on the DFG website so a guy can make an informed decision before he applys!. Like most of the other hunters I talked with we felt blind on this hunt and blind-sided. As far as DFG biologists not being familiar with the area!!! Please straighten me out, but, in any logging area, private or not, a DFG biologist needs to survey the area via EIR for building roads, access points, cuts, etc. in order to mitigate and monitor the Salmon habitat-runoff, stream bridging, etc. AND a DFG biologist had to be familiar with the Elk densities and herd health in order to plan this hunt. I may also be wrong on another point as well, but, doesn't the private property owner get some mitigation for allowing hunting on his land? Thats not to say that the lumber co. wasn't doing a great thing outta the goodness of thier heart, but, all cards should be on the table. My point being this hunt should be better organized and the potential hunters better informed and provided with accurate relevent information about the hunt and restrictions BEFORE they apply.

Don't get me wrong, the lumber rep was one helluva good guy and so were the DFG folks on site. If I may juxtapose this hunt to an upcomming Elk hunt in Utah. My son drew 1 of 30 junior Elk tags for Utah this year. Within 1 week of receiving the notice I was able to contact the Warden and the Biologist for the area. Both spoke to me for at least 20 minutes each and provided very usefull info. I reached both with a single telephone call to thier office, where I was greeted by a nice helpfull staff member. The maps are already on the way, and I will scout the area out this summer while fishing(and spending money). See the difference?

 

[DFGELK]

You make some very good points and some of them I can fix and some of them our out of my hands. I will make an effort to put more of the information about the hunt and its limitations for entry on our web site. I believe the Timber company does receive a landowner tag for being in the hunt boundary (they are the hunt boundary). I still believe any access they grant is a tremendous bonus for the elk hunters of California, without their cooperation we would have zero public access for this hunt. Part of the deal is they did not want to have to handle phone calls about the elk on their property. They have a business to run and we respect that. Fish and Game unit biologists do a lot of different things, but they are really not the ones doing surveys for timber harvest activities. There is a whole different division of Fish and Game biologists that run the timber harvest program. Each person you talk to has different priorities, interests, personalities, so not everyone you talk to is going to be a wealth of information and helpful. I wish I could change that but it is inherent in any bureaucracy, my focus is elk hunting and I can talk forever about the areas I know. Unfortunately being based in Sacramento I do not have a tremendous amount of on the ground knowledge for all the hunt areas in our state. I wanted to apologize for the delay in getting you the hunt information on your hunt. There was a change in the place were orientation was to be held and this was not finalized until later, that is not an excuse for not informing the hunters of what was going on. Thank you for pointing out some flaws in the system, I will do what I can to fix those problems.

Joe

 

[tacticaltj]

Joe, I suspect your whats right with DFG in California. I believe I may have spoken to you last year after the cold shoulders from your foodchain. If so, keep it up.
I guess my biggest point(bitch) is that our DFG had better move into the 21st century and run DFG like a customer service oriented business, like most other states do, or DFG will simply be lined out one budget year...and don't think that won't happen.

Just one more thought. Your darn right the lumber co are great folks, but, they are getting something more outta allowing access. We're just not privy. It could be credits for mitigation, etc. But, irregardless. DFG needs to use more volunteers. I fish salmon up there every year for the last 35 years and could easily scout the hunt area for DFG and put together access points, road info, herd composition, photos, camping/hotel info, etc. And provide it in a complete package for DFG ready to post on the website for potential applicants and mail out to lucky hunters who draw. Each special hunt in our state could have something similar done by a volunteer. Something to think about...

 

[DFGELK]

Give me a call and maybe we can work something out if you are willing to help, extra hunting info is always helpful. The timber company does not receive mitigation credits or things like that, does not work that way. I use to work in Timber Harvest. They receive a landowner tag and they enjoy that very much. Unfortunately custsomer service is always going to be hit and miss until we get someone willing to crack the whip. Another reality is that hunting and fishing is only a small part of what fish and game does. I am fortunate to deal mainly with hunting and some environmental isses (luckily related to hunting). But unit biologist of the old days are no longer, they have CEQA compliance, depredation, nuisance wildlife, endangered species, contaminates, west nile virus, avian influenza, reptile breeders, etc, etc,. Some of them are lucky that they can make hunting or fishing a top priority or even have that interest. Give me a call and lets see if I can take you up on your offer. 916 445-9992


Joe

 

[snoopdogg]

Boys; glad to see we are all playing like gents and professionals. I hope you two can make it work, for the betterment of all us hunters.

A sincere thanks.

 

[BOWUNTR]

DFGELK, How come there are no PLM Roosevelt Elk tags/ranches listed on the web site? I am interested in hunting Roosevelt in Ca. Ed F

 

[DFGELK]

There are no PLM Roosevelt Elk ranches listed because there are no PLMs within the Roosevelt elk range that are enrolled for elk. There is one pending application that could be the first one to take a Roosevelt elk. Give me a call if you have any other questions or want more details.

Joe

 

[outdoorsman35]

Thank you all very much for the replies. I will wait for the DFG to send me more info. If you want to share any more info with me directly please send me a direct email. Any info would be helpful.

Thanks!

Rob

 

[bighorn67]

Hey Joe,

Welcome to Jesses. It's great to have a direct contact at DFG active on the site here.

Dave

 

[ducslayer]

I second that bighorn.