Well, judging by the overwhelming responses I'm guessing it wasn't a very good weekend for C zone archery. Did anybody on this board even try? I'm just curious.
Good luck to all this season,
Sporty
I'm not far from you so you know it was HOT!!!!!!!!!
I tried down around Cow Creek at the bottom of Ponderose road. Walked about two miles up stream and didn't see a thing. Thought they might like it there being cool and water close by. Not even a single track.
Got home and there was a forkie beded down in the chicken coop !!! Saw four more bucks and about seven does walk through the backyard Saturday.
Went fishin Sunday. Same creek, caught 3 planters and saw no deer. Got home and there is a 3x3 drinking from the dogs water bucket AAAAAAAGH!
Hope it cools off soon. Maybe we can hook up for a hunt during rifle season. I'm kinda new to the area but i know a place that held deer last season I just couldn't connect hunting by myself.
If I had another gun I think somebody would get a shot. I'd go left they go right .I go up they go down.
Need one gun to flush and one gun to sit tight and wait.
I'm not far from you so you know it was HOT!!!!!!!!!
I tried down around Cow Creek at the bottom of Ponderose road. Walked about two miles up stream and didn't see a thing. Thought they might like it there being cool and water close by. Not even a single track.
Got home and there was a forkie beded down in the chicken coop !!! Saw four more bucks and about seven does walk through the backyard Saturday.
Went fishin Sunday. Same creek, caught 3 planters and saw no deer. Got home and there is a 3x3 drinking from the dogs water bucket AAAAAAAGH!
Hope it cools off soon. Maybe we can hook up for a hunt during rifle season. I'm kinda new to the area but i know a place that held deer last season I just couldn't connect hunting by myself.
If I had another gun I think somebody would get a shot. I'd go left they go right .I go up they go down.
Need one gun to flush and one gun to sit tight and wait.
E A,
I would love to hunt C zone but I was drawn for X1, so I can't buy a second tag until September 4th. Unfortunately, the tags are usually sold out by then, which means I haul my fat butt clear to the B zone and hunt hoping for something to fill my freezer. I would like to point you into a good direction but I have spent ALL of my scouting time in X1, with poor to fairly poor results. One thing I can tell you is at night between Hat Creek (the town, if you can call it a town) and Viola (which is more of a curve in the road than a town) there are a ton of deer along the road. (see Pavement Eating Deer? thread on page 2). Much of the area seems as if it would be difficult hunting, but I know deer are there. Hope this helps you and anybody else put venison in the freezer.
Good luck to all,
Sporty
Het Sporty you lucky dog you drew my favorite zone X1. Have hunted there since i was 13 didn't get drawn this year waa........ If you want any info I'll help if i can. E-mail if you want. Gary
Hello, went to the DFG meeting on Sat. 2-9-02, very interesting. Because I and several other of you folks hunt the C Zones I thought I would pass on some starting info.
It appears DFG may combine all C zone archery tags into one archery specific tag, i.e., instead of having a A-2 tag only, and to only hunt in A-2 hunt, the C-4 zone, we will now be able to trip all over all four C zones. It is considered to be called a A-1 tag. I think this is a good idea, as it provides the "archery" C zone hunters the same option of hunting all four zones as the "gun" hunters.
Now as to the opening date, we may have a uphill battle in getting it back to the "original" time frame of the 4th weekend in Aug. i.e. 18th or 20th as in years past. Sonke Mastrup told me we need to talk to Dave Smith the Biologist in Region 1 and hopefully we may get him to see why we want the date back. I and several others want it back so the "kids" can hunt with us as a family before they head back to school.
After I have a chance to speak with Dave, hopefully within the next few weeks, I'll let those of you here know what he has said, 'til next time, keep 'em sharp, Chuck
Chuck,
This could have a negative impact on hunting in the c-4 area. Bringing in more hunters to an area(Chester,Stover,Elm, Baily Creek) than already present. The current system deticates this area to people who want to hunt c-4 not just guys who have a free weekend before their C zone season starts. Deer numbers being what they are, more is definately not better these days. I remember when you could hunt both bow and rifle in Chester. It was a mad House!!!
Strip, I didn't have time before to go into more specific detail.
Let me try to clear it up a little better.
To hunt any C zone during any archery season, and for archery only, one must have a A-1 tag. A hunter could not have a general C tag in their posession. It also appears there may be a reduction in the overall number of tags to be issued, no numbers as of yet though.
And yes, I agree with you that if everyone that were to get this new tag and felt that they should try the "Chester" area on opening weekend it could be a mad house as in years past.
I personally believe that if most of the "hunters" in this area would stop "road hunting" we all would have a much better hunting experience. Now don't get me wrong, I know road hunting isn't illegal within the state of California, and what I mean by "road hunting" is, driving around looking for deer, but shooting from vehicles or the road way is, and a VERY large majority of those who hunt this way do this very thing. I am not saying all folks driving down the road would do this, but, there are a large majority that do. I even know of people who feel that because they were taught this way to hunt by their friends or family members from years past that it should be accepted by everyone. Personally I know it is illegal and unethical, and any hunter that took a hunter education course knows that ethics are passed along in that course, however THEY choose to continue this behavior.
I say lets all contact Dave Smith the DFG Biologist and let him know of our concerns, try to get the opener back the way it used to be, put more pressure on those we see road hunting, even if it means "turning" in one of our own to a warden, for we need to police our own ranks just as others have to and lets clean up bowhuntings image.
Time to get off this soap box, if I have offended anyone I apologize for nothing, for if you are a road hunter, shame on you, that's not hunting, it's driving around until you kill something, nuff said.
Strip feels like I do. Unfortunately, with CA present system I could get an A-1 tag and a C tag and hunt both with a rifle and a bow. I grew up hunting the Swain Mtn area and it used to be a ZOO for both bow and rifle. Last few years I have not hunted C4, but I have tagged along with my family on the archery hunt. Fewer people and a better experience. I wish they would just leave well enough alone and quit combining zones.
Unfortunately we have to deal with reality. There are no where near the numbers of deer anymore. And the Tehama herd, which mainly uses the C-4 area as its range has been declining steadily for the past ten or so years. I hope its just the low end of a trend but most likely not. So in my opinion, Please no more pressure(tags). As far as road hunters go, they have always been a part of bowhunting in Chester. Today, road hunting numbers are a fraction of what past years where.
(70's and 80's required traffic signals) I do feel your frustrations but it comes back to deer numbers not hunting methods. Also there is a loophole in the whole archery/rifle hunting in Chester. You can apply for a first deer tag C zone, then wait until after july 2 then apply for left over A-2 tag. Works every time. Go luck this year.
Well, seems as though I have opened a hornets nest, sorry didn't mean to. I only intended to pass on what had been proposed at the meeting.
As far as the deer herd in the C-4 zone, yes, habitat loss is the biggest problem. I personally feel that if the USFS and the local logging company, Sierra Pacific, had to manage the land for ALL living things, the entire biota, this situation would be different. Since about 1982 we have all witnessed this herd spiralling down hill. Habitat loss is the number one culprit. The current powers at be use the land for maximum sustainable yeild of wood products. I am sure there are many of us that could go on and on regarding this subject. I personally am trying to do some "hands on" invovlement to better the situation. Write letters, give a helping hand bettering the environment for the good of all animals, etc.. If any of you have other ideas to share that might make this a better situation please share them, if we all do something then maybe in the end it will matter, thanks for your thoughts guys, Chuck
I thought Roseberg, Collins Pine and Hearst were the bigger private landowners in the Chester area? SP has a little holdings but I did not think much.
If the USFS was managing our forest instead of letting it decay and eventually burn we would have a LOT more deer. Too many thickets and not enough browse. That and developments in the wintering areas are the problems to me..... Just my opinions..
my comments are all in good humor. Definately not trying to stir the pot. It all really comes down to me wishing things were like they use to be. Well the part about about all the bucks, and not how bad of a shot I was in my youth.
I used to hunt with my family in the Swain Mtn area and it was nothing for me to shoot at 3 or 4 bucks a day out of my stand (missing them all). I did not use sights back then and I was slinging wooden arrows with a recurve, but some of those bucks were close!!!!
I did not mean to run down the local Lassen National Forest people in my last post. I have met a lot of these folks and found many of them are frustrated with not being able to take care of the land. The change is needed on a national level....
It is true that SP doesn't have as much land in the immediate Chester are, however, once one goes west on 36 and south they hold ALOT of ground. From about the Mineral area west and south primarily. Much of it is on the 32 corridor as well.
If the FS would allow more controlled burning to clear more of the thicker vegitation this would help tremendously. If SP wouldn't go back in after a plantation is a few years old and spray/kill the browse forage this would be of help as well.
I agree with everyone here that loves this area and have watched it go down hill, only because of the ole mighty dollar, from timber sales.
I wish we could convince SP to try and work with us to have the privelege to hunt their ground they are gating off. One idea I have is that if we all, archers or gun hunters, would pay just one dollar more for our tags in this zone, possibly they would go around 2 days before, then 2 days after the respective seasons to open and close gates. Just one idea that maybe, just maybe, we could get a better relationship with the folks at SP. Then possibly we could work on other areas of concern, help out with contolled burns, hand thinning brush in the early years instead of herbicides, etc.. Any other ideas from the rest of you? Maybe I'm all wet, but, I feel that nothing happens until someone does something. 'til next time, keep 'em sharp, Chuck
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