Shoobee
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For those of you planning to rifle hunt at FHL (I am not) here is a summary of my recons there during bow season zone by zone.
TA1 - A high and dry zone that I do not recommend. But if you can find a spring in there somewhere then you might find a buck. I did not see any bucks in there, and everyone I spoke to did not see any bucks in there either.
TA2 - A zone with some river water in it in parts of it, but the most deer in this zone which is not a lot are located on Upper Milpitas Road between Milpitas Reservoir and Coleman Reservoir.
TA3 - I talked to some hunters who went into TA3 and they said it has springs and habitat but they did not see any bucks.
TA4 - This is what I call a CJ zone and unless you have lockers on your axles you will not get into or out of this zone alive. If you can get into it, there is river water on the north end of this zone, and probably bucks there, but it is really rugged.
TA5 - This is one of the best zones to hunt at FHL. The river water is at the north end of this zone and that is where the bucks are too.
TA6 - This zone is flat near the south of it and rugged the rest of it. There are some bucks around the river in the south of it.
TA7 - I talked to a handful of CJ type hunters and they said this was a rugged zone, and they saw bucks, but could not get into position for a stalk with archery.
TA8 - Same comment as TA4 regarding CJ with lockers.
TA9 - I saw a bachelor herd in this zone, but it was not yet opened for hunting during the archery season.
TA10 - This zone has a lot of deer in it and gets hunted a lot. Very popular, reported very rugged, requiring lots of hiking.
TA11 - I stalked a big spiked buck in this zone, and saw a forked horn being chased by a bunch of archery road hunters.
TA12 - This is a former impact area that contains several bucks, however you are not authorized into this zone due to the danger of the unexploded ordinance.
TA13 - Same comment as TA10 next to it.
TA14 - Same comment as TA8 above.
TA15 - This area was used for Army training the whole time I was there, no hunting allowed yet. It is popular with the Army because this is where they have many jihad villages set up for CQB training.
TA16 - TA28 -- these zones were not opened yet during the archery season, so when they do open during the rifle season, they should be undistrubed.
Note that I did not see a lot of kills during the archery season, maybe only a couple of bucks, a cow elk, a couple of boars, that was it.
The bowhunters only mostly succeded in moving the deer around. Mostly because the hunters I saw bowhunting were roadhunting like you would with a rifle, going straight at the deer, and thus only scaring them away. So the bucks are mostly all still there, they have just moved around a bit.
Highest recommendations on the north half of the base would be for TA9 which has not been opened yet, into which deer were probably chased, as well as the ones I saw to begin with when it was still undistrubed.
I can't tell you anything about the southern zones because these have not yet been opened.
I plan to write the colonel and lt. colonel there and thank them for the great job the hunting shack has done during the archery season. The rest of you who bowhunted FHL should do the same. Maybe then they will appreciate the civilian hunters a little bit. Donno not sure.
I will concentrate on the Sierra now, since it is just as close to me as FHL is (2 1/2 hour drive), and I know some good spots for rifle in the Sierra with low hunting pressure, and FHL will be crawling with mobs of Southern California hunters during the rifle season because FHL is one of the few hunt-able areas close to Southern Cal.
Good luck and good hunting.
TA1 - A high and dry zone that I do not recommend. But if you can find a spring in there somewhere then you might find a buck. I did not see any bucks in there, and everyone I spoke to did not see any bucks in there either.
TA2 - A zone with some river water in it in parts of it, but the most deer in this zone which is not a lot are located on Upper Milpitas Road between Milpitas Reservoir and Coleman Reservoir.
TA3 - I talked to some hunters who went into TA3 and they said it has springs and habitat but they did not see any bucks.
TA4 - This is what I call a CJ zone and unless you have lockers on your axles you will not get into or out of this zone alive. If you can get into it, there is river water on the north end of this zone, and probably bucks there, but it is really rugged.
TA5 - This is one of the best zones to hunt at FHL. The river water is at the north end of this zone and that is where the bucks are too.
TA6 - This zone is flat near the south of it and rugged the rest of it. There are some bucks around the river in the south of it.
TA7 - I talked to a handful of CJ type hunters and they said this was a rugged zone, and they saw bucks, but could not get into position for a stalk with archery.
TA8 - Same comment as TA4 regarding CJ with lockers.
TA9 - I saw a bachelor herd in this zone, but it was not yet opened for hunting during the archery season.
TA10 - This zone has a lot of deer in it and gets hunted a lot. Very popular, reported very rugged, requiring lots of hiking.
TA11 - I stalked a big spiked buck in this zone, and saw a forked horn being chased by a bunch of archery road hunters.
TA12 - This is a former impact area that contains several bucks, however you are not authorized into this zone due to the danger of the unexploded ordinance.
TA13 - Same comment as TA10 next to it.
TA14 - Same comment as TA8 above.
TA15 - This area was used for Army training the whole time I was there, no hunting allowed yet. It is popular with the Army because this is where they have many jihad villages set up for CQB training.
TA16 - TA28 -- these zones were not opened yet during the archery season, so when they do open during the rifle season, they should be undistrubed.
Note that I did not see a lot of kills during the archery season, maybe only a couple of bucks, a cow elk, a couple of boars, that was it.
The bowhunters only mostly succeded in moving the deer around. Mostly because the hunters I saw bowhunting were roadhunting like you would with a rifle, going straight at the deer, and thus only scaring them away. So the bucks are mostly all still there, they have just moved around a bit.
Highest recommendations on the north half of the base would be for TA9 which has not been opened yet, into which deer were probably chased, as well as the ones I saw to begin with when it was still undistrubed.
I can't tell you anything about the southern zones because these have not yet been opened.
I plan to write the colonel and lt. colonel there and thank them for the great job the hunting shack has done during the archery season. The rest of you who bowhunted FHL should do the same. Maybe then they will appreciate the civilian hunters a little bit. Donno not sure.
I will concentrate on the Sierra now, since it is just as close to me as FHL is (2 1/2 hour drive), and I know some good spots for rifle in the Sierra with low hunting pressure, and FHL will be crawling with mobs of Southern California hunters during the rifle season because FHL is one of the few hunt-able areas close to Southern Cal.
Good luck and good hunting.
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owell good thing I'm not hunting fhl for deer
