Gray Lodge hunt - Where to Stay?

[Jean]

Hi Folks,

I figure the duck hunters will know the area a little better, so I'm asking here. When you hunt the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area, what hotels or camping do you stay at and what do you like about them?

I drew a G12 deer tag and am looking to get some more information about the area.

Thanks for your help,

Jean

 

[branthntr]

Nearest motel would be in Gridley. +/- 15 min...
You can camp in the check station area onsite.
If you get up to scout during the week ,they have a visitor
headquarters and could probably help you out.Not sure if this is still good
but the ph# was...530-846-7500
I would bring waders as deer hang out in the tules/ponds.
Good luck!

 

[Bencoyote]

Jean, Congrats on the draw!. I was drawn 4 years ago and the girlfriend got drawn this year. We will start scouting next month. You can camp during the hunt only at the check station located off Rutherford rd. G-12 is not an easy hunt but has a decent number of deer for a known waterfowl area. Look for the deer to be hiding in the canals and check rows, just like you were hunting for pheasants. Be prepared for hot weather conditions and LOTS of mosquito's. Last time I hunted the G-12, I wore a face net at first light because the mosquito's were so bad that everytime I took a breath they would fly into my mouth, eyes and ears without a face net! PM if you want more info and good luck !

 

[bux-n-dux]

Granzellas in Williams.

 

[Atwater]

Granzellas in Williams.

Good call Nate, my first pick too. The super 8 in Williams was good for awhile, but nasty last time I stayed there. Make an early reservation for prime rib at Lois Cairos (sp?) a couple blocks away, and you won't be disappointed. Good luck!

 

[Jean]

Thank you all. I will look into Granzellas. I also was wondering if anybody is familiar with this place: Gridley Inn & RV Park

They look good but online searches don't compare to boot leather.

I will also be looking in to things for my husband to do if he decides he is not interested in fighting the mosquitoes with me.
So far, I've noticed Beale Airforce Base and will see if they have a museum he can check out. Also, there is RCBS up near Oroville somewhere. I hope he gets jazzed about going along with me on this hunt but I want to be prepared if he is not. Sneaking through swamps looking for dinner is not for everybody.

 

[GVOllie]

I will also be looking in to things for my husband to do if he decides he is not interested in fighting the mosquitoes with me.
So far, I've noticed Beale Airforce Base and will see if they have a museum he can check out.

Does he play golf? Beale has an excellent golf course.

 

[soupr]

Granzellas is a restaurant. Good eats though. Gridley is much closer than Williams. Like the above post hunt the deer like you would pheasant. Those deer will hold extremely tight until flushed out. I have got a couple of deer in the valley, one minute your by yourself and the next your practically on top of the deer. Get familiar with your slugs. Good luck out there this season.

 

[jrod]

You were asking about an RV park, but the refuge allows you to keep trailers and stuff right there by the check station. You could probably walk right out your trailer and start hunting ( I don't know the deer hunt boundries). I have seen some nice bucks between lot #4 and the closed zone, and makeing a left before you enter auto tour loop (closed zone) heading out toward some of the handicapped blinds and their parking lots, I saw some nice deer out there before. Never hunted it for deer but I was thinking about applying. There are supposedly albino deer out there, that would be neat to see. Good luck.:toast-yellow:

 

[Jean]

Thanks, everybody! :JHO rocks:
A buck is fine but I will be just as happy with a doe fattened up on blackberries. When I spoke to the folks at Gray Lodge, they were happy that I was willing to take a "breeder".

I have taken the shotgun to the range and so far, I have 1 1/8" groups with slugs at 50 yards.

I am soooo looking forward to this hunt.:smiley_yahoo:

 

[bux-n-dux]

Granzellas IS a restaurant.....and right next door, across the parking lot, is a great hotel. I don't know if it is run by the same folks but I believe it is.

 

[DLS]

Jean,

I've hunted in that area for the last 33 years, and can assure you that if you're going to stay in a motel, that staying in Gridley is the only place to consider. It is a 10-15 minute drive to Gray Lodge from Gridley, as opposed to about a 45 minute drive from Granzellas.

I will send you a private message with my email. I have a close friend who was the Game Warden who worked out of Gray Lodge for years, and who I'm confident will be happy to share some advice on how to make the most of your hunt. He used to live on the refuge, and while he now has a different beat, he still gets out there somewhat regularly and has connections that can help with your hunt. Watch for a PM shortly.

A couple quick tips are in order. #1 bring waders, lots of water even when this hunt takes place. #2 bring good mosquito repellant. The bugs are thick in that area until the weather gets cold. Are you also allowed to hunt on Little Dry Creek, or only the main part of the refuge? There are some nice blacktail bucks on both of those places.

 

[E.A.Hunt]

Also had that hunt a few years ago. A#1 thing is bug spray its bad bad bad.

Book a room in Gridley, Williams is too far when you have options ten min. away.

 

[MQ]

Stay at the Gridley Inn. Close by and reasonable prices. I have stayed there a few times with no complaints

 

[DLS]

Jean,

please contact me at the email address I left for you. I spoke with my Game Warden buddy a few hours ago, and he gave me some excellent advice to pass along to you. He gave me some suggestions on places to hunt, how to hunt them and time of day to hunt (and it'll surprise you). He said there are some very big bucks on the refuge and he had some interesting suggestions about how to hunt them.

Dan

 

[hunthog]

Take your RV and stay right at the check station. it's one of the few that allow camping. No hookups but....cheap for certain.

Larry

 

[Jean]

Thanks much for the infomation. If I had an RV, that would be the ticket. While we have a little bitty teeny tiny camping trailer, it doesn't really offer us quite enough privacy for a parking lot. :wavin hello:

As it stands now, I have a hotel reservation for Gridley Inn.

You folks are great. All of the responses I have gotten here have been wonderfully kind and helpful. Thank you so much.

Jean

 

[DLS]

When does your hunt start, Jean? I'm up there quite a bit in that area these days for work, and may be able to find some time to get out there to look around for you.

 

[SHARKS]

Looking for info on your trip. See any deer? Any birds? Let us know where you stayed and how your trip went.

 

[Jean]

You are right, Sharks. You folks deserve a response. While I posted some of this in the blacktail forum, I will include some more bits here. Some of this is a bit of a blur to my foggy memory, but I will try hard to be accurate.

I stayed at Gridley Inn. If there is only one person, don't get the mini suite. The single rooms have little refridgerators in them. With tax, it was $63 per night.

My husband was sick the week before so he did not go up with me on Friday. I spent Saturday morning hunting by myself. Found lots of deer poop but saw no deer. I talked to other hunters and met up with another lady hunter whose husband I had met here. We exchanged information, but did not hunt together.

I hunted with a retired biologist and his friends. I flushed a deer at 5 yards that I could not see it through the thistles. Might have been an 80lb jack-a-lope for all I know.:smiley_doh: That was a kick but I had little bloody scratches all over the front of my legs. Oh well, didn't bring a skirt to wear.:rotflmao:

I came around a corner to see 8 raccoons looking at me like "UH-OH!":lol bashing sign: I found deer sign everywhere but mostly the deer were hiding better than I was looking. I was seeing so much different wildlife. LOTS of Ducks, turkeys, rabbits, raccoons, deer, herons, and all of 3 pheasants. That part was delightful.
Sunday, it rained and there were very few hunters out. Did not understand that. Saw a deer run across the road in the middle of the day. Searched that field when I got to where she crossed but she hid better than I looked.
Monday morning, I hunted with a gentleman by the name of Josh who had seen does in an area. He was strictly trophy hunting, so any doe we saw was mine and any buck was his shot choice first. We came across very fresh deer poop but no deer.
I went home Monday afternoon because I was starting to get a sore throat. Tuesday night we came back up because I couldn't stand to miss the hunt.

This is a tough one for me.

I kept seeing deer in this area but it took a little bit to put it together so I could get a shot. So I check the wind and ride my bike in from the downwind end at around 5pm. I set the shotgun and the sticks out and tucked myself under some 6 ft high grasses and dozed off. I'd wake up about every 15 minutes or so and scan the field. About 6:30 I wake up to see a deer about 70 yards away in the field.

I slowly pick up the shotgun and roll into prone shooting position. Scope is on 3x. I settle the crosshairs in the middle of the deer for the vertical part and just behind the shoulder for the horizontal part. Take a breath, relax, and start to squeeze the trigger.

She bucks like a bronco and throws her back legs in the air. I am thinking to myself that she is heart shot. She runs a few steps and stops and then steps into the trees. She looks pretty shaky to me. I have already racked another round into the chamber of the 870 without really thinking about it.

To my horror, there is another, slightly smaller deer standing where the first one was grazing. When I was looking though the scope I never saw her. She is looking around like "WTF WAZAT?" She can't figure it out so she bounds off in the direction of the first deer. She is not hit.

I radioed my husband and asked him to help me with venison. I put another round into the magazine.

I walked down through the plowed blackberry field. They are flooding this field but it has not reached the corner yet. When I get to the trees and the area where the deer stood, I find some blood. There is a pretty good blood trail for all of 10 yards and then nothing.

Abso-friggen-lutely nothing. Todd helped me search but it got dark and we were having no luck.

We came back the next morning and searched some more. I brought my waders so I could search further into the swamp. I found nothing.

I think the shot was high, partly because that is how I have screwed up before. If the shot had been low, it would have very likely hit the smaller deer that was behind the first deer. Was there dirt in the barrel? Several times over the week, I have cleared the barrel of a little dirt or brush. Did I pull up on the shotgun and not see the change in sight picture? I will be at the range this week to find out.

Would I put in for this hunt again? Hell yes. Beautiful place, nice people, nice place to ride a bike. I saw such a wonderful variety of wildlife. Oh, and I am too fat for the mosquitoes to actually pick me up and carry me away. Although a couple times I wasn't sure. The headnet sprayed with permethrin was a great idea.

A gun rack on the handlebars would have been a good idea. Carrying the shotgun over my head and shoulder was okay, but slow to remove and after a day or so, the trigger group kept trying to dig a hole in my back.:skeered:

The one deer behind the other really shook me up, almost as much as the disappearing blood trail. It was a good trail until it hit the water. A second shot would have been a great thing to do, too.

I know this kind of stuff happens,but I sure am going to take the lessons to heart so I don't go through anything like this for a long time. The fired shell sits on my night stand to help me remember.

I hunt to kill and eat, not to inflict pain. I beg forgiveness of the deer spirit or what ever one wishes to call it.

Jean