Bob, I really enjoyed your enthusiasm leading up to your elk hunt last year. I also had an early rifle elk tag last year. The anticipation was incredible!
Well I was interested in the CA D-12 hunt and decided to give it a try last fall. Even the CA Dept of Wildlife folks were incredulous that a guy from CO would even consider hunting in CA.
I made the trek for the rifle season during Thanksgiving week. I love hiking the desert and I enjoy the warm weather down south that time of year. I was excited to get deep into some of the wilderness areas. The deer hunting was mostly just an excuse to go exploring. I was extremely disappointed to find deer hunters driving vehicles up and down every wash. That was the case everywhere I went even 10 miles into multiple wilderness areas. It seems that driving washes is the primary method of hunting there and few obey the law.
I did not kill a buck but I didn't really expect to. There were just enough deer around to keep me alert. I still enjoyed hiking the desert and seeing the wildlife like desert rams and lots of quail. I would go again but I would like to keep looking for an area the vehicles aren't getting into.
