IT’S THE HUNT, NOT THE SHOT / Preparation is first step in the cure for buck fever

Tom Stienstra

(09-17) 21:21 PDT — Each year in late summer, we search the mountain forests for one thing. Early this week, my son, Kris, found it.

On the forest floor, it looked like someone had scooped out a small crater in the dirt with a spoon, and 11 inches away we saw several small points, as if someone had jabbed the dirt with a pencil tip.

This sign means a buck with 22-inch antler spread was in the area. With the opening of mountain deer season Saturday, we have the start of a working plan. Now we have to track the game trails and try to find where this buck feeds, waters and beds down, and maybe find the does that he’s following.

Because of hot, dry conditions across California, the outlook for this year’s season is poor. Only about 10 percent of deer hunters are projected by Fish and Game to get their buck; and success is borderline impossible for those who hunt by driving on forest roads or do not scout. There are pockets of exceptions, such as a few specialized muzzleloader hunts and X zones in the remote northeastern region of the state, where buck numbers are high and permits are limited to just a handful and selected by lottery.

Some areas, such as the vast B zone in northwestern California, are projected to produce a 15 to 20 percent success rate. The slopes of the Sierra Nevada, where deer populations have crashed because of subdivisions built on historic migration routes and predation by mountain lions and coyotes, could produce results even worse than last year, where buck rates for hunters were as low as 3.7 percent in some areas.

Those who drive around forest roads looking for bucks, “deer trolling” as many call it, popular in Sequoia National Monument, Shasta-Trinity National Forest and a few other areas, have little chance  Full Story

IT’S THE HUNT, NOT THE SHOT / Preparation is first step in the cure for buck fever.