PASO ROBLES – California’s 2011 deer season got underway with the start of the A Zone archery season in July. Other archery deer seasons will follow in several other zones throughout the Golden State in August and September, and there is much to look forward to during the coming season.
California had record precipitation statewide in the form of snowfall and rain in 2010 and early 2011, lasting into early June in some areas. This above-normal rain and snow has improved the feed base tremendously in many areas that were heavily damaged during the prolonged drought the state recently experienced. The extra precipitation has also replenished traditional waterholes used by California deer and other game animals, adding to the potential for the 2011 season to be a great one.
Although habitat had improved pretty much statewide in the 2010 season, harvest results were at best stable in most deer management areas: Statewide harvest rates remained in line with past numbers with a few exceptions:
A Zone success spikes
The coastal A Zone encompasses ground from as far north as Mendocino County to northern Los Angeles County. This zone is popular due to the numerous hunting opportunities provided by large tracts of federal land, with the most sizeable being the Los Padres National Forest.
A Zone hunters had one of the most dramatic increases in hunter success rates statewide during the 2010 big game season: Overall hunter success rates in the A Zone increased 16.3% to a whopping 26% hunter success over 2009 harvest records.
Near-record rain and snowfall in 2010 and 2011 translated into improved harvest rates for hunters working California’s A Zone. As the 2011 season kicks off this month, archers should see additional improvement in forage, and a return of traditional watering holes. (Photo courtesy Adventures West Recreation, adventureswestrecreation.com)
The A zone was one of the management areas that had received at least average rainfall in late 2009 into early 2010, and tremendous rainfall in late 2010 through May of this year. Consequently, habitat in the form of feed and watering areas rebounded, and outdoorsman were once again hunting those areas that they have been familiar with prior to the start of our prolonged drought. This rebounding habitat (along with the season dates going well into late September) put bucks in some areas of the A Zone into the rut (mating season), which can make bucks less wary and more susceptible to hunters and predators.
Catching the start of the rut
The length of the A zone season was the same (44 days) in 2010, and always starts on the second Saturday in August. This past season opened on August 14 and extended to September 26. I’ve lived most of my life on the central coast of California and have always felt prime rut for our species of blacktail deer was October 1 through the 15, so you can see how these late September hunt dates were in the hunters’ favor.
The A zone season this year is set to begin August 13 and end September 25, so even more improved habitat and rut timing should work out in hunters favors again.
“(The) 2010 (season) was one of the best years on record for antler growth, and 2011, with almost 30 inches of rain, is looking even better for the central coast of California,” confirms Chad Weibe, owner of Central Coast Taxidermy and Oak Stone Outfitters (805-748-2787l oakstoneoutfitters.com). “That rainfall will produce the late feed conditions that deer need to reach their full potential.”
In 2010, Oak Stone hunters harvested three bucks that taped over 20 inches wide, and they also took the official No. 4 SCI non-typical archery blacktail. Wiebe hunts all private land with exclusive lease rights, with near 100 percent success rates for those that can shoot up to 200 yards. I handle bookings for Oak Stone, so if you’d like more info on a hunt, drop me a line at the address listed at the bottom of this page.
Increased success in D, X, G Zones
As mentioned previously, the statewide deer harvest was fairly stable compared to years past, but there were a few additional zone highlights for improved in hunter success rates in 2010: Zone B in the north coast was up 8.6 percent, Zone C up 6.7 percent, Zone X6A up 3.5 percent, Zone X5B up 6 percent, and Zone G6 (Kern River Hunt) was up a phenomenal 20 percent!
Zone G6 is a late-season migration rut hunt in the southern Sierra Nevada range. The huge increase in the success rate can be attributed to the onset of early winter weather in the area that pushed the deer down into areas accessible to the 50 permitted hunters that were lucky enough to draw this high-profile tag opportunity.
Minor increases in hunter success rates were also noted in zones X2, X9A, X9B, and X12.
D Zone harvest improvements
Many Californians hunt the D Zone, which is a broken down into 16 different management areas. These areas take in most of the western slope of the northern Sierra Nevada range starting in Plumas County in the north all the way south to the Mexican border in San Diego and Imperial Counties.
Factoring in all the D Zone deer tag returns that were submitted to the DFG, the D Zones as an entire management region increased hunter success rates by a combined total of 24.2 percent over the 2009 season. Notable individual success rate increases occurred in zones D7, D13, and D17 with the highest increase of 8 percent over 2009 harvest records.
-Keith Hartman, Adventures West Recreation
www.adventureswestrecreation.com
(805) 674-1623
scouted two months prior to m1 south mendocino hunt. spotted does. mid oct hunt time rained like a monsoon for day and a half and had absoloutely no activity. Second year hunting and have talked to friends with experience and I am going to be patient. still waiting for b-zone harvest results. good luck
I have bean hunting hard in the D3-5 area one week at the beganning and one week at the end the last five years. I so more cat tracks then deers. In 2010 in Emigrant Gap area I sow mostly does and no carryover no babies. There is a managiment problem. The deer tags are a charitable contrabution
ive talked to cadfg and northen ca deer herd is way down they have also cut back on tag sales i hunted hard for 6 days bow hunting my hunting partner went out every weekend and also rifle hunted i think my time and money would be better spent in eastern montana thats what a dfg officer told me a cougar with young will make 2 to 3 kills a week