6 Sept 25, 2020 VOL.39 • ISS. 20
Hunting
Journal
Hassle-Free Hunting For
Hunters oF all levels
Duck Hunts In Flooded Rice Fields!
We are running two duck blinds this season, a six-man blind and fourman
blind both on 100 acres of private property in the heart of Richvale in
Butte County. Richvale is known for its rice fields and wintering waterfowl, which
makes this property a great producer of ducks and geese ($250 a person).
Also, we target snows and specks with dry field goose hunts. We run eight hunters a
day max and six hunters minimum – groups of six will get the whole field to themselves.
If you haven’t experienced a good goose hunt by laying in 1,000-plus decoys
with geese landing right in front of you, give me and my team a call and we
will get you on the birds ($325 a person).
FIND US ON
(530) 591-7588
3920
Hit The Rough Country For Public Land Bucks
O
n the upside, my deer camp was
comfortable complete with a tent,
fire ring, table, a couple chairs and a tarp
covered cooking and eating area. On the
downside, I was set up in an easily accessible
strip of public land. Dozens of camps
dotted the dirt road and those camps were
home to big numbers of hunters.
In short I had plenty of competition,
but my confidence level was running
pretty high. It had rained all night and a
good dusting of snow blanketed the high
country. The deer would be on the move.
It took me nearly an hour of steady
hiking to reach the spot where I dropped
into the canyon and that’s when the
real hiking started. I followed a narrow
hogback down several hundred yards.
When the trail branched, I jogged left and
continued down. My destination was a
brushy bowl dotted with huge lava formations
about halfway down the side of the
main canyon.
By the time I reached the ground blind
it had stopped raining so I stowed the
rain gear and settled in for the remainder
of the afternoon. Save for the occasional
squawks of birds the canyon was dead
quiet.
I spotted a pair of does at long range
right away. I don’t know how long I’d
been sitting when I spotted more deer,
maybe a couple hours. It was the unmistakable
shape of a deer’s hind leg amid
some brush and downed tree limbs that
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caught my eye. The deer was across and
below me, atop a narrow backbone that
led toward the bottom of the hardscrabble
lava canyon.
Presently the deer walked into the
open… It was a doe, but a pair of
handsome mature bucks followed it out.
My heart felt like it was going to jump out
of my throat.
It was going to be a long shot in the 250
to 300 yard range and that knowledge
helped me regain composure. Hitting with
a rifle at long range takes skill and you’ve
got to be calm.
Cranking the magnification on the scope
up, I rested my trusty 7mm Remington
Magnum in the notch of my homemade
shooting sticks and waited for the shot to
develop. This was the kind of opportunity
I’d bought the 7 mag to take advantage of
decades ago and it had proven it’s worth
many times over the years.
At the report, I clearly heard the wet slap
of the bullet striking flesh. The next thing
I knew the buck surged off the backbone
and into the canyon, kicking and rolling
down into a steep gully….And then there
was silence.
The buck turned out to be a mature 3.5
year old 2 x 2 complete with an eye guard.
The bullet had hit within an inch of where
I’d been aiming. It popped a tiny hole in
the near side shoulder, destroyed a portion
of the lungs and I found it fully mushroomed
hanging from the hide on the far
side when I rolled
the buck over.
Hunting public
land blacktail bucks,
while challenging
is actually the easy
part. The hard part
is overcoming
hunting pressure
and beating the
competition.
Hard work. That is
the short and thorny
answer to becoming a
successful California
public land blacktail
hunter. Some folks
are able to embrace
this concept, but the
majority can’t. For
every hunter that is
actually out in the
woods hiking and
sweating there are
likely 20 cruising
around in 4x4s
listening to the radio
as they road hunt.
While relatively few
modern hunters are
willing to get out in
the woods and hike
even fewer are willing
to hike long distances,
say a mile or more
from the vehicle.
By now you see
where this is going? Hard work, long
hikes and patience are some of the
key ingredients to tagging a California
blacktail. Over the course of my hunting
career my public land success rate is
up above 75%. My hunting skills aren’t
special. Over the years sweat equity and
patience have paid off for me big time and
given the chance, the same components
will pay off for you.
Roads or more specifically a lack of
road access is the key. Areas that have
good road access attract lots of hunters.
Conversely areas with restricted road
access experience far less hunting
pressure. There are two types of roadless
areas for hard working Golden State
hunters to exploit.
The first are designated wilderness
areas such as the Granite Chief, Desolation,
Trinity Alps, Yolla Bolly/Middle
Eel, Marble Mountains and Snow
Mountain. All these wilderness areas offer
outstanding blacktail hunting and there is
by Cal Kellogg
zero road access within their boundaries.
The second type of roadless area simply
comes in the form of rough, steep, unforgiving
country. Such locations become
pseudo wilderness areas simply because
the lack of access keeps the vast majority
of hunters away.
In my younger years I backpacked into
both the Yolla Bolly and Trinity Alps and
enjoyed light pressure and superb hunting.
More recently I’ve taken the back country
skills I developed visiting these well
known wilderness areas and applied them
to accessing rough roadless tracts of both
the Tahoe and Lassen National Forests
with very good results. Remember in most
cases, no roads makes for a wilderness
hunting experience.
The best and most physically and
mentally demanding way of accessing
wilderness country is with backpacking
gear. To pull this off you’ll need a fair
amount of quality gear and the ability to
hike cross country with a pack ranging in
weight from 40 to 60 pounds depending
For Top Notch Waterfowl Or Dove Hunting
Call Fowl Weather Guide Service
Butte County has some of the best waterfowl hunting in
the state. A huge number of birds flock to the region’s
rice fields, ponds and sloughs.
If you’ve got access and the know how to work the birds the
results can be amazing. Scott Marglin of Fowl Weather Guide
Service is headquartered in Butte County and provides both
access to outstanding waterfowl land and Scott and his team
provide the finesse to help you put ducks and geese on the
BBQ!
“We are running two duck blinds this season, a six-man
blind on 100 acres of private property in the heart of Richvale
in Butte County. Richvale is known for its rice fields and
wintering waterfowl, which makes this property a great
producer of ducks and geese. Also, we target snows and specks
with dry field goose hunts. We run eight hunters a day max and
six hunters minimum – groups of six will get the whole field to
themselves. If you haven’t experienced a good goose hunt by
laying in 1,000-plus decoys with geese landing right in front of
you, you’ve got to give it a try,” Scott exclaimed.
Scott’s dove hunts are fully guided and you can choose
between a half and full day hunt.
For more information or to book your bird hunt, give Scott a
call at (530) 591-7588 or check out the Fowl Weather Guide Service website at www.fowlweatherguideservice.com.