So I got an email from Netflix last week about the release of Steven Rinella’s show: MeatEater on Netflix. This was followed with a couple of days of binge watching seasons 5 & 6 of MeatEater—reminding me of the highs and lows of last October’s deer hunt in Utah. Back in June, I had decided not to hunt locally this year, as I had scheduled a few projects that would conflict with hunting season, but being suddenly watching this show, rekindled and inspired me to hunt. I looked over the documentation for dates available left for hunting in my local (Ventura County) area, as well as the number of animal tags that were available and found that deer season was over for the coastal (A1) areas, but that the season was still open until Sunday, November 6th in an area known as D13. There were a number of deer tags that could be purchased over the counter, still available in section D13, an area just east of Hwy 33, between Ojai and Pine Mountain Club. I contacted my friend and hunting mentor, Bill Bacheller to do some scouting and we took the day on November 1st to scout some areas just off the main highway. Finding some heavy track along some of the steep ridge lines, funneling the deer into some drainage areas. Deer have been particularly hard to find in recent years due to the lack of water in most areas. This has been the case with many game animals, reducing the numbers of rabbit, deer, boar, quail, ducks and turkey, causing many of my friends who hunt into other states to harvest their meat.
We tried to cover as much area via 4 wheel drive vehicle and binoculars, and stopped at the occasional opportunity to jump some quail—unfortunately without any luck! A few miles into a 4WD trail, we came across a primitive campground that was occupied by only one lone hunter. Being close to dusk and having my rifle in the truck, we decided to turn this scouting trip into a short, evening hunt. Walking north from the vehicle, we bushwhacked through some thick brush, noting some deer tracks that were difficult to age, but had definitely been laid after the last bit of rain (about a week ago). Climbing up onto a ridgeline and glassing the opposite hillside, we sat and glassed for about 15 minutes, not spotting any movement or animals. Bill decided to travel down the steep ridge for the last hour of sunlight, hoping his presence would encourage deer to move away from some bedding areas and line me up for a shot.
In the last 15 minutes of sunlight, Bill spotted a young buck, probably about 2 years old with some forked antlers. Having some difficulty in trying to reach me without causing too much noise, we moved on the buck and I was able to find it’s tracks. Unfortunately with the failing light and hunting end time drawing near (legal hunting time is half an hour before sunrise until half an hour after sunset) I was never able to get my eyes on it, and it must have given us the slip by doubling back as we passed. It is times like this that remind me that this is “hunting” and not “shooting”—harvesting an animal is never guaranteed.
In these final minutes of twilight, I came to understand the importance of having quality optics. I tried to glass some of the closer hillsides with my low end Nikon binoculars and could not make anything out due to the darkness. At the same time, Bill was still spotting the deer with his much higher end Swarovski binoculars. I paused to ask if I could look upon the same area with his optics and found the difference remarkable!! It is definitely time to upgrade!!