Hey guys, just wanted to introduce myself, been following along for a bit and figure it's time to chime in. My name is Kellen, I'm 30, and born and raised in San Diego. I'm a Nurse at one of the major metropolitan hospitals in San Diego. I've been hunting in San Diego, and elsewhere in CA since age 13. I've also generally been hoofing around the backcountry hiking, backpacking, fishing, climbing, mountaineering, etc since I was old enough to carry a pack.
Bird hunting, especially quail hunting, has been my primary focus for the majority of my hunting career. There isn't much more exciting than a covey flush in your face. I've always hunted without dogs, and learned enough about quail and their habitat to consistently find them without a dog. Last February I went on a guided Mearn's Quail hunt in Arizona, and hunted behind some professional bird dogs and promptly fell in love. I found a pair of four year old English Setters in northern CA and (somehow) convinced my girlfriend that three dogs (we have a mutt also) would be a good idea. Purchased the dogs in March, and this has been their first season with me. They're doing great so far. They were trained and hunted on a private hunting ranch, but are not what you would call "finished" dogs. I know of coveys, valley quail and mountain, around the county that I can put them on regularly. Just wish the bird numbers were better this year so I could shoot more birds over them! I also hunt pheasant, dove, turkey and….. deer.
On deer: When I was 14 I was very lucky and pulled one of the 10 tags for the late season Round Valley Junior Hunt. I shot a very respectable 4X4 Mule Deer. It was basically a trophy hunt. It had snowed already and all the deer were down from the mountains. We saw some huge racks (parents… enter your kids for this hunt!!!!). If you have the 1998 (I think) issue of Tracks Magazine you'll see a photo of me with that deer. I used to be able to find a link to an archived E-version of that mag, but can't seem to find it now. I knew after that hunt, that there was a very good chance I would never shoot a deer of that size again. For whatever reason, I really didn't think much about deer hunting for years after that hunt. I had hunted with my uncle, with his rifle, and my dad wasn't a hunter so it just kind of fell off my radar.
Fast forward to last year: For some reason, as I was exploring more of the county looking for quail and turkey last season I got the itch to start deer hunting again. I was seeing deer in a lot of places that I was hunting/scouting. I saw a lot of guys "road hunting," and I knew that it was generally considered pretty tough to get a public land deer in D16. It seemed to me, at the time, that the D16 success rate was so low because people were to lazy to get out of their truck and do the work to get one. Of course, I know now that many of you are doing what I have been doing to be successful in southern CA. So I made it my mission (bordering on obsession) to get a DIY public land D16 buck. I bought a rifle and some good glass and got a D16 tag for this season. Stay tuned for the report on my season in the Hunting Report forum.
Bird hunting, especially quail hunting, has been my primary focus for the majority of my hunting career. There isn't much more exciting than a covey flush in your face. I've always hunted without dogs, and learned enough about quail and their habitat to consistently find them without a dog. Last February I went on a guided Mearn's Quail hunt in Arizona, and hunted behind some professional bird dogs and promptly fell in love. I found a pair of four year old English Setters in northern CA and (somehow) convinced my girlfriend that three dogs (we have a mutt also) would be a good idea. Purchased the dogs in March, and this has been their first season with me. They're doing great so far. They were trained and hunted on a private hunting ranch, but are not what you would call "finished" dogs. I know of coveys, valley quail and mountain, around the county that I can put them on regularly. Just wish the bird numbers were better this year so I could shoot more birds over them! I also hunt pheasant, dove, turkey and….. deer.
On deer: When I was 14 I was very lucky and pulled one of the 10 tags for the late season Round Valley Junior Hunt. I shot a very respectable 4X4 Mule Deer. It was basically a trophy hunt. It had snowed already and all the deer were down from the mountains. We saw some huge racks (parents… enter your kids for this hunt!!!!). If you have the 1998 (I think) issue of Tracks Magazine you'll see a photo of me with that deer. I used to be able to find a link to an archived E-version of that mag, but can't seem to find it now. I knew after that hunt, that there was a very good chance I would never shoot a deer of that size again. For whatever reason, I really didn't think much about deer hunting for years after that hunt. I had hunted with my uncle, with his rifle, and my dad wasn't a hunter so it just kind of fell off my radar.
Fast forward to last year: For some reason, as I was exploring more of the county looking for quail and turkey last season I got the itch to start deer hunting again. I was seeing deer in a lot of places that I was hunting/scouting. I saw a lot of guys "road hunting," and I knew that it was generally considered pretty tough to get a public land deer in D16. It seemed to me, at the time, that the D16 success rate was so low because people were to lazy to get out of their truck and do the work to get one. Of course, I know now that many of you are doing what I have been doing to be successful in southern CA. So I made it my mission (bordering on obsession) to get a DIY public land D16 buck. I bought a rifle and some good glass and got a D16 tag for this season. Stay tuned for the report on my season in the Hunting Report forum.
