Re: Still hunting... 
Well, here's the final report for my season...
Went out Friday up near Laguna and froze my butt off! Got rained, sleeted and snowed on and didn't see anything.
Then went out really early Saturday morning. Met LongBowHunter2 at 4am and we headed to a spot I knew about, but never went there because I was told it was a "zoo" by a few others (we didn't see hardly anyone). On our way there we see loads of deer on the sides of the road, though they are within city limits and on private property. Then as I turn off of that road a HUGE older buck (3x3 rack on him that looks fantastic) takes his sweet time crossing the road right in front of my grill. He acted like it was his road and kept us at a full stop. I think I exclaimed "Are you freakin' kidding me!! Here where we can't even hunt... that figures!!"
Anyway, so we continue on our way talking about all of the deer and the huge buck we had seen. We got there a little later than expected because we missed our turn (things look different driving in the dark, but it was still dark and just starting to lighten up. We grabbed our gear an just before we head out we se a big pile of deer guts right on the side of the road (and a paved road at that). There was blood all over the spot on the road.
We headed down the dirt road and hugged the tree lines, being quiet, alert and very cautious. Just as we are getting ready to head behind some trees to make our way up to another point I see big deer movement. It was big and walked quickly into some cover. I know we didn't do anything to spook it, so I'm wondering what could have spooked it. We clear the trees to head up and look for the deer when we see the reason it fled. A bright orange "Q-tip" head comes bobbing down the center of the swail (small, low valley) walking right down the middle of a highly used trail. We are considerate even though this person just wrecked a chance for us to fill a tak and quietly say "hello". The guy starts talking loudly like no one can hear him. Needless to say I was shaking my head in my mind as this guy acts like deer don't have good hearing and is ruining our (and whoever else might have beem out there's) hunt. Fortunately he is heading a different direction, however the damage has already been done and the possible tag filler has been run off.
We continue on to our previously quiet and slow pace anyway to hopefully track down the big deer I saw. When we get to the spot where I saw the deer we see some "big" deer tracks. We stop and carefully glass every so often. To not make this too long, we never found the deer again though we did hear some turkeys. We left that spot around 10:30am to head to another location.
On our way to another spot we stop for lunch to fuel back up because it is cold outside and we'll need the energy. LBH2 was very kind and bought me lunch. After warming back up we drove to our next entry point and walked on in. We didn't end up seeing anything, even though we sat still behind a little stick blind, in the cold and waited quietly. Another orange hat came walking right down our stand area there too. Oh well, it happens. We decided to walk out before dark since mountain lions have been spotted close by and often. It was a very enjoyable day even though we didn't bag a deer. We'll definitely be doing some hunting in the future. Thanks LBH2! I hope you fill your other A22 tag.
I wasn't sure if I was going out Sunday because Saturday night I was tired and had a major league headache. But when I woke up late Sunday morning (6am) and was feeling better, I decided to quickly get dressed and go. I drove out to where I started the season and hiked in at a brisk pace for 2 hours straight which was probably around 4 miles or more easily. The area had loads of fresh deer tracks from that morning. I could tell by how crisp and clean they were in the freshly rained on ground. I climbed up a mountain side, making sure to keep the wind in my face and found a good vantage point out of the wind (mostly). I sat and glassed for hours while trying to stay warm. I didn't see a single deer and I was looking very carefully and thoroughly the whole time. It was tough being that on my way to that spot I could have easily limited on cottontails and bagged 4 jack rabbits... if I hadn't been set and focused on baggin a buck. However since I was deer hunting they got a free pass and I told them I'd be back another day.
I started falling asleep a few times while glassing and decided that was my que to start heading back to the truck since it was such a long walk back, and I didn't want to do that in the dark down a rocky mountainside. I carefully looked and glassed on my way back to my truck and saw more, newly created tracks (as well as allot more rabbits). I never saw a deer, most likely because they were all on the adjacent private property where all of the tracks were leading to.
So it is Tag-larinni for me (instead of tag soup) this year. Hunted 10 out of 30 days, probably a total of 90 to 100 hours of field time, and learned allot for next season. I would have loved to have filled my tag, but guess I have to pay my dues this year. Next year I will probably try fo a G13 tag again, but opt for an A22 tag for a first tag and a D16 for a second tag (if I can get it), that way I'll have options.
I hope you others were able to bag one Sunday to close out your season on a high note. Here's to waiting and counting the days down until next deer season ...
