Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire B zone Weaverville,Ca hunting help and mendocino

so like I have said before I have mainly done out of state hunting except for B zone in trinity near granite peak. My dad and I are going to hunt trinity when season opens September 15th but we also want to catch the tail end of A zone in mendocino hunting season. But I am mainly interested in hunting Weaverville .CA in trinity county. I am going to be hunting a small tract of private property but if it's not great I'm gonna go hit public land in weaverville. How is the deer and bear hunting? My dad's friend used to hunt Weaverville 10 years ago and he said it was awesome. Please help point me in the right direction, I will give coordinates of a big clear cut in granite peak for information on weaverville. Am also interested in Mendocino County Thanks

I'm interested in what becomes of this post as I too have a B zone tag. I was going to ask a friend who grew up in the Redding area for some hints, but the area is all burnt up now. And he also did a lot of backpacking in the Trinity alps for deer and bear. He has a nice color phase rug on his wall from up there.

I was thinking I may have to go all the way over toward the coast, Mad River, Berry Summit, and a few other places I have been told about/know of. But it's been 20+ years since I've been in the area and haven't a clue what's good and not so good anymore.

I worry a bit about running across an illegal grow up in those hills also as I like to get away from the road a mile or so back in.

Good luck to you and dad,

Geno

Hope you guys have lots of good luck opening day and get the hell out of there. . Be dang careful not to disturb any "agriculture" in the area, lots of bad guys growing stuff in that country.

If you decide to hunt the Ruth area near Mad River, I might be able to help.

It is an awesome area to hunt. Beautiful country. Possible long shots. Lots of bears and some cats too.

For a chance at a truly monster buck, I would recommend here.

Yolla Bolly

I used to live and hunt in the A and B zones. Many times in the middle of the Yolla Bolly wilderness. I don't know the current status. I do know you have/had a massive fire just south in the Mendocino complex which burned north of Snow Mtn wilderness (south of Yolla Bolly.) Massive Carr fire further north near Redding. I have two observations. Many people with B tags will now be moving to other areas as they are burned out. The deer escaping the fire have moved so what was good last year may be quite different this year. I would call the Calif Fish & Game and ask about the deer herd movements due to the fires. Some of the staff are helpful and some not.

Between Yreka and Crescent city you have the Klamath National Forest. There was also a fire on the eastern edge of that area near Hwy 5.

I suspect where ever you go on public land be prepared to walk far from access roads. I know in the Yolla Bolly if you can walk in 5-6 hours from nearest road and camp & hunt you will see few hunters. Just be prepared to carry out your success. Very dry so carry water and filtration system. Good luck!

I used to hunt off the top of south fork ridge above Ruth I believe. We had a lot of luck up there over the years. I believe part of it has burned and that should make it really good. Haven’t been up there in years but there were always lots of deer.

Only hunted around Weaverville once after the Trinity fire. Saw deer but no bucks. Good luck. I miss hunting Blacktail deer. There smarter than any mule deer bucks I have come across.

My dad killed a nice buck up on Devils Backbone one year with a S&W 629. It took him and my brother something like 6 hours to get it out of there. My best buck come off of Buck Mt near Dinsmore.

South Fork Mt. above Ruth to about the Flying Double A ranch was always good hunting too.

There are some monster bucks that used to come out of the country around Blocksburg and Alderpoint also, but I understand that access is hard to come by.

Springcove,

I have hunted all over the country. Blacktail hunting is awesome and overlooked.

Hunting blacktail deer particularly in that high CA country is some of the most challenging deer hunting there is. Big blacktail bucks are extremely smart and difficult to get down on the ground. I could have killed 5 nice black bears for every shooter buck I seen in the Yolla Bolly.

The great big negatives in hunting northern CA, are the dangerous dope growers, and the local politics to help keep them there.

RAS the dope growers are a huge issue. My buddy an I were scouting around in the Mendocino Forrest below Pinto ridge a few years ago. The winds was blowing straight down hill. You could smell the garden above us. Fish and game that year put out warnings to avoid the area. We said BS. I figured my 30 06 could take care of a few illegals. Just like mountain lions in the state the SSS rule applies to dope growers...

Try Stoney Point of coffee creek

Man your telling me. California deer hunting is the hardest deer hunting in the West I've ever done including my hunts in Idaho and montana! Hard to find a mature buck in norcal! The dope growers are a problem, had a pretty scary run in with my younger cousin a couple years back in a pot field we accidentally walked into! That's why I stopped carrying my 357 revolver and started carrying my 10mm glo ck 20 with and extra magazine because of the run in with dope growers who were obviously high on speed was nerve racking!

Thanks for the advice with fish and wildlife in gonna give them a call tomorrow

I grew up hunting around Hyampom and Hayfork, so if you decide to possibly head that way from Weaverville, hit me up and I may be able to give you some good ideas of places to hunt.

We use to do a lot of hunting around Plasket meadows and did pretty well. Keep driving towards Covelo and there’s a ridge called seven troughs. It can be great if the deer are moving. Park at the bottom and hunt up hill. The road hunters push the deer downhill. Killed a big 3X3 last time I hunted there. Grizzly flats use to be good as well.

Many years ago I splurged and rented a houseboat on Trinity Lake. I beached it at the far north end of the lake and hunted up from there.

I lived in Crescent City for decades and hunted all over the B zones. Growers were never a problem for me. The best advice I can give you is to spend a ton of time, and never fail to go out if it rains. Any buck on public land is a trophy in the B zone. What I liked to do was enjoy the hiking and the scenery, with a rifle in hand. that way the buck will be icing on a great cake, and you won't be let down if you don't take one. The fires are only bad one year, then the areas are good unless they brush gets too high.