Hello everyone, Trying to locate credible sources on outfitters. I'm stuck out here in Commifornia. I just landed a firefighter job with La County so hunt trips are my only real option at this point. The only place I've come across so far is nexthunt.com but that requires a membership. Please chime in and help a brother out. Cheers, Eddie
not really what you're asking; but there's a few Cali hunters on here. Check out the regional section and see if anyone knows of anything more local to you- I know there is hunting opportunities not too far from you so you might not be as stuck as you think. 2 days on/2 off or even 3/3 would be pretty sweet during season. Also, my BiL is LAFD. He's got awesome stories. Best of luck to you in your new career and be safe.
I'm blessed to have found something that I can be passionate about career-wise, the transition was a struggle for me and is for a lot of vets. Def. looking forward to using some of my skillsets as a rescue swimmer in the navy, I'd rather serve the people over anything really. I'm really a die-hard whitetail guy honestly, other than driving back and forth out of state it just doesn't really seem feasible which is why I'm leaning so hard on finding places with great management and good reviews. Trust me I'd never pay big money for an outfitter if I lived in a whitetail state, I love the DIY and I do quite well in my opinion, its just time and location. I'd rather bust my ass all year and go on a badass trip somewhere I've never been where the deer are much bigger than my home state which is South Carolina. I'd love to make it to the big states, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and def Canada. I can't think of anything more badass other than getting the opportunity at something South Carolina can't even scratch. I mean I guess the most badass thing would be living in one of these states, big buck dreams right there. I'd prob be single for life haha. These places are just dreams to me and I want a chance to live life fully while earning it by working hard and serving the community. Thank you for reaching out, much appreciated.
Looking around at close by states Arizona/Utah and man the tag systems seem like a nightmare, trying to figure it all out. I'm so used to just being able to buy over the counter tags and go hunt. Seems really tough but I'm definitely trying to see if it's possible.
I spent 15 years in Southern Ca in the Navy. I grew up hunting whitetails in Alabama, but there are some opportunities in Southern Ca. If you are a vet, look in to hunting Camp Pendleton. They have a great program, it falls under the G-10 tag or used to a few years ago. You could also hunt it with an Archery Only tag. I would also look at the A-22 tag in San Diego county. Cleveland National Forest is huge and there is a ton of BLM land that hold deer. Some of the draw zones only take a point or two and the archery tags are typically easier to draw. It was very few years I didn't hunt while stationed out there. Good Luck.
Oh nice, so you know exactly how I feel trying to get this figured out. I called the game warden at Camp Pendleton yesterday and they require you to do 20 years of service or be current active duty so my 6 years of service, unfortunately, did not qualify, talk about a huge bummer. I've been looking into the D zones around me with D16 being the closest. I'm going to be taking the packing in approach and try and make it a 3-4 day trip. Right now I'm currently researching all the backpacking stuff as this is a new way of hunting compared back South. I'm def. interested in going places people are too lazy to go. I was looking into Mount Laguna on the maps but I've heard its not really worth it so I'll def be looking the Cleveland National Forest. I really need some maps or start looking around on OnX to learn to give me some sort of gameplan. Thanks for the response man, very much appreciated. Did you decide to go back to the South? I'm going to be out here another 14 years at least so I'm always trying to figure out my end game on where to live and of course it always revolves around hunting, haha. Cheers.
Figured I'd update this for anyone else looking into this. This site was helpful for me http://www.bowsite.com/bowsite/OUTFITTERREPORTS/outfitter.cfm I also started by looking at top counties in the states I was interested in for mature deer. That should be a good start for anyone else. Def. still looking to make some connections in Kansas/Iowa. I'm also looking at Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska for otc tags for deer in between the draw tags and building preference points. Overall I've spent a **** ton of time looking at outfitter sites and just trying to learn areas with potential via the internet and researching.
I've asked this on other forums, the typical response was to post to forums asking for suggestions or go to an outdoor show (which right now is unlikely). You've made some good suggestions on places to hunt, might be worth finding a dedicated hunting forum for that state to see what the locals have to say. They may not be able to speak to the hospitality of the outfitter, but they may be able to speak to the success of the hunts that take place at those outfitters.
That's a good idea. Right now I've been considering moving out of Cali, which is going to happen. I'm pretty dead set on moving to Alaska and just saving money on guided hunts since I'm DIY guy who loves the challenge. I might still make a couple trips to a few states but Alaska in itself is going to make me happy I think with the variety of hunts available and the fishing. I love chasing whitetails and that's a huge passion but when you start to think of the odds of 5 day hunt, how hard it is to find an honest outfitter, cost, how hard it is to get on a mature buck, it just seems like a really big gamble for the money. Idk how happy I'd be to show up and not have to work for it, or shoot a deer named like a pet unknowingly.
