G3 Draw - Finally

B

Built Muscle

Member
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Well, after 18 years and no success I finally managed to draw the tag with 19 max points. I figured I stood a pretty good chance as max applicants for this hunt have really fallen off. Was there in 2006 when my two buddies drew it after only one year of trying. Both shot respectable 5x4's. My dad drew it in 2008. He shot a nice 3x3 and was a good deer for him at 75 and having a hard time moving around. I know the zone and draw is not what it used to be. But its what you make of it and I am looking forward to it and will make the most of it.

Mike Obradovich
Fresno
 
Take your time and enjoy. I would go a week early and really take my time enjoying the mountains. Hope you get a good snow to make things a little interesting. I hunted it in 2016 or 17 and rushed it a little. Had my son and dad with me and shot a good buck for the area that year opening day. Only buck I have shot with both of them with me. Should have take a little more time to really enjoy the trip. Like you know you will only get one crack at it
 
Thanks Timbuck2 and Mooretitan.
I will for sure have pictures and a story. I plan on going over Thanksgiving weekend for a couple of days to look around. I will take my time and I know a will kill a respectable deer. I'm 52 and for me this hunt is all about seeing all the deer, the variations in bucks and spending good time with friends. I hope I can get my son to go on this trip with me or at least to scout with me. He loves to shoot and is an active member of the Fresno State Shooting Team but is not into hunting big game. The expectation for myself is that I will not kill anything less than a very mature respectable width 4x4 but would like to see that 5x4 or better. My only decision is if I am going to go opening weekend or wait until the middle of the first full week and 2nd weekend. Weather will more than likely decide everything and what I see scouting
 
Budweiser - I understand your frustration. Its been a frustration of mine for years. To clarify, I did draw with max points and misstated in my original post. I currently have max points for Elk and Antelope which now stands at 21 after looking a the DFG website and putting in my draws for this year. You will succeed soon.
 
Built Muscle said:
Thanks Timbuck2 and Mooretitan.
I will for sure have pictures and a story. I plan on going over Thanksgiving weekend for a couple of days to look around. I will take my time and I know a will kill a respectable deer. I'm 52 and for me this hunt is all about seeing all the deer, the variations in bucks and spending good time with friends. I hope I can get my son to go on this trip with me or at least to scout with me. He loves to shoot and is an active member of the Fresno State Shooting Team but is not into hunting big game. The expectation for myself is that I will not kill anything less than a very mature respectable width 4x4 but would like to see that 5x4 or better. My only decision is if I am going to go opening weekend or wait until the middle of the first full week and 2nd weekend. Weather will more than likely decide everything and what I see scouting
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Fresno State has a shooting team? I need more info pm me please!
 
I wish you luck on this hunt. I put in for G3 every year and it is for the same reason you are hunting it.....lots of deer and it should be an enjoyable hunt. I hope you post pics and a story. Congrats on the tag. I have max points so I should draw in the next few years I would suspect.
 
Take your time, there are still some giants out there, I would eat that tag before I shot just an average 4x4. Put your time in, you can shoot a good respectable Ca buck in there the last day if you have to. Good luck.
 
Built Muscle said:
The expectation for myself is that I will not kill anything less than a very mature respectable width 4x4 but would like to see that 5x4 or better.
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What you described is a tall order nowadays. Especially the "very mature" part. I get it though. Everyone wants that near perfect four point that we usually envision prior to any hunt. I would be prepared to kill something else. Not saying its impossible to find what you described (or better) but simply very difficult anymore. I won’t get into why. The majority of folks do not want to kill big forked horns, 3x2’s or 3x3’s so expect to see a few of those. Maybe one of them will have the mass & width to entertain the idea. Bucks up here usually don’t score very well either. I think what you CAN find is something that will fit the “unique bill”. You’ll know it when you see it. Best of luck to ya. Should be a blast. I know I am peanut butter and jealous.
 
Hey mulebuck. I believe it's going to take a lot of work. The majority of people going into the zone will shoot the average 4x4 for the area. The area does have a unique genetic pool and if I see something odd that stands out that is not a 4x4 I will take it. I'm going to try and get pictures up of the two 5x4's that my buddies took back in 2006. Thanks for posting.
 
Here are a few pictures from 2006. Both of these 5x4's came out of Divsion Creek. Shot within 15 minutes of each other. The buck on the left walked down the hill to within 15 yards of my buddy and I before he pulled the trigger. It was just a beautiful clean 5x4
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More so for the deer. I watched the decline of the Yosemite herd in those years. Until recently I worked all over the winter range.
 
Thanks, soj51. Should be a good hunt. Almost put in for G37 a few times over the years but that hunt is not a true late season hunt and is truly dependent on weather. In your opinion, how good is that herd these days?
 
Built Muscle said:
Thanks, soj51. Should be a good hunt. Almost put in for G37 a few times over the years but that hunt is not a true late season hunt and is truly dependent on weather. In your opinion, how good is that herd these days?
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That herd is struggling just like every other mule deer herd across the west. Used to see hundreds of deer a day in the winter and now you still see some but not the numbers it used to be. Every year the biologists doing the winter count would stay at my former employers facility, so I would get to talk to them. Scary thing is it’s been a decline since the 70’s. Makes me wonder what rock bottom will look like.
 
Soj51hopeful said:
That herd is struggling just like every other mule deer herd across the west. Used to see hundreds of deer a day in the winter and now you still see some but not the numbers it used to be. Every year the biologists doing the winter count would stay at my former employers facility, so I would get to talk to them. Scary thing is it’s been a decline since the 70’s. Makes me wonder what rock bottom will look like.
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That's a shame to hear. I actually thought that herd might be doing o.k. compared to some other herds since it is a migratory park herd for the most part. I agree that there are a lot of CA herds in decline. I have been hunting D7 since the early 70's when my dad started taking me and it has been a gradual demise. The best thing dfg can do with some of these zones in my opinion is shut them down for a couple of years and raise the antler minimum to like a 3x3. But the state needs the money so they can give it away. Its irritating because it's not going to change unfortunately.
 
Built Muscle said:
That's a shame to hear. I actually thought that herd might be doing o.k. compared to some other herds since it is a migratory park herd for the most part. I agree that there are a lot of CA herds in decline. I have been hunting D7 since the early 70's when my dad started taking me and it has been a gradual demise. The best thing dfg can do with some of these zones in my opinion is shut them down for a couple of years and raise the antler minimum to like a 3x3. But the state needs the money so they can give it away. Its irritating because it's not going to change unfortunately.
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There's way more to it than shutting zones down. That probably wouldn't help anything. I really don't think hunting puts a dent in the deer population in comparison to predators, shitty forest management, encroachment on wintering grounds, vehicle collisions, etc. It's a conglomeration of things. The 3 point or better would just result in a bunch of forkies left laying that were mistaken for 3 pts. Also be way more forked horns spreading that forked horn gene. Alot of mature forked horns in this state. Bottom line is California doesn't cater to the sportsman and just in my opinion, it's not going to get any better. They could give two shits about us hunters.
 
Good day everyone and Happy Fathers Day to all you dad's. I'm trying to make your fathers day even better by sharing some p
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ic
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tures I got my hands on and everyone loves pictures of good bucks so enjoy. All of these came out of D7 this past season and you will see a few that do have some G3 gene in them as G3 is right behind D7
 
Predators is one of many problems with our deer herds. At least it is one we could control if we could get the mountain lion law reversed. And people would shoot more coyotes. Back in December of 2018 I went to Bishop to see my parents. One evening I took the wife down to watching the deer herd at G3. On the way home in the dark around Wilkerson I saw a Mtn. Lion crouched down about 10 yards off Hwy 395 with a deer in front of it under its head. Only got to see it for a few seconds and my wife missed it. So I turned around went south a ways until I found a place to turn back around north. A few hundred yards before where I thought the cat there was a car pulled over in the south bound lane with the front end smashed up. This is what was left. You can see the deer also.
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LIK2HNT said:
Predators is one of many problems with our deer herds. At least it is one we could control if we could get the mountain lion law reversed. And people would shoot more coyotes. Back in December of 2018 I went to Bishop to see my parents. One evening I took the wife down to watching the deer herd at G3. On the way home in the dark around Wilkerson I saw a Mtn. Lion crouched down about 10 yards off Hwy 395 with a deer in front of it under its head. Only got to see it for a few seconds and my wife missed it. So I turned around went south a ways until I found a place to turn back around north. A few hundred yards before where I thought the cat there was a car pulled over in the south bound lane with the front end smashed up. This is what was left. You can see the deer also.
View attachment 81942
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ahhhh.....sad....lol
 
He's still in LP from what I hear. I would imagine he doesn't get on here anymore due to folks calling him out on his bs. I could be wrong though.
 
I spoke with him recently and he helped out a friend that drew Owens Valley Archery Bull tag this year with a few areas to look for bulls
 
Dont you worry Wiszard. That's how I was feeling but the odds are really going to be in your favor the next couple of years. I would put money on it that you will draw it next year or absolutely the year after that. Max point. applicants are really falling off this draw. Good look my man
 
Built Muscle said:
Snoop Dog. Sounds like your bitter and very negative. Why are you like this and sound this way to Wiszard. Maybe you need to leave the Forum.
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lol...maybe you need to spend 2 weeks in g3....or better yet, the last 40 years like snoopdogg has
 
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Built Muscle said:
Snoop Dog. Sounds like your bitter and very negative. Why are you like this and sound this way to Wiszard. Maybe you need to leave the Forum.
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It's Snoopdogg and I'm a happy-go-lucky f#ck.

You sound offended, Mr. Built Muscle man. Maybe you could have read my sarcasm if I put a couple of laughing emoticons after my post? Since I was on my phone--darn it, the emoticons were just not available! But I also thought the closing sentence to Wiszard would have cleared my intent.

I'm gonna strongly consider leaving this forum as you suggest. ? Nah....
 
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Weiserbucks said:
Maybe you should drop the Karen routine and listen with your eyes and ears instead of your mouth.
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I think BM was kidding guys....we've been pm'ing eachother and he's going to use his knowledge from this year and help me kill a bigger deer than he does next year. I'll be up there Dec 2-7 doing some hiking and glassing. I'll post some pics of what I see. I have heard it's not the unit it used to be. (Dumb look emoji).
 
Made a swing up Division Creek and Independence Creek today. Comapered to past years for such a swing at this time of the year the deer track numbers were down guessing ten fold!

Just one data point! Anyone else scout the area? No bucks were sighted. For an identical typical swing 2 years ago I saw a total of 8 bucks in 3 different locations the week before Thanksgiving?
 
Thanks for the update Yalo. Not to promising to hear. My son and I will be scouting for three days over Thanksgiving weekend and then I will be heading back on Thursday the first to get another day and a half before opener. Be very interesting on what I will see.
 
Built Muscle said:
Thanks for the update Yalo. Not to promising to hear. My son and I will be scouting for three days over Thanksgiving weekend and then I will be heading back on Thursday the first to get another day and a half before opener. Be very interesting on what I will see.
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I wish you a great hunt BM......good luck.
 
Remember this is what you are looking for. Posted these back in ‘06 but could not find my originals so I screen shot them. These were all taken when it use to be called SX2 before DFG made all the zones.
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Yalo said:
Made a swing up Division Creek and Independence Creek today. Comapered to past years for such a swing at this time of the year the deer track numbers were down guessing ten fold!

Just one data point! Anyone else scout the area? No bucks were sighted. For an identical typical swing 2 years ago I saw a total of 8 bucks in 3 different locations the week before Thanksgiving?
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Yuck. Hopefully some weather and a couple more weeks will bring them on in.
 
Well good luck to all hunters in G3 in 2022. Some different pics here and a thought about mountain lions? Deerfriendly.com shows california deer herds down since roughly 1960 with the steepest decline in deer numbers from 1960 to about 1975. Appears this is data that includes all deer not just mule deer and or sierra nevada deer. This was mostly a period before mountain lions were protected in California is my understanding. So many variables for deer health and status overall. Like road kill, coyotes, climate, and the list goes on and on.

Of note several places I hunted as a youth have lion tracks now when there were none in the 1960s though!

First pic shows possible large fork gene in G3 although the buck was targetig being a proud 4 x 4 LOL.

Second pic a buck walking between me and another party while chatting on the division creek road during the Thanksgiving period 12 years ago.

Proud.JPG


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Pretty dam dismal so far. This is just not coming from me. Talked to one individual and he stated this is the worst he has ever seen it and thi same time from years past.
 
Built Muscle said:
Pretty dam dismal so far. This is just not coming from me. Talked to one individual and he stated this is the worst he has ever seen it and thi same time from years past.
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Rain likely for Friday and the opening day. I hope you see something that gets your heart pumping at least. Are you seeing many deer? Are you strictly staying on roads and glassing from there?
 
Built Muscle said:
Been walking scouting canyon. Seen seven skin heads since mid day Friday. Division creek is dead. Almost no sign at all.
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Dang.....that sucks. The nice thing is that deer can migrate at any time so there could be no deer one day and tons the next. Is there any weather pushing them down? Maybe the storm on Friday will be the one to push them into the unit. 7 does in a day or so isn't horrible but very disappointing.
 
The real snow line is above division creek. My son and I were much higher than that on Onion valley road this morning when we started seeing decent track and the seven deer. All the track is 10 plus days old which is right after that first major storm we got on the 8th . The deer have not moved into division. The 10 day old sign has moved back up. There's not even any trails coming off the mountains.
 
Built Muscle said:
Scouting update. Weekend trip was productive. Started out slow though. Friday afternoon, zero deer. Saturday morning, seven skin heads. Rest of day Saturday, zero deer. Sunday morning, 28 deer. Eight of them bucks and three of them very respectable. All in two and a half hours. That's it in a nutshell.
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Built, I was also up Friday morning and Sunday morning. The numbers are way down from what they usually are. On a sidenote, I was there in 2006 when your buddies killed their bucks. Me and my cousin actually helped carry one of them back to the truck. On Sunday, I came across a 10 x 4. If you’re interested let me know.
 
Insavage1 said:
Built, I was also up Friday morning and Sunday morning. The numbers are way down from what they usually are. On a sidenote, I was there in 2006 when your buddies killed their bucks. Me and my cousin actually helped carry one of them back to the truck. On Sunday, I came across a 10 x 4. If you’re interested let me know.
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You get a picture of it?
Would like to see it if you did.
 
gah i honestly can think of a more beautiful valley to hunt in. looks like a foreign country like pakistan. home sick now, good luck out there.
 
Good day all. Heading up Sunday morning now. Was going to head up this morning to start scouting but with this weather coming in we have decided to let as much of it pass through as possible. This weather is going to change everything from what I saw last week. My buddy made a weather grid of the zone and based on the forecasts through Sunday there could be a substantial amount of snow on the ground. Come Monday/Tuesday deer should really be starting to get out and about. I am concerned about how Onion valley road might be as I expect it could be dangerous. I do have a lifted duramax and a set of chains so I should be o.k. I hope these are the storms that do the trick and make it the year of G3.
 
Built Muscle said:
Good day all. Heading up Sunday morning now. Was going to head up this morning to start scouting but with this weather coming in we have decided to let as much of it pass through as possible. This weather is going to change everything from what I saw last week. My buddy made a weather grid of the zone and based on the forecasts through Sunday there could be a substantial amount of snow on the ground. Come Monday/Tuesday deer should really be starting to get out and about. I am concerned about how Onion valley road might be as I expect it could be dangerous. I do have a lifted duramax and a set of chains so I should be o.k. I hope these are the storms that do the trick and make it the year of G3.
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You should be fine with your setup, and drive slowly. You're gonna have fun regardless and hopefully you'll have a few to choose from.
 
Any pics of deer sighted must have taken pictures? A way for others that did not draw and can not make the treck to enjoy or experience the season with others?
 
My son took a picture of this buck from his phone through his binoculars. The picture is O.K. if you can zoom in. This deer was approximately 600 yards away. It was a good deer and was running with five other does and two more respectable bucks. We though
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t we would see more deer at much closer ranges to take pics. with our main camera but this was not the case
 
Built Muscle said:
My son took a picture of this buck from his phone through his binoculars. The picture is O.K. if you can zoom in. This deer was approximately 600 yards away. It was a good deer and was running with five other does and two more respectable bucks. We thoughView attachment 95416t we would see more deer at much closer ranges to take pics. with our main camera but this was not the case
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Go find his Old Man....
 
Built Muscle said:
Good day all. Heading up Sunday morning now. Was going to head up this morning to start scouting but with this weather coming in we have decided to let as much of it pass through as possible. This weather is going to change everything from what I saw last week. My buddy made a weather grid of the zone and based on the forecasts through Sunday there could be a substantial amount of snow on the ground. Come Monday/Tuesday deer should really be starting to get out and about. I am concerned about how Onion valley road might be as I expect it could be dangerous. I do have a lifted duramax and a set of chains so I should be o.k. I hope these are the storms that do the trick and make it the year of G3.
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You had better hope the other 24 tag holders and/or open zone guys do the same thing. Personally I think you are wasting opportunity. The conditions here today will surely help for scouting tomorrow. Make old man winter stop you... not yourself or your buddy's weather grid. It'd be one thing if you couldn't get the time off but if you have it... GO! You're not going to find one on the couch. Whatever you decide, I wish ya the best of luck.
 
mulebuck said:
You had better hope the other 24 tag holders and/or open zone guys do the same thing. Personally I think you are wasting opportunity. The conditions here today will surely help for scouting tomorrow. Make old man winter stop you... not yourself or your buddy's weather grid. It'd be one thing if you couldn't get the time off but if you have it... GO! You're not going to find one on the couch. Whatever you decide, I wish ya the best of luck.
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X2. Don't be scared of the snow. Go hunt. Your truck will be fine, especially with chains, if needed.
 
friday is gonna be good and if it snows to the valley floor you will really want to be there.

huh doesn’t look like it’ll snow to the valley floor. but i hope the forecast is wrong and does.
 
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