Last Saturday, I met up with my friend Jeff and his buddy Tony. We had a woman telling us about the deer that were eating her roses and she wanted them gone. Knowing that we couldn’t shoot them from her yard, we did a lot of planning. I mapped out the area, found the pinch points, plotted our entry and away we went. 

4:15 AM: *Ring-Ring-Ring-Ring-Ring-Ring* 

Fortunately for me, I have the weather channel on my phone, so I looked it up. Yep, Jeff was right. Cats and dogs until afternoon. I looked outside and it was raining at my place, too. I called Jeff back and we talked again.

We met at our agreed location and decided we were going to scout and see if this area was going to be good. The rain was starting to let up and the sun was coming up. Long story short, we went to two spots marked on our maps as entry points, but that wasn’t happening. In each spot was a 8 foot tall fence with a POSTED sign. Off limits to us. We were not dismayed though. I had one area that i was almost sure would be a perfect entry point. We just needed to find the road. It took us all of about 5 minutes and we found the entrance to the trail. Nothing posted, open to the public and ready to be hunted.

We hiked up the hill and it wasn’t 15 minutes and we spotted 3 doe walking 30 yards from us. I could see the excitement in my scouting buddies faces. Success! For the next two hours we scouted, glassed and talked hunting. It was an awesome morning.

On our way down a side trail, we spotted a group of hunters making their way up the hill. The lead hunter glanced my way and immediately we recognized each other. We both knew of one another and respected the other, but had never met. We said our hellos, good lucks, chatted about the area and were on our way. If I had slumped back into bed I wouldn’t have met the other guys and would not have seen deer. Sure glad I got up! Already it was turning out to be a great day.

Jeff, Tony and I glassed up 8 different deer that day. Our plan was just to scout it so we could come back and hunt it in a few weeks. Maybe this year I will be fortunate enough to kill my first SoCal deer. I have the means and the public land. Now it’s time to put some miles on my boots!

I did have to pay the price though. The rain wasn’t bad, but I was pretty tired when I returned home. My daughter caught a cold and shared it with her dear, old dad, too. I hardly EVER get sick. In 5 years I may have been sick one time in each year with a cold. So far I am on my third cold of the year. Time for some cold meds, rest and a warm blanket.