I'm born and raised in the Los Angeles area, where I currently live now. I hunt the high desert areas of California, from the ones down here in SoCal, to all the way up in NE California and everywhere in-between. I've been very lucky to acquire some private properties north of L.A. that I handle any depredation issues, including ground squirrels, rabbits and predators. My firearms of choice vary depending on where I am hunting. If it is in the lead-free "Condor Zone", then I am stuck with just a couple of my rimfire cartridges and what I can/want to handload for my centerfire rifles. I also use high-quality airguns and find that they've increased my chances of gaining permission on many of the farms I visit.
There are few places as beautiful as California, once you get away from the cities and people. Just like roaming around on a 100k ranch in Texas, where there is zero people and something going on around every corner, we have that on public land here in California. The public land opportunities are huge, if you choose to work for it. I put in a lot of time scouting and speaking to people in the last 30+ years I've been hunting here.
With all that being said, we are moving to Idaho in about 1.5 years. My daughter will be graduating high school next year and then we will be making the move. It's going to be tough starting all over again in my late 40's, but California is turning against people who own guns and it is only going to get worse in the next 4 to 5 years. The entire state is going lead-free by 2019, with the phase-in to begin next year. Also, our Fish and "Wildlife" (new name, it used to be "Game") Commission is now over-run by people hand-picked by the anti-hunting factions who run this state's department. Unfortunately, they have been running it into the ground and have begun pushing for laws to protect coyotes and other predators, even when their populations are exploding. That's not even mentioning the other political issues we have here.
After we move and get settled, our plan is to stay in East Texas for at least one month every winter to visit family and hunt as much as possible while down there. The rest of the time will be in Idaho working on running our businesses that California doesn't seem to want... ;)
Thanks again for the welcome and I apologize for the long explanation to a simple question!
Eric
