Where to Hunt in California

August 7, 2008

Question: I need to know where I can legally hunt with a rifle besides on national forests and BLM lands. This simple question has led to a lifetime supply of aspirin and a list of “we don’t know, you should try…” responses coming from every agency I’ve asked. I’m sure many other people have felt the same agony of the situation. I live in the Inland Empire region where there are hundreds of undeveloped non-private lands far from urban areas, roads, homes and structures. Which of these sections of land currently permit lawful hunting on them? (Matt T.)

Answer: Whether you are hunting in California or another state, your rifle hunting is limited to either public land areas or private property where permission must be obtained. This is the same in every state. A number of agencies manage lands that allow hunting, including some you mentioned such as the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Some military bases (e.g. Camp Roberts and Fort Hunter Liggett, etc.), also allow public hunting as well as some DFG properties.

Many public lands that allow multiple uses also allow hunting. According to Game Warden Todd Tognazzi, private property in California is required to be designated in one of the following ways: 1) Posted with no trespassing signs at 1/3 of a mile intervals; 2) Under cultivation; or 3) Fenced. You can determine land ownership from map resources at your local library, at many different Web sites, or through your county assessor’s office. An agency is only going to have information on the land under their management so it is very important to research the land you are describing.

The best resource I know of is our brand new Summer 2008 edition of the California Hunting Digest available from most DFG offices. On pages 18-19 there’s a short article called “Public Lands Open for Hunting in California.” Although it doesn’t list every land, it lists every land management agency that allows hunting, along with their Web sites and other contact info.

California Hunting Digest editor, Lorna Bernard, also suggests a Web site she found while researching this topic. It’s for a nonprofit organization called the Public Lands Information Center and it offers a free searchable database of public lands throughout the United States. You can enter the term “hunting” and click on California, and it will provide you with a list of every California public land that allows hunting! The Web address is www.publiclands.org. Since it’s not a DFG Web site we can’t vouch for its accuracy or completeness, but it’s the best we’ve found so far.

Some additional resources the DFG can offer you include our quail, wild pig, turkey and deer hunting guides. These guides are a few years old but still contain good information on how to hunt these species, and often where access can be found. It also comes with many pages of maps and directions. Some access points may have changed, but they will still give you reasonable starting points.

All of these DFG publications are available through most DFG offices or you may download them from our Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/about/hunting. This whole page is useful and the hunting guides can be found on the right hand column.

In addition to the public lands mentioned already, you may want to also consider joining a private hunting club (e.g. Wilderness Unlimited) which holds leases on multiple private properties around the state for their members to access for hunting and fishing.

Many good rifle hunting spots are available throughout California on public lands. Hopefully, these resources will help you so that you can continue to enjoy your California hunting experiences.

I just visited the public lands web site, looks useful,

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