(Report) Camping During Deer Season Opener?

I ended up making really good time and by 6:30 or so I was at the Eel River and planned on continuing on M1 to regain some elevation, but about two miles up M1 there is a huge landslide and the road was basically gone. I was bummed. I thought about heading East on Mendocino Pass Road to check out a few spots, but ultimately decided to backtrack on M1 to check out a few spots I passed.

Long story short - I ended up driving 35 miles back to the spot near Hull Mountain.

Here's my track from that spot to past the Eel River and back.

After all of that hassle I was glad to get back to my home for the night before sunset. It was 7:30 so I set up camp and gathered as much wood that was laying around as I could and got a nice fire going.

This spot was perfect. I was honestly a little too freaked out to be camping alone in the woods, but this site was in the middle of a large gravel area so I knew I could see or hear anything trying to creep up on me.

The two telescoping lights are Devos LightRangers and I'm never camping solo without them. They are telescoping rechargeable lights that you can adjust from 1, 2, or all four quadrants on. I placed one on either side of my truck on the lowest setting and they lit up the whole area and lasted all night.

My crappy view.

I was definitely correct to choose a spot where I could here movement because around 1:00AM I heard something to my right and there was a big ass rattlesnake coming right towards me. I'm not sure if it was just being very curious or aggressive, but it kept on following me wherever I moved to. I didn't have anything long to shoo it away so I started stomping my feet and throwing rocks at it. It would turn away for a few seconds then start following me again. It was really starting to freak me out so I threw a big rock at it and unfortunately hit it in its head. It started rolling around and wouldn't move for awhile so I finished it off with a chunk of firewood. I felt hella bad, but the fuckin' thing just wouldn't leave me alone. I've never seen any kind of snake be that persistent.

Crazy ass snake.

Here it is the next morning. Beautiful snake. I still feel bad I killed it.
Size 13s for reference.

My site the next morning.

This spot would be perfect for a Wheel N Chill, although I imagine it gets pretty windy up there sometimes. It was beautiful the whole time I was up there. It was 100 degrees in the evening, but up where I was it was 70 something all night with a nice breeze.

Hull Mountain in the back of the 2nd pic.

BTW - I was up until almost 3AM and only saw like 4 or 5 meteors. 

Here's a few more shots of Lake Pilsbury on my way home.

 

Google Earth view from camp.

 that sounds like an awesome trip and I have all “regrats” for missin it. The snake is intriguing…maybe I’m naive but I didn’t realize rattlers were that active (and curious) at night.

Howd the night lapse turn out?

Howd the night lapse turn out?

I don't have the camera for that....yet.

I think a chainsaw and an Insta 360 X3 are in my immediate future. 

That's wild about the snake. I gotta admit I would have been a little curious to see if snake really does taste like chicken...

Cool outing.
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Glad you had the intuition to be on the alert for creatures.

That's wild about the snake. I gotta admit I would have been a little curious to see if snake really does taste like chicken...

It does. Too bad you had to snuff it. I've experienced them coming at me too. I get a long stick to pick them up and fling them away from my area. They're surprisingly easy to pick up.
Great views of Pillsbury!
You didn't see hunters, right? Deer season opens in B zone next Saturday, and that's only archery. I believe that area is B zone. Rifle season is about a month later.
You weren't worried about starting a fire?
Glad you enjoyed yourself!

It does. Too bad you had to snuff it. I've experienced them coming at me too. I get a long stick to pick them up and fling them away from my area. They're surprisingly easy to pick up.
Great views of Pillsbury!
You didn't see hunters, right? Deer season opens in B zone next Saturday, and that's only archery. I believe that area is B zone. Rifle season is about a month later.
You weren't worried about starting a fire?
Glad you enjoyed yourself!

I was more concerned about the crowds when I was planning on camping near Stonyford, which is on the border of A zone. There were only a few spots I wanted to camp at there and I didn't want to drive all the way out there and not get one of those spots.
I only saw a few other cars up above Hull Mountain the whole time.

Wasn't worried about my fire getting out of hand since it was in the middle of a gravelly area and it wasn't very windy. I also dug out the firepit really good and beefed up the sides of it.
I have a fire extinguisher within easy reach in the back of the Runner, too.