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first time in x12 country

x12

I spend all day in the national forest in x12, lots of little bucks with a few good ones but it going to take lots of leg work to get a good buck.You will see lot of lazy road hunters so pick a big canyon and walk into.Water is drying up fast.I have a archery tag for it this year and my dad has a rifle tag.I will be able to help out more once those are filled. Good luck and remember if your not break a sweat your not hunting hard enough.
 
My neighbor hunts this unit about every other year (because of LE) and has mixed success. His report was the weather is key especially; if its hot get up high and if its cool, look a little lower. LAst buck he took was a 2x3 but he has spotting scope pics of a couple 4x4s and a nasty mess of mass that i cant tell what it is. All were "too far from the road" so i would adhere to above knowledge to hunt hard and really get after em. Best of luck on one of CA's "best" units.
 
X12 can be a great area (by CA standards). I spent a good deal of my life growing up there. Most of the area around the town of Walker is winter range. There are some resident deer near there, but most of the deer will be up in the high country (some out of your zone in X8) near there.

Bodie (potato peak area) certainly produces bucks, as does the Hoover. Like was already mentioned get away from the roads and glass. Bucks are in velvet and should be pretty easy to find out in the open this time of year. If you aren't finding deer, you need to do something different, or go somewhere else. It's big country, glass more. You may be bumping deer before you even see them.
 
X12

Here's what we got in 2010, but due to the draw we can only hunt there every 3 yrs,,,,but you have to get a few miles off the road. Father , Son , Grandson!
 

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Here's what we got in 2010, but due to the draw we can only hunt there every 3 yrs,,,,but you have to get a few miles off the road. Father , Son , Grandson!

Wow! Darn good to kill one buck like that, incredible to kill 3! To the OP, these bucks are above the norm. Do not let pics like these set your expectations or you will be very disappointed!
 
I hunted the archery season in X12 several times. You might try the area east of Lobdell lake. Up on the ridge going toward Mount Patterson and down the draws below. I have seen some really big bucks there and not a lot of hunters. It's work though. Weather is a key. If it's warm, higher is better.
 
Well I can say that there are finally some people throwing out some good info about the zone. Again since you have an archery tag i would stay away from Potato peak. Camo has given you the best info so far on where to hunt. I would take some time to take a look at where he said to go. You will find some good bucks in the area.

DM some nice bucks there congrats on the great hunting. Its a great zone if you know where to go.
 
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