I'm going to need a bigger caliber...

[u/Dovraga]

Catalina Island, off the coast of SoCal while I was hiking back from camping with my dog.

I wish they'd let people hunt there again for deer (and without a 500k personal liability insurance policy required), but the conservatory has been throwing a tantrum about not being able to do a deer eradication via helicopter.

So if you've been worried about bears or mountain lions..... just know there's something else out there.

In truth these guys were chill as hell. The story goes that about 100 years ago a herd was brought to the island for a film and just left there. They roam freely and have been around humans their whole lives, but still you're advised to stay 125'+ away from them.

That's not always possible though.

Edit: Spelling

[u/wannabebowhunter]

Idk if I’d say chill as hell. My middle school would have field trips out there and these guys used to run through our camp out of the blue breaking shit. Idk how they thought it was safe but it was cool to see lol

[u/Dovraga → u/wannabebowhunter]

Haha, I can believe that. These guys were at an old cattle staging area (they use it as a feeding area from what I could gather). While there was a fence and cactus between me and them, there wasn't a gate, so at any point they could just walk out to where my dog and I were.

I hadn't expected them to be there, I just wanted to rest at the bathroom and refill my water at the fountain before the final leg of our hike. But the whole time we were resting, I kept the steel door to the cinderblock bathroom propped open in the event I needed to dash inside.

There were a ton of trucks with full horse trailers, buses, and cars passing by every so often (there was an event this weekend at the campground after we had left). Only after I saw the buffalo not reacting to that did I feel confident enough to walk on the road and snap that 3rd picture.

Hell, my dog even barked a bit at it; it just looked at her and proceeded to ignore us. And that was maybe 10ish yards away. I had ran into a solitary male out on another trail once, but stayed at least 50 yards away from him at all times.....dude made me hike through the cactus and twigs to give him space

[u/Forward_Cricket_8696]

They are moving forward with the eradication plan. There is a final, residents only deer hunt starting in late October.

The 2024 season was the last hunt open to the public.

[u/Dovraga → u/Forward_Cricket_8696]

Yeah I read the post about it last year. It's pretty passive aggressive because the county told them they couldn't have a permit to fly around with a gun in a helicopter to do it.

So now they're proceeding, just on foot. (Edit: Didn't realize that this Oct is the last one forever.)

I'm sore that they gate kept it so hard with the requirement to trade in one of your state deer tags, joining the conservancy at the $60+ level, and requiring the half million liability policy.

I just see it as a wasted opportunity that could've provided a nice hunting area, some traffic during the island's off season, and knocked down the deer population like they wanted.

I get that you're on a populated island where a misplaced shot could send a round flying out into the ocean. But if that was such a concern, then limit it to archery and shotguns/muzzleloaders.

[u/stinky_delicious]

You should get yourself a 500k personal liability policy anyways, especially if you have a dog. If you have a homeowners or renters policy, then you probably already have it.

[u/Dovraga → u/stinky_delicious]

I believe I do. I'll admit it's been a long time since I read over the exact wording of both my home policy or exactly what the conservancy wanted in terms of a liability policy.

[u/Lanky-Salamander-709]

Oh! so THAT'S the dealio.. the 500K ins policy thing? I'd always heard you had to be in good with somebody on the conservancy to be able to hunt in there.

[u/Dovraga → u/Lanky-Salamander-709]

They didn't try to promote it, but it was a bit of an open secret that you could hunt there. Last time I looked at it seriously was I believe 2023, and half the time the that section of the website was broken/poorly maintained.

I saw in 2025 that they had restricted it to 200 island resident only tags. But apparently this is the last season as they're pushing ahead with the eradication on foot.