"I do know that some people bowhunt the area, but most aren't successful," he said. "The guys who are taking them with bows are the ones that practically live out there for the entire season."

What Presley didn't say -- but which all hunters who regularly hunt D12 understand -- is that you need to be able to track deer over all sorts of surfaces. Desert hardpan and rock are certainly a lot harder to track over than fresh snow. A good track may be difficult to locate at all. And if you do, it may be hard to judge just how long ago the deer passed that way.

DON'T OVER-GUN
Despite the open nature of desert country in the D12 Zone, it's not country where you need a 300-yard rifle to get a deer. All of the hunters we talked to for this article thought that the selection of firearm was less critical than the ability to handle desert conditions and survival situations, and being able to cover ground and track deer.

"Occasionally you will get a long shot," said Presley, "but most of these deer are killed within 150 yards. A .30/06 is all you ever need." When Presley is hunting, he uses a quad or ATV and looks for tracks. If he finds fresh tracks, he follows up on them.

"We find that this late in the season, the deer usually don't water every day," he said. "So water is not the overriding factor it might seem to be. It might work in August, but not in November. The river is not a big factor. I hunt 30 to 40 miles off the river. We find deer all over the zone."

"Everybody I talked to this year said last year was the best deer hunting they had ever seen in D12 -- not that everybody got a deer, but they were seeing lots of deer," said Leon Lesicka of Desert Wildlife Unlimited. "I have a friend who took his eight-year-old daughter out, and they saw 32 deer!"

Johnny Gibson said that this kind of hunting is medium-range shooting, out 100 to 300 yards. He uses a .30/06 loaded with 150-grain soft-point bullets. Gibson said a .25/06 would work well, too.

He said that some successful guys hunt right on the river. The area around Walter's camp, south of Blythe, and the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge also near Blythe are known to be good.

"I also think the Pichaco Peak area north of Yuma is a good spot near the river," Gibson said.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Southern California's D12 Zone is located in true desert country. But rather than planning on blazing heat, equip yourself to handle a range of conditions. It can be quite warm at midday, but temperatures plunge after dark, and wind chill can drive temps below freezing just after sunset in November.

The zone's eastern border is the Colorado River, and the hunting area starts just south of Needles in the Chemehuevi Mountain range. It stretches to Yuma on the Mexican border, and west nearly to the desert communities of Brawley and Niland.

Big portions of the area within the zone are off-limits to hunters. One is Joshua Tree National Park; the other is the Chocolate Mountains Aerial Gunnery Range. There are also a number of Bureau of Land Management-designated wilderness areas within the zone.

Make sure you take plenty of water, survival gear, food and good maps. A compass as well as a hand-held GPS unit are recommended.