It now seems like a long time ago, but actually, only four years have passed since I was drawn for an X-Zone tag.

Most successful X-Zone hunts end with a long pack-out -- be it a Warner Mountain hike or a desert trek. But it'll be one of the most satisfying trips you'll ever make. Photo by John Higley.

And it was for one of my favorite places in California! Zone X5b, near Susanville in eastern Lassen County, is home to some of the state's biggest mule deer.

I'd like to report that I killed a monster trophy in that high-desert country. But that wasn't exactly the case. After six days of hard hunting spread out over three weekends, I did find a buck to tie my tag on. It was big of body, to be sure, but its antlers were not worthy of the wall.

I was hunting solo, which isn't the brightest idea, and was covering all the steep, rocky ground on foot. Some other hunters I met didn't do any better than I did, even though they had the help of ATVs. Of course, some better-than-average bucks were taken, but they were few and far between.

The odds for bagging a magnum Boone and Crockett buck aren't terrific anyplace in California. But in some of those X Zones, your chances are better than anywhere else in the state.

X MARKS THE SPOT
In all, the X Zones are 17 in number. They cover a region along the eastern edge of California, from Inyokern in the south to the Oregon state line in the north and west into Siskiyou County. Most of the deer found throughout the X Zones are Rocky Mountain mule deer, which range from Modoc County south to Mono County.

Their close cousins, Inyo mule deer, are found from southern Mono into Inyo and Kern counties.

In addition, there are some blacktail-mule deer hybrids, especially in Zone X1.

Part of the appeal of hunting the X Zones is their terrain. Much of the northeast region consists of rocky peaks and draws, with wide-open spaces decorated by plenty of sagebrush, juniper and bitterbrush.

The Warner Mountains, with meadowlands, timber and stands of quaking aspen, spill into the area from Oregon. Within the Warners, the South Warner Wilderness draws horse-packers and even backpackers willing to make the effort to hunt far from roads. The hunt zones within the northeast region include Zones X1 through X6b.

Farther south, Zones X7a and X7b are located just north of Lake Tahoe. The rest of the Zones, from X8 through X12, encompass a wide variety of terrain, from the desert mountains of Inyo County to alpine regions in the eastern Sierra Nevada Range.

Most of the region is characterized by sagebrush and piñon in the lowlands and scattered conifer forests at higher elevations.

All of the X Zones give you a feeling of openness and freedom that you simply wont find in most inland deer country.

Adding to that I-can-go-anywhere feeling is the extensive areas of public land throughout the X Zones. Most of it is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management.