Mike -
I divide my time between Kenya and Berkeley. I first lived in Berkeley briefly in 1969, just in time for Peoples Park and the "Third World Liberation Strike", whatever the hell that was; great fun if you didn’t mind being driven out of class by the tear gas. Moved back in 1975 for grad school, and still have a house there. Nice place to eat out but deathly dull compared to the sixties; my only excitement is occasionally telling an earnest Berkeleyan about my lust for guns (its a lot more acceptable to confess to a lust for little boys).
Camp Roberts is indeed open to hunting:
http://www.calguard.ca.gov/CpRbts/Pages/HuntFish.aspx. Fabulous country but probably overhunted; as I said one summer it was seething with quail, and a few months later there were none to be seen.
Fort Hunter Liggett is also open to hunters by reservation, and may be better – lots of open country and again full of quail. There is even a nice frumpy cheap old hotel right on the post.
Other than those I don’t know of public places to hunt in western California, and hence have done very little quail hunting. Do you still have friends with ranches in the Willits area?? Am told that Shasta Valley up north is good for quail and pheasant; also possibly the Tehama Wildlife Area. I suspect that public land is better in the desert, but lots of people here can tell you about that. I occasionally go into the Bug Sur country with a gun but it is very steep and thick; hunting bandtails on the Ridge Road is huge fun so long as you don’t want to hit anything.
When I grew up in CA there were quail in every backyard, but the housecats have wiped them out in most places; far worse than snakes. I love snakes, too, hence my excitement in the Carrizo a few Aprils ago with my little girls – never seen anything like it. Here in highland Kenya I don’t see a snake once a month (and then just an adorable Blakesby’s green snake on my deck), but bump into buffalo and elephant almost daily. Much more fun than Berkeley.
