General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are you cool with rural folks' hunting guns? [View all]Xithras
(16,191 posts)I ask as a California gun owner who hunted for many years. The only "bad law" I know of that interferes with hunting in this state is the ban on lead shot (which, while annoying, is overblown by many hunters...I've downed plenty of duck with steel shot).
The real problem with hunting in California is the sprawl of the population itself. Most of the areas I hunted, as recently as 20 years ago, are covered by tract homes or "ranchettes" nowadays. Since you can't hunt within 150 yards of a house, vast chunks of former hunting lands are now unhuntable. When I was a kid, you could hop in a car and be out hunting within 30 minutes. Nowadays, for all but the most rural Californians, a hunting trip usually means several hours on the road to get to huntable areas.
The spread of people, not laws, has killed hunting in California.