Unit research · California Zone D17

Zone D17 — California

63% public across 12,515,430 ac. Real backcountry here — 33% of the public land sits more than a mile from any road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

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Deer draw odds (1)Odds and pins: free, no account

Zone D17Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

10–7,530 ft

elevation range

63%

public land

33%

of public >1 mi from a road

140,633 ac

landlocked public

1.57

road miles per mi²

2,329 mi

maintained trails

Computed from primary government data by the open pipeline. See the code →

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

One limited-entry deer hunt is drawn on Zone D17: apply in the California draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 1 draw hunt (2026-27)$42.38 resident · $377.35 nonresident

Plus: California annual hunting license (2026-27)$64.54 resident · $225.46 nonresident

Season dates: see California Department of Fish and Wildlife's regulations

2026 California Big Game Digest (rev. 2026-04-17) ↗

California deer draw calendar

Apr 15, 2027 — applications open
Jun 2, 2027 — application deadline

CDFW big game hunting tags ↗Draw odds for California deer →How the California draw works →

Fees and draw dates from California Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2026-27, verified 2026-08-05. Tag type from the agency's published draw statistics: a zone that appears in none of them has no limited-entry hunt we know of. Source: CDFW license items and fees (2026-27) · 2026 California Big Game Digest (rev. 2026-04-17) · CDFW big game hunting tags.

Land & access

■ BLM 46%■ NPS 14%■ SDOL 2%■ Other public 1%□ Private 37%

Unit area12,515,430 ac

Public land7,870,928 ac (63%)

Landlocked public140,633 ac (1.8%)

Deer draw pressure0.041 tags/mi² public (0.026 of total area)

Walk-in access168,463 ac

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)30,743 mi

Maintained trails2,329 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road2,571,497 ac (33% of public)

Road density1.57 mi/mi²

Managed byBLM 5801k ac · NPS 1761k ac · SDOL 219k ac

Elevation10–7,530 ft

Median elevation2,540 ft

Median slope2°

Where the ground sits

10 ft7,530 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 25%

E 25%

S 25%

W 25%

Share of ground steeper than 5° — flat ground has no facing

North slopes hold shade, cover and snow; south slopes open first.

USGS 3DEP 1 arc-second (30 m), slope at native resolution in a local metric projection, sampled on a 800 m grid. See the code →

Unit intelligence report

222,525 ac of this zone has burned — 2% of the unit. The full report assembles it into one printable document and keeps it current as the facts change.

Open the report →

Season conditions — measured, not vibes

Historical temperatures · 2000–2025

Normals for 2000–2025 — tap or hover for a month

Measured at BARSTOW-DAGGETT AIRPORT, 45 km from the unit’s center and ~600 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Deer · 2024

19.6% success

no district-level hunter estimate published

98 bucks (bucks only)

Deer hunter success · 2021–2024 · 9% → 20%

CDFW estimates from hunter license reports, scaled by the published non-reporting rate; PLM and Section 554 landowner harvest excluded. Hunter success is estimated kill ÷ tags issued — for B, C and D3-5 group tags CDFW publishes quota and success per zone GROUP, so no zone-specific rate exists and none is shown. No hunter-effort estimates are published. Deer only. CDFW also publishes elk hunt statistics; that series is not carried here yet. Source: CDFW Statewide Deer Harvest Statistics (per year, by zone/hunt).

How these numbers are made

public_land_pct = public_area / unit_area
landlocked = public ∖ reachable(roads, corners)
remote = public ∖ buffer(roads, 1 mi)
# AGPL — read the pipeline →

Computed, not curated: no paid research team, no opinions dressed as data. If a number looks wrong, file an issue — the fix ships for everyone.

Nearby zones

Zone D1463% public · 15% remote Zone D1150% public · 16% remote Zone D1522% public · 8% remote Zone D1271% public · 40% remote Zone D959% public · 8% remote Zone X9c91% public · 47% remote

Ready to scout it?

Everything on this page, live on the map — ownership, boundaries, roads, and your own waypoints.

Open Zone D17 in the map

What happens nextApr 15 — Deer applications open · details →Jun 2 — Deer application deadline · details →