Avoiding Hunters in Stanislaus NF

There is the entire Emigrant Wilderness.
First of all, you aren't going to be "tromping through someone's hunting grounds" while hiking on a hiking trail. Those trails are for hiking and hunters understand that.
You usually don't find hunters more than a few miles into wilderness. They need to pack out their kills.

Emigrant is not popular or unpopular, nowhere near yosemite levels but not empty. I don't think they have any kind of quota systems in place. There are plenty of easy off trail places to explore.

In the past Emigrant has been pretty crowd free for me.
Not uncommon to only see 2-3 groups over a 3 day trip.

However I think that changed. My trip last month to bear lake (on trail) and granite lake (off trail) was packed.
There were probably 40+ people at bear lake, and perhaps 10-15 people at granite lake.

You may have better luck leaving from somewhere else besides the Crabtree trailhead though…

What about Carson-Iceburg wilderness on the North side of 108? It's more volcanic rock than granite and not as lake dotted as Emigrant, but it's beautiful and very lightly used. I did a 3-day loop there and saw one person on trail and one camper at the TH/campground in August.

Wear something bright and don't sweat it. The hunters can't have ATVs there, so like others have said, most of them are not going to be too far from their truck.

Thanks guys. I had thought about Emigrant, but I figured it would be pretty heavily hunted seeing as there are two packstations. I could be wrong.

I do like to explore off trail a lot, like I said, I like to look for wildlife too, and I usually have better luck off trail.

Interesting suggestion about Iceberg, I've only vaguely heard about it.

What about the Rim fire? Does anyone know how it is recovering? I had thought about exploring the edges of it somewhere maybe? If there is any new growth, I'm sure the animals will appreciate the young forage? Maybe it's still all charcoal though? Might be interesting to just go see it in it's burnt state even if it's devoid of flaura and fauna.

P.S. Getting shot isn't my concern, I just don't like to intrude on other people's activities. Just like I don't like to set up camp 10 yards from someone else, or crowd someone's fishing hole.

Some parts of the emigrant do see quite few hunters, and in adry year it could be worse, as it is possible that if fire danger gets high enough, lower elevation areas could be closed at that time of year, and thus more hunters head for the high country. I experienced that once. But if you get in a ways and stay at the higher elevations you won't see too many.

Keep in mind that hunters are only allowed to hunt during certain seasons—basically after Labor Day. I don't think you'll see any hunters in Emigrant Wilderness in August…

I've run in to hunters in Emigrant in the fall at Kennedy Lake. Apparently it's pretty popular. Mostly the deer are active at dawn and dusk and the male deer are few and far between. Usually females are off limits to hunters. Not sure what the current situation is. You can check and see what the deer season is. There's also a bow hunting season, but a lot fewer hunters use a bow. I don't think it's in August. I've never seen hunters in Emigrant in August.

As far as crowding – yes, Camp Lake, Bear Lake, Powell Lake, and Granite Lake sometimes have too many people. They are relatively easy to hike to. Try something that's further in, go during the week, or go off trail. I have had Bear Lake and Granite Lake all to myself more than once during the week. Camp Lake gets lots day hikers.