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Posted by Bill CollectorI was both stoked and concerned when I found out I[more ...]
Mon Aug 25 2008, 07:18AM
Posted by boarslayergoing to be hunting the ventura santabarbra county[more ...]
Mon Aug 04 2008, 05:59AM
Posted by Bill CollectorYou need to make em a sponsor.LOL
Mon Jun 23 2008, 02:36PM
Posted by TCyea i looked at the santa rosa thing and its very [more ...]
Sun Jun 22 2008, 02:45PM
Posted by Bill CollectorLOL She never saw you coming. Good luck on gettin[more ...]
Thu Jun 19 2008, 07:38AM
Posted by TCyou the man, i am gona try and get a tag for A and[more ...]
Wed Jun 18 2008, 07:25PM
Posted by Bill CollectorMy wife & I managed to draw Mule Deer tags and[more ...]
Sat Jun 14 2008, 11:22AM
Posted by Band CollectorRay, I posted a thread a while ago in the photo s[more ...]
Thu Apr 03 2008, 09:34AM
Posted by TCI cant wait till waterfoul season
Fri Mar 14 2008, 05:15PM
Posted by Ricky-RayBand Collector wrote ...I have taken pigs with rif[more ...]
Mon Feb 25 2008, 02:41PM
Bass Pro
OCTOBER 4 QUAIL UNLIMITED DOG CHALLENGE:
The Riverside Chapter of Quail Unlimited is hosting its second annual Dog Challenge beginning 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, at Prado Dog Training Facility, Chino. There are still slots available for hunters who want to run their dogs in the pointing and flushing dog trials or retriever event. Entry form and more information is available on the Riverside QU web site at www.quriverside.com.Thu Oct 02 2008, 11:37AM by TC
Posted in Upland Birds | |
Upland birds make a nice comeback after two years of zero spring production
Even I shot chukar in 2005. That was the year the production was so good, there were even young birds even down on the creosote flats. On the steep hillsides you had to wade through them. I know guys who counted well over 1,000 chukar in a pre-season scouting drive around a single desert mountain in 2005.The next two hunting seasons were progressively worse and bird numbers dropped precipitously. Last year's hunt was absolutely dismal. The reason? No spring production for both of those two springs.
But this year looks to be a surprising reversal. Brood counts are up again and hunters can expect a fair to good bird year for both quail and chukar, with the general hunting season for these two species opening on Oct. 18 throughout the southern part of the state.
Quail and chukar brood counts done in July by Andy Pauli, the Department of Fish and Game field biologist for the Mojave, were "better than I thought they were going to be."
In the West Mojave, Pauli said he tabulated nearly 300 chukar and the brood size averaged about seven birds in the areas he tallies around Apple Valley. Pauli's quail counts in the East Mojave near Hole-In-The-Wall campground tallied about 225 birds and the average brood size was a hefty nine young per pair.
Rocky Thompson, Pauli's counterpart in the Southern Sierra, said his chukar counts in the Rand and El Paso mountain ranges near Red Mountain this summer were very good. Broods were over 16 birds. His count consisted of 641 chukar, and 572 of those were young-of-the-year birds -- that's 8.3 young per adult.
Comparing these counts to the last three years is an example of the chukar's bounce-back qualities. Last year, Thompson counted just 170 chukar, and all of them were adult birds -- zero young. The year before, he counted 486 birds, but there was 1/10th of a young bird for each adult. The boomer year of 2005, Thompson counted 2,630 chukar with 8.6 young per adult.
"The population cycles like this. We knew they'd come back, but it's still nice to see," said Thompson.
How many young can a pair of chukar pull off in a good year? Thompson said the highest young-to-adult ratio he's tallied since being on the job was in 1995 when he counted 11.4 young birds per adult chukar. That means the average for each pair of chukar was nearly 23 young. Since we know clutch sizes don't get much past 12 to 16 birds that is the best evidence we have for multiple broods in a single season.
Interestingly, that year was one of his lowest count years where there was good production, with only 336 birds counted. That means there were only about 30 adult chukar -- 15 pairs -- of birds doing the breeding. We had twice that many adults going into this breeding season. If any of you remember the 1994 season (and I can't remember last week, let alone 1994), I'd bet money it was worse than even last year.
Thompson's quail counts in the Southern Sierra Nevada were almost as good as the chukar. He had nearly identical brood sizes for both valley quail and mountain quail with 5.1 young per adult or just over 10 young per brood.
SAN SEVAINE ROAD OPENED: Deer hunters in the D11 zone will have access to the San Sevaine Road (1N34) in the San Bernardino National Forest when the season opens Saturday, Oct. 11. This the first time this road has been opened since the 2003 Old Fire.
The road is opened only to the Joe Elliott campground, but the area should provide good hunting because it has been closed for five years, with only hike-in access. Hopefully, the DFG will set up a hunter check station on this road opening weekend, since there is only one access road in and out of the popular hunting area now.
The San Bernardino National Forest opened the road on Sunday, Sept. 21, now that fire rehabilitation and hazardous tree removal has been completed. Hunters should contact the Lytle Creek Ranger Station at 909-382-2850 or the San Bernardino National Forest supervisor's office at 909-382-2600 to check on fire restrictions or emergency closures.
SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA MANAGEMENT MEETING: Over 70 hunters, environmental activists, and hikers and equestrians from the local community attended the San Jacinto Wildlife Area's third scoping session to give input on what the public would like to see in the new management plan being drafted for the area, and its new nearby addition, the Protrero Unit.
The crowd on Monday evening at the wildlife area consisted of over 50 hunters who asked that hunting opportunity be maintained and expanded at the public facility. It was pointed out that San Jacinto is the closest public waterfowl hunting area for the greater Inland Empire, Orange County and Los Angeles metropolitan region. Hunters also pay -- through their hunting fees, licenses, and stamps -- the bulk of the day-to-day expenses to staff and run the facility.
The Department of Fish and Game, which operates the facility, has contracted with Dudek, an environmental and engineering firm in Riverside, to write the new management plan and environmental document that will accompany it.
During the meeting, comments from some in the environmental community -- many who would like to see hunting eliminated or reduced at San Jacinto -- made it clear a lawsuit was likely over the final plan and environmental document if they didn't like the findings.
Tom Paulek, the former area manager now retired from the DFG and currently the conservation chairman of the Friends of the Northern San Jacinto Valley (FNSJV), said, "all I see is the potential for significant impacts" if public hunting and other uses are expanded.
Paulek and Sue Nash, also with FNSJV, have been sharply critical of the way the wildlife area has been managed since Paulek retired from the DFG. Ironically, there has been a massive increase in wetlands, areas managed for seasonal wet soils, food plots, and ponded water, all which have increased wildlife use since Paulek left. There has also been more than a doubling of hunter opportunity.
Hunters, who would like to make suggestions about management options, hunting opportunity, or environmental concerns, can send written comments to the Draft Management Plan, San Jacinto Wildlife Area, P.O. Box 1254, Nuevo, CA 82567.
Thu Oct 02 2008, 11:37AM by TC
Posted in JIM MATTHEWS | |
"He couldn't hit a barn from the inside"
Put a group of big game hunting guides together and they will invariably complain about one thing: Hunting clients who can't shoot their rifles. My favorite descriptive line from one of them is: "He couldn't hit a barn from the inside."They will tell you most hunters are poor shooters, and while I've always taken the word "most" with a huge grain of salt, I'm beginning to think they may be right. Recently, I did a story about hunters in the A zone who were using newly mandated non-lead ammunition. Compliance was good. What was shocking was that none of those contacted by Department of Fish and Game wardens had sighted in their guns with the new ammunition.
Not one.
This was a little disconcerting. So I started calling friends and gun shop clerks. I visited a couple of public ranges and watched. What I heard and saw is alarming:
-- Many hunters believe when they buy a gun that it is ready to go hunting, that it will shoot where the sights are looking.
-- A lot of sportsmen think all ammunition of the correct caliber will shoot to the same point of impact in their gun.
-- Even those who do try to sight in their guns, do not have a clue how to accomplish the task and if they manage to hit the target at all, they think that is good enough.
None of these things are true.
With deer seasons about to kick off throughout Southern California's deer zones (Oct. 11 for most), a basic primer on sighting-in and ammunition variances is in order. If this is old hat to you, pass on this column to people doing it wrong that you meet at the range or in the field.
Rule One: Rifles should be sighted-in or rechecked at the range off a solid benchrest before each hunting season. If the gun gets bumped, dropped off a tailgate, falls down in the closet or gun safe, or crashes to the ground when you stumble while hunting, you should go to a range to make sure the gun is still shooting where the sights are looking.
When I was a kid, I missed an easy shot at a buck with my .243. I used my uncle's .30-06 to shoot my deer. Later, I found the gun had obviously been banged and the .243 was shooting 18-inches to the left from where the scope was looking. When in doubt, check.
Rule Two: Whenever you change ammunition, your rifle should be checked at the range and resighted in. Very few guns shoot different loads to the same point of impact. Different bullet weights and different brands of ammunition frequently shoot dramatically different than each other. This is true even if you buy the same brand and bullet weight, but purchase the ammunition a year or two apart. Companies frequently change components. Don't assume, always check.
I once had a .30-06 that was a tack-driver, shooting itty-bitty groups, but it shot every different brand and bullet weight of ammunition to a different point on the target -- and the difference was so great that I would miss a deer at 150 yards if the gun was sighted in with one brand and I shot another. But I also have a .30-06 that shoots just about everything to nearly the same point of impact. Always check.
Rule Three: Learn how accurately your gun shoots. It will help your confidence in the field. I'm so confident in my guns that I'm surprised if I miss in the field.
All of these rules require that you go to a rifle range and shoot your gun. And more is better. New hunters should spend a lot of time at the range and plan on shooting at least a couple of boxes of ammunition over a couple of trips.
At a range recently, I watched three guys show up to check their guns. I could hear their conversation and knew they were getting ready to go deer hunting. One of the guys had a new gun that needed to be sighted in, and the other two were just checking their guns.
They were attempting to do the right thing, but they proceeded to do it all wrong. The first two guys shot three shots off the bench with their guns, resting their elbows on the surface and wobbling all over, but both proclaimed things were good when they managed to hit the eight-inch black circle just two out of the three shots. The other guy's new gun had been bore-sighted at the sporting goods store, and when his first three shots were also on the paper, they decided they were ready to go. I cringed.
Range-Shooting Basics: The purpose of going to the range is to set up a rock-solid shooting platform so you can test ammunition accuracy and precisely adjust your sights. Most ranges have small sand bags to help you accomplish this purpose. You want to stack up sand bags under the fore end of your rifle and place one under the butt stock of your rifle just ahead of the butt plate or recoil pad. "Mold" the bags to the shape of your rifle stock. When you are done positioning and "forming" the sand bags, your gun should sit upright on its own on the bags and be looking at the exact center of your target. Now all you have to do is nestle up behind the rifle, snuggle up to the stock, and squeeze the trigger. Don't put your hand between the fore end and the front sand bag. Tuck that hand back under the buttstock by your armpit and apply slight pressure on the left or right side of the stock to make tiny adjustments in crosshair alignment. The crosshairs in the scope shouldn't hardly tremor as you squeeze the trigger.
Recoil will jump the rifle, and you will have to reposition it again to the crosshairs are exactly in the center of the target. Squeeze off another shot. And then do it again. The three shots should be clustered closely together on the paper. Today's factory rifles will place three shots in a one to 1 1/2-inch circle at 100 yards, almost across the board. (If your gun doesn't do that you are using poor benchrest technique or have ammunition that doesn't perform well in your gun.) Let the gun cool between three-shot groups. If the first three shots are not in the center of the target, take off the scope covers and make the adjustments you need to precisely center the group. Shooting three shots off your wobbly elbows, with shots sprayed over a 12-inch circle, is not the same thing.
It gives you great boosts of confidence to know that you can hit a bottle cap every time at 100 yards with your deer rifle at the range.
But shooting at a range off a steady rest also makes your realize how much the sights jump around in the field from less steady shooting positions. Adrenaline surges when you see game. Your heart pounds after a steep hill climb. Those things and poor field shooting skills can combine to make a hunter and gun incapable of hitting a "barn from the inside" -- even a hunter who can hit that bottle cap at the range.
Field shooting skills are learned from practice. Most of the good hunters I know spend a lot of time shooting, .22s and their big game rifles. Every shot you take makes you more familiar and confident in the shooting process. At the range, they practice offhand, kneeling, sitting down, and using any support that is similar to what they might find in the field. I shoot standing and resting my rifle against the side of a post at the local rifle range. The last several head of big game I've shot, or seen shot, were taken as the rifle and shooter braced against a tree, stump, or fallen log. I practice those kinds of shots. While not like a benchrest, those are pretty stable platforms.
Field Shooting's Only Rule: Use the steadiest position you can find for the conditions when hunting. Never shoot offhand if you can kneel. Never kneel if you can sit. Get the most stable position you can find. If you don't know, KNOW, that you can precisely make the shot, don't take it.
Rick Homme, Fernley, Nev., shows perfect benchrest form while sighting in his .308 for deer hunting season. The fore end and butt stock are supported securely by sand bags making for a rock-solid shooting platform that lends itself to shot-to-shot consistency.
Jim Matthews' Howa 7mm short mag shoots these kinds of 100-yard groups with his reloads. Most factory rifles will shoot 1 to 1 1/2-inch groups at this range. If yours doesn't, you or the gun is doing something wrong and needs to be checked.
Thu Sep 25 2008, 03:49PM by TC
Posted in JIM MATTHEWS | |
Sparks caused by bullets striking rocks?
Question: I have been a hunter and target shooter for more than 50 years. I've heard different agencies blaming fires on sparks caused by bullets striking rocks. I was not aware that lead and copper would cause sparks. Am I missing something or is this more hype to discourage hunting and target shooting? (Charles M.)
Answer: It is not necessarily the bullet itself but the object contacted that can cause ignition. Fires caused from target shooting could be due either to bullets striking a rock with the geological potential to spark just right or shooting at metal targets that have the potential to start a fire.
Thu Sep 25 2008, 02:56PM by TC
Posted in DFG | |
How often does a deer have to drink water
Question: I have some questions about mule deer and black-tail deer.
How often does a deer have to drink water? How far will they travel to get water? How far from a water source will they go? What time of year do the bucks rut in the San Diego area? Thanks for any help with this.
(Ed S., San Diego)
Answer: Water demands for deer in California (or anywhere else) depend on many factors, so the answers may not be as straightforward as your question - which is usually the case when dealing with biological/management issues related to wildlife.
According to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Deer Program Coordinator Craig Stowers, the season of year, local climate conditions and the moisture content of available forage are probably the most important factors. Deer that inhabit moist, cool regions and feed on forbs and/or other vegetation with high moisture content will require less water than those deer that inhabit desert regions and feed primarily on brushy vegetation.
The literature we're familiar with indicates that deer inhabiting southeastern Oregon drank only about 0.8 gallons of water per day, while desert mule deer in Arizona drank on the average about 6.3 gallons of water per day. Typically, deer will drink water once or twice a day.
Stowers says more studies are available on the distance deer will travel for water. The literature indicates that between 1.5 to 3 miles is about the maximum distance most will travel for water. Water is indeed a limiting factor in the distribution of deer. Much work has been done on this in California and other western states to provide artificial water sources (guzzlers), which have helped to expand or open up otherwise unsuitable habitat, as well as to help increase local deer density.
Deer in the San Diego area are typically in rut (breeding season) during September/October, which is much earlier than in other herds located in the northern portion of the state. The peak of their rut probably occurs sometime around mid-October.
Sun Sep 21 2008, 09:17AM by TC
Posted in DFG | |
SEPTEMBER 20 SAN JACINTO WILDLIFE AREA WORK DAY:
The staff of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area in western Riverside County near Lake Perris will be hosting a volunteer work day at the wildlife area to prep its waterfowl hunting areas for the coming season. Volunteers will be rebuilding blinds, adding vegetation to the site, and removing trash. Volunteers should bring waders or mud boots, gloves, and hand tools (saws, shovels, rakes). Also bring a side dish and drinking water. There will be a barbecue-pot luck lunch following the morning's work party. Contacts: Scott Sewell at 951-634-4652 or Tom Trakes at 951-236-3040.Fri Sep 19 2008, 08:58AM by TC
Posted in Waterfoul | |
Too many blue-collar hunters now unable to afford to big game tags
Another American dream is turning into an American myth. Between the high cost of gasoline, skyrocketing ammunition fees, and big game tag fees that have far outpaced inflation, many blue-collar hunters can no longer afford to hunt big game.
Late last year I was asked by my long-time friend Lee Hoots, who is the editor of Petersen's Hunting, to do a piece for the magazine on non-resident tags fees in the West. While I don't know if was my whining about how much a trip to Montana last year had cost me just in tag fees and gasoline, he knew it was a story that would resonate with long-time sportsmen. Doing the research for the piece was an eye-opener. [That story is in the Sept., 2008 issue of the magazine on newsstands now.]
When I bought my first deer tag as an 18-year-old here in California in 1972, it cost $3, and really included two tags as part of the package and an application for a third tag. That made the tags $1.50 each. Today, a single resident deer tag costs about $26. If pegged to the cost of inflation that $1.50 tag would cost $7.65 in today's dollars. The $26 tag is a 1,733 percent increase over what it should cost.
Sonke Mastrup, the Department of Fish and Game's deputy director, will tell you that every license or tag fee increase translates directly into fewer hunters taking to the field. For a percent of guys each year, the increase is the final straw and they simply give it up, especially with the disproportionate increase in other costs like gasoline and ammunition (both lead and non-lead). It wasn't all that long ago that California had about 1 million resident hunters, but today we're less than 1/3 that number.
If you figure that each deer hunter has to make up for the money formerly paid by his two counterparts who gave up the sport, you can get a ballpark idea where today's $26 tag fee comes from. Fewer and fewer hunters are paying more and more.
But it goes well beyond just higher tag fees. Sportsmen are getting far less for the investment today. Back in 1972, we had unit biologists throughout the state who actually did annual deer composition counts, there were hunter check stations, and about three times as many wardens as we have now. That means we had about 12 field biologists for Southern California who spent time studying and working with deer. Today we have, I think, two - but it might just be one. They don't do annual deer surveys, there hasn't been a check station here in decades, and there's no such thing as field data and biology anymore. We make management decisions based on what someone wrote about our herds decades ago. Some of us are so tired of the shop-worn excuses why our deer herds are fractions of what they once were, that we tune out those who spout the rhetoric. Today's DFG biologists have other priorities and are even afraid to try to grow more deer on public land. Sadly, this is true almost everywhere in the West.
Yet, there are still deer here almost in spite of the California DFG and other game agencies and their lack of management (or active mismanagement, some would say). There are deer here in spite of poaching, in spite of habitat loss, in spite of more roads and road kills than in history, in spite of the highest predator base we've had in over 100 years. Some places actually still have good deer numbers and great public land hunting.
Today, the vast majority of big game hunters can only afford to pursue game in their home states (if that) because of high non-resident tag fees, even though most hunting in the West is on federal lands, not state lands.
When I first hunted pronghorn antelope in Wyoming, I was reasonably assured of getting a $100 tag when I applied. Today, to reasonably assure myself of getting the same tag, I'd have to spend just a tick over $600. Once upon a time, I applied for bighorn sheep tags in all of the Western states each year, only paying the $2 to $5 application fees in each state, knowing my hunting buddies would collectively loan me the $150 to $300 for the tag and license if I was drawn and couldn't come up with it myself. I'd have done the same for them. Today, you have to apply with the whole tag fee amount (which the state usually keeps for three to six months) and in some states you have to actually buy the non-resident general hunting license before you can apply for a tag. With the non-resident gouge on bighorn tags running from $1,700 to $2,300, a lot of us can't even afford to apply to one state, never mind all of them.
Part of the problem is that most Western states are in bed with outfitters who have good lobbies in the state capitols. They insist their livelihoods are at stake and because of declining tag numbers, and they believe they should get a percentage dedicated just to their clients. Most states have set aside a large pool of special tags they sell at higher prices, making sure that hunters who can afford $5,000 to $12,000 or more guided hunts can reasonably be assured of getting a tag. Do you need a translation for that? It's "blue-collar hunters stay home." Unfortunately, a lot of rural community businesses relied on those blue-collar guys, and the little cafes, grocery stores, motels have closed up shop in small towns throughout the West.
There are a lot of ways to exclude anyone but the wealthy. Wyoming says you must have a guide or outfitter to hunt in designated wilderness, and their "preference" tags are about double the cost of the regular tags. Montana simply has set aside a portion of its tags each year for the guides and floats the price based on demand. If the tags don't sell out by September each year, they reduce the price the following year; if they do, they increase the price. So the Montana non-resident outfitter deer license has gone from $795 to $1,100 in just the last three years, jumping about $150 a year. (The general non-resident deer license is $353 with about three to one adds of drawing.) All the Western states auction off one or more of their coveted bighorn sheep tags to the highest bidder and rake in $60,000 or a lot more from some wealthy guy. All this is simply wrong.
Once upon a time, hunters from across the country dreamed of packing up family truck or sedan and heading to the high sagebrush and aspen country of the West and hunting mule deer, elk, and pronghorn. Not that long ago, a working man could save his money and afford to do just that on a one- or two-week camping vacation on public lands. Not any more. Now poorer hunters are even being squeezed out by costs in their home states.
America's big game doesn't belong to the people anymore. It belongs to an increasingly fewer number of wealthy people.
Fri Sep 19 2008, 08:57AM by TC
Posted in JIM MATTHEWS | |
Dove Update
NUEVO -- The San Jacinto Wildlife Area attracted at least 275 hunters opening day of dove season on Monday, almost exactly double the number here for last year's opening day, according to Scott Sewell with the Department of Fish and Game."This is the highest number of people we've ever had out here for the dove opener," said Sewell of the western Riverside County public hunting area near Lake Perris.
Sewell said of the 275 permit cards returned for the Sept. 1 opener, the average was about a half-bird per hunter, but he did have one hunter report a 10-bird limit on opening day.
The San Jacinto Wildlife Area is probably the closest public hunting area for most bird hunters who live in the Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire regions, and the Monday opener and gas prices probably stopped a lot of sportsman from making the longer drive into the Imperial Valley or Colorado River regions.
Those who did make the drive to these more distant areas found much better hunting than San Jacinto provided.
In the Blythe-Palo Verde region along the Colorado River, the hunting was excellent on the north end of the valley, especially on the Department of Fish and Game's Palo Verde Ecological Reserve (off Second Street), according to Wayne Pinkerton at B&B Bait in Blythe.
"With all the storms around there was plenty of talk about the birds leaving, already left, or that couldn't wait to leave -- or all the other negatives you hear every year," said Pinkerton. "But we had our biggest weekend ever and the hunting was just fine."
Pinkerton said limits were the rule opening day, and that while birds were thinned by Tuesday morning, a lot of hunters were still getting limits on the second day, too. He said the bag was pretty evenly split between mourning doves, whitewing doves, and the new Eurasian collared doves.
Across the river on the Arizona side, the hunting on the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) Reservation was excellent according to Duke Shea of Santa Fe Spring, with limits the rule on harvested grain fields. To the south, it was the same story on the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge's new wheat fields, where birds were thick and limits were a 30-minute affair.
Jesse James of Redlands hunted the Cibola Sportsman's Club property on the Arizona side adjacent to the refuge, and reported that all 60 hunters at the club had limits by 10 or 11 a.m. opening day, "even the bad shots like me."
In the Imperial Valley, Bill Hinz of Brea said it was the mildest opener he'd ever experience in this region with the heat not being as oppressive as most years -- but he said the hunting was just as good as ever.
"We hunted the No. 4 Department (of Fish and Game) field near Brawley, and it was very productive. We limited out by about 8 a.m.," said Hinz. "One of the few good things I see the Cal Fish and Game doing [with our license money] are these fields down in the Imperial Valley."
Joe Branna, a DFG warden captain in the Imperial Valley, said the north end of the Imperial Valley, where the public fields are located, probably didn't shoot as well as the south end. Branna thought the thunderstorms on Saturday, which drenched the whole region, scattered the birds off of the 26 fields planted and groomed by Desert Wildlife Unlimited, a volunteer group headed up by Leon Lesicka. Many of those birds ended up further south.
"We had a pretty good opener," said Branna. "We didn't have as many people as we normally do, so I think most guys had a good hunt. It's really a shame that storm hit on Saturday. There were some corn fields in the [lower] valley that were really loaded with whitewings before that."
Branna said his warden force checked over 2,800 hunters from Blythe to El Centro to Winterhaven and wrote 57 tickets -- only 13 of those for overlimits. Most were written for hunters not having an upland bird stamp or having an unplugged shotgun (pump and semi-automatic shotguns are restricted to three shots for bird hunting, even if the magazine will hold more.)
Branna said hunters in the south end of the Imperial Valley mostly had limits with at least an eight or nine birds-per-hunter average, while the north end was more like a six- or seven-bird-average.
"We also checked hunters with a lot of Eurasians, especially around the feed lots," said Branna. "Some of these guys had 30 or more Eurasians. I watched on guy shoot 17 birds and I was thinking I had a ticket, so I ran up there just before he drove off, and 16 of his birds were Eurasians."
Eurasian collared doves are a relatively new and unwanted non-native species from Europe, and there is no limit on these doves this year. The limit is still 10 total for whitewing and mourning doves.
Leon Lesicka said they counted just over 3,000 hunters, many on the 26 public fields, during an airplane flight Monday in just the north end of the Imperial Valley. The count was slightly higher than last year in this same area, but counts have been as high as 4,000, according to Lesicka.
Lt. Mike Stefanak, a DFG warden in charge of western Riverside and San Bernardino counties, said the hunting in the Coachella and Yucca Valley regions was fair to good with the average in the Indio area probably three to five birds per hunter, with the best hunting closer to the Salton Sea. In Yucca Valley, he said the hunting was better in the afternoon than in the morning. In the Barstow to Victorville region, he said the average was less than a bird per hunter.
Matt and Debbie Gangola of Glendora hunted near a gamebird drinker on Juniper Flats out of Hesperia and managed to get six birds each, according to their hunting partner Rick Bean of Hesperia, "but I botched two shots I had at birds."
Stefanak said that the warden team in his region contacted about 900 hunters and 40 of those hunters had limits. Only 17 citations were written. He also said they issued 80 warnings, most for hunters not leaving a feathered wing attached to the dove carcass so it can be identified.
The first half of dove season continues through September 15. Hunters should consult hunting regulations for shooting times, bag limits, and other restrictions.
Fri Sep 05 2008, 10:33AM by TC
Posted in Upland Birds | |
Dove opening set for Labor Day; limits shouldn’t be too much work
Dove hunting season opens on Monday, Labor Day, this year, and reports from across the popular desert hunting areas point to a good opener, barring last minute thunderstorms -- which are a possibility today through this weekend according to weather forecasters -- that will push birds south.David Dolton, who is in charge of the dove program with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the dove population has been stable for about the past decade in the Western management unit, which includes California, and there is little change between this year and last year in the total dove population.
But reports from the field along the Colorado River and Imperial Valley suggest this year might be better than normal, and certainly better than the past two or three years. In fact, long-time Imperial Valley hunters and Palo Verde Valley (Blythe area) hunters are suggesting this could -- could -- be a terrific year.
"Some of the [public] fields are really, really loaded. But you know what's really exciting? There are more whitewings than I've ever seen here," said Leon Lessica, a long-time Imperial Valley hunter and head of Desert Wildlife Unlimited (DWU), which has been behind the public fields planted in the Imperial Valley each year with volunteer effort, DFG funds, and the assistance of private landowners.There are again 32 fields in 17 locations in the Imperial Valley. Since the locations are the same as the last couple of years, hunters can use previous year's maps or download one off the DWU web site (www.DesertWildlifeUnlimited.com.) Hunters also can find public hunting at the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area, and most of the desert areas adjacent to the agriculture are opening to hunting and holding a lot of birds.
On the Colorado River, things also look very good. Mary Bradley, who runs the sporting goods department at the Yellowmart in Blythe, was enthusiastic about this year's hunt.
"The south end of the valley had all kinds of wheat and most of it is still in stubble," said Bradley. "Last year, the valley was mostly planted in cotton, but I guess wheat prices were up and there was a lot more of it this year."
Bradley also said the DFG's Palo Verde Ecological Reserve was in milo again and holding a lot of birds. She also mentioned the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) lands on the Arizona side of the river also were looking good, and the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge had two planted wheat fields this year open to hunters (but steel shot is required on the wildlife refuge).
Further south on the Colorado River, the Yuma area dove season looks like it will again be one of the hottest areas in the West with both mourning doves and whitewings at their usual high numbers here. Yuma always attracts a large contingent of hunters from both Southern California and the Phoenix metropolitan areas. This is also the 20th anniversary of Sprague's Sports' Big Breast Contest, and informal contest to see who shoots the largest dove opening day. Of course, thunderstorms are a likely in this area every day today through opener.
One of the only dull spots in the forecast for this year's opener is the Camp Cady Wildlife Area east of Barstow near Newberry Springs. This state-run wildlife area traditionally has grain fields planted just for doves and other wildlife, but each of the past two years equipment failures have shut down the irrigation process and no grain was grown.
The San Jacinto Wildlife Area near Moreno Valley in western Riverside County should be better than the last few years, but light rainfall in the spring has kept the amount of sunflowers and other dove-attracting feed at only modest levels.
Many hunters are confused about the non-lead ammunition requirements within the range of California condors. This requirement does not include bird hunting. Lead shot can still be used for dove hunting within the condor area -- so long as you are not hunting big game at the same time. The wide availability of steel promotional shotshells -- many at prices less than equivalent lead ammunition - has added to the confusion.
Why is lead ammunition now the same price or more than steel? The cost of raw materials. The price of raw lead has skyrocketed over the last couple of years, going from 20 cents a pound to as high as $1.80. The cost of copper and brass has only increased pretty dramatically. Many hunters are experiencing sticker shock when buying new ammunition this year.
The first half of the dove season extends through Sept. 15, and the California bag limit is 10 per day with 20 in possession after the first day. A state hunting license with an Upland Bird stamp and Harvest Information Program (HIP) stamp is required to hunt doves. You should check a copy of the hunting regulations to get all the details about shooting hours. New this year, the Department of Fish and Game lifted the limit on Eurasian Collard doves so hunters can shoot as many of the non-natives as they want this season.
Fri Aug 29 2008, 11:43AM by TC
Posted in JIM MATTHEWS | |
No longer able to use lead shot for dove and quail season in California. Is this true?
Question: I've heard that we are no longer able to use lead shot for dove and quail season in California. Is this true? (Melissa L.)
Answer: No. You may still use lead shot for dove, quail and turkey hunting in California, even in the condor lead-free zone (map available at Web site listed below). One exception - some of the military lands with public hunting programs, such as Camp Roberts and Fort Hunter Liggett, are requiring non-lead ammunition for all hunting (includingbirds) effective immediately. For more on the non-lead requirements and the specific areas and hunting opportunities affected, go to www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/condor/
Fri Aug 22 2008, 01:37PM by TC
Posted in DFG | |
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