CA Game Management

[slyck68]

This is in response to a post I just read about the poor game management in CA. I am an Environmental Studies major at Sacramento State University with my emphasis on Fisheries and Wildlife Management. According to my profs (retired DFG officials and biologists), the biggest challenge in CA is the gap between the politicians and the sportsmen. They simply have too much red tape and protocal to effectively do their jobs. I agree wholeheartedly that something needs to change. So I am asking you guys, what do you think needs to be done in order to improve the declining hunting situation in CA? Really think about it, it is not an easy task to tackle.

 

[Nic Barca]

I'm in a similar Major but for Hawaiian Forestry. There's a lot of things I noticed here: different aggendas, bias, budget issues, controversy...etc. You really have to have a knack for finding middle ground if you want to make progress because opposition to what you want to do will cause it to stall to the point where nothing gets done. Over here, to the extreme, you have a very small group of highly influential hunters who oppose any decline in game numbers and distribution, and at the other end you have people who want to eradicate all ungulates from Hawaii (viewing them as pests) because of their negative impact on native ecosystems. The later, although well meaning, is biased and ignorant. The hunters are scared that all game will end up being eradicated one area at a time until none are left. In reality, both ideas are impossible to have happen, but these views disrupt progress by causing controversy. The ideal solution is to secure all the good native areas left, an imposibility even today but as those areas shrink to more manageable sizes and government support for environmental conservation increases, it should eventually happen, as it's starting to. And game will always occur in the degraded ecosystems and Alien forests that cover the vast majority of the state, so therefor there is little threat to hunting overall, even though specific small areas will be affected by ungulate eradications. ...Except on the big island where they had major sheep control programs on the slope of Mauna Kea so protect the Palila Bird and the ecosystem up there. That was a huge loss for hunters imho.

I don't really know the situation in Cali but you mentioned "declining hunting situation in CA". What exactly do you mean by that?

Are there declining game populations? Because as hunter population increases, it's only logical that there will be stricter bag limits enacted if game populations are to remain stable. And if they don't restrict bag limits, game populations will decline. I'm ignoring other factors such as habitat quality for the meanwhile. If your regulating government agency cannot deal with that, they are failing in their job. But what exactly is your situation? I'm curious

 

[Val]

I have been fishing and hunting in California for over 50 years. In my opinion, California has been governed by the bleeding heart liberal left wingers for so long, the sportmans rights and welfare aren't even on the California agenda. It's the agenda of the lunatic fringe environmentalists that get all the attention these days. This agenda is at the beck and call of wealthy left wingers and college students who have never been out of the city. Scientists (really psuedo scientists) who need grant money, take their money and publish reports that reach the conclusions that the providers of the grant money want. Then the DF&G uses these unscientific reports to draw their conclusions and continue to infringe on our hunting and fishing rights.

Never mind that sportmen like myself have been purchasing licenses and tags and paying excise taxes on sporting equipment for decades. The lunatic fringe environmentalist contribute lawsuits and demonstrations to see their adgendas through. Of course the left wing media only presents the lunatic fringe left wing agenda.

Another example, commercial fishermen catch over 90% of the fish. Yet the DF&G concentrate on restricting the fishing of the sports fisherman.

So what needs to be done? Wildlife management has to be returned to true biologists and be managed by biologists and not politicians.

 

[billrob]

True true true,

The only part you left out was that the bogus studies are also used in junk lawsuits that win with liberal judges who then award tax payer monies which is recycled back into lefty politcians campaigns.

When they put a stop to logging in Calif. the habitat declined with the overgrown canopy which choked out the essential forage and put a hurt on deer populations.

DFG publication Guide to Deer Hunting in California page 81
"Today California has the dubious dinstintcion of being the only State in the Nation where doe hunts cannot always be carried out even when such hunts are biologically justified."

It seems the county boards of supervisors have jurisdication over DFG.

The enviro wackos sued to stop turkey restocking, just like two of our representatives in Washington Feinstein & Boxer overrode a Bill that passed and was signed into law by the President to protect the healthy Elk & Deer populations on Santa Rosa Island ensuring their destruction (not by State hunters) begining in 2008.

The fact that Federal area named after Teddy Roosevelt is closed to hunting is a direct slap in the face.

The big buzzword now is non native invasive species also backed by junk studies

 

[500+grns]

In CA.,the DFG proposes to each county in the state what needs to be done in their local area to manage wildlife numbers.It is then left to the county board of supervisors and public officials to fallow through with the DFG suggestions such as management hunts,extending seasons in specific zones,and private land management opportunities.
Year after year they get shut down by individuals who haven't the slightest idea what it's all about.Only that it's all about killing animals and they oppose it.
The decisions are made by politicians not the biologists.
Recently I heard on the news that the decisions made on CA. marine fisheries have been turned over to the CA.DFG biologists now that it's going to take over 100 years to bring the population of fish back the way it was less than 30 years ago.(guess they wiped their hands clean of that one) It's an absolute disaster that has happened in a very short time.
CADFG needs a complete overhaul.I'm so sick and tired of hearing the stories about how good it was way back when.Every year it gets worse here and I'm tired of it.
If it wasn't for the opportunity to hunt the Feds land right now I'd be making my own rules like alot of individuals already have.
Have you seen the stats every year since the DFG raised the price of pig tags.How in the hell are they going to get an accurate count of an annual harvest.

 

[billrob]

I have another complaint.
I just (this afternoon) spoke with a Fed Ranger at Los Padres (female) who said don't bother hunting in the spot I proposed because she doesn't recommend hunting hogs on public land in her area.
At first she told me it was private property and I corrected her so she got out her map and said oh yea it's National Forest but...
She said the hogs live on private property and besdies they are ferals not real russian boars and she had just earlier watched a mother and her babies that were so very cute.
She said they come off the private land at night onto public land but return before daylight so anybody that has a hog in her area has gotten it illegally.
Then she went on to tell me about busting a wicked unrespectful hunter.
I was thinking to myself is this USFS or PETA?
Anyway I agree that poaching or tresspassing should be punished harshly but dealing with this stuff is really getting to me which is of course what they want and that is to discourage folks that hunt.
It's the same down here at San Bernardino Ntn'l forest with the rangers too at least the ones I've spoken with 4 females 1 male.
You can't get a straight answer out of any of them and no 2 agree on what area is open or closed to hunting. I've even received lectures on the cruelty of it all and how controversial it is.
But I haven't had anything but polite cooperation and suggestions in the positive from DFG and BLM personnel.