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Hunter draws bead on a field of dreams
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 15, 2002
Think of a hunter's dream season, and that's what Vince Sullivan of Lakeside has had this year.
Sullivan, 41, started in August by taking a 2x2 blacktail deer and two wild pigs in Mendocino County.
But Sullivan was just warming up. The Lakeside sportsman dropped a fine 3x3 mule deer in September, five minutes into opening day while hunting near Thomas Edison Lake, in the Sierra National Forest in Fresno County.
"There were five of us, and Vince was the only one who got lucky that week," said his wife, Cindy.
Sullivan was extra lucky to draw a moose tag in Maine this year after blanking for 10 years. Maine only gives 10 percent of its moose tags to nonresident hunters.
Hunting last month with a friend who lives in Benton, Maine, Sullivan connected with one day remaining on his tag, firing one shot from his .30-06 to drop a trophy 7x7 moose with a 531/4-inch antler spread.
"He wasn't going to have it mounted, but I talked him into it because he may never have that chance again," Cindy Sullivan said. She said the mount will arrive around Christmas, just in time to hang a few ornaments on it.
Sullivan capped his season with an elk hunt in Utah, but his hunting luck ran out.
"I didn't get a shot," Sullivan said. "I had some opportunities, but the shots were too far, and the elk were on the edge of a canyon. I didn't want to wound one."
No matter, because, as his wife said, "our freezer is full."
Sullivan is finishing out the year hunting waterfowl and pheasants. Tomorrow he'll try for pheasants in Imperial County on the Department of Fish and Game's Upland Game Fields.
He should have luck there, too. Leon Lesicka of Desert Wildlife Unlimited said last Saturday's pheasant opener was slow for a number of reasons.
"It was terrible," Lesicka said. "I expected a lot of limits to be the norm, but it just wasn't the case."
Lesicka believes the pheasants may have been planted a bit too early. He and the DFG are hoping the pheasants take to the fields and breed, but they may have taken too well, too soon.
"I thought maybe the coyotes or hawks got a lot of them, but the hunters I talked to said they only saw a few piles of feathers," Lesicka said. "The wind really came up, and I just think those pheasants got entrenched in that high grass."
Lesicka said Desert Wildlife Unlimited released more pheasants this week, and the plan is to release new pheasants every week this season. Lesicka believes there will be nearly 5,000 ringnecks awaiting hunters this weekend.
The fields are stretched along the East Highline Canal, from Calipatria past Niland. Pound Road has several fields on both sides.
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 15, 2002
Think of a hunter's dream season, and that's what Vince Sullivan of Lakeside has had this year.
Sullivan, 41, started in August by taking a 2x2 blacktail deer and two wild pigs in Mendocino County.
But Sullivan was just warming up. The Lakeside sportsman dropped a fine 3x3 mule deer in September, five minutes into opening day while hunting near Thomas Edison Lake, in the Sierra National Forest in Fresno County.
"There were five of us, and Vince was the only one who got lucky that week," said his wife, Cindy.
Sullivan was extra lucky to draw a moose tag in Maine this year after blanking for 10 years. Maine only gives 10 percent of its moose tags to nonresident hunters.
Hunting last month with a friend who lives in Benton, Maine, Sullivan connected with one day remaining on his tag, firing one shot from his .30-06 to drop a trophy 7x7 moose with a 531/4-inch antler spread.
"He wasn't going to have it mounted, but I talked him into it because he may never have that chance again," Cindy Sullivan said. She said the mount will arrive around Christmas, just in time to hang a few ornaments on it.
Sullivan capped his season with an elk hunt in Utah, but his hunting luck ran out.
"I didn't get a shot," Sullivan said. "I had some opportunities, but the shots were too far, and the elk were on the edge of a canyon. I didn't want to wound one."
No matter, because, as his wife said, "our freezer is full."
Sullivan is finishing out the year hunting waterfowl and pheasants. Tomorrow he'll try for pheasants in Imperial County on the Department of Fish and Game's Upland Game Fields.
He should have luck there, too. Leon Lesicka of Desert Wildlife Unlimited said last Saturday's pheasant opener was slow for a number of reasons.
"It was terrible," Lesicka said. "I expected a lot of limits to be the norm, but it just wasn't the case."
Lesicka believes the pheasants may have been planted a bit too early. He and the DFG are hoping the pheasants take to the fields and breed, but they may have taken too well, too soon.
"I thought maybe the coyotes or hawks got a lot of them, but the hunters I talked to said they only saw a few piles of feathers," Lesicka said. "The wind really came up, and I just think those pheasants got entrenched in that high grass."
Lesicka said Desert Wildlife Unlimited released more pheasants this week, and the plan is to release new pheasants every week this season. Lesicka believes there will be nearly 5,000 ringnecks awaiting hunters this weekend.
The fields are stretched along the East Highline Canal, from Calipatria past Niland. Pound Road has several fields on both sides.
