Thrill of the Hunt More Expensive for Some

Arrests and fines for violations of fish and game laws were up markedly in 1984, according to the Department of Fish and Game.

Fines assessed by courts exceeded $2 million for the first time--an increase of 61% over 1983--and the number of arrests rose 18%, to 31,247.

For hunters, the most common 1984 violation--961 cases--was having a loaded gun in a vehicle. For fishermen, fishing without a license was the most common case, with 13,883 cited. Other leading hunting violations were assorted infractions involving deer, 916 cases; trespassing, 767; hunting without a license, 691, and littering, 483. Leading fishing violations: Fishing with more than one rod, 2,559; shellfish gathering violations, 1,610; ocean sport fishing violations, 1,558, and trout fishing violations, 1,485.

State fish and game law violators spent 5,531 days in jail in 1984. Fines totaled $2,143,336.

DFG law enforcement administrators attributed some of the rises to increased use of the CalTIP line, (800) 952-5400, on which citizens can report wildlife law violations, and to increasing cases of southeast Asians arrested for fishing violations.

Birdwatching note: Cris Gonzales, supervisor of the DFG’s Imperial Wildlife Area near Niland, Imperial County, reports that thousands of migrating waterfowl are visiting flooded fields and ponds at the facility.

“It’s a beautiful, beautiful sight,” Gonzales said, describing the estimated 2,000 Canada geese, 20,000 lesser snow geese, pintails, green-winged teal, cinnamon teal, ruddy ducks and shovelers.

Gonzales recommended early morning as the best time to see concentration of waterfowl.

Three state-run wildlife areas in Riverside County are being considered as possible lease sites in response to a new state policy requiring the DFG to examine lands it owns for possible use as privately managed public shooting areas.

The three sites: Hidden Valley Wildlife Preserve, Perris Reservoir State Recreation Area and San Jacinto Wildlife Area.

Two Utah biologists have found a way to increase barn owl numbers in the wild. Dr. Carl Marti of Weber State College and Phil Wagner of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources experimented in a farming area of Utah by building and installing nesting boxes for barn owls in old silos where barn owls had been seen. Barn owls don’t build their own nests, but use abandoned ones.

In the study area, farmers wanted more barn owls around because they eat crop-eating meadow mice. A year after the installation of 30 nesting boxes, seven times as many eggs had been laid as in the previous year, and 25 of the boxes provided were being used by the owls.

The biologists have learned something else about barn owls in the 9-year-old study. There is a substantial die-off of barn owls in winters when deep snow prevents them from finding meadow mice. After the harsh 1983-84 winter, for example, only 26.7% of the available nesting boxes were used by eight pairs of barn owls the following spring.

A 3-year-old controversy pitting Lake Havasu largemouth bass fishermen against the lake’s water skiers appears headed for compromise.

The standoff began in 1982 when the California Department of Fish and Game announced plans for a largemouth bass habitat enhancement project that would create a 5 m.p.h. speed limit at seven coves on Havasu’s California side. Water ski interests protested, claiming that restrictions at three popular coves would drive water skiers to other lakes.

The DFG, citing a decline in largemouth bass fishing at Havasu, wants to put 600 4 by 8-foot artificial bass structures at the bottoms of the coves to provide cover for bass fry. The three coves cited as important water ski areas may be reduced to 1 1/2 coves if a compromise now being discussed by the DFG and the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors is worked out, according to a DFG spokesman.

Megamouth, the rare shark caught in a commercial fishing net near Catalina in November, is on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Exposition Park.

The 14 1/2-foot shark is only the second ever caught and a species not even known to exist until 1976. Megamouth, a plankton eater, is in an 18-foot tank in the museum.

Fishermen who want to rent boats at Crowley Lake April 27-28, the opening weekend of the Eastern Sierra trout season, must participate in a drawing at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 9, at Friendship Auditorium, 3201 Riverside Dr., Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks Department.

The agency also announced that anglers can avoid long inspection lines on opening weekend by pre-registering their own boats from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on four consecutive Saturdays beginning March 2 at the Los Angeles Swim Stadium, 3990 S. Menlo.

Briefly The Southern California Boat Show, with more than 1,000 new boats on display, will continue through Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. . . . The National Marine Manufacturers Assn. says life expectancy in 30- to 40-degree water, even when wearing a lifejacket, is about 15 minutes. . . . A Nevada desert bighorn sheep tag is expected to be auctioned off to the highest bidder at the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep’s convention in Reno Feb. 20-23. . . . George Eickhoff, Los Alamitos, and Paul Steiger, La Jolla, are members of the U.S. International Muzzle Loading shooting team that will compete at the World Muzzle Loading Arms Championships next fall in Madrid, Spain.