Outdoor Notes : DFG Proposes Major Changes in Deer Hunting Zones

The Department of Fish and Game wants to make major changes in Southern California’s deer hunting zones for the next fall and winter seasons.

The changes are included in 1985-86 proposed hunting regulations, to be discussed at public hearings April 5 in Redding and April 26 in Sacramento.

Under the zone changes, Southern California’s deer herds would be divided into high elevation, coastal and desert herds. The main purposes of the rezoning, according to DFG wildlife management supervisor Clyde Edon, is to enable biologists to manage deer herd by herd, and to reduce pressure on bucks during rutting season.

Among the changes proposed is one that would reduce the size of Zone D11, which last year covered most of Southern California, to an area including Angeles National Forest and that part of San Bernardino National Forest west of I-15.

Another major change would be the removal of Catalina Island from Zone D11. Instead, Catalina would become special zone S3, with either-sex hunting from Oct. 14 to Nov. 24.

Lake Murray, the 200-acre urban San Diego reservoir, will not be opening for fishing this year after all, DFG biologists say.

The lake has been closed to fishing since 1979 for a $250,000 eradication effort of the exotic aquatic weed hydrilla. It was thought that the weed had been eradicated, but now biologists report new hydrilla plants have been found in the Alvarado Bay area of the lake.

Eradication work will continue, the DFG said. Hydrilla forms dense mats of vegetation that can take over a lake to the detriment of fisheries.

The DFG will withdraw a proposal to issue permits for the hunting of does from the Likely Tables and Bodie Hills pronghorn antelope herds in next summer’s hunting season.

Edon said that recent surveys of the Likely Tables-Bodie Hills pronghorns in eastern Modoc and Mono Counties indicate that herd counts aren’t high enough to justify taking does.

Last year, 85 doe permits were issued for Likely Tables and five for Bodie Hills.

Briefly The National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing that permits be issued to the Sportfishing Association of California that would allowing the fleet to use approved devices to direct troublesome sea lions away from the fleet. According to the association, the devices will not hurt the animals, but opposition is expected from environmentalists. . . . On four consecutive Saturdays during February, 18 members of the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn worked at installing a 3,000-gallon wildlife watering device about 300 feet up the face of a steep mountainside in the Muddy Mountains east of Las Vegas. There is no natural water in the area and the device is expected to enhance the desert bighorn sheep’s habitat. . . . Fly casting experts will hold a free seminar Saturday at the Long Beach Casting Club in Federation Park, starting at 9 a.m. . . . The Regional Conclave of the Southwest Council Federation of Flyfishers will be held April 20 and 21 at the AMFAC Hotel in Westchester. Those interested may contact Regional Conclave ‘85, 621 Westover Place, Pasadena. . . . The Nevada Department of Wildlife will have a trophy measuring session Saturday at Las Vegas, beginning at 8 a.m. . . . The National Rifle Assn. will hold its annual meeting in Seattle April 19-23.