Hunter Bags 23 1/2-Pound Turkey Near Paso Robles

John (Jerry) Wilson has a big turkey on his hands.

Fortunately for him, he’s not a producer.

Wilson, of Arleta, is a hunter. Last Saturday, hunting with guide Eldon Bergman of Paso Robles, Wilson bagged a 23 1/2-pound turkey, the largest in the state this season, in the uplands west of Paso Robles.

Wilson said that he and Bergman saw two gobblers strutting and drumming in a grassy area. Bergman called the birds into range, using only his mouth, and Wilson fired when one of them was within 50 yards.

The bird weighed in originally at 24 pounds, then lost half a pound when it was weighed on a certified scale.

According to Bergman, the bird was 6 or 7 years old, and had a beard 11 1/2 inches long.

Wilson intends to enter the turkey in the annual fish and wildlife award program sponsored by the state Fish and Game Commission. He also is having it mounted.

Shelters to protect young largemouth bass on the California side of Lake Havasu have worked so well that 600 more will be put into seven coves over the next five years by the Department of Fish and Game.

“Those shelters are doing a great job,” said Linda Ulmer, DFG fishery biologist in Blythe. “There are unbelievable numbers of fish in there (the shelter areas).”

The 46 original shelters, vegetation-stuffed frames measuring 4 by 4 by 8, were placed in two areas in 1981, about a mile south of Black Meadow Landing and 3 1/2 miles north of the landing.

The state Fish and Game Commission will adopt 1985-86 hunting regulations today at a public meeting in Sacramento, starting at 9 a.m. in the auditorium of the Resources Building, 1419 Ninth Street.

Among proposals up for approval are tentative changes in deer hunting regulations that would increase the number of deer zones from 32 to 37 statewide, and would modify several zone boundaries, seasons and quotas.

At the request of sheep ranchers, the commission also will consider a mountain lion management plan in the Foresthill Divide area of Placer County.

The new regulations will go into effect July 1.

Briefly In a cooperative venture, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has released more than 5 million walleye fry into five Arizona lakes. The fish were hatched in New Mexico, which has an established walleye breeding program, and flown to Arizona in aircraft provided by Anglers Unlimited. Jim Warnecke, the Arizona department’s fishery specialist, said that 2 million fish had been planted in Canyon Lake, a million each in Upper Mary Lake and Long Lake near Flagstaff and Lyman Lake near St. Johns, and a quarter-million in Fool Hollow Lake near Show Low. . . . Chickens are being used to incubate eagle eggs in a captive breeding program for bald eagles at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center near Laurel, Md. Scientists there have determined that they can hatch more eagles by using chickens instead of artificial incubators.. . . Corona Lake, a 50-year-old irrigation reservoir midway between Corona and Elsinore just off I-15, will be opened for public fishing next Thursday. Fishing, for trout, bass, catfish and crappie, will be allowed daily from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., then again from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. . . . The National Coalition for Marine Conservation--Pacific Region will hold fund-raising dinners June 14 at the Irvine Marriott and June 20 as part of the San Diego Oceans Benefit at the Hotel Intercontinental. Boat auctions will be held at both. . . . The National Rifle Assn. will conduct its second annual Shooting Stars celebrity trapshoot June 29 at the Prado Tiro ranges near Chino. The public is encouraged to attend, free of charge.. . . John Cruger-Hansen of Pacific Palisades was elected chairman and Jack Alderson of Ferndale was elected vice chairman of the California Boating and Waterways Commission at the commission’s recent meeting in Berkeley. . . . Showtime: North American Recreation Show, May 11-19, L.A. County fairgrounds in Pomona.