Waterfowl Hunting Areas to Be Closed

Much of the Lower Klamath Basin in northeast California is included on a list of waterfowl hunting areas scheduled to be closed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because California refuses to ban lead shot during next fall’s hunting seasons. The list was released last Friday.

Federal hunting areas in eight other states also will be closed for the same reason. The agency wants steel shot mandated for all federal waterfowl areas, citing studies indicating that significant numbers of waterfowl and bald eagles die yearly of lead poisoning from ingesting spent lead shot on marsh bottoms.

The Lower Klamath Basin area to be closed was described this way: “That portion of the Lower Klamath Basin, including all of Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, beginning at the junction of Highway 161 and the Dorris-Brownell Road at the northwest corner of Indian Tom Lake; thence south and east on the Dorris-Brownell Road as it makes a semicircle and unites again with Highway 161; thence west along Highway 161 to the point of origin at the northwest side of Indian Tom Lake. Also included is the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, excluding refuge lands on Sheepy Ridge, in the Tule Lake portion of Klamath basin.”

The State Fish and Game Commission recently approved a 560-permit pronghorn antelope season to run Aug. 31-Sept. 9 for rifle hunters and Aug. 17-25 for bowmen. Five of the permits are designated for Mono County, the rest for Modoc, Lassen, Shasta, Siskiyou and Plumas counties. Last year, a record 19,413 hunters applied for tags.

In addition, the commission adopted 1985-86 hunting regulations that increase the number of deer hunting zones from 32 to 37, changed the boundaries of eight existing zones and made 27 changes in 16 special deer hunts.

Henry Bodkin of Los Angeles weighed in the season’s first albacore at the Tuna Club of Avalon last Saturday night. He caught the fish 150 miles south of San Diego aboard the Motivator, out of Marina del Rey.

Biologist Steve Crooke of the Department of Fish and Game said that albacore were taken last weekend in 56-degree water over an area extending from 125 miles out of Point Loma on a 190-degree heading, and 90 miles on a 195-degree heading.

Briefly More than 30 manufacturers of campers, trailers and motor homes will show their new models at the North American Recreation Show, May 11-19 at Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona. . . . Randy E. Holder, 21, of Yuma, Ariz., is scheduled to be arraigned in El Centro Municipal Court Wednesday on a charge of killing a bighorn sheep near Picacho Peak, on the California side of the Colorado River just north of Yuma. . . . The National Coalition for Marine Conservation is hoping to raise $100,000 for marine habitat enhancement work at its June 14 dinner at the Irvine Marriott Hotel. . . . In order to keep its herd at about 100 animals, Colorado has established its first moose season, to be held Nov. 16-24.