Outdoor Notes : Some High-Elevation Lakes Now Open
Lakes in the high country of four northern primitive and wilderness areas are opening earlier than usual this year, but many probably will not be clear of ice and accessible to fisherman until early- to mid-June, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
A recent aerial survey of 270 lakes in the high-elevation areas of the Trinity Alps, Trinity Divide, Marble Mountains and Scott-Salmon Mountains showed 54 open, 52 closed and the others in various stages of clearing.
Streams are subject to rapid rising because of melting snow. John Thomas, DFG fishery biologist, said that streams can rise a foot because of runoff during the day, sometimes making stream crossings that were easy in the cool of the morning dangerous in the heat of the afternoon.
Killing a mountain lion has cost a Siskiyou County man two days in jail and $1,700.
Convicted in the case was Daryl Allen Crawford, 32, of Seiad Valley, who admitted to DFG wardens that he had killed the cat on a mountain slope overlooking the Klamath River.
“Yes I did, and I will kill every mountain lion I see,” Crawford said, according to warden reports.
Mountain lions have been protected since 1972 and may not be killed except under special depredation permits for protection of livestock.
Two wardens issued citations to five suspects after seeing a juvenile member of Crawford’s party throw the lion’s head and hide into the river as they approached. The lion’s carcass was found near where the cat had been treed by Crawford’s dogs.
The juvenile also was convicted, but three other men in the party were acquitted.
An insecticide used against parasitic fly larva in cattle apparently is responsible for the deaths of two bald eagles found in northern Lassen County in February.
A United States Fish and Wildlife Service laboratory in Madison, Wis., found evidence of famphur, used on cattle to fight the heel fly, in the birds.
The eagles, both immature, were found near the carcass of a dead cow. They apparently had been feeding on the back of the dead animal, where the drug is commonly applied.
Deer tags will be easier to get this year, according to the DFG. For the first time in several years, hunters will be able to get tags for all A, B and D zones in person from DFG regional and district offices, All will be issued first come, first served.
There is an unlimited number of Zone A tags, but all other zones will be limited. Tags for X zones and special hunts will be distributed by public drawing. Applications for those must be received by the license section by July 10. The drawing will be held July 12.
Briefly More than a million walleye fry have been planted in three northern Nevada reservoirs. The fish were given to Nevada by the Gavins Point national hatchery in Yankton, S.D. They were released in the Lahontan Reservoir near Fallon, the Ryepatch Reservoir on the Humboldt River near Lovelock, and Chimney Reservoir at the confluence of the north and south Little Humboldt Rivers. . . . Robert C. Stebbins, retired professor and curator of herpetology at the University of California’s Museum of Vertebrate History, will be joined by seven other authorities on desert reptiles for a desert reptile symposium Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Palm Springs Desert Museum. The public is invited, although there is a $15 charge. . . . Federal fines totaling $1,000 have been imposed on a Tucson, Ariz., man for illegally taking and possessing a prairie falcon. Falcons, as are other birds of prey, are protected. Ralph A. Johnson was arrested after a six-month undercover investigation. . . . The Sea Scouts of Orange County will be at the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve Saturday at 7:30 a.m. to begin a cleanup project around the bay and are looking for volunteers to join them. Upper Newport Bay is a state-owned ecological reserve. . . . Showtime: North American Recreation Show, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona; Western Recreational Vehicle Show, June 5-9, Long Beach Convention Center.
