Outdoor Notes : Waterfowl Hunting Dates Are Cut Back by State Commission

The California Fish and Game Commission, reacting to a federal court decision, has adopted 1985-86 waterfowl hunting regulations that reduce duck seasons from 86 to 79 days, put limits on mallard and pintail hens, and mandates the use of only steel shot in the Tule Lake-Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge and Grizzly Island Wildlife Area.

The commission voted to restrict hunters to steel shot at Tule Lake-Klamath Basin on the California-Oregon line after a federal court ordered that either lead shot not be used or that the area be closed to waterfowl hunting. That verdict came down after the National Wildlife Federation had sued the federal government, linking alleged lead poisoning deaths of bald eagles and other waterfowl to lead shot.

Grizzly Island, in Solano County, was closed to lead shot by the commission because of a significant number of waterfowl deaths believed to be caused by lead poisoning.

Hunting season in Southern California begins Oct. 19 for ducks, coots, moorhens and common snipe. The general goose season also will start Oct. 19. In the Colorado River zone, split seasons for ducks start Oct. 11 and Dec. 18. Goose season starts Nov. 15.

In the rest of the state, dates are Oct. 26-Jan. 12 for ducks, coots, moorhens and common snipe. Goose season is Nov. 3-Jan. 19 with white-fronted goose season continuing to Jan. 5.

Briefly Arizona game wardens, acting on tips phoned in by citizens, arrested three men for illegal possession of 50 jackrabbits, which were being used to train greyhound dogs. . . . Ken Cook, of Meers, Okla., won the recent U.S. Bass Fishing Association’s world championship tournament at Lake Granbury, Tex. . . . Arnold Palmer has been named honorary chairman for National Hunting and Fishing Day, Sept. 28. . . . Lake Powell striped bass record: 36-pounds 8-ounces, by Ron Kubicki, Page, Ariz.