Outdoor Notes : Sierra Deer Opener to Be Studied

Both deer hunters and big-game biologists will be studying results of next Saturday’s opening day of the Eastern Sierra deer season to see if hunter success rates appear on the way up for the fourth straight year.

Hunt zones X9 and X12, which include all of Mono County and part of Inyo County, has experienced a rising batting average in recent seasons. In 1982, 6% of the hunters in the zone bagged bucks. The success rate rose to 9% in 1983 and to 13% last season, when 1,689 bucks were taken. Some biologists think hunters could approach a 15% success rate this season.

State biologists Tom Blankinship and Ron Thomas say prospects are good, with numerous bucks already having been spotted in the Inyo County portion of X9. Further, they report that winter fawn survival was high. The biologists recommend that hunters scout the Upper Buttermilk area west of Bishop, Coyote Ridge southeast of Bishop, the Lower Owens River north of Big Pine and the White Mountains.

In Mono County, the Twin Lakes and Buckeye Creek areas west of Bridgeport appear promising, as does the Dunderburg area south of Bridgeport, including the East Walker River drainage.

Thomas said: “It’s dry up here, and I expect deer will probably stick to high country, above 8,000 feet.”

A new Southland group, Mira Loma-based Southern California Deer Hunters, has established a record-keeping program for four mule deer sub-species, California mule deer, southern mule deer, burro mule deer and Inyo mule deer.

Harry R. Statler of San Diego was fined $2,550 recently for illegal possession of 137 lobster tails found on his pleasure boat, Fish Hook, by DFG game wardens. The lobster tails were found during routine DFG inspection of boats in Avalon Bay.

California hunting regulations booklets for resident and migratory game birds other than waterfowl are now available at DFG offices and sporting goods stores. Waterfowl regulations booklets will be available in late September.

The Kern River claimed two more lives recently. Searchers, after a three-day search last week, found the body of a man who had drowned along with his sister while on an inner-tube ride on the Kern. The victims were Anthony Haywood, 27, of Redondo Beach, and his sister, Robin, 20, a servicewoman stationed at Edwards Air Force Base. The woman’s body had been found earlier.

Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Jackpot Tournament will be held Nov. 14-16 at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Entry fees for the tournament, to be headquartered at the Hacienda Hotel, are $1,000 per team. Two purses will be paid, the tournament and Calcutta purses. The event will benefit a private school in Cabo San Lucas, Patronato El Camino. About 200 fishermen are expected to register. Registration is being handled by Bisbee’s Sportfishing Headquarters, 406 So. Bayfront, Balboa Island, Calif., 92662.

Department of Fish and Game biologists report a stable population of tule elk in Owens Valley. In a recent three-day aerial survey, 600 animals were counted. That was slightly less than the record 609 counted last year.

The DFG estimates that 490 is the bestpopulation for the valley and plans to capture and transplant about 200 tule elk to other parts of the state. A roundup of the animals is scheduled to begin in late October.

Briefly Louisiana game wardens recently swept through five parishes (counties) and arrested 101 people for illegally baiting dove fields, a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. . . . Al Zapanta will teach classes in light-tackle, big-game fishing at Rio Hondo College and Mt. San Antonio College, with both classes starting later this month. . . . Oct. 1 is the deadline for submitting artwork to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for the 1986-87 federal duck stamp art contest. . . . The International Game Fish Assn.’s 1985 world record book is now available at tackle stores. . . . Entry fee for the Southern California Top Six Club bass tournament Oct. 5-6 at Lake Havasu is $300, with first place paying $2,000. . . . Deadline for applications for Arizona sandhill crane hunting permits is Oct. 1. . . . A catfish derby will be held today at Santa Fe Dam Recreational Park, from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

The Fish and Game Commission has taken emergency action to restrict sport fishing for salmon in the Klamath and Trinity rivers. . . . Showtime: Don Bullock’s Anaheim Gun Show is Sept. 28-29 at the Anaheim Convention Center. . . . Deadline for a special depredation deer hunt in Lassen County is 2 p.m. Sept. 20. . . . A study for Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Commission shows that income generated by one sport-caught silver salmon is roughly four times that of a silver caught by a commercial troller. . . . C.T. Tours of West Los Angeles is packaging a 1986 tour of 15 fly fishermen who will fish four never-fished rivers in Bhutan, in the Himalayas.

The National Kidney Foundation of Nevada will hold a $10,000 striped bass fishing contest at Lake Mead next Friday and Saturday. . . . The Southern California Marin Association has announced these 1986 show dates: Southern California Boat Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, Jan. 31-Feb. 9; American Boating Jubilee, Shoreline Village Marina, Long Beach, July 25-Aug. 3; Southern California Sailboat Show, Long Beach Convention Center, Oct. 24-Nov. 2.

The DFG reminds waterfowl hunters that Baldwin Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains will be limited this season to a maximum 50 hunters at a time. . . . A free, one-day introduction to fly fishing will be held by the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers at the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom at 1936 Lake Dr. in Beverly Hills. . . . Guide Ed Schroeder will present a program on fly fishing for Kings River trout at the San Gabriel Valley Fly Fishers meeting Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Legg Lakes-Whittier Narrows Visitors’ Center in El Monte.