Outdoor Notes : Waterfowl Bag Counts Up Over Last Year’s Opener
Last weekend’s waterfowl hunting opener was better than last year’s at nearly all state-operated locations, Department of Fish and Game bag counts showed.
At the DFG’s Salton Sea hunting area, the Wister Unit, 422 hunters bagged 1,339 birds last Saturday, opening day, for a 3.17 bird-per-hunter average. Last year’s average was 2.51. Primary species taken at Wister were green-winged teal, 560; cinnamon teal, 278, and pintail ducks, 254.
At the Perris Lake hunting area in Riverside County, 29 hunters took 77 birds on opening day.
Inauguration of the new hunting reservation system at Baldwin Lake, near Big Bear Lake, went smoothly, the DFG said. This year, reservations were required to hunt Baldwin and game wardens were present to explain the system to hunters who hadn’t gotten the word.
Improvement in hunter bag counts doesn’t necessarily mean that migrating ducks have increased in number, federal biologists caution. In fact, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists say that fall flights of some migrating ducks this year are 50% of average in the western U.S.
Drought conditions in Canada’s prairie provinces, breeding ground for most North American waterfowl species, have hit waterfowl populations hard.
Said Jim Bartonek, Pacific Flyway specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: “Pintail ducks are down 20% from last year and down 50% from the 50-year average. We have record low numbers of mallards . . . and the second lowest count of widgeons ever.”
Thirty long-range tuna fishermen will participate in a tagging program when skipper Frank Lo Preste’s Royal Polaris leaves Point Loma Nov. 11 on a 16-day sportfishing trip to the Revillagigedo Islands, 500 miles south of the tip of Baja California.
The program will be supervised by Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission biologists, who hope to learn more about the life cycles of yellowfin tuna in the 100- to 150-pound range. Fish caught in that range will be tagged and released.
An all-day symposium on gill nets, sponsored by the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists, is being held today at Marineland’s auditorium. Speakers include representatives from the DFG, National Marine Fisheries Service, Sport Fishing Association of California, California Gill Netters Assn. and the National Coalition for Marine Conservation.
Briefly Nevada Department of Wildlife officials shot 55 mule deer at the Baker Ranch in White Pine County recently in an attempt to resolve a continuing problem of crop damage. The venison was given to Nevada’s prison system and welfare agencies. . . . Crossbows are now legal in Arizona to take deer, javelina and wild turkeys. . . . The Long Beach Casting Club will begin its fly tying class Tuesday at Recreation Park in Long Beach.
