Outdoor Notes / Earl Gustkey : As Tule Elk Population Grows, So Does Hunting Possibility

Department of Fish and Game biologists are expected to announce sometime next year that the state’s population of tule elk has exceeded 2,000. According to state law, that figure must be reached before it can be declared a game animal.

Tule elk once numbered in the hundreds of thousands in the San Joaquin Valley, but they were nearly wiped out by Gold Rush era market hunters and unrestricted hunting in subsequent decades. The last surviving tule elk were removed from the valley in the 1920s and transplanted to the Owens Valley.

The elk thrived in the Owens Valley, and have been transplanted over the years to 17 other locations around the state. Besides the Owens Valley, two large groups of animals are along Cache Creek in Lake and Napa counties, and a state recreation area near Suisun Marsh in San Francisco Bay. In the last nine years, in fact, the Suisun Marsh group has grown from 10 to almost 150 animals. Several were recently moved to the Coast Range south of Salinas.

Hunters and farmers will pressure to have the animal declared a game animal. Larger and stronger than deer, tule elk have knocked down fences in the Owens Valley to reach alfalfa.

Bill Clark, a DFG pathologist, said that tule elk now number about 1,800 and that the department expects to report to the legislature next year that the population has reached 2,000. Some opposition to a hunting program is expected, Clark said.

“All we can do is be sure the numbers and the biology are right,” Clark said. “The rest is up to the politicians. But no matter how it’s resolved, this is a success story. The tule elk is no longer endangered or even rare. They’re thriving nearly everywhere we’ve relocated them.”

Most of the DFG’s annual summer “bombing runs” over high-elevation Sierra Nevada lakes have been completed.

Pilots Bob Cole and Kevin McBride dropped a total of 612,000 fingerling (two-inch) Kamloops-strain rainbow trout in 123 high lakes, most from an altitude of 200 feet. The 10-week-old fingerlings were hatched at the state’s Hot Creek Hatchery near Mammoth Lakes.

Said DFG Eastern Sierra hatcheries chief Bill Rowan: “We hope that eventually high-elevation lakes with rainbow populations will be completely replaced by the hardier, hard-fighting Kamloops strain.”

The DFG uses a high-performance turboprop plane for its aerial stocking projects, using two 70-gallon fish holding tanks with electronically activated trapdoors.

Aerial planting projects yet to be completed this year include golden trout and cutthroat trout stockings at specific Sierra lakes.

Briefly The largest and most popular of the state’s 60-plus deer hunting zones, Zone A, will open to general hunting Aug. 9. Last year, 8,124 bucks were bagged in A, which encompasses 15 coastal counties and portions of 13 others, from Ventura County north to the Humboldt-Mendocino county line. . . . About 4,000 shotgunners are expected to blast away at nearly 500,000 clay targets at the 87th Grand American Trapshooting Tournament at Vandalia, Ohio, Aug. 7-16. . . . Trinity County gold miner Rodney Earl Lindholm was recently given a 30-day jail term and fined $1,800 for running an illegal in-stream gold mining operation without a permit. . . . Dept. of Records: Ralph Mikkelsen, Northridge, was recently notified that his 1985 catch of a 68-pound, 1-ounce Pacific dog snapper on 50-pound test line has been accepted as a world record by the International Game Fish Assn. . . . Showtime: Anaheim Gun & Collectors’ Show, Anaheim Convention Center, Aug. 9-10. . . . Prado Tiro, the Chino site of the 1984 Olympic shooting competition, will hold a registered international skeet shoot Sept. 6-7.

New Book Titles: “The Complete Guide to Long Range Fishing,” by Chuck Garrison (Western Outdoors: $8.95); a how-to guide for choosing and fishing successfully on multi-day or multi-week trips on San Diego’s long range tuna fleet. “Bass Fishing Fundamentals,” by Ken Schultz (Stephen Greene Press: $14.95); a revised, expanded edition of a 1981 bass-fishing primer, by an expert.