Outdoor Notes : Despite Thanksgiving, the Wild Turkey Population Is Still Doing Fine

Thanksgiving no doubt took its usual heavy toll on the nation’s domestic turkey population, but things still are looking up for the popular wildfowl.

By the early 1900s, Americans had all but wiped out Benjamin Franklin’s choice as the national bird. Where 7 to 10 million turkeys once roamed the United States, their existence by 1930 could only be remembered in some areas by the names of such places as Turkey Creek or Gobblers Knob.

Since then, however, the turkey has made a comeback. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the nation’s wild turkey population is conservatively estimated at 2to 3 million, with hunting permitted in 45 states, including Hawaii. Wild turkeys can even be found within the boundaries of such metropolitan areas as Kansas City and Washington.

The decline--due mostly to habitat loss during the expansion of the frontier and market hunting that reached its peak after the Civil War and extended into the early 1900s--continued until concerned sportsmen appealed to the government in an attempt to stop commercialization of the bird.

In the 1930s, two important events set a new course for wildlife management, and in so doing helped to preserve the main course of many a Thanksgiving dinner.

The Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit Program in 1935 created the means for training wildlife professionals and the passage of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act in 1937 provided the money needed by state wildlife agencies to hire those professionals.

Both programs produced results almost immediately. States began wild turkey research projects, many focusing on population status and distribution, and other studies that established the basis for setting hunting seasons, selecting areas for restocking, and identifying additional research needs.

The bald eagle should have been so lucky.

When the sun sets Sunday, duck hunters will take a week-long break from their cold, damp blinds before the second half of the season opens an hour before sunrise on Dec. 7.

Those wishing to bag a goose for Christmas, however, might want to do so during the duck closure period, as most southland shooting areas are expected to be open and prospects are on the rise.

Chris Gonzales, manager of the DFG’s Imperial Wildlife Area, said geese are beginning to show in the Wister Unit area in increasingly large numbers. Assistant manager Chuck Holmes said there are about 20,000 geese in the Salton Sea area.

On the weekend of Nov. 14-15, hunters at Wister killed 23 lesser snow geese, 2 Ross’ and 4 Canada geese.

Duck hunting in Southern California ends at sundown Jan. 10, and geese season will close Jan. 17, 1988.

A record 43,000 kokanee salmon were counted in Taylor Creek--a tributary of Lake Tahoe where an annual census of the spawning land-locked salmon has been conducted since 1961--but some biologists fear the figure might be dangerously high.

Biologists with the U.S. Forest Service, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Tahoe Regional Planning agency and California Department of Fish and Game took the census along the 2.5-mile stream that flows from Fallen Leaf Lake to Lake Tahoe near Pope Beach, Calif.

The wildlife agencies believe that although environmental conditions favor the fish this year, the large numbers may create a problem of overcrowding.

“Overcrowding, as experienced this year, results in fish constantly digging up each other’s deposited eggs as the fish construct a spawning bed,” biologist LeRoy McLelland said. “Then, as they attempt to cover their own eggs, they often bury previously deposited eggs with too much debris to allow for sufficient flow of oxygen.”

The agencies said the stream can house only about 10,000 fish during an average flow. The all-time low was in 1961, when only 300 fish were counted. Taylor Creek is the only stream where annual runs of kokanee--land-locked sockeye salmon that were introduced into many inland waters--occur in significant numbers in the basin.

Kokanee fishing at Lake Tahoe became popular in 1968, when anglers began catching them in many areas of the west and south end of the lake as the fish schooled in preparation for spawning.

The first Fish for the Homeless was held last Sunday in San Diego and its coordinator, Tony Salas, reported a successful campaign. The 32 anglers who fished the Coronado Islands aboard the Producer brought back 800 pounds of fish.

Half of the catch--which included bonito, calico bass, sand bass, sculpin and mackerel--was brought to the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles and the other half to its affiliate, the Green Oak Ranch in Vista.

Salas estimated that the fish would feed approximately 1,200 people at the two locations.

Fishing and hunting license fees will increase for 1988 to represent a cost-of-living adjustment that is required by state law, the DFG announced.

Sportfishing licenses--set to go on sale Dec. 1--for California residents will increase from $18.50 to $19.00, while resident hunting licenses will be raised from $17.50 to $19.25.

Other fee increases for the new year include the one-day sportfishing license, up 50 cents to $6.00; Pacific Ocean license, up $1.00 to $11.50; one-day Pacific Ocean license, up 50 cents to $4.50, and non-resident sportfishing license, up $5.00 to $50.50.

Junior hunters will pay $5.00, up 50 cents; and non-resident hunters will pay $66.00, a $6.50 increase. A one-deer resident tag will cost $11.50, up $1.00, and two deer tags will cost $25.25, a $2.00 increase.

Briefly Redondo Sportfishing in Redondo Beach announced it will have two whale watching vessels in operation beginning Dec. 26 with a member of the Cetacean Society aboard each trip to narrate. It also has added a state-of-the-art fishing boat to its fleet, the 65-foot Challenger, which will be used primarily for deep-water rock cod trips. . . . The 8th annual Day at the Dock, where fishing industry representatives will display new products and answer questions about fishing, will be held Dec. 13 at San Diego Sportfishing Landing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. . . . Upcoming: The 46th annual San Francisco Sports and Boat Show will be held Jan. 8-17 at the Cow Palace. . . .H. Warner Buck Enterprises’ 23rd annual Anaheim Sports, Vacation and RV Show takes place Jan. 2-10 at the Anaheim Convention Center.