Outdoor Notes : Hunting Hot Lines: ‘Abandoned’ Wives Among Most Frequent Callers

Since New Mexico established the country’s first anti-poaching hot line in 1970, many states have followed suit and have enjoyed at least some measure of success, thanks in part to angry wives.

According to operators of the hot lines and wildlife experts, wives upset at being abandoned while their husbands go hunting are among the most frequent callers.

“A lot of it is grudge information, wives turning in their husbands,” said William B. Morse, a retired field representative for the Wildlife Management Institute, a private organization that advises the government and provides public education on outdoor issues. “They’re tired of their man out hunting.”

Other relatives and neighbors often use the hot lines as well, he added.

“A lot of them refuse the reward. I guess they get their kicks out of turning (poachers) in.”

Those states that do offer rewards, however, have enjoyed a bit more success. according to Jennifer Henry, an Illinois conservation police sergeant, whose state surveyed the situation two years ago.

“States with rewards showed an average of 152 arrests per year, as compared to only 86 arrests per year for those states that offered no rewards,” Henry said.

Regardless of rewards, calls are on the increase in most states, and so are arrests.

As a result of three calls in Minnesota this fall, authorities broke up a walleye-pike poaching operation that authorities say was supplying fish to Twin Cities restaurants and grocery stores.

“Because of those TIP calls, they were able to arrest one person,” said Debra Dammen, executive director of Minnesota’s Turn In Poachers program. “We got the driver who was driving the truck, and inside there were 30 coolers of walleye pike.”

The driver was charged with two counts of illegally buying fish. When he was apprehended Aug. 30, authorities found 10,000 walleye fillets in his pickup truck, said Mike Grupa, who investigates commercial poaching cases for the state.

Calls from tipsters have led to more than 2,000 arrests in Minnesota, and the number has increased each year, Dammen added.

California’s CalTIP program started in 1981 and there have since been 309 cases in which callers said they wanted a reward. Most of those tips resulted in arrests, according to Deputy Chief Duncan Snell, who works with the Wildlife Protection Division of the California Department of Fish and Game.

Calls by concerned citizens who wished not to be considered for a reward numbered in the hundreds and have also led to many arrests, Snell said. He doubts, however, that those calls were from angry housewives.

“We have had situations where wives turned in their husbands,” he said. “But I think most (calls) are just from people tired of seeing an injustice done.”

Barry Canevaro of Walnut Grove, Calif., has been fined $11,000 and sentenced to 30 days in jail for illegal guiding on the Kenai River in Alaska last summer, the Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources said.

Canevaro, arrested after an undercover investigation by the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, must also forfeit several thousand dollars’ worth of fishing gear confiscated at the time of his arrest.

The charges against Canevaro include not a having a permit to conduct commercial activities in a state park, failure to have a commercial fishing vessel license, failing to have a sufficient number of life preservers on board, failing to have a fire extinguisher on board and three counts of illegally assisting his clients.

Canevaro pleaded no contest to the charges.

“The severity of the sentence is precedent-setting,” said State Parks Director Neil Johannsen. “The message is clear that illegal guiding and unsafe guiding practices will not be tolerated.”

Those interested in hunting for Nevada’s most popular game bird, the chukar, might want to know that conditions are expected to improve greatly because of recent snowfall in the northern part of the state.

According to biologist Gregg Tanner of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the birds tends to congregate in the snow and drop to lower elevations in search of food. The NDOW expects a chukar kill of about 100,000 this season, more than twice the total of last year.

Tanner said good populations of chukar were observed during aerial deer herd surveys in December and suggests hunters try the Jackson, Santa Rosa, Snowstorm and Pine Forest mountain ranges, as well as the Kings River area. Chukar and quail season in Nevada will close Jan. 31.

Surf fishing for barred perch is the best it has been in years, according to Bob Wylie at Wylie’s Bait and Tackle in Malibu.

“I’ve been getting limits of the fish brought in everyday,” he said. “I won’t say who caught them because they’ve been bringing in more than limits. The water is colder and that’s when it’s good for perch.”

Wylie said the fishing has been excellent at most of the usual locations. The best baits have been sand crabs, blood worms and mackerel, and the fish have been ranging from 1 to 1 1/2 pounds.

Briefly

H. Werner Buck Enterprises’ 23rd annual Anaheim Sports, Vacation & RV Show, featuring more than 600 exhibits and “All the Adventure of the Great Outdoors,” will begin Saturday and run through Jan. 10 at the Anaheim Convention Center. . . .The Pasadena Casting Club, in cooperation with the Pasadena Recreation and Community Centers, will offer a six-week fly tying course for beginners on consecutive Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. beginning Jan. 12 at La Casita del Arroyo, 177 S. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena.

Author and fishing guide Doug Swisher, whose aquatic insect research and subsequent book entitled “Selective Trout” virtually revolutionized fly fishing, will speak at the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers dinner meeting Jan. 21 at the Odyssey Restaurant in Mission Hills. . . . John Seaman will present a slide show on fishing Montana waters at the Downey Fly Fishers’ general meeting Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Rio San Gabriel Park. . . . Night fishing at Irvine Lake will end Saturday, when hours will shift to 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.