Outdoor Notes : One Last Hunter Still Trying to Shoot a Bighorn Sheep, Avoid Activists

Activists attempting to foil the bighorn sheep hunt in the eastern Mojave Desert will be concentrating their efforts on one last hunter in the Marble Mountains--a plan that could bring them together with their leading adversary, Loren (Doc) Lutz.

All five hunters assigned to the Old Dad Mountains-Kelso Peak sector southeast of Baker, Calif., had bagged their game by last Sunday night, and 2 of the 3 assigned to the Marbles farther south had been successful.

The only hunter who hadn’t filled his tag in the limited lottery hunt was Scott Young, who had been attempting to shoot an animal with a bow, as auction hunter Jim Ryan of West Virginia had earlier. However, Young, an internationally experienced bow hunter, apparently had been unable to stalk to within the necessary 50 yards--perhaps because of commotion caused by the activists--and was reported to have switched to a rifle.

Young was being guided by Lutz, the retired dentist who is president of the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep. Lutz made citizen arrests of four of the activists in last year’s initial hunt and locked them in his horse trailer. As this hunt got under way Dec. 3, the activists announced they had filed a $1-million suit against Lutz, the Department of Fish and Game and others over that incident.

Robert Nanninga of San Diego, a member of the Hunt Saboteurs group, said earlier that the 15 or 20 activists have moved their operation south to concentrate on the three hunters in the Marbles.

“We’ve got the Marbles covered,” Nanninga said, before learning that Schalich and O’Neil had been successful.

The limited lottery hunt--the second annual in California after a 114-year moratorium--runs through Sunday.

The Associated Press reported that more than 100 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents who spent 3 years in duck blinds along the Texas Gulf Coast capped an undercover investigation of commercial waterfowl hunting operations Tuesday with poaching charges against 210 people.

They said agents booked hunts with guides and owners of commercial hunting businesses that were suspected of killing waterfowl illegally and encouraging and helping customers to do likewise.

The agency said 23 hunting guides and owners were being arrested Tuesday, 22 in Texas and 1 in Iowa. Charges include shooting more than the legal limit; “rallying” or stirring up waterfowl to drive them toward hunters; use of lead shot in steel shot zones; failure to retrieve shot fowl--wanton waste; use of electronic calls; taking birds after the season has closed or outside legal hunting hours; and tagging and record-keeping violations, such as claiming birds belonged to someone who had not hunted that day, or falsifying when birds were shot.

Outdoor Notes

The band-tailed pigeon season that opened Dec. 10 (through Dec. 25) in Southern and Central California probably won’t be one of the best. The Department of Fish and Game reports that the 2-year drought has decreased the numbers to the point where some flocks have disappeared from certain areas. Some of the better areas should be the Figueroa Mountains in the Los Padres National Forest, Mt. Palomar in the Cleveland National Forest, Mt. Pinos in the Angeles National Forest, Big Pine Flats and Sugar Loaf near Santa Barbara, and Dark Canyon and the Thomas Mountains in San Bernardino County. The limit is 4 per day or 4 in possession.

Camp Roberts, located on U.S. 101 in Monterey County, will open its grounds for the annual Christmas hunt Saturday and Sunday, in cooperation with the DFG. The wild hog and waterfowl populations are rated only fair, but quail are reported to be plentiful. A Camp Roberts permit ($8 daily, $30 season) and state license are required. Other dates are Dec. 21 and 24 (until noon) and Dec. 26-Jan. 2.

Mike Mathiot, Quail Unlimited Western Regional director, has scheduled a chapter formation meeting at Pasadena Thursday, Jan. 5, 7 p.m., at the Victory Park Recreation Center on Paloma Street. For more information, call (818-449-9444). . . . Robert W. Kubick of Anchorage, Alaska, has been awarded the 32nd annual Weatherby Big Game Trophy. Kubick has hunted on 6 continents and collected 191 species and 248 record-class trophy animals. . . . Olympic medalist Dan Carlisle has scheduled another series of sporting clays classes at Raahauge’s Pheasant Hunting Club at Norco, Dec. 18, Jan. 8 and Jan. 14 for beginners, Jan. 7, Jan. 15 and Jan. 21 for intermediates. Call (818) 735-4104 for information. . . . Ralph Cutter, author of “Sierra Trout Guide,” will speak at the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers’ dinner meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Odyssey Restaurant at Mission Hills. The group will hold a free 4-week flyrod construction class starting Jan. 11. Call (818) 990-5729 evenings for information.