Fall Deer Hunt Should Be Halted, County Study Says

Battered by drought and encroaching development, the county’s deer population may have dipped markedly, and a two-day hunt scheduled this fall should be canceled, county environmental officials recommended Wednesday.

In a report sent to the Board of Supervisors, county staffers and the local Fish and Game Commission suggest that a scheduled October hunt be stopped until more information can be gathered about the animals.

“From public testimony and limited available data, the Orange County Fish and Game Commission has concluded the deer herd”--estimated to number in the thousands--”is presently at a very low population,” said the report, which was written by county Environmental Management Agency officials. The commission recommends that supervisors urge the state to “consider discontinuing the Tenaja Antlerless Deer Hunt season in 1991.”

That would mean withholding 100 permits normally issued to hunters during the first weekend in October. The hunt, small compared to estimates of the overall number of deer in the region, nevertheless has enraged some animal advocates.

But the recommendation to cancel the hunt quickly met with jeers from local hunters and guarded skepticism from the field biologist of a county-sponsored deer study. Supervisors’ Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, whose district includes the Orange County portion of the Cleveland National Forest, said he has yet to review the proposal and would withhold comment until he read it.

Hunters reached at area gun shops were less restrained.

“They think that they’re going to deplete the herd with 100 permits? That is absolutely asinine,” said Brett Elzea, one of the owners of Stanley’s Gun Room & Sporting Goods in Santa Ana. “Game management people should be handling this, not these environmentalists.”

Ken Sipes, who was shopping at Straight Shooter, an Orange gun shop, also questioned the recommendation. Like several other hunters, he said deer herds need to be managed for their own survival.

“You’ve got these environmentalists who want to stop all hunting,” he said. “That’s why you have hunters reacting.”

Several other hunters said deer populations would benefit from selective hunting, which they said would keep the animals from overgrazing areas and then starving later. While not disagreeing entirely, Doug Padley, field biologist for the Orange County Deer Study, said area deer have been severely hurt by the combination of predators, drought and development.

“All of these have depressed the population,” he said. “When you move down into the foothills areas, where there still is some good forage, development has had a tremendous impact. It’s incredible how much land has been lost.”

The report sent to the supervisors also says “dense impenetrable brush” in the Santa Ana Mountains has contributed to the decline by cutting deer off from their food.

“The (state Fish and Game) Department has pursued controlled burns on U.S. Forest Service lands to increase browse for deer,” the report states. “The main problem confronting such burning is the extremely high cost for manpower necessary to keep fires under control.”

Despite such growing pressures, Padley estimated that there are thousands of the animals living in the area that covers Orange County and western Riverside County. “It’s certainly on that order of magnitude,” he said.

Padley added, however, that the hunt would probably not have much effect on those numbers. Out of 100 permits issued last year, he said only 38 hunters killed animals.

“I don’t think this hunt would have much effect one way or the other,” he said. “You’re looking at a really small hunt that’s more recreational than a management tool.”

The Board of Supervisors will consider the recommendation to cancel the 1991 hunt during its regular meeting Wednesday, when it will receive public comment on the proposal. If it approves the recommendation, it will be forwarded to the state Fish and Game Department for final action.