Precarious Times for Hunter and Hunted Alike

This being both mating season and hunting season for deer, these are precarious times for the hoofed mammals.

And, in some instances, for people too.

The most serious incident thus far involved Richard Peek Jr., an Oregon teenager who was killed Tuesday when his brother’s rifle reportedly discharged accidentally while the two were deer hunting in the small town of Vida.

Peek was among those wounded in the Thurston High shooting spree in May 1998, when 15-year-old Kip Kinkel opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding 25. Peek was hit in the elbow.

On Tuesday, he was shot in the head at close range and died at the scene. Police said the case is still under investigation.

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There were the cries of a child, a shot from the hip and a dead mountain lion at the feet of its intended prey.

Indeed, this story involving a pair of Northern California deer hunters had a much happier ending than that involving the Oregon brothers.

Douglas Johnson, 51, a Weaverville rancher, decided it was time to take Douglas Johnson Jr., 8, on his first big-game hunting trip.

Doug Jr. was thrilled to be toting a rifle in pursuit of man-sized quarry with Dad, hot on the trail of a buck they had followed into a draw and attempted to intercept by climbing up and over a bluff.

And the elder Johnson was proud to have his son at his heels, showing an interest in both the way of the wild and the thrill of the hunt.

What neither was aware of was the mountain lion stalking them as they stalked the deer, apparently eyeing the younger Johnson as a potential meal.

His screams shattered the silence as they made their way down the bluff. “He was yelling, ‘Get away! Get away!,’ ” Johnson recalled during an interview this week. “At first I thought they were just yellow-jackets or hornets, because they had been buzzing around all morning.”

Johnson turned around, though, and saw a cougar crouched and seemingly about to pounce on his son. “The first thing I did was scream bloody murder because you’re supposed to stand your ground and make lots of noise,” Johnson said. “Then I remembered that I had the rifle, and I turned and shot from the hip.”

He scored a direct hit to the jaw, dropping the lion at his son’s feet. Two more shots killed the animal.

A Department of Fish and Game warden was summoned and helped Johnson calm his son. The warden later would file a report saying Johnson was justified in killing the cougar “in light of its reported stalking behavior and close proximity to Johnson and his son.”

The mountain lion was not quite fully grown, weighing about 70 pounds, and had probably only recently begun fending for itself. “But it wasn’t there to be petted,” Johnson said. “The main thing I’d tell people after my experience is that they should always take time to stop, listen and turn around, because it’s very easy to become complacent out there.”

His son, meanwhile, has become a celebrity at school. “He’s the mountain lion expert,” Johnson said.

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A deer hunter she’s not. A deer lover?

“Of course,” says Maggie Clark, 47, an Orinda, Calif., sales manager. “I’m totally used to deer. But not on my roof, and never in my house.”

Never, until last Sunday night. Clark was watching, of all things, “Animal Farm” on TV when two large bucks leaped from a hill onto her house, crashed through a backyard awning, ran in a panic through her screen door, causing her to seek refuge in her bedroom--where she called 911--until help arrived.

She was able to peek out from time to time to make damage assessments.

“The first one eventually left, and then the second one really freaked,” she said. “I have hoof marks all over my tile floor and even on my kitchen counter. But he spared all of the glass, which I thought was very thoughtful. I have a gazillion dollars worth of glass in my dining room and my end table is filled with three shelves of wine glasses. His antlers were about an eighth of an inch from those and just never connected.”

Finally, police arrived, “and they freaked too,” Clark said. But doors were opened and the deer eventually made its way out. A deer expert later guessed that the animals may have been confused, this being mating season and all.

In any event, since the break-in, Clark has been in a rut of sorts herself, having heard four or five smaller deer on her roof. “I guess they learned from their parents,” she said. “I’ve got to do something about this.”

SALTWATER

* Albacore score: “By the time you smell the bacon in the morning, it could be all over, or at least the major bite could,” TV and radio personality Ronnie Kovach said, based on his recent experience with student anglers aboard the Islander out of Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego.

“At night we had the sea anchor out and at 3:15 I got up,” Kovach said. “The deckhand was fooling around with a few monster blue sharks, and I saw a proliferation of bait beneath the boat, so I said, ‘What the hell?’ I took a blue-and-white jig and cast after cast produced 25- to 30-pound albacore. I woke up those who wanted to get up and between 3:17 and 3:40 we put 30-plus fish on the boat.”

The albacore bite remains fair for the 1 1/2 and two-day boats--at 100 miles-plus--and extremely slow for the overnight fleet.

* Local action: There isn’t much, but this has been the case most of the summer and fall. Notable exception: Tim Sheridan of Westlake Village reported a wide-open white seabass bite last weekend at Anacapa Island, his group of four catching 25 in two hours with live squid, releasing all but their three-fish limits. “The bite began at 10:30 a.m.,” he said. “Twenty minutes later we were surrounded by other boats.”

Indeed, the recent arrival of bait-sized squid might be just what the local picture needs.

* Catch of the week: A 50-pound halibut landed off Malibu aboard a kayak by Jeff Kreiger of Simi Valley. Kreiger, a guide for Coastal Kayak Fishing in Reseda, also has been catching thresher sharks to 170 pounds.

FRESHWATER

Silverwood Lake has some new residents: Florida-strain largemouth bass, courtesy of a court-ordered plan to revitalize a fishery adversely affected by the lowering of the lake for a long-term construction project completed in 1997.

By the end of October, 3,500 largemouth bass--mostly 12- to 20-inch fish--will have been stocked and it is hoped that most of them will survive to spawn next spring.

Earlier steps to enhance the fishery involved the removal of other species to reduce predation on the new arrivals, and the placement of 300 wooden habitat structures to give the fish places to hide.

WINDING UP

The Women’s Shooting Sports Foundation’s Southern California Ladies Cup Handgun Classic and Couples Cup Classic target-shooting events will be held Oct. 16-17 at Prado-Tiro Olympic Shooting Park in Chino. Ammunition, targets, ear and eye protection will be provided. Registration information: (562) 869-3419.

* FISH REPORT, PAGE 15