How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
Recreation
Why are wild pheasants on the decline?
Question: Wild pheasants in the Sacramento Valley have been in steep decline for many years and very little effort, if any, is being made to help this once-abundant game bird make a comeback.
Improved habitat conditions, a reduced season and lowered bag limits could help them recover.
What was the Fish and Game Commission thinking when they raised the limit and extended the season to what it is today? (Wally S., Westlake)
Answer: One of the factors you mentioned was that improved habitat conditions could help, and that’s true. The decline in wild pheasant population numbers is primarily a result of habitat loss and fragmentation.
Pheasant populations are still plentiful in the larger Midwestern states, primarily because those states rely on private lands programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program funded by the Farm Bill.
This program provides subsidies to landowners to fallow their land and grow grasses and other vegetation that make good wildlife habitat. These programs also provide habitat corridors between public and private lands that are critical for pheasants to move.
In the Central Valley, rice and other crops have higher values than the crops grown in the mid-west and so the economic incentives for landowners in California to modify their farming practices to benefit wildlife habitat are not there.
According to CDFW Senior Upland Game Scientist Scott Gardner, the general pheasant hunting season was increased by three weeks about 10 years ago because CDFW knew that few people continued to hunt wild pheasants after the opening weekend and the first few weeks of the season.
The scientific literature suggests that rooster-only harvest has little effect on population growth, so this increase was not expected to have any effect on pheasant population growth.
CDFW is currently working with Pheasants Forever and United States Geological Survey scientists to study pheasant population dynamics and identify factors limiting their populations.
If the data suggests that reductions in pheasant hunting are needed, CDFW will make those recommendations to the Fish and Game Commission.
However, pheasant populations will not come back to their former levels through reductions in hunting alone.
In order for wild pheasant populations to recover and thrive again, more available improved habitat is a must.
This means more quality grasslands and small shrub habitat to provide undisturbed areas for cover, feeding, nesting and brood-rearing, along with travel corridors between fields and other habitats to allow them access to move around.
Using crabs to catch more crabs?
Question: It is legal for boaters fishing crab traps to pull their limit of 10 Dungeness crabs and then leave any extra legal-sized crabs in the pot for harvesting the next day?
Those crabs left in the trap may help encourage other crabs to load up in the traps to take another day.
Is there anything illegal about this? (Jayna S.)
Answer: It is not legal for someone to take their limit and leave additional crabs in their trap(s).
Sport fishermen are allowed 10 Dungeness crabs per day and in possession.
It doesn’t matter where the crabs are being held, whether on board a boat or in a trap or at home in the freezer.
If they are being confined and held in a trap for another day, it is still considered “possession” and counts toward their limit.
Legal limits of take
Question: I don’t get to go fishing that often, so I am wondering if I am fortunate enough to get a limit of fish in the morning and I put those fish on ice in the truck, can I then go back out in the afternoon to catch more?
I often travel around 100 miles to go fishing, and with the economy as bad as it is, I can’t go often.
Is this legal? Thanks. (Ron F.)
Answer: I can understand you wanting to maximize your fishing experience and harvest due to the troubled economy, however, a “bag limit” means the total that you can take in one day.
And “possession limit” is usually the same as your bag limit (at least in ocean waters), so you are only allowed to possess one bag limit at any one time.
In order to collect more, you will need to either consume or give away what you have and then fish on another day for more, up to the bag limit allowed.
Laminate my license?
Question: Is it OK to laminate my license to protect it from getting dirty and tattered? (Joe P., Merced)
Answer: Licenses should never be heat laminated as this will destroy the license. If exposed to extreme heat, licenses will darken and become discolored. However, a discolored license is still valid as long as the text and signature are still readable.
Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at
- Details
- Written by: Carrie Wilson
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) reminds anglers and divers that they are required by regulation to report or return their 2014 report cards.
Information collected from sport fishing report cards provides CDFW biologists with important data necessary to monitor and manage California's diverse recreational fisheries, including preparing recommendations for sport fishing seasons and limits that allow for sustainable levels of take.
This science-based management helps to ensure healthy populations of fish for future generations.
The 2014 report cards are due by Jan. 31, 2015, for steelhead, sturgeon, abalone and north coast salmon fisheries. Spiny lobster report cards must be returned or reported by April 30, 2015.
Anglers and divers are required to report even if the report card was lost or they did not fish. Cards should be reviewed carefully for accuracy before submission.
There are two ways to meet the mandatory reporting requirement. Online reporting ( www.wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Fishing#758846-harvest-reporting ) is easy, fast and free.
Online reporting includes instant confirmation that the report has been received and accepted. Report cards may also be returned by mail to the addresses listed below.
North Coast Salmon Report Cards
CDFW - Klamath River Project
5341 Ericson Way
Arcata, CA 95521-9269
Abalone Report Cards
CDFW - Abalone Report Card
32330 N. Harbor Dr.
Fort Bragg, CA 95437-5554
Steelhead Report Cards
CDFW - Steelhead Report Card
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, CA 94244-2090
Sturgeon Report Cards
CDFW - Sturgeon Report Card
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, CA 94244-2090
Any person who fails to return or report a salmon, steelhead, sturgeon or abalone report card to the department by the deadline may be restricted from obtaining the same card in a subsequent license year or may be subject to an additional fee for the issuance of the same card in a subsequent license year.
Please note that license sales agents cannot accept report cards.
More information about report cards is available at www.wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Fishing .
- Details
- Written by: Editor
Hunting waterfowl from a cattle blind?
Question: I am in a duck club and we get geese in the field between our blinds.
It is impossible to sneak up on the geese without being seen. We made a life-size cow silhouette and painted it black and white just like the cows in the field.
We are planning on hiding behind it to sneak up within shooting range of the geese. Is this a legal decoy to use? (Scott L.)
Answer: No, it is not legal to use any mammal (except a dog) or an imitation of a mammal as a blind in approaching or taking game birds (Fish and Game Code, Section 3502.).
Hunters have long known the benefits of using cattle as duck blinds. In fact, in the early days market hunters were known to train large steers to act as live decoys for them to hide behind while they “walked their shot” to approach the unsuspecting birds for a closer and better shot.
One of the most famous live decoys was a hunting steer by the name of “Old Tom.” When his owner bought him in 1914, Old Tom weighed 1,850 pounds and stood 5 feet, 8 inches high.
During the days of market hunting, he was utilized in practically every inland county in the state and made an excellent blind because of his training, size and build.
Because of the high success of this method, market hunters were banned from this practice nearly a century ago, and sportsmen have been banned from this practice since 1957.
For more, see the article of “Old Tom” entitled, “The famous animal blind.” California Fish and Game. 1928. Vol. 14:62 available online at www.archive.org/details/californiafishga14_1928cali .
Legal to sponsor a long range angler?
Question: What if four people got together and all paid the boat fare so that one person in the group could take a long range fishing trip?
Three of the people are not fisherpersons. After the trip, all of the fish caught by the one angler would then be split evenly between the four people.
Would this be considered selling of fish? (Doug S., Montebello)
Answer: Fish caught under the authority of a sport fishing license may not be bought, sold, traded or bartered (FGC Section 7121).
This means that if these people all helped pay the fare for another person to take a fishing trip with the expectation of receiving some of the fish caught back in return, that would be illegal.
Anglers who lawfully catch fish may always give fish away to whomever they wish, but it is not legal for non-anglers to pay for another person’s trip with the understanding or expectation of receiving fish in return for that money.
OK to donate and raffle off bear skin rugs?
Question: One of our club members was cleaning out his home recently and came upon a grizzly bear skin rug he has had for many years. He would like to donate it to our club.
We want to be sure this is all right, and second, would we need something in writing from him indicating that it is a donation to the club?
If, in the future, we want to include this rug in a raffle, can we do so? We aren’t certain if there are restrictions regarding this type of bear hide.
Thank you for your help with this matter. (Bonnie V.D.)
Answer: The donation of the bear-skin rug to your club is not a problem, however, it would be illegal for the club to offer it as a “prize” in a raffle (e.g. the person who holds the winning ticket “exchanges or trades” it for the rug).
The exchange of the rug for a winning ticket is prohibited by Fish and Game laws that prohibit the sale of any part of any bear and defines sale to include “exchange or trade.”
Grizzly bears are also protected by federal laws. Contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for information regarding what, if any, federal laws may apply. They can be reached online at www.fws.gov .
Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at
- Details
- Written by: Carrie Wilson
After decades of court proceedings, California's Owens River Gorge has begun to receive additional water to help restore historic fish populations and increase fishing opportunities.
The Mono County Superior Court recently approved an agreement between the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mono County and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that will govern Owens River flows in the 19-mile reach between Crowley Lake and Pleasant Valley Reservoir.
The agreement will not affect Crowley Lake for recreation, hydroelectric and water storage.
The new flows have already begun and will be fully phased in over a three-year period.
The Owens River Gorge was once known as one of the best brown trout fisheries in California.
The fishery was eliminated by a system of hydroelectric power plants which did not provide bypass fish flows.
Under the court order, restoration of higher flows and seasonal flow variation will breathe new life into the lower 10 miles of the gorge by expanding habitat for brown trout, scouring sediments that currently choke the pools and gravels, and promoting the establishment of riparian forest.
Flows in the upper gorge below Crowley Dam will remain unchanged in the foreseeable future to protect Owens tui chubs, a native endangered fish.
Implementation of these new flows is a culmination of decades of scientific studies and negotiations.
The settlement was influenced by and reflects recent developments in public trust law, especially deriving from the historic Mono Lake decision.
In a time when fishing access is at a premium, this is great news for California anglers and anyone who enjoys the outdoors, according to state wildlife officials.
- Details
- Written by: Editor