How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
Recreation
How are sturgeon weathering the drought?
Question: I have a question about sturgeon. Are they being negatively affected by the drought? Since sturgeon have been around millions of years, they must have endured many droughts and so hopefully this drought will not hit them as hard as maybe some other species that are less hardy and more sensitive to changes. Is this true? (Anonymous)
Answer: That's an excellent question, but the answer is complicated. According to California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Environmental Program Manager Marty Gingras, plenty of sturgeon in California will likely outlive this drought because of the state’s adaptive management of white sturgeon harvest (green sturgeon is a threatened species so harvest is illegal) and protection from poaching.
Sturgeon and salmon are anadromous species, but salmon mature and then die in just two to three years.
By comparison, female sturgeon typically mature after 15-plus years, can spawn more than once (though not annually) and can live many decades.
These characteristics mean that sturgeon are resilient, but it also means they can easily be overfished.
California’s sturgeon fisheries were (with minor exceptions) closed from 1901 through 1953 due to overfishing.
Commercial harvest of white sturgeon is illegal and recreational harvest is now managed through area closures, bag limits, size limits and gear restrictions.
Most sturgeon spawn in the Sacramento River and young-of-the-year fish migrate downstream to rear in the San Francisco Estuary.
Large numbers of young sturgeon survive the migration only in years with nearly flooding Sacramento River flows during both winter and spring.
For sturgeon it is as though 2014 is the eighth straight year of drought. Although a relatively-good “cohort” of white sturgeon spawned in 2006 will soon be harvestable, we expect the fishery to decline substantially.
Adaptive management of California's white sturgeon through predictable ebbs in abundance is key to conservation of the species and its fishery.
Deer tag validation required from private property?
Question: If I take a legal buck on my own property, then tag and process it on site, do I need to get the tag validated since it will require me to transport the carcass off my property? (Ruth W.)
Answer: Yes. All deer must be validated even when taken on private property.
Remember, wildlife belong to the people of the state of California, not to the owners of land where animals live.
The law states the animal’s tag must be validated regardless of where taken and may not be transported initially except for the purpose of taking it to be validated (Fish and Game Code, section 4341).
Dorado limits higher in California?
Question: I went fishing out of San Diego twice this fall. The first time we fished in California waters off San Clemente Island and the second time we fished in Mexican waters.
I understand the daily bag limit for Dorado in Mexico is two fish, but can't find it in the regulations booklet for California. What is it? (Chuck K.)
Answer: Dorado do not have a specific bag limit in California and so they fall under the general bag limit of 10 fish of any one species with no more than 20 finfish in combination of all species (California Code of Regulations, Title 14, section 27.60(a)).
When cancer treatment threatens premium draw deer hunt?
Question: I was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in April and have had chemo for four months.
I am doing great and am in good shape to go hunting, but I just found out I must have a bone morrow transplant and it looks like it will be around the time of the special draw tag hunt.
Can I return this tag and still get my points back?
Doctors at Stanford are trying to let me go hunting but it may not happen. (Anonymous)
Answer: So sorry to hear about your cancer and the treatments you’re going through!
In order to return the tag without penalty, I suggest you contact our License and Revenue Branch at 916-419-7573 immediately.
You must return the tag before the season begins along with a letter explaining why you can’t complete the hunt.
With some tag drawings there will be an alternate list available with hunters standing by in case of a cancellation.
No alternate lists are established for premium deer tags though, so your tag will not be reissued to anyone else.
There is a preference point appeal process available. Please go to CCR, Title 14, section 708.14 for the details. And best wishes that your upcoming cancer treatments go well.
Motorized turkey decoys?
Question: Are there any restrictions on using motorized or string motion decoys while turkey hunting in California? (Scott C.)
Answer: No.
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
At its November 20 quarterly meeting, the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved approximately $26 million in grants to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat throughout California.
Some of the 16 funded projects will provide benefits to fish and wildlife – including some endangered species – while others will provide the public with access to important natural resources.
Several projects will also demonstrate the importance of protecting working landscapes that integrate economic, social and environmental stewardship practices beneficial to the environment, land owners and the local community.
The funds for all these projects come from bond initiatives approved by voters to help preserve and protect California's natural resources.
Some of the funded projects include:
– A $5 million grant to Western Rivers Forestry for a cooperative project with the State Coastal Conservancy, Wyss Foundation, the Yurok Tribe and the New Market Tax Credit Program to acquire approximately 6,479 acres of land for the protection of a mixed conifer forest property that includes riparian corridors, salmonid streams, coastal watershed and habitat linkages near the town of Klamath, traversing both Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.
– A $450,000 grant to Ducks Unlimited, Inc. for a cooperative project with the State Water Quality Control Board, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Caltrans to restore and enhance salt marsh, riparian forest and tidal sloughs on approximately 356 acres of formal tidal habitat on 2.5 miles of the Salt River channel, three miles northwest of Ferndale and one mile from the mouth of the Eel River in Humboldt County.
– A $9 million grant to the Pacific Forest Trust for a cooperative project with the California Department of Transportation to acquire a forest conservation easement over approximately 12,644 acres of land to protect working forest lands, forest reserve areas, watersheds, fisheries and habitat linkages covering a significant portion of the upper watershed of the McCloud River, near the town of McCloud, traversing both Siskiyou and Shasta Counties. The upper McCloud River is considered by the Regional Water Quality Control Board as one of the most pristine rivers in northern California, providing important fisheries habitat and quality drinking water for much of California.
– A $2 million grant to Reclamation District 2035 (RD 2035) for a cooperative project with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Water Resources and the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency to construct a new screened water intake for RD 2035, the largest remaining unscreened intake on the Sacramento River north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This proposed project is located five miles east of Woodland on privately owned land on the west bank of the Sacramento River levee, approximately one-half mile north of Interstate 5, in Yolo County.
– A $1.2 million grant to the National Forest Foundation for a cooperative project with the U.S. Forest Service, Alcoa, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens, Oakwood School and Los Angeles Conservation Corp to restore and enhance riparian and chaparral habitats within the Big Tujunga Canyon in Angeles National Forest, immediately east of the City of Los Angeles in Los Angeles County.
– A $650,000 grant to the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains for a cooperative project with Caltrans, Los Angeles County, a private landowner, and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to enhance an existing undercrossing to allow wildlife to cross Highway 101, approximately nine miles east of Thousand Oaks in Los Angeles County.
– A $3.3 million grant to the Imperial Irrigation District for a cooperative project with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Water Resources to construct approximately 640 acres of shallow saline water habitat identified as part of the Salton Sea Species Conservation Habitat Project, at the mouth of the New River approximately ten miles west of Calipatria in Imperial County.
For more information about the WCB please visit www.wcb.ca.gov .
- Details
- Written by: Editor
When does fish and game become just food?
Question: I understand that you can't have multiple limits in your freezer (unless those limits are gifted to a corresponding number of family members living in the same house).
My question is when exactly does your catch become just food?
If I cook and smoke a duck and then break it down into parts and vacuum seal it into individual meals, or if I smoke some salmon and vacuum seal or can it, does it then stop being game and become food?
If not, how and why does this differ from taking advantage of a grocery store sale and buying a couple cases of salmon? Surely there could be more than a limit of salmon in a case.
Please be specific about when and why food stops being game. (Kirk G.)
Answer: Regardless of whether they are fresh, frozen or otherwise preserved, if you have the edible portions of any sport-taken fish or game, they still count toward your possession limit until they are consumed (Fish and Game Code, section 2001 and California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 1.17.).
Grocery stores can only sell commercially processed and packaged meats. Possession refers only to sport-taken fish or game species.
For any fish or other meat purchased commercially, just keep them in their commercial packaging to easily differentiate between them from any sport-caught fish or game you may have in your possession.
Can licensed anglers fish more rods from a public pier?
Question: I know people without fishing licenses are allowed to fish from public piers with a limit of no more than two rods.
But what if I have a valid fishing license and ocean enhancement stamp and still fish on public piers?
Since Fish and Wildlife regs allow licensed anglers to fish in ocean waters with an unlimited number of rods, am I allowed to fish with more than two poles while fishing in ocean waters from a pier? (Frank R.)
Answer: No. If a licensed angler is not fishing from a public pier or jetty and not fishing for a species with rod limits (e.g. rockfish, lingcod or salmon), then more than two rods may be used.
On public piers though, no person may use more than two rods and lines, two hand lines, or two nets, traps or other appliances used to take crabs (CCR Title 14, section 28.65(b)), regardless of whether they have a fishing license.
Giving pheasants away to other hunters to keep hunting?
Question: While hunting pheasants, once I shoot my limit, can I give one of my birds to another hunter in the group and continue hunting? (Jerry)
Answer: No. Once you reach your bag limit you are finished hunting for the day. You can give your birds away to other hunters but that does not then allow you to continue hunting that day.
Lobster hunting with bait cages while scuba diving?
Question: Can we use bait cages (like what’s used for hoop netting) while scuba diving for lobster? I want to fill a couple of bait cages with bait and put a float on them with a light stick, set them next to a reef, and then come back and check it for lobster feeding off of it.
I don't see it being illegal since there are no hoop nets involved, or traps and no tickle sticks being used. We’re still catching them by hand. (Anonymous)
Answer: Well, you should keep catching them by hand and not use these bait cages. When diving for crustaceans, the law says they may only be taken by hand, so the literal interpretation would say any other method for a diver is illegal (CCR Title 14, section 29.80(a)(1)).
The bait cage is an appliance and is prohibited. The regulation reads: “Nets, traps or other appliances may not be used …” (CCR Title 14, section 29.80(a)(2)).
Hunting upland birds and waterfowl at the same time?
Question: If I’m in the field upland bird hunting and a flock of ducks/geese fly overhead, am I allowed to shoot those birds, too? (Robert G.)
Answer: Yes, but only if the season for waterfowl is open in the area, if you have the required state and federal waterfowl stamps affixed to your license, AND you only have steel or other non-toxic shot in your possession.
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
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Redbud Audubon field trip on Saturday, Nov. 22, will take place at Lakeside County Park off Soda Bay Road.
The trip originally was scheduled for Shollenberger Park in Petaluma, but unfortunately, the wetlands and ponds along the Napa River at the park are dry because of the drought.
Audubon walks start at 9 a.m. All are welcome.
Lakeside County Park is perfect for a stroll near the lake and is often the site of interesting shore birds, raptors and sometimes the yellow-headed blackbird.
It is an easy walk, but wear good shoes. Bring water, snack and your binoculars.
The park is located at 1985 Park Drive off of Soda Bay Road.
Meet in the parking lot on the east side of the park, near the launching ramp.
- Details
- Written by: Bonnie Thompson