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Recreation
Deer chow from the local feed store?
Question: I was at my local feed store today and was astounded to find bags of Purina Deer Chow for sale, and another feed for wild pigs.
I know it is illegal in California to feed big game animals, including deer, bear, elk, wild pigs and pronghorn.
So why is it OK to sell deer food?
I asked the proprietor and they said that it was not illegal to sell the food and that their customers wanted the product.
Isn't this a little bit like saying it is OK to sell drugs, even if it is illegal to use them?
What is the rationale for allowing the sale of a product when its use is banned? (Roy “Confused in Caspar” Falk)
Answer: Although feeding deer or any big game species is prohibited in California, deer are allowed to be fed in other states. Hunters are even allowed to bait them in some states, probably even with this feed.
The deer picture that they show on the package is of a white-tail deer which we don't have here in California.
Feeding deer unnaturally concentrates the animals in a very confined location and increases the potential spread of disease.
It also makes them more vulnerable to predation by mountain lions and coyotes who quickly figure out where to find concentrated numbers of deer.
CDFW has investigated many cases of deer feeding that inadvertently attracted mountain lions which killed the deer the people were trying to feed.
You're right to feel confused and I've asked the same question.
It doesn't seem right since it sends the wrong message to the customers, but the Fish and Game Code generally doesn’t regulate the products that feed stores and pet stores may carry.
Many also sell ferret food, and those animals are illegal to possess in California.
Why do fishing and hunting license fees increase every year?
Question: Why do fishing and hunting license fees and various cards and tags increase in price every year?
This concerns my friends and me as we are of the older population of California and are on fixed incomes.
Hunting and fishing are some of the only pleasures we have to enjoy in our old age, but it is becoming so costly we won’t be able to afford it if you keep raising prices. (Bill D.)
Answer: California law establishes fishing and hunting license fees each year, not the Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
The base fee for sport fishing licenses is established in Fish and Game Code, section 7149 and the fees for stamps and most report cards are established in other sections of the Fish and Game Code or California Code of Regulations, Title 14.
According to CDFW License Program Analyst Glenn Underwood, the Fish and Game Code, section 713 requires license fees to be adjusted in response to increases (or decreases) in costs of goods and services using an index called the “Implicit Price Deflator.” This index is a gauge of the change in the cost of goods and services from year to year.
For example, as hatchery, law enforcement and wildlife management costs have increased, license fees needed to increase to keep pace with these rising costs. Essentially, license fees are adjusted to compensate for inflation.
If license fees were not adjusted for inflation, then funding for fish and wildlife management and protection would actually decrease because the “buying power” of a dollar has declined over the years.
License fee increases over the past five years have ranged from a low of 1.2 percent in 2013 to a high of 2.8 percent in 2011. The average index over the past five years has been 1.91 percent.
For 2014, the cost of goods and services increased by 1.3 percent and 2015 license fees increased accordingly. If the cost of goods and services were to decrease, then license fees would actually decrease the same percentage.
However, when is the last time the cost of living actually decreased?
Although fishing and hunting license fees have increased throughout the years, the increase ensures that the CDFW has adequate funding to manage California’s diverse fish and wildlife resources and provide the public with enjoyable fishing and hunting experiences.
Hunting by javelin?
Question: I just tried javelin throwing for the first time and it sparked an idea that I could hunt with this for big game mammals. But I can’t find it specified anywhere in the mammal hunting regulations booklet.
Does this mean that since it isn’t mentioned it’s illegal to use to take down an animal? (Brent L.)
Answer: Yes, you are correct.
Hunting by spear or javelin is not a legal method of take for big game, or for anything for that matter in California!
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
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The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will hold three public meetings about proposed regulation changes relative to scientific collecting permits.
At these meetings, CDFW staff will address common concerns received during initial stakeholder outreach conducted in 2012 and 2013, and discuss improvements anticipated with the proposed regulations
The proposed regulation changes adjust permit fees, extend the duration of permit terms, establish procedures relative to permit program administration, and clarify entity permits and the relationship between scientific collecting permits and state-listed threatened, endangered, candidate and fully protected species.
CDFW will be working through the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) rulemaking process in 2015, with an anticipated effective date of Jan. 1, 2016.
CDFW invites comments and suggestions prior to initiating the formal APA rulemaking process.
This pre-notice period provides opportunity for input as the draft regulations are written.
The three meetings will be held from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on the following dates:
– Thursday, February 19: Resources Building Auditorium, 1416 Ninth St., Sacramento.
– Wednesday, March 4: Humboldt Area Foundation, Emmerson Room, 363 Indianola Road, Bayside.
– Wednesday, April 1, West Ed Building, Ed Meyers Classroom, 4655 Lampson Ave., Suite A, Los Alamitos.
Online participation via a Web-based conference tool (WebEx) will be available to those who cannot attend a meeting in person.
Due to space and staffing limitations, CDFW requests that interested parties RSVP with their intent to attend in person or via WebEx at least one week prior to the meeting they wish to attend.
Please send an email with your name, affiliation, phone number and preferred meeting location to
Written comments regarding the proposed regulation changes may also be submitted by mail to the CDFW’s Regulations Unit, 1416 Ninth St., Room 1342-A, Sacramento, 95814 or by email to
All pre-notice comments must be postmarked or received by Friday, April 17, to be considered by CDFW in this round of drafting the proposed regulations.
Interested parties will have an additional opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations during the official 45-day public comment period, expected to start in July 2015.
Additional information for permit applicants and permittees will be available on the CDFW website in spring 2015, at www.wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Scientific-Collecting .
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NORTH COAST, Calif. – An agreement with the Redwood Forest Foundation Inc. (RFFI) has transferred a conservation easement to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, of nearly 50,000 acres of the Usal Redwood Forest.
The agreement was reached in December 2014 for Cal Fire to assume responsibility for monitoring a conservation easement on the 49,576 acre Usal Redwood Forest in Mendocino and southern Humboldt counties.
“The acquisition of the Usal conservation easement will provide Cal Fire with a great opportunity to showcase the importance of maintaining working forested landscapes,” said Duane Shintaku, Cal Fire’s deputy director for resource management. “These lands will demonstrate how forests can provide for clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation, wood products and increasing carbon sequestration to offset the negative impacts of climate change.”
Cal Fire has many years of experience with managing working forests conservation easements under its Forest Legacy Program.
Working forest conservation easements encourage active forest management, which increases the forest’s resiliency and health, increases carbon sequestration, mitigates climate change, improves growth, and contributes jobs and revenue to the local economy.
In addition to becoming a site of forest restoration and improved wildlife and fish habitat, the Usal Redwood Forest is a prolific carbon storage machine.
Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) stands are known to have the largest measured biomass per acre, making them a tree species that is highly desirable for long-term carbon sequestration projects.
RFFI is working with the Climate Action Reserve and the California Air Resources Board to verify and register the significant amounts of carbon that will be sequestered in perpetuity as a result of their forest management.
Cal Fire will ensure that the conservation easement requirements, including the carbon sequestration goals, are met.
Cal Fire, in the role of conservation easement holder, will ensure that land subdivisions never occur on this property.
With an area almost twice the size of San Francisco, the Usal Redwood Forest is the largest working forest conservation easement in California.
Recently Usal Forest managers began an ambitious “Bio-char” project, turning waste woods into a valuable soil amendment.
Bio-char is a type of charcoal that helps sequester carbon and therefore has the potential to mitigate climate change.
This unique project will provide economic and social benefits to the community, and significant environmental benefits such as clean air, water, and wildlife habitat.
For more information on Cal Fire’s Forest Legacy Program visit www.fire.ca.gov .
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Hoisting sturgeon to pose for photos?
Question: I’ve seen several pictures over the years of anglers hoisting oversized sturgeon out of the water and dragging them back to the dock for pictures.
Isn’t it against the law to treat fish that are to be released this way?
How should oversized sturgeon be handled, given that the justifiably proud angler would like to get a picture or two before releasing? (Jim J.)
Answer: Regulations for sturgeon have become more protective since 2006, so hopefully you were looking at old-time pictures.
There are two important issues here – the regulations and doing what is best for the sturgeon.
What follows is only about white sturgeon since green sturgeon are a threatened species and thus may not be taken, possessed or removed from the water.
If a green sturgeon is caught, it must be released immediately.
Without regard to fish species, the regulations state that all fish “… less than the legal minimum size or greater than the maximum legal size must be returned immediately to the water from which they were taken” (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 1.62).
Because white sturgeon have a legal minimum size of 40 inches fork length, and a legal maximum size of 60 inches fork length, it is indeed against the law to bring an oversized white sturgeon to a dock (or even into a boat) for pictures.
Photographs of oversized white sturgeon may only be taken of fish while still in the water.
Anglers are not prohibited from taking oversized fish out of the water, but the regulations (as part of several special protections for white sturgeon) also state that, “Any white sturgeon greater than 68 inches fork length may not be removed from the water and shall be released immediately” (CCR Title 14, sections 5.80 and 27.90).
These sections give anglers essentially an 8-inch margin of error when measuring white sturgeon in the water.
As far as what’s best for any sturgeon that will be released, according to California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) sturgeon expert Marty Gingras, the answer is clear.
He recommends: “End the fight quickly and keep the sturgeon’s head in the water. Blood-chemistry studies show sturgeon become stressed from the fight and from being removed from the water, and tissue studies show stressed females that survive are less likely to spawn normally.”
Handling these behemoths with care is critical as they are essentially protected broodstock. The future of California's sturgeon populations depends upon these fish to carry them through droughts and other challenges, as well as to build future generations of these incredible fish for tomorrow’s anglers.
How to become a hunting guide?
Question: How can I become a hunting guide? Do I have to have a license or is there a course I need to go through to become a hunting guide? (Billy S.)
Answer: There are no courses or tests to take to become a hunting guide. "Guide" means any person who is engaged in the business of packing or guiding, or who, for compensation, assists another person in taking or attempting to take any bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile.
"Guide" also includes any person who, for profit, transports other persons, their equipment, or both to or from hunting or fishing areas.
The basic requirements are to first fill out an application with the CDFW and pay the license fees. Current cost of an annual resident guide's license runs $212.70.
Employees of the guide who assist in the service are also required to have a Guide Employee Registration license that costs $46.87.
Guides may not have any CDFW violations in their past so applicants may be required to go through a CDFW background check to check for previous violations.
The last requirement is for the guide to purchase and maintain a "performance bond." The bond assures that any deposit money received from a client to reserve a future trip will be returned in the event that the guide cancels and tries to keep the deposit.
Redeeming gift vouchers?
Question: I received a 2015 annual fishing license as a gift but I’d already bought mine for the year. Can I turn it back in for a refund?
I’ve heard that fishing license gift vouchers require the recipient to return to the exact store where the voucher was purchased and present all of their personal information in order to trade the voucher for a legal license? Is this true? (Brent G.)
Answer: No, it’s much easier than that. Gift vouchers can be redeemed for an annual resident sport fishing license anywhere licenses are sold, or online at www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/ .
While gift vouchers are nonrefundable, they are transferable since they have no customer attached to them until redeemed.
Since you received an extra gift voucher, you can give it to a friend or relative and they can redeem it for a resident sport fishing license.
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
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- Written by: Carrie Wilson