The B, C and D zones along with a few of the X zones open to deer hunters Saturday. That”s the good news. The bad news is that hunters aren”t expecting much.
In fact, most of California”s deer hunters put away their rifles and called it quits several years ago because the hunting is so bad.
Approximately 220,000 deer tags were sold by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) last year. When you considered that many hunters bought two tags (which is legal), that means there were only about 175,000 deer hunters in the state. Compare that with the 1960s when the DFG would sell more than 600,000 tags a season. The annual success rate for deer hunters in California averages about 11 percent and that includes hunters who belong to private clubs, where the hunting is generally far superior to that on public land.
There is no question that the deer herd in Northern California is in deep trouble. The big question is why? Lake County is a good example. Hunters took more than 2,000 bucks per season annually back in the 1960s. Last year that count was fewer than 300. The same holds true for neighboring Mendocino County. It”s not because the hunters are less skilled, there are just fewer deer.
Most of the wildlife biologists say the reason for the decline of the deer herd is a loss of habitat and losses inflicted by predators. Control burning is now a thing of the past and there is little feed for the deer. Predators such as coyotes and mountain lions are also taking a toll on the deer herd. Not to be left out are the poachers. Did you know that poachers kill nearly as many deer as legitimate hunters?
The Cow Mountain Recreation Area is a good example on what has gone wrong with wild game management practices. The 60,000-acre recreation area was prime deer country at one time. In fact, 30 years ago there were so many deer on Cow Mountain that pear farmers in Scotts Valley erected a giant deer fence to keep the deer from Cow Mountain out of their orchards. Now it”s rare to see even a fresh deer track.
The Mendocino National Forest is another good example. When the Forks Fire burned 60,000 acres 10 years ago, there were predictions the deer would return in huge numbers because of the availability of feed. That hasn”t happened. The deer herd was at such a low point prior to the fire that there just weren”t enough animals to repopulate the area despite the abundance of feed.
It”s not just Lake County where the deer herd is in trouble. Across California the story is pretty much the same. The state”s deer herd has shrunk from approximately a million animals 20 years ago to fewer than 500,000 deer this year.
Just about all the wildlife biologists agree that loss of habitat is the critical factor in the continued decline of the deer herd. The national forests are a prime example. At one time logging created huge open areas, which supplied brush and forbes, vital as food for deer. Today, logging on national forests is at an all-time low. The result is that few new areas are being opened up for deer. What many people don”t realize is that pristine forests support very little in the way of wildlife.
In Lake and Mendocino counties, thousands of acres of oak woodlands are being turned into vineyards. A good example is along Highway 101 between Cloverdale and Ukiah. Once a prime woodland area, it”s now all vineyards. In Lake County, all you have to do is drive Highway 29 to Lower Lake and you will see hillside after hillside being converted to vineyards. The deer that once inhabited these areas now have no place to go.
There is also the problem of a lack of control burning on public land. Air pollution caused by controlled burning and the liability that results if a control burn gets out of control has scared public agencies from doing any burning. The result is much of the public land is nothing more than old brush, which is tinder dry and offers little or no food for wildlife.
Predators also are cutting into deer herds. When a deer herd is healthy, predators have little impact. However, when the herd is at a low level, the predators can keep it from rebounding. Ranchers used to control the coyote population at one time, but no longer. Another factor is the state”s mountain lion population is at an all-time high and each adult lion kills a deer every two weeks.
Poachers also take a big share of the deer. The DFG estimates that poachers kill slightly more than one-half the number of deer that legal hunters take. That adds up to more than 10,000 deer per year.
When you add in all these factors, it”s no wonder the state”s deer herd is in serious trouble.
