August 2010 Archives
An estimated 90,000 dove hunters will soon be taking to the chase in California to harvest more than 1.5 million doves.
This year, a split dove season opens Sept. 1, until Sept. 15, and again Nov. 13 through Dec. 27, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
Open or limited dove hunting opportunities are available in DFG-managed wildlife areas and ecological reserves from Shasta Valley Wildlife Area in the north to the Imperial Valley Wildlife Area in the south. Hunts are conducted both on a reservation and non-reservation basis. For details, visit www.dfg.ca.gov/lands or www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/uplandgame/gamebird.
This year, numerous additional hunting sites will be made available in the Niland area of the Imperial Valley, through the cooperative efforts of DFG, Desert Wildlife Unlimited, the Imperial County Fish and Game Commission, Quail Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and the San Diego Chapter of the Safari Club. More details are available at 760.359-0577.
The season includes white-winged and mourning doves, for which the combined bag limit is 10 birds and the possession limit is 20.
Hunters can also harvest Eurasian collared doves, which are now common in some parts of the state. There is no daily bag limit or possession limit for this species.
There is no open hunting season on common ground-doves, ruddy ground-doves or Inca doves.
Hunters must be in possession of a valid hunting license, an Upland Game Bird Stamp and a free Harvest Information Program Stamp. Proper safety precautions should be taken, including wearing shooting safety glasses in the field. Hunters are required to leave a fully feathered wing attached to doves when transporting them.
The sale of the required upland game bird stamps supports DFG's Game Bird Heritage Program, which provides funding annually to plant dove food crops on state lands and on partnership private lands in the Imperial Valley. For details, visit www.fgc.ca.gov/regulations/current/uplandgamebirdregs.asp
This year, a split dove season opens Sept. 1, until Sept. 15, and again Nov. 13 through Dec. 27, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
Open or limited dove hunting opportunities are available in DFG-managed wildlife areas and ecological reserves from Shasta Valley Wildlife Area in the north to the Imperial Valley Wildlife Area in the south. Hunts are conducted both on a reservation and non-reservation basis. For details, visit www.dfg.ca.gov/lands or www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/uplandgame/gamebird.
This year, numerous additional hunting sites will be made available in the Niland area of the Imperial Valley, through the cooperative efforts of DFG, Desert Wildlife Unlimited, the Imperial County Fish and Game Commission, Quail Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and the San Diego Chapter of the Safari Club. More details are available at 760.359-0577.
The season includes white-winged and mourning doves, for which the combined bag limit is 10 birds and the possession limit is 20.
Hunters can also harvest Eurasian collared doves, which are now common in some parts of the state. There is no daily bag limit or possession limit for this species.
There is no open hunting season on common ground-doves, ruddy ground-doves or Inca doves.
Hunters must be in possession of a valid hunting license, an Upland Game Bird Stamp and a free Harvest Information Program Stamp. Proper safety precautions should be taken, including wearing shooting safety glasses in the field. Hunters are required to leave a fully feathered wing attached to doves when transporting them.
The sale of the required upland game bird stamps supports DFG's Game Bird Heritage Program, which provides funding annually to plant dove food crops on state lands and on partnership private lands in the Imperial Valley. For details, visit www.fgc.ca.gov/regulations/current/uplandgamebirdregs.asp
This Question & Answer feature is produced by marine biologist Carrie Wilson of the state Department of Fish & Game. She can be contacted at CalOutdoors@dfg.ca.gov.
Q: I have 15-20 turkey vultures that have been roosting on my roof. They are congregating and making a mess on my roof and in my yard with their droppings and molted feathers. My house is two stories and the roof is tile so access is difficult. How can I get rid of them?
A: You have different persuasion options available for moving these birds from your roof to a more appropriate roost site. According to DFG raptor biologist Carie Battistone, these may include repetitive loud noises, motion sensor sprinklers and the use of an effigy (usually a taxidermic preparation or an artificial likeness of a deceased vulture). Since your roof is steep and hard to access, you will have to use caution when placing anything on the roof. If all else fails, you may want to call Wildlife Services (federal wildlife trappers) to ask for advice or possibly for someone to come out to help you.
Q: A game warden on the north coast told me recently that abalone high-grading is as much of a problem as poaching, and that it's often the legal abalone harvesters who are doing it without even realizing they're doing something wrong. Now we all know the regs say you can take three, so as long as any smaller abs are returned to rocky crevices before leaving the water, and the diver ends up with the three best abalone they can find, what does it really matter?
A: High-grading for abalone is when legal-sized abalone are extracted from their crevices or detached from their substrate but then later returned in favor of larger animals. This is not legal or sporting and the law prohibits this largely due to concerns for the health of the animals. Abalone are hemophiliacs and can be difficult to dislodge from their protective crevices or substrate. Any cuts or damage they may sustain while being detached by the ab iron can cause them bleed to death. For this reason, all legal-sized abalone detached are required to be retained by the person who detaches it, up to the three per bag limit. In addition, no undersize abalone may be retained in any person's possession or under his control. Undersize abalone must be replaced immediately to the same surface of the rock from which detached (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 29.15[d]).
In addition, according to DFG Lt. Dennis McKiver, no person shall take more than 24 abalone during a calendar year. If the diver takes three legal-sized abalone and puts them back, those abalone still count toward both the diver's daily and yearly limit. This means that divers must still record those abalone on their report card so as to not exceed their yearly limit.
If a game warden sees someone take an abalone that is obviously larger than seven inches and the person puts the abalone back, this person has just violated CCR Title 14, section 29.15(d). If that person then doesn't record the abalone, he is guilty of failing to complete the Abalone Report Card as required. Game wardens on the north coast have written several citations for this, usually to trophy hunters looking for that elusive 10-inch abalone. The wardens try to convince people hunting for trophy abalone to measure them before removing them from rocks.
Q: I have heard from a few friends that a rimfire rifle (.22 lr or mag.) can be used to take doves or Eurasian collared doves since they're considered small game. Is that correct? If not, what type of firearm is appropriate?
A: Rifles may not be used for the take of doves. Mourning dove and white-wing dove are migratory game and their take is regulated by CCR Title 14, section 507. Only shotguns, muzzleloading shotguns and dogs may be used to take migratory game birds. Eurasian collared doves, spotted doves and ringed turtle doves are non migratory and are therefore covered by CCR T14, section 311, which allows take by pellet rifle, archery and crossbow.
Q: I would like to know if guided drift boats need a California hull sticker. Drift boat guides say they don't have a motor and so they don't need one. I would say 95 percent of guide boats on the Trinity River in California don't have the sticker. What does the law say?
A: The guides are correct. If the boat is without a motor, no CF number is needed.
Q: I have 15-20 turkey vultures that have been roosting on my roof. They are congregating and making a mess on my roof and in my yard with their droppings and molted feathers. My house is two stories and the roof is tile so access is difficult. How can I get rid of them?
A: You have different persuasion options available for moving these birds from your roof to a more appropriate roost site. According to DFG raptor biologist Carie Battistone, these may include repetitive loud noises, motion sensor sprinklers and the use of an effigy (usually a taxidermic preparation or an artificial likeness of a deceased vulture). Since your roof is steep and hard to access, you will have to use caution when placing anything on the roof. If all else fails, you may want to call Wildlife Services (federal wildlife trappers) to ask for advice or possibly for someone to come out to help you.
Q: A game warden on the north coast told me recently that abalone high-grading is as much of a problem as poaching, and that it's often the legal abalone harvesters who are doing it without even realizing they're doing something wrong. Now we all know the regs say you can take three, so as long as any smaller abs are returned to rocky crevices before leaving the water, and the diver ends up with the three best abalone they can find, what does it really matter?
A: High-grading for abalone is when legal-sized abalone are extracted from their crevices or detached from their substrate but then later returned in favor of larger animals. This is not legal or sporting and the law prohibits this largely due to concerns for the health of the animals. Abalone are hemophiliacs and can be difficult to dislodge from their protective crevices or substrate. Any cuts or damage they may sustain while being detached by the ab iron can cause them bleed to death. For this reason, all legal-sized abalone detached are required to be retained by the person who detaches it, up to the three per bag limit. In addition, no undersize abalone may be retained in any person's possession or under his control. Undersize abalone must be replaced immediately to the same surface of the rock from which detached (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 29.15[d]).
In addition, according to DFG Lt. Dennis McKiver, no person shall take more than 24 abalone during a calendar year. If the diver takes three legal-sized abalone and puts them back, those abalone still count toward both the diver's daily and yearly limit. This means that divers must still record those abalone on their report card so as to not exceed their yearly limit.
If a game warden sees someone take an abalone that is obviously larger than seven inches and the person puts the abalone back, this person has just violated CCR Title 14, section 29.15(d). If that person then doesn't record the abalone, he is guilty of failing to complete the Abalone Report Card as required. Game wardens on the north coast have written several citations for this, usually to trophy hunters looking for that elusive 10-inch abalone. The wardens try to convince people hunting for trophy abalone to measure them before removing them from rocks.
Q: I have heard from a few friends that a rimfire rifle (.22 lr or mag.) can be used to take doves or Eurasian collared doves since they're considered small game. Is that correct? If not, what type of firearm is appropriate?
A: Rifles may not be used for the take of doves. Mourning dove and white-wing dove are migratory game and their take is regulated by CCR Title 14, section 507. Only shotguns, muzzleloading shotguns and dogs may be used to take migratory game birds. Eurasian collared doves, spotted doves and ringed turtle doves are non migratory and are therefore covered by CCR T14, section 311, which allows take by pellet rifle, archery and crossbow.
Q: I would like to know if guided drift boats need a California hull sticker. Drift boat guides say they don't have a motor and so they don't need one. I would say 95 percent of guide boats on the Trinity River in California don't have the sticker. What does the law say?
A: The guides are correct. If the boat is without a motor, no CF number is needed.
The following Q&A feature is the work of Carrie Wilson, a marine biologist with the state Department of Fish & Game. She can be contacted at CalOutdoors@dfg.ca.gov.
Q: I am training my dog to retrieve, which requires exposure to both live and dead birds. Are there any restrictions for using live and/or dead birds for the training? Are there certain types of birds that may be used? Pigeons are usually the bird of choice.
A: Using live pigeons and most other domestically raised avian species for dog training is all right, as long as no wild birds are captured, injured or killed. Only domestic birds can be used to train dogs to retrieve, point or flush, or to prepare for or participate in field trails or similar events related to these activities, at any time of year.
Generally, there are only minimal restrictions, if no wild birds are killed. But a few restrictions apply if any birds are killed, and these include pigeons, bobwhite, domestic pheasants, etc. Use of dead birds (wing or other part) is acceptible as long as the birds were legally taken (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 677 (a) and (b)).
Q: I need to know if it's legal to collect a pair of octopus for a private aquarium. I would like to use scuba to collect them in the Monterey/Santa Cruz area.
A: Octopus may be collected for a home aquarium and transported live under the authority of a sport fishing license as long as they are exclusively for that person's personal aquarium display. Maintaining live sport-taken octopus in a home aquarium is not considered public "display" and thus does not fall under the provisions of the marine aquaria pet trade (Fish and Game Code, sections 8596-8597). Transporting live "finfish" (as opposed to mollusks and crustaceans) is prohibited (CCR Title 14, section 1.62).
Invertebrates collected under the authority of a sport fishing license may not be used to establish breeding colonies for sale or trade with other people. Any trading, selling or possession for sale or trade of these animals constitutes commercial marine aquaria pet trade activity and requires all parties to hold "marine aquaria collectors permits" authorizing this practice. A marine collector's permit is also required for any animals on display for the public.
Octopus may not be taken from places where it is prohibited (for example, in a marine protected area) or via SCUBA north of Yankee Point (Monterey County), which would rule out the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay area. For a map showing where Yankee Point is located, view www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/central_reference_points.pdf.
Q: The local municipal water district operates a nearby lake that is open to the public for fishing and day use... The maximum daily catch limit is lower than the limits the DFG authorizes. Do they have the authority to do this? Who has the ultimate jurisdiction in this matter?
A: Yes, this is perfectly legal... Private lake managers can be more restrictive than DFG regulations but not less restrictive. It is their prerogative to impose more stringent regulations in the interest of better managing their individual waters than what the state requires for managing California's fisheries statewide.
For additional clarification, contact your local game warden.
Q: I have a question pertaining to Eurasian doves. I have heard they are an invasive species and compete for food and shelter with the native mourning doves. I believe they are open game during dove season and do not count towards a personal limit. Can the Eurasians be hunted year-round? In the last couple of years their population has grown extensively near where I live. If they are open year-round, I was thinking of thinning the herd a bit and enjoying some bacon-wrapped roasted dove breast.
A: While it's very nice of you to offer to help in "thinning the herd," Eurasian doves can only be taken during the regular season. Otherwise, year-round hunting for this one species would create an enforcement nightmare for the game wardens. Eurasian doves are invasive and are living with, and competing with, native species. However, at this point they do not seem to be gaining the advantage over the native species. Keep in mind that there is no limit on Eurasian collared doves when the season is open (Sept. 1-15 and Nov. 14 - Dec 28), so you can take as many as you like for your bacon-wrapped roasted dove dinners during that time!
Q: I am training my dog to retrieve, which requires exposure to both live and dead birds. Are there any restrictions for using live and/or dead birds for the training? Are there certain types of birds that may be used? Pigeons are usually the bird of choice.
A: Using live pigeons and most other domestically raised avian species for dog training is all right, as long as no wild birds are captured, injured or killed. Only domestic birds can be used to train dogs to retrieve, point or flush, or to prepare for or participate in field trails or similar events related to these activities, at any time of year.
Generally, there are only minimal restrictions, if no wild birds are killed. But a few restrictions apply if any birds are killed, and these include pigeons, bobwhite, domestic pheasants, etc. Use of dead birds (wing or other part) is acceptible as long as the birds were legally taken (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 677 (a) and (b)).
Q: I need to know if it's legal to collect a pair of octopus for a private aquarium. I would like to use scuba to collect them in the Monterey/Santa Cruz area.
A: Octopus may be collected for a home aquarium and transported live under the authority of a sport fishing license as long as they are exclusively for that person's personal aquarium display. Maintaining live sport-taken octopus in a home aquarium is not considered public "display" and thus does not fall under the provisions of the marine aquaria pet trade (Fish and Game Code, sections 8596-8597). Transporting live "finfish" (as opposed to mollusks and crustaceans) is prohibited (CCR Title 14, section 1.62).
Invertebrates collected under the authority of a sport fishing license may not be used to establish breeding colonies for sale or trade with other people. Any trading, selling or possession for sale or trade of these animals constitutes commercial marine aquaria pet trade activity and requires all parties to hold "marine aquaria collectors permits" authorizing this practice. A marine collector's permit is also required for any animals on display for the public.
Octopus may not be taken from places where it is prohibited (for example, in a marine protected area) or via SCUBA north of Yankee Point (Monterey County), which would rule out the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay area. For a map showing where Yankee Point is located, view www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/central_reference_points.pdf.
Q: The local municipal water district operates a nearby lake that is open to the public for fishing and day use... The maximum daily catch limit is lower than the limits the DFG authorizes. Do they have the authority to do this? Who has the ultimate jurisdiction in this matter?
A: Yes, this is perfectly legal... Private lake managers can be more restrictive than DFG regulations but not less restrictive. It is their prerogative to impose more stringent regulations in the interest of better managing their individual waters than what the state requires for managing California's fisheries statewide.
For additional clarification, contact your local game warden.
Q: I have a question pertaining to Eurasian doves. I have heard they are an invasive species and compete for food and shelter with the native mourning doves. I believe they are open game during dove season and do not count towards a personal limit. Can the Eurasians be hunted year-round? In the last couple of years their population has grown extensively near where I live. If they are open year-round, I was thinking of thinning the herd a bit and enjoying some bacon-wrapped roasted dove breast.
A: While it's very nice of you to offer to help in "thinning the herd," Eurasian doves can only be taken during the regular season. Otherwise, year-round hunting for this one species would create an enforcement nightmare for the game wardens. Eurasian doves are invasive and are living with, and competing with, native species. However, at this point they do not seem to be gaining the advantage over the native species. Keep in mind that there is no limit on Eurasian collared doves when the season is open (Sept. 1-15 and Nov. 14 - Dec 28), so you can take as many as you like for your bacon-wrapped roasted dove dinners during that time!
Long Beach homeowners can enter to win energy efficiency makeovers for their home.
One grand-prize winner and one runner-up prize winner will be chosen in each of the nine council districts.
Nine grand prizes worth $5,000 each, and nine runner-up prizes worth $800 each, will be available through Long Beach's Energy Efficiency Opportunity Drawing.
To be eligible, entries must be Long Beach residents, Southern California Edison customers and homeowners. Entry forms and a step-by-step process are available online at www.sustainablelb.com.
The Energy Efficiency Opportunity Drawing is a partnership between the city and SCE, as a result of the city's Local Government Energy Efficiency Partnership, which was launched in January.
Winners will be selected the week of Nov. 29.
Grand-prize winners will choose which energy efficiency measures they want to install based on the results of a Home Energy Survey.
Runner-up prize winners will be able to pick from a predetermined list of devices, which includes a Variable Speed pool pump, an Energy Star Refrigerator, an Energy Star Room AC or a Whole House Fan. The awards for grand and runner-up prizes will cover both materials and labor.
For more information, visit www.sustainablelb.com or contact the sustainability coordinator at Meredith.Reynolds@longbeach.gov or 562.570.6396.
One grand-prize winner and one runner-up prize winner will be chosen in each of the nine council districts.
Nine grand prizes worth $5,000 each, and nine runner-up prizes worth $800 each, will be available through Long Beach's Energy Efficiency Opportunity Drawing.
To be eligible, entries must be Long Beach residents, Southern California Edison customers and homeowners. Entry forms and a step-by-step process are available online at www.sustainablelb.com.
The Energy Efficiency Opportunity Drawing is a partnership between the city and SCE, as a result of the city's Local Government Energy Efficiency Partnership, which was launched in January.
Winners will be selected the week of Nov. 29.
Grand-prize winners will choose which energy efficiency measures they want to install based on the results of a Home Energy Survey.
Runner-up prize winners will be able to pick from a predetermined list of devices, which includes a Variable Speed pool pump, an Energy Star Refrigerator, an Energy Star Room AC or a Whole House Fan. The awards for grand and runner-up prizes will cover both materials and labor.
For more information, visit www.sustainablelb.com or contact the sustainability coordinator at Meredith.Reynolds@longbeach.gov or 562.570.6396.
Department of Fish and Game officials are advising the public to use caution when using poison baits -- or rodenticides -- to control rodent pests.
Careless use of rodenticides has injured and killed wildlife and pets throughout the state, while targeting an explosion of voles -- the outdoor rodents, which are similar in appearance to house mice, with short tails and smaller ears, the officials emphasized. The voles build and use grass "tunnels."
However, some rodenticides pose dangers, particularly through secondary poisoning that occurs when scavenging species victimized by rodenticides.
Owls, hawks, other scavenging birds and predators such as raccoons, fox, skunk and coyote are at risk.
Pets will also eat dead or dying rodents and unprotected bait. Deer may be attracted to the pellet forms of rodenticides.
Over-the-counter rodenticides - including many commonly known brands - that contain the active ingredients brodifacoum, bromadiolone or difethialone can only be legally used to control rodents in and around structures.
It is not legal to use these products in open areas such as pastures or fields, the DFG officials stressed.
Bait products that contain the ingredients chlorophacinone or diphacinone can be used legally to control outdoor rodent pests such as voles, ground squirrels and gophers. These compounds require multiple feedings to kill rodent pests, so they pose a lower secondary poisoning risk compared to rodenticides used to control mice and rats within homes, barns or other structures.
It is important to read rodenticide product labels carefully and to strictly follow all use directions.
Rodenticides should only be used in small treatment areas close to structures.
Be sure to check these areas daily for dead rodents. Collect the carcasses as soon as possible, place in plastic bags and dispose in garbage cans with tight lids that other animals can't open.
Always wear protective gloves when handling any dead animal.
Since 1994, DFG's Pesticide Investigations Unit has confirmed at least 136 cases of wildlife poisoning from anticoagulant rodenticides.
More information on protecting wildlife and pets from rodenticide baits is on the DFG website at www.dfg.ca.gov/education/rodenticide.
More information on voles and alternatives to poison can be found on the University of California, Davis Integrated Pest Management Program website at www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7439.html.
Careless use of rodenticides has injured and killed wildlife and pets throughout the state, while targeting an explosion of voles -- the outdoor rodents, which are similar in appearance to house mice, with short tails and smaller ears, the officials emphasized. The voles build and use grass "tunnels."
However, some rodenticides pose dangers, particularly through secondary poisoning that occurs when scavenging species victimized by rodenticides.
Owls, hawks, other scavenging birds and predators such as raccoons, fox, skunk and coyote are at risk.
Pets will also eat dead or dying rodents and unprotected bait. Deer may be attracted to the pellet forms of rodenticides.
Over-the-counter rodenticides - including many commonly known brands - that contain the active ingredients brodifacoum, bromadiolone or difethialone can only be legally used to control rodents in and around structures.
It is not legal to use these products in open areas such as pastures or fields, the DFG officials stressed.
Bait products that contain the ingredients chlorophacinone or diphacinone can be used legally to control outdoor rodent pests such as voles, ground squirrels and gophers. These compounds require multiple feedings to kill rodent pests, so they pose a lower secondary poisoning risk compared to rodenticides used to control mice and rats within homes, barns or other structures.
It is important to read rodenticide product labels carefully and to strictly follow all use directions.
Rodenticides should only be used in small treatment areas close to structures.
Be sure to check these areas daily for dead rodents. Collect the carcasses as soon as possible, place in plastic bags and dispose in garbage cans with tight lids that other animals can't open.
Always wear protective gloves when handling any dead animal.
Since 1994, DFG's Pesticide Investigations Unit has confirmed at least 136 cases of wildlife poisoning from anticoagulant rodenticides.
More information on protecting wildlife and pets from rodenticide baits is on the DFG website at www.dfg.ca.gov/education/rodenticide.
More information on voles and alternatives to poison can be found on the University of California, Davis Integrated Pest Management Program website at www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7439.html.
About the authors
Joe Segura, a mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper, has covered Gotham City, er Long Beach, for 34 years. During his very, very long -- endless -- tenure, he's covered almost every beat, and he was the main writer for BeachWeek, which focused on life and lifestyles of the shoreline communities from downtown Long Beach to the Huntington Beach pier.
He's also been keenly interested in environmental issues, long before green became fashionable, writing extensively about the battles to save Bolsa Chica (Huntington Beach), Hellman (Seal Beach) and Los Cerritos (Long Beach) wetlands.
E-mail Joe at joe.segura@presstelegram.com.
