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I understand the very low odds for elk and there are around 36,000 applicants for 350 elk tags. Horrible odds no matter how you slice it. That is one reason I changed one of the Fund Raising tags to be raffled off. First it did give the general public a chance at a tag that they never had...

Wanted to ask you more about your statement "and give away 40 elk tags a year!" Not sure what you are exactly referring to. California has 3 elk tags that are designated fund raising tags (I believe it is set in Fish and Game Code". Typically these tags are awarded to NGO's and the money they...

Once we complete a new Environmental Document we can adjust those tag quotas. Just adding more tags with only one piece of public property will only mess up everyone's hunt. Need additional periods, etc to spread them out.

The Fish and Game Commission tag adoption meeting is Wednesday April 26 in Van Nuys (I think). Tag quotas will be adopted them. Big Game Booklet will most likely be online next week(it is with the contractor now going over final edits)and sent out in print format shortly after that. Joe

The odds for the random draw fund raising tags are obviously not "good". These are tags not out of the general pool and would never go to preference point holders. They are designated to raise funds and were typically auctioned off by Non-profits each year. They have taken one fund raising...

There are over 300 elk on the island before calving season this year. The herd is above objective and hence the increase in tags. Good luck on your hunts,it is a fun time. Joe

I do not work with deer but part of what the program does is use meat locker reports and compare them to tag returns. They will get the tag info from the meat locker and then compare that to returned tags and calculate a percent of people that obviously harvested a deer (meat locker) but did...

Not sure what you are asking here? The State has 3 fundraising elk tags. One is used in the random drawing for the $5 a chance and it is at Grizzly Island this year. We have two other fund raising elk tags that are auctioned off from non-profits such as Mule Deer or CDA. They can keep up to...

I was not involved in the sheep plants in Yosemite. That is a nongame program and not run out of the Big Game Program in Sacramento. I have no idea on how many people attended or what happened. I can tell you that typically with the helicopter they try to maximize its time in an area. I know...

I do not believe I danced around the question at all. Tags were reduced in the Owens Valley due to the elk surveys. Tags have been reduced over the last several years in the Owens Valley. There are no wolves close to the Owens Valley. There are no plans to reduce our elk harvest to allow...

Not sure what there is really to mention about wolves at this point in time. There are only a handful within the state, the elk harvest in that zone stayed the same and is fairly conservative (most of our elk tag quotas are). In most areas elk are filling in within historical range and a...

Let me try to set a few things correct. Typically elk surveys in the Owens Valley (OV) are flown in the summer with a fixed-wing plane and ground counts. This method has been utilized for a very long time. On occasion a helicopter is used. Since the helicopter crash and death of all those on...

Never heard of that. Where did you hear it? Joe

Just wanted to let you all know that due to increased military training that FHL will be closed to elk hunting in 2016. Elk Hunts Cancelled at Fort Hunter Liggett for 2016/17 Season Fort Hunter Liggett (FHL) has sponsored tule elk hunts since 1996, however, its primary mission is to support...

Just and fyi, these are additional elk hunts for CA, no points are used or gained. You can apply for these in addition to the regular elk hunts. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife?s (CDFW) Shared Habitat Alliance for Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) program is offering elk hunting...

I wanted to add that no one is happy that it happened. I am just trying to layout some other info on that particular group of animals. Joe

Whether anyone likes it or not, it is what happened. I would ask this, what is a different alternative? or what would you have done? Say you knew that they were dying of thirst (and that is a guess of what happened and they did not find them in the process of dying). During the annual counts...

First, it was the Center for Biological Diversity who sent out the intitial press release about the elk that died that started the string of articles, so the animal rights people are speaking out and loudly. Most people do not understand the background of the situation at Point Reyes. In fact...

Wolves is a whole issue onto itself. It is probably going to be one of those things were options are limited due to its special status. I can say our deer and elk densities are probably not what the other areas that have them are at. The La Panza zone is another zone that I think could use...

It would be great if the people you know would allow hunting. If they are serious please have them call me and I can include their contact information within the hunt package. It has become very difficult to find public land where we can relocate tule elk that meets the criteria. One of those...

I do not think the Cache Creek herd is increasing. We have relocated a lot of elk to that area over the years and the counts stay relatively the same. That is actually a tough place to make a living during the summer. It is very dry and not a lot of green groceries for most of the unit. It...

Which hunt are you referring to as having only one tag? I may be able to give you more information if I know which area we are talking about. The total number of tags last year did go down, that was mainly do to a couple things. One, antlerless tags in teh Owens Valley were cut to almost none...

I would defintely say our herds are slowly expanding and increasing. In general the Department has increased elk tags through time and established new hunts. It is a trade off with harvesting elk and still allow the herds to grow and expand. If you harvest to much of one herd you will never...

RE: Mule Deer skin disease? hard to tell but it could be lice. Blacktails out here have a couple different kinds of exotic lice. They are very small but there could be a couple in the pic but it is hard to tell. Joe

It really depends on the hunt. Hunts with fewer tags are obviously more likely to not have tags returned. Hunts with higher tag quotas are more likely to have something come up, got sick, moved out of state, forgot to pay, died, etc. Every year tags get returned but it really does depend on...

It is difficult to make assumptions with respect to predation. If you have fawns that are low birth weight due to the health of the doe (she did not get the resources she needed to have higher birth weights, or any such combination of factors) then they are predisposed to higher rates of...

I believe the demand for tags far outweighs selling them for the highest price. Even if you just looked at it from an economical standpoint. People pay for a bonus point or what have you, that creates a lot of revenue outside of just the price of the tag. The reality is if you sold all the...

One thing I think some people are missing when talking about "genetics" is it is not truly a discussion about genetics but a discussion about one small genetic trait (antler size - as measured by humans). Half of a bucks genetics come from his mother to start with. The ability to put on fat...

I hear the phrase I have X number of chances under another system because they cube/square/double the points. That is not a very good measure of actual odds. What are the actual odds of getting a tag under those systems? If you can put in for multiple hunts like Nevada you can count of more...

Pretty sure the RMEF show is in Las Vegas again this year. Are the tickets good for that show?

Congratulations on that tag. It is a good hunt but not an easy hunt. All the property within that zone open to hunting is on Timber Company lands. Send me an e-mail if you want some additional info, I have a little and can get you in touch with the unit biologist who knows more about that...

Seems I may have created more confusion than clarity. There are two different types of tags other than general draw tags. There are landowner tags and there are PLM tags. Landowner tags work this way, for any particular hunt (single hunt code) 20% of the alloted tags are available to...

I can fully understand everyones concern. We do not require that they be fully closed to public hunting. Under the PLM rules they are no longer in that zone, they are their own zone now. They could allow public access other than for those species which are included in their PLM management...

Let me see if I can make a few things clear. Roseburg decided they wanted to join the PLM program. That is 100% their choice as long as they meet the requirements. Any property enrolled in the PLM program is no longer considered part of the zone if they are harvesting animals. So if you have...

You also have to keep in mind the condition of animals going into winter. I believe this plays a huge role in their survival and the survival of fawns. One biologist I use to work with who studied deer for 30 years believed the amount of rainfall in October played a big part in the condition...

All the dollars generated by the auction tags and random drawing tags go into a big game fund (along with tag fees from the big game species). These dollars are dedicated dollars that can only be used for big game, such as research, habitat work, and enforcement. There is an oversight committe...

I can not speak for other agencies as I do not know the particulars for what is being talked about or the history of what they have tried or not tried. Transplants have worked, just need to look at the situation you have and make an informed decision if it is worth the time and resources...

I will admit that from time to time transplanting animals has worked (obviously from where some herds are today -Santa Rosa Island- elk in the west, and tule elk which is a great example of transplanting animals). The first several attempts at relocating tule elk killed every single one...

Relocating animals can be very expensive and always seem easy and cheap at first glance, but once you start looking at it you quickly realize it can get expensive fast. Here are some things that you need to think about and can add up quickly. I am just dumping my thoughts here so I apologize...

Beginning in 2011 Auction tags in CA now go into a big game management fund, so the proceeds from the tag that was auctioned off in SLC go directly into this fund to be used only on big game projects. The elk tag that was auctioned off brought in a near record low amount for that tag.