CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



135 



meadows and flats. Bucks are often seea 

 at the timber line on Brokeoff Mountain 

 and Lassen Peak at an altitude of 

 approximately O.jOO feet. At the time of 

 the first snows both bucks and does 

 begin to move to the foothills. Ordi- 

 narily they all follow one or two 

 routes. One of the best known of these 

 is down the ridge between Deer and Mill 

 creeks, just north of game refuge 1-G. 

 The last few days of the season dozens 

 of hunters congregate in that area and' 

 slaughter the deer as they move out. We 

 are not prepared to make a definite 

 recommendation at this time but it seems 

 that it would be advisable to extend the 

 refuge to include this area. Another well 

 defined deer trail is the ridge between 

 Mill Creek and Battle Creek at Mineral. 

 There are a number of hunters here late 

 in the season too but apparently not 

 enough to warrant the creation of a game 

 refuge. The winter range is the foothills 

 below pine timber. The summer feed is 

 largely browse with a little grass and 

 with acorns. Rutting season is from No- 

 vember 1 to December 15 and the young 

 are born from May 1 to July 1. As a 

 rule, the fawns are in pairs, one doe and 

 one buck. The bucks shed their horns 

 from Februai-y 1.5 to April 1. Deer were 

 fairly plentiful last year, but apparently 

 have decreased 5 per cent in the past 

 twenty years. The area in game x-efuge 

 1-G is well adapted for the purpose in- 

 tended but we are advised that game 

 violations are frequent. Owing to the 

 remoteness of the area from (he center 

 of the forest and the press of other work 

 forest officers are unable to give the ref- 

 uge the protection that it should have. 

 If wardens could be appointed for the 

 area much better results would bo secured. 

 During the winter, when the state game 

 wardens are known to be in the rice fields, 

 game trespassers are said to be numerous 

 in the foothills. Very probably an occa- 

 sional trip by the state game wardens 

 would lessen this form of game violation 

 50 per cent. 



The Lassen offers some of the best 

 trout fishing in California. The rainbow 

 are indigenous to practically all of the 

 streams. In past years rainbow, eastern 

 brook, Lock Leven and black-spotted fry 

 have been planted. Of these the eastern 

 brook and rainbow have done the best. 

 No record has been kept of the relative 



number of each species planted but it is 

 found that in the streams planted the 

 rainbow have done the best in the deeply 

 shaded canyons while the eastern brook, 

 black-spotted and Lock Leven have done 

 better in the open stream as it flows 

 through meadows. In Battle Creek at 

 Mineral a catch will average 60 per cent 

 eastern brook, 5 per cent Lock Leven. 

 10 per cent black-spotted and 25 per cent 

 rainbow in the meadow and will iiin 90 

 per cent rainbow in the canyon less than 

 a mile away. The part of the stream 

 through the meadow has been more heav- 

 ily planted than has the part of the 

 stream in the canyon. Several of the 

 small lakes within the forest have been 

 planted. Steelhead were planted in Juni- 

 per and Grassy lakes in the summer of 

 1914. Two and three pound fish were 

 taken from this lake in 1918 and some 

 reported to weigh ten pounds in 1919. 

 There has been considerable discussion as 

 to whether these fish will spawn in the 

 lake as it has no streams running into 

 or from it. Some have contended that 

 as the fish are unable to spawn in their 

 usual habits they will die and that within 

 a few years the lake shore will be covered 

 with dead fish. This has not occurred 

 as yet. The trout planted in most of the 

 streams have remained quite small. The 

 California Fish and Game Commission 

 have established a hatchery and egg tak- 

 ing station within the forest at Domingo 

 Springs on the Feather River and are 

 planning another one on Warner Creek. 

 Both of these streams have a big run of 

 rainbow at si>awning time and afford ex- 

 cellent fishing. Steelhead and salmon run 

 up both Deer and Battle creeks from the 

 Sacramento River at spawning time. In 

 both streams there is a high falls that 

 keeps them from reaching the headwaters. 

 However, it might be advantageous to 

 blast out these falls. During the early 

 eruptions of Mount Lassen and the sub- 

 sequent flood all of the trout in Hat 

 Creek were either washed away or killed. 

 For the past several years there have 

 been practically no fish in the creek. The 

 stream is now becoming clearer, however, 

 and the fish are beginning to appear 

 again. The waters of this stream are 

 largely used for irrigation and the resi- 

 dents prefer not to have the stream 

 stocked so that they will not be compelled 

 to put in fish screens. 



