TlllinV-FOURTH BIENNIAL REPORT 25 



REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF GAME CONSERVATION 



By J. S. Hunter, Chief 



Game conservation today involves many more problems than were 

 dreamed of in the early days when protective laws were first adopted. 

 In California, with a constantly increasinf;: popnlation and the develop- 

 ment that naturally goes with it, it is becoming more and more difficuk 

 to keep ahead of the harvest of game and fish by the army of licensed 

 hunters. Guess work as to supply and demand will not give the infor- 

 mation we must have. In order to secure the information necessary, 

 we must have the hearty cooperation of the men who hunt and fish. 

 It is for that reason that we have requested all sportsmen to give us a 

 record of the amount of game that they harvest each year. It is nothing 

 more or less than the successful storekeeper does every year in taking 

 stock. Just as this man must know what is on his shelves and what 

 goes over the counter, we must know what is in the field and the toll 

 that has been taken. The first year's tabulation of the kill has proven 

 that as a game state California is in the first rank. Approximately 50 

 per cent of the 122,000 hunters tabulated gave the information 

 requested. This voluntary return is very much better than the com- 

 pulsory return that is required in certain eastern states. The actual 

 amount of game reported killed during the 1934—35 season was : 



Dovps 580.110 



(^i:iil (all species) 560,481 



Di.cUs 380,242 



riseoiis 51 ,050 



(leese 40,278: 



I'licasMiits _^ 25,220 



Rabbits (Cottontail ami Brush) 251,801 



Coyotes 14.250 



Bear 447 



By just what factor these figures should be multiplied to make up 

 the actual kill of the 170,000 lumters is problematical but the real kill 

 was certainly double the above figures. 



The distribution of the game of the state is very well shown by the 

 list of the ten leading counties in the take of the various species of game 

 and by the composite map on page 26. One of the most surprising and 

 interesting records obtained was as to the number of coyotes killed by 

 hunters, viz., 14,259. This figure, as stated above, should be multiplied 

 by two to give the approximate number. Coyotes are regarded by 

 sheepmen and farmers generally as their worst enemies. Certainly the 

 hunter is not an altogether undesirable individual to have roaming over 

 the hills when he kills in his travels this vast number of destructive 

 predators. The quail harvest would have been much larger had it 

 not been for the fact that by regulation the southern counties were 

 closed to hunting in 1934. 



