108 DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME 





To provide ponds for waterfowl often requires construction of levees on management areas. 

 Such work requires the use of heavy equipment. 



GAME INVENTORY POLLS 



The same procedure that was used in 1948 to determine the state-wide 

 game kill was used again during the past biennium. This process, as recom- 

 mended by the Opinion Research Center of the University of Denver, 

 consists of taking a 2 percent random sample of hunting license buyers 

 and mailing each hunter selected a double post card questionnaire. The 

 number of cards returned from this sample are divided into the number 

 of hunting licenses sold to obtain the correction factor that is used to 

 determine the state-wide kill figures. Listed below for comparison are the 

 state-wide game kill figures for the years 1948-1950. 



1948 1949 1950 



Pheasants 586,100 388,700 398,100 



Ducks 3,077,000 2,282,800 1,966,300 



Geese 356,000 254,900 229,400 



Quail 1,714,391 1,132,800 1,129,100 



Doves 2,572,400 1,886,300 1,756,200 



Band-tailed pigeons 314,800 88,300 178,400 



' Bears 2,112 2,950 5,700 



Cottontail and brush rabbits 597,300 357,900 304,400 



Jackrabbits 875,400 573,900 683,200 



Tree squirrels 74,200 21,100 45,000 



It will be noted that for most species the 1950 kill figures approximate 

 those for 1949. Field reports indicated a better population of pheasants 

 in 1950 than in 1949, but the kill was nearly the same for the two years, 

 reflecting the unfavorable weather conditions that were experienced dur- 

 ing the 1950 hunting season. The 1950 kill of band-tailed pigeons was 

 double the 1949 kill, and reflects the larger pigeon flight that was noted 

 in 1950. However, both the 1950 pigeon flight and resulting kill did not 

 approach that experienced in 1948. 



Data on California's deer kill are obtained from the deer tag report 

 cards which are mailed in by successful hunters. The annual deer kill 

 is shown in Table 4, Appendix D. As a check on the validity of the post 



