120 DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME 



Santa Barbara Deer Hunt 



In order to alleviate deer damage to agricultural crops and reduce the 

 number of deer on an overbrowsed range, three large ranches in Santa 

 Barbara County, cooperating with the Department of Fish and Game, 

 opened their lands for a controlled deer hunt in 1951. A total of 600 

 permits was issued on a first-come, first-served basis at Lompoc. Of this 

 number, 543 hunters took part in the hunt. To prevent an undue concen- 

 tration of hunters, permit holders were assigned to specific ranches and 

 allotted certain hunting periods. These hunters shot 265 antlerless deer 

 for an average success of 49 percent. 



Grass Valley Special Hunt 



Similar to the Santa Barbara hunt, ranchers near Grass Valley in 

 Nevada County cooperated with the Department of Fish and Game in 

 opening their lands for a controlled deer hunt in 1951. Here, too, a large 

 deer population was overbrowsing its range and causing damage to sur- 

 rounding agricultural crops. For this hunt 350 permits were issued at 

 Grass Valley on a first-come first-served basis. A total of 281 hunters 

 used their permits and shot 188 antlerless deer for an average success of 

 67 percent. 



Lassen-Washoe Special Hunt 



Since 1948 representatives of the Nevada Fish and Game Commission, 

 the Bureau of Land Management, the U. S. Forest Service, and the Cali- 

 fornia Department of Fish and Game have conducted investigations of 

 the mule deer herd which winters along the state line in Lassen County, 

 California, and "Washoe County, Nevada. These studies have shown that 

 this winter deer range was being damaged by a large deer population and 

 numerous cattle. To help prevent further depletion of the better browse 

 plants and perennial grasses, livestock grazing was reduced, and in 1951 

 an antlerless deer hunt was held to insure an increased harvest of the 

 deer herd. 



For this hunt 1,413 permits were issued by lottery, and 1,356 hunters 

 took part in the hunt. These hunters shot 1,268 deer for an average suc- 

 cess of 94 percent. 



Results of all special deer hunts and the annual deer kill for the regular 

 hunting season appear in Appendix D. 



UPLAND GAME BIRD PRODUCTION 



The production of upland game birds by state game farms reached an 

 all-time high record during the biennium when a total of 205,521 birds 

 was liberated. Of this number 200,626 were ring-necked pheasants, 426 

 Reeves pheasants, 2,093 chukar partridge, 2,273 valley quail and 103 

 wild stock turkeys. A summary of game bird liberations will be found 

 in Table 5, Appendix D. 



Most of the increase in upland game bird production can be attributed 

 to more efficient operation of the game farms. Then too, the weather 

 during the two breeding seasons of the biennium was nearly ideal for 

 raising birds. 



