Public shooting grounds on the department's Imperial Waterfowl Man- 

 agement Area in Imperial Valley yielded this bag of ducks to Glenn 

 Leslie of Burbank. 



(Fish and Game Photo) 



One segment consists of big game management proj- 

 ects throughout the State and the other of big game 

 investigations. Both are coordinated regionally and 

 state-wide. 



MANAGEMENT 



Field personnel of a former big game studies project 

 were transferred to the various regions to work with 

 other regional personnel in obtaining information 

 needed for proper management of deer and other big 

 game animals. The deer herd studies which were in 

 progress under the former project have been com- 

 pleted. 



Mimeographed final reports have been issued on the 

 Inyo-Sierra deer herds, three Siskiyou County deer 

 herds, an inner coast range deer study and a south 

 coast range deer study. Four final reports are under 

 preparation on harvest and yield of the Barton's Flat 

 deer, the San Joaquin deer herds, deer of the Kern 

 River drainage and two Yolla Bolla unit deer herds. 



One field man in Region I has been assigned to con- 

 tinue the antelope investigation. This investigation 

 aims at discovering and reducing the factors which 

 have held down antelope productivity in this State. 

 Findings of the former project have been published 

 in a mimeographed report entitled "Northeastern 

 California Antelope Studies." So far the results of the 

 investigation indicate that neither predation nor dis- 



ease are important factors in the low survival of ante- 

 lope kids. Indications at this time are that some range 

 component on California's submarginal antelope range 

 is in short supply. A survey of antelope stocking sites 

 was made. 



No formal investigation of the state-wide status of 

 bighorn sheep has been made, but information on 

 this big game species has been gathered whenever the 

 opportunity presented itself. A survey of possible 

 planting sites in the Trinity Alps indicated that .suc- 

 cessful introduction of bighorn sheep into this area 

 would be extremely doubtful due to a lack of suitable 

 \\ intering areas. 



INVESTIGATIONS 



Fquall\- important with the management phase of 

 the project is the range investigations phase. It con- 

 sists of probing the effects of brush removal on game 

 ranges in California and stud\'ing the problem of game 

 range restoration. 



The brush removal investigation is being conducted 

 by the University of California under a service agree- 

 ment with the department. The work is now focused 

 on effects of brush management on deer of the San 

 Joaquin (Aladera County near the north fork of the 

 San Joaquin River) migratory deer winter range. 



Intensive studies are in progress on the effects of 

 different types of brush treatments on forage produc- 

 tion, deer numbers and movements, and over-all range 

 condition. 



Information on deer movements already obtained 

 from observations of, and returns from, 134 belled 

 deer have changed former concepts about migration 

 routes and summer ranges of this deer herd. 



Game Range Restoration. This part of the project 

 is being continued under a service agreement \\ ith the 

 California Forest and Range E.xperiment Station. Its 

 purpose is to develop means of increasing desirable 

 deer browse on depleted ranges. 



During the period, the investigation has progressed 

 from small plot trials of bitterbrush seeding to experi- 

 mental field plantings. Bitterbrush has been grown suc- 

 cessfully with proper soil preparation and planting, 

 but search for less expensive and more practical seed- 

 ing methods is still in progress. The scope of the 



Trapping ducks for banding on Los Bonos Waterfowl Management Area. 

 (Fish and Game Photo by Wendell Miller) 



^M^^'' 



