Cs oct web

PROP 63!

The Impact On Gun Owners & Hunters

NO TRICKS, JUST TREATS!

Tips For Ducks, Bucks & Doves

ALSO INSIDE

CHINOOK SECRETS

Guides Reveal Feather & Sac Set-ups Smith, Chetco, Klamath prospects

+

Owens River Trout SoCal Paddy Hopping San V Bassin’ Reopens

U|xaHBEIGy01291rzuv,:!

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Sportsman

California Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 9 • Issue 1 PUBLISHER James R. Baker GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EXECUTIVE EDITOR Andy Walgamott EDITOR Chris Cocoles CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Brittany Boddington LEAD WRITER Tim E. Hovey CONTRIBUTORS Bill Adelman, Sean Brady, Mark Fong, Brad Hall, Scott Haugen, Tiffany Haugen, Todd Kline, Jeff Lund, David Matza, Albert Quackenbush, Bill Schaefer SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Steve Joseph, Garn Kennedy, Dave Marshall, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold PRODUCTION MANAGER Sonjia Kells DESIGNERS Michelle Hatcher, Sam Rockwell, Liz Weickum PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Kelly Baker

DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines DIGITAL ASSISTANT Samantha Morstan OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTING Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn CIRCULATION MANAGER Heidi Belew ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@calsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email ccocoles@media-inc.com Twitter @CalSportsMan Facebook.com/californiasportsmanmagazine ON THE COVER Think Ryan Weaver’s excited about the start of 2016’s waterfowl seasons?! Duck, scaup and goose hunting begins Oct. 8 in the Northeastern Zone, and much of the rest of California gets going about two weeks later. (ROBERT VELIKANJE, BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST) MEDIA INC PUBLISHING GROUP CALIFORNIA OFFICE 4517 District Blvd. • Bakersfield, CA 93313 (661) 381-7533 WASHINGTON OFFICE P.O. Box 24365 • Seattle, WA 98124-0365 14240 Interurban Ave. S., Suite 190 Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (206) 382-9220 • (800) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 9 • ISSUE 1

FEATURES

(TIM E. HOVEY)

51

CHINOOK SHARPIES SPEAK! Two rivers full of spawning salmon; two guides who fish those waters with different tactics; plenty of kings for both! Mark Fong picks the brains of Sacramento River aficionado James Netzel, and Manuel Saldana Jr., whose home water is on the Feather, for their hot tips on how to slay more kings this fall!

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Last month we ran an excerpt of Kirk Lombard’s informative yet quirky book, The Sea Forager’s Guide to the Northern California Coast. We had so much fun chatting with this forager, sustainable seafood business owner, musician and baseball fan, we decided to share more of Lombard’s musings about the coastal critters he’s so fond of.

Editor Chris Cocoles interviews the salty author on “poke poling,” fishing tips he learned from “Cambodian Stan,” leading tour groups on the tide flats, his two bands and more!

FOWLIN’ ON SALTY WATER

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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

DEPARTMENTS

51

13 17

77 105 109 119 151

Expectations high for Chetco, Smith Rivers fall Chinook Better days expected for second dove hunting season Waterfowl season primer Paddy hopping for dorado, exotic saltwater species off San Diego A bucket-list trout trip to the Eastern Sierra’s Owens River Prop 63 a critical vote for responsible gun owners Reloading tips for hunters

25 27 33 49 139

The Editor’s Note Protecting Wild California: Eliminating an unwanted goat from bighorn sheep country Outdoor Calendar Adventures of Todd Kline Browning, Fishing Photo Contests winners Rig of the Month: Boondoggling salmon set-up Urban Huntress: Spur-of-themoment Alaskan brown bear hunt

A BASS FACTORY REOPENS San Diego-area anglers rejoiced in late September when San Vicente Lake – a longtime favorite fishin’ hole for largemouth and home to the staterecord blue catfish – reopened after an eight-year hiatus while improvements were made. Bass-happy local fisherman Bill Schaefer stopped by in the first couple of days to test the waters, and he shares what he found!

Waterfowlers’ favorite time of the year is upon them with most of the state’s hunting zones opening this month. While duck hunting is bigger in the north, our SoCal scribe Tim Hovey found a spot closer to home – the Salton Sea – to get in some shooting. Tim shows us around the salty (and sometimes smelly) marshes that can be full of ducks and geese.

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FORAGING SAN FRAN BAY

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BLACKTAILS BY SCENT Field to Fire columnist Scott Haugen gets a little nosey as he breaks down how blacktail bucks lay down their scents to inform their comrades about their prerut presence. After you fill your fall tag with his tips, check out Tiffany Haugen’s recipe for taming gamey bucks with a delicious caper and marinade venison dish.

California Sportsman goes digital!

Read California Sportsman on your desktop or mobile device. Only $1.89 an issue. Go to www.calsportsmanmag.com/digital California Sportsman is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Send address changes to California Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 3829220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues are available at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2016 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A. 10 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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12 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

THEEDITOR’SNOTE

Jeff Lund, seen here with a Sacramento River rainbow, ultimately enjoyed his trip to the Owens River, even if the trout weren’t biting. (JEFF LUND)

J

eff Lund normally writes for this magazine’s sister publication, Alaska Sporting Journal, so it’s a treat when we get to share one of his adventures here in California Sportsman.

Besides fishing and writing, Jeff and I have at least one other passion: basketball. He’s played and coached it, I’ve tried to play it – I can shoot and rebound a bit, when I’m not gasping for breath after a few trips up and down the floor – and we both love to watch the sport. (Jeff is a University of Arizona alum, and my underdog school, Fresno State, almost stunned the mighty Wildcats last season before he had the last laugh.)

Maybe more so than with any of my other dedicated writers, I’ve found myself nodding my head relating to Jeff’s thoughts on the outdoors. His contribution this month was about a long-anticipated trout trip to the Owens River recently. When he arrived, Jeff’s buddy told him that the iconic waterway flanked by snowcapped Eastern Sierra peaks wasn’t fishing well. But he didn’t care; with its “appeal of open, meadow-splashed solitude,” he’d always wanted to dip a line in the Owens.

Sure, catching trout at some other more productive river nearby was an option, but Jeff’s landed his share of trout, both back in Alaska and during his days teaching and coaching basketball in California. It was more about the destination than the fish.

I remember as a little kid joining my dad on one of his classic car club tours that stopped at the Lake Sonoma Visitor’s Center and Fish Hatchery north of San Francisco. When I saw the lake, I was mesmerized by the idea of trying a new place to catch a fish.

I think I mentioned coming back to fish there someday about 100 times. Finally, months later, my begging was answered and we took a Sunday drive back across the Golden Gate Bridge. We parked, I pulled out my light spinning rod and tackle box and headed straight for the bait shop to buy some nightcrawlers.

I just knew I’d catch a bunch of catfish ... but I didn’t even get a nibble. While I’d at least made it to Lake Sonoma, I was flabbergasted by the lack of bites. Desperate to reel something in, I spotted a bunch of other kids with bobbers on a dock enticing little bluegill.

I changed approaches and caught and released a couple of those, then told Dad I was ready to get lunch. It wasn’t the perfect day I’d hoped for, though looking back I hope I appreciated it.

Did Jeff and I brick our free throws? Hell no; nothing but net, baby, even if hardly anything fishy landed in our nets. -Chris Cocoles

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PROTECTING

WILD CALIFORNIA

THE PAIN FROM SPAIN:

ELIMINATING AN UNWANTED GOAT

Longtime biologist Tim Hovey was surveying a pond at the Walker Canyon Ecological Reserve in San Diego County when he spotted an animal that has no business being in Southern California, what was likely a Spanish brush goat. Either wrongly released by its owner or an escapee from a farm, the worry was that it could carry diseases that might infect native wildlife at the desert watering hole, so it had to be lethally removed. (TIM E. HOVEY)

By Tim E. Hovey

I

headed down Interstate 8 in eastern San Diego County towards the Walker Canyon Ecological Reserve.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife had recently acquired the property and I was scheduled to evaluate a small pond discovered on the parcel. The department botanist had discovered the pond during a previous visit and he was sure that he had spotted fish in the desert pool.

At the time, I was working for the Lands Department, assigned to evaluate any fisheries issues on pieces of property acquired by CDFW. With the report of the pond, it was my job to check it out.

Following the waypoint and a wellworn game trail, I didn’t have any prob-

lem finding the small pond. It was completely surrounded by vegetation and appeared to be spring-fed. I put the electro-fisher on my back and powered it up. The unit takes the power of a lithium battery and runs it through a stepup transformer. The resulting charge can be used to electrify the water, sending any stunned fish to the surface. It’s the easiest way to evaluate fish species that may be present in small bodies of water.

THESE PRINTS DON’T MATCH After about 10 minutes of shocking the small pool, I was confident that the small pond was absent of fish. As I was getting out of the water, I noticed several sets of prints along the muddy bank. Most were of the average variety, but one set had me puzzled. They were of a hoofed

animal, but not a deer. The tracks were wider and stouter than those of a deer and they were the predominant track around the water hole. Whatever it was, it spent a lot of time near the pond.

I gathered up my gear and started hiking back to the truck. The property is bordered on one side by Interstate 8.

At the bottom of a steep embankment and parallel to the road is a dry riverbed. On the far side of the dry creek the property starts gaining elevation again and is made up of fields of large boulders. The jumble of rock eventually surpasses the height of the road and looks almost impenetrable. I actually remember saying to myself, “Looks like a good place for a mountain goat.”

Once back at the truck I loaded up my gear and took one last peek out to-

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PROTECTING

WILD CALIFORNIA wards the boulder fields. About halfway up the stack of rock I spotted something. I grabbed my binoculars and focused them on the creature standing on a rock ledge watching me. It was mostly brown with black legs and a white face.

The horns curled up and out. I realized that this was the animal that had left the tracks down by the watering hole.

It was a type of goat, perhaps what is sometimes known as a Spanish brush goat. Nobody knows for certain who had it before or how it got to the canyon.

Back at the office I emailed the land supervisor about my findings at the pond. As a side note I mentioned the goat sighting. The immediate response made it clear that the goat’s days were numbered.

The large mammal biologist mentioned that they had been trying to capture it using net guns and helicopters but had failed. He also stated that it occupied a piece of property adjacent to wild bighorn sheep territory, and there was a very real possibility that the exotic goat could pass diseases to the endangered native sheep.

When I explained that the animal had been frequenting the water hole, he made it very clear he wanted it gone.

A few days later I was back out

by Walker Canyon with a rifle in the truck. My supervisor knew that I hunted and suggested I make a trip out to see if I could take care of the animal.

WHERE’S THAT GOAT? I arrived at the property and started glassing from the road. I sat there for an hour looking for the goat without success. I grabbed my pack, loaded up some water and the rifle and headed into the canyon.

I picked my way through the smaller boulders at the base of the mountain. I quickly realized that getting around the bigger boulders was going to be tough.

The rocks were as large as cars and there was no clear path up the mountain.

An hour from the truck, I sat down

to take a break, grabbed my binoculars and again searched the boulder fields for the goat. I also wanted to see if I could find an easier path to the top. Less than a minute after searching, I spotted something at the top of the rock mountain.

The goat was standing at the edge of a rockwall starThe author was convinced he could get to the goat by sidestepping along a rock ing right at me. lip leading up a makeshift path. But when it put him 25 feet above the ground, I was encourhe realized he was risking serious injury or worse just to get close to the animal. (TIM E. HOVEY) aged that I had spotted the animal. However, the path between I slung the rifle and started sidehim and me was not only daunting stepping along the rock lip. I spread but looked impossible to navigate. both hands out to steady myself I decided to change tactics and move and to grip any available edge. I around the east side of the mountain. I knew the path was sketchy, but I dropped down to the dry creek and didn’t see any other way around it. hiked half a mile upstream. I worked my About halfway up, I peered down way to the smaller lowland boulders. and noticed I was a good 25 feet above During this time the goat was out of view the ground. My palms were sweaty and on the far side of the boulder fields. and I didn’t feel at all comfortable. I I slung the rifle and started climbmoved my left hand over to get a beting over the rocks to get to a flat area ter grip and my wedding ring clanked I had spotted from the creek. I figloudly on a granite crevice. I looked ured if I could get there, I could put a at my hand and a wave of disappointstalk on the goat, wherever he was. ment washed through me. I felt like a The only problem was getting there. complete idiot for putting myself in a dangerous position to chase a goat.

Message received, I backtracked TRAVERSING THE ROCK down the rock lip to flat ground. I At high noon I found myself at the face knew I was done and I had no issues of a stone wall about 30 feet high. I gathering up all my stuff and heading needed to get around it to make progback to the truck. In my opinion, I had ress and this seemed like the only way. crossed the line between simply getA rock lip started a few feet above ting a task done and obsessing about it. ground, and like a staircase it rose with the wall, ending at a level spot near the top. It appeared to be the obviANOTHER CHANCE ous path around the obstruction, but At the bottom I took one last look the problem was the lip was no more at the boulder field that had beaten than 10 inches wide and would reme. In all that stone, movement was quire that I use both hands to navigate. easy to spot. The goat hopped up on

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PROTECTING

WILD CALIFORNIA a boulder a little over 200 yards away and surveyed the valley. He had come around the mountain to check on me.

Before he spotted me, I dropped down behind the nearest boulder and set up the rifle, checked the range and knew that I could make the shot. I centered the crosshairs on his chest and fired. The goat leaped into the air and was gone.

After a more comfortable hike, I found the animal only a few feet from where I had taken the shot. The Walker Canyon goat would no longer be a threat to the endangered bighorn sheep. Checking on my GPS, I noticed I had put in 7 miles to take the goat.

A NECESSARY JOB A few weeks later I was part of a bighorn sheep capture party that collected data from the endangered ani-

When he was about to give up the chase, Hovey spotted the goat about 200 yards away perched atop a boulder. With a safer path to get within shooting range, he managed to put down the unwanted animal. (TIM E. HOVEY)

mals. Helicopter crews using net guns would gather the sheep and bring them back to base camp, where we’d check on their health and collect data.

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During a lull in the activity, I asked one of the vets about the biggest threat to the species. Without hesitating he stated disease from other an-

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PROTECTING

WILD CALIFORNIA imals not indigenous to the area. He then mentioned the issues they were having with the goat over near Walker.

He said that even a healthy non-native animal can be a threat to the reduced numbers of bighorn sheep.

Even so, when I think about the day I went after the Walker goat, I don’t think about the shot or the stalk. I think about the line I crossed that put me in a dangerous position.

I use that episode to remind myself that I have a family that depends on me, and not to cross that line again.

I now have a photo of me and the goat in my office. When people ask me about it, I give them the same answer I’ve given for years: that goat almost killed me, despite how important it was to eliminate it and help protect the area’s native species. CS

So why was it so important for Hovey (center) to eliminate the Spanish goat? The potential it carried diseases that would harm native and endangered bighorn sheep in the area. Any invasive species can cause fatal harm to California wildlife. (TIM E. HOVEY)

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NEW ZEALAND BIG GAME HUNTING

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OCTOBER 1 1-2

Deer opener in most X Zone areas Big Bear Lake Troutfest (bigbearlake .net/events/big-bear-troutfest) 8 Northeastern Zone opener for ducks, scaup and dark and white geese 8 Zone D-11, D-13, D-17 deer hunting openers 9 Delta King Salmon Derby (centralvalleyanglers.org) 9 Sacramento River King Salmon Derby (916-665-1788) 14-16 Fly Fishing Faire, Tri-County Fairgrounds, Bishop (southwestcouncilfff.org/council/faire) 15 Zone X-9c deer opener 15 Zone Q1 all quail opener 15 General chukar opener 15 General snipe opener 15-16 Shasta Lake Trout Derby (shastalaketroutderby.com 21 Colorado River Zone opener for ducks and geese 22 Southern San Joaquin Valley Zone opener for ducks and geese 22 Southern California Zone opener for ducks and geese 22 Balance of State Zone opener for ducks and geese

28-30 Morrison’s Bonus Derby, Convict Lake (convictlake.com/activities/ fishing/derbies/ambush-derby) 29 Striper Fishermen’s Challenge, San Joaquin Delta (anglerspress.com)

MIXED BAG

Note: In California, general bear season opens concurrently with general deer season in the A, B, C, D, X8, X9A, X9B, X10 and X12 deer hunting zones. In the remaining deer hunting X zones, bear season begins October 8.

NOVEMBER 4-6

SoCal Sportsman’s and Outdoors Recreation Show, Southern California Fair and Event Center, Perris (socalsportsmensshow.com) 5 Southern San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, Colorado River and Balance of State Zone openers for scaup 5-6 Collins Lake Tournament of Champions Derby (anglerspress.com) 11-15 Ambush at the Lake, Convict Lake (convictlake.com/activities/fishing/ derbies/ambush-derby) 12 Statewide pheasant opener 12 Fall wild turkey opener 12 Late-season dove opener

Most of California’s zones open for waterfowl hunting throughout this month. (BILL ADELMAN)

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MIXED BAG

s e r u t n e Adv e’re not ashamed to admit it: Todd Kline has the kind of life we wish we could experience.

Kline’s a former professional surfer, a successful co-angler on the FLW Tour and a Southern California bass guide, plus he gets to travel the world as a commentator for the World Surf League’s telecasts. Todd has agreed to give us a peek on what he’s been up to each month. For more on Todd, check out toddkline.com and follow him on Instagram (@toddokrine). –The Editor

W

Taking in the surf scene at Newport Beach, where I called the live action of the RVCA PRO Jr. event in mid-September. It saw some of the best young surfers in the world gather to compete in classic conditions.

Congratulations to Tyler Gunter on the win (right). For his firstplace finish, he scored $2,500.

(STAN SIEVERS, RIGHT)

I had the pleasure of taking Kolohe Andino (right) fishing at Lake Perris. Kolohe is ranked 10th in the world on the World Surf League Championship Tour. We had a blast!

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MIXED BAG After being closed for eight years, San Vicente Reservoir is open again (see story on page 103)!

Fishing was lights out and I managed to catch a bunch of largemouth – with huge heads and skinny bodies (left). While I am not a biologist, I think it might be that there are too many bass and not enough bait in the lake. I also caught the largest crappie of my life there as well. I landed this guy (right) on a little swimbait.

It’s also been great to have Diamond Valley Lake open again for boating and to run guided trips. Fishing’s also been good!

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protectyourwaters.net

National Invasive Species Hotline 1-877-STOP-ANS (1-877-786-7267)

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PHOTO CONTEST

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An amazing shy 5-acres on low bank Cowlitz River frontage that includes 2 nice homes situated in a picturesque wooded park like riverfront setting. The main home is a 2113 sq. ft. 3BR, 2BA rambler. The second home is a 845 sq. ft 2BR, 1BA rambler. Both homes are on their own well and septic systems.

Numerous outbuildings garages, sheds and work shop are also present on the property.

Property is located in a secluded area of the river; a one of kind opportunity.

An hour to Portland, OR Call Curt Christopherson and Olympia, WA.

WINNERS! Darrel Smith’s photo of himself and a big Washington fall Chinook is this issue’s monthly Fishing Photo Contest winner.

It wins Smith a big ol’ pile of loot from the overstuffed office of our editor!

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We like hunters who stick to it and hunt the whole season they’re given, which is what Larry Wolf did this year! His pic of gobblers he bagged on the last day of 2016’s spring season wins him a Browning hat!

For your shot at winning fishing and Browning products, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to ccocoles@ media-inc.com, or to California Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications. calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

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NORCAL

411 FOR CATCHING FALL KINGS

2 RIVERS – SACRAMENTO AND FEATHER – 2 GUIDES AND 2 WAYS TO HOOK MORE SALMON

In the Central Valley of Northern California, the Sacramento and Feather Rivers are both popular fisheries for fall kings, but guides don’t always think alike when targeting these salmon. We talked to two who are partial to one river and contrasting techniques.

(MSJ GUIDE SERVICE) calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

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By Mark Fong

T

his is the story of two Northern California fishing guides and a breakdown of how they roll.

Meet Capt. James Netzel and Capt. Manuel Saldana Jr. Each is a top-level, multispecies guide, but in fall they both turn their focus to river-run king salmon. Here is how they get it done for their clients:

SACRAMENTO RIVER: TROLLING BIG FLASHERS AND SUPER BAITS Netzel, owner of Tight Lines Guide Service (888-975-0990; fishtightlines.com), targets salmon in the metropolitan Sacramento area, starting at Verona and extending downriver to the town of Clarksburg (some 31 miles away by car).

The first thing you should know about Netzel is that he is a trolling specialist. He favors this particular section of the Sac because it is deep and it has long stretches of trolling-friendly water that ranges from 15 to 20 feet deep.

The key to successful salmon trolling is to keep your bait near the bottom without getting snagged.

Netzel, like many other local guides, was frustrated with 2015’s dismal season. As a result, he started to explore different ways to catch fish. At the same time, a friend clued him in to a method he had been using to get bites, but his hookup ratio was extremely poor.

“Up north on the (Pacific Northwest’s) Columbia River, they are trolling Cut Plugs behind a flasher,” says Netzel. “I tried their set-up, but I was losing a lot of fish and snagging a lot of gear.”

But through trial and error, Netzel was able to adapt and refine his set-up to suit the conditions that he faces on the Sacramento. Here is his concoction: Netzel uses 50-pound braided mainline and attaches it to a spreader. On the short side of the spreader, he adds a 24-inch dropper of 12-pound line attached to a 10-ounce trolling sinker.

Off the back of the splitter he uses 36 inches of 50-pound braid with snap swivels on each end, attaching the back end via a trolling swivel to an 11-inch Pro-Troll ProChip Flasher with an agitator fin. Behind the flasher is 36-inch length of 40-pound mono leader, which comes with the lure, and is also attached to the flasher with a swivel.

As for that lure, Netzel uses a Brad’s Super Bait Cut Plug that he fills with plain oil-packed tuna. Yes, we said tuna – the same tuna you find at your local grocery store. He prefers to match the color of his Cut Plug to the flasher. For

The mighty Sacramento River, California’s longest, eventually ends its path in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta after flowing right through downtown Sacramento. Taking a cue from Northwest salmon anglers, guide James Netzel is trolling a hot new set-up for its kings. (MARK FONG) 36 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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NORCAL example, an orange flasher with a bait in hot tamale, or a green flasher with the glow ghost green dot glow-in-thedark model.

This rig requires heavy gear; a Tekota 500LC reel and a 10-foot, 6-inch extra-heavy-action rod get the job done for Netzel.

He offered one final piece of advice that he picked up

from the guys in the Northwest.

“You want to see the rod pulsate once every second, so the flasher goes around once a second. If I go too fast or too slow, it’s just won’t work right; it’s just got the perfect action when you have the one second pulse,” Netzel says.

FEATHER RIVER: BOONDOGGLING The Feather River is the home base for Capt. Manuel

The mouth of the Feather River, where it flows into the Sacramento around Verona north of the state capital. The river is shallow by nature and was made worse by California’s drought. But it’s also a spot where boondoggling roe can create some active biting. (MARK FONG)

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NORCAL Saldana Jr. of Marysville-based MSJ Guide Service (530301-7455; msjguideservice.com). The Feather is a very different river than the lower portion of the Sacramento as it runs through the metropolitan sprawl of California’s capital city.

“The Feather has a much shorter length of fishable water, stretching from the Outlet Hole to Verona,” Saldana says. “It is filled with lots of shallow water, sandbars, sunken trees and other snags. One of the keys to catching salmon on the Feather is finding the pathways where the salmon are traveling. Look for a stretch with a flat at the top of it and a hole at the bottom. Salmon travel and rest in the holes because they are deeper. So on the Feather, you need to target the holes.”

Saldana relies heavily on side-drifting roe, a technique that is commonly known as boondoggling. He skillfully positions his boat at the top of a productive stretch of water and then maneuvers it sideways. He uses the bow-mounted trolling motor and his kicker so that his clients can cast their baits upstream of the drifting boat.

“You want your roe to drift naturally along with the current, letting the sinker tick along the bottom,” says Saldana. “When the rod loads up, you don’t need to do an aggressive hook-set; just lift up and help the hook penetrate the mouth.”

Ian Rigler (left) with a Sacramento River king he caught with guide James Netzel trolling a flasher and a Super Bait Cut Plug. Keeping the bait off the bottom is a key to success. (MARK FONG)

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FISH HARDER Chad Forrester caught this salmon boondoggling roe with longtime Feather River Capt. Manuel Saldana Jr. (MSJ GUIDE SERVICE)

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“The key to the leader is the egg loop knot. Pull back on the loop and WILD GAME PROCESSING make a half hitch around the roe FISH SMOKING only; this helps the roe stay in place a lot longer. No bait equals no fish,” DUCK SMOKING says Saldana.

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Catching this beautiful 78-pound halibut on July 20th was a family affair for these Rivers Inlet Sportsman’s Club guests. (RIVERS INLET) Rivers Inlet Sportsman’s Club owner Simon and his wife Stephanie with a trophy “tyee,” a Chinook of 30 pounds or more, caught August 5th.

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Side-drifting roe is a very productive method for targeting river-run king salmon. Anglers position their boats at the top of a stretch of fish-holding water and cast upstream with a cluster of cured roe. The roe fishes as it drags along the river bottom behind the boat.

The boondoggling rig, which is used regularly by Capt. Manuel Saldana Jr. of MSJ Guide Service (530-301-7455; msjguideservice.com), is constructed by sliding one eye of a snap swivel (with a slinky weight attached to the other end) up the braided mainline and then using a Trilene knot to tie the braid to a small black barrel swivel. To the other end of the barrel swivel attach a 36- to 48-inch length of 15-pound fluorocarbon leader tied to a No. 1 or 1/0 red octopus hook using an egg loop knot with a 4mm red bead in the loop.

Be sure to check your local fishing regulations for restrictions that require barbless hooks on the waters you are fishing. –Mark Fong

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BEST OF BC

NORCAL

THE COMING STORM but somewhere along the line they are (gone) between the Lower Klamath and the Middle. They’re probably just scooting past really fast, and once they pass the lower river, they’re cooking.”

In late August, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported that anglers had reached the 555fish quota in the river below the Highway 96 bridge in Weitchecpec, meaning kings 22 inches or longer can no

By Chris Cocoles longer be kept (though two jacks below 22 inches can be retained). According to the Trinity-Klamath River fishing orth Coast fishing guide Tony Sepulveda apolohotline (800-564-6479) at press time in late September, gized for not immediately returning a phone call. the Klamath from Highway 96 to Iron Gate Dam and both It’s understandable for a king salmon angler who sections of the Trinity remain open. The mouth of the was spending his time “in the land of no cell service up Klamath has been plugged up but recently saw enough there on the Klamath,” as he joked. of an opening to allow new Chinook to get through and While Sepulveda, who operates the Eureka-based provide some hope.

Green Water Fishing Adventures (707-845-9588; greSepulveda has bigger expectations for two of his favorenwaterguides.com), was looking for a few bars on his ite autumn king rivers, the Smith, which flows just north smartphone, he was taking clients out on the Lower of Crescent City, and the Chetco, right across the border Klamath, where the salmon fishing had been mostly a in Oregon. Both rivers traditionally fish well for trolling disappointment to that point of the season last month. plug-cut herring and other bait in October and November, “There are definitely some fish around, but not a huge and provided some wet weather rolls in, the salmon acnumber this year, which isn’t shocking coming off of this tion should be consistent. huge drought,” Sepulveda said. “The quota’s been met on “On the Smith and Chetco, as soon as we get the Lower Klamath, so no retention (of fish). But we still some rain we’ll look toward that,” Sepulveda said.

“October and November is usually prime time on those two rivers. So While the Lower Klamath River already reached its adult king salmon quota and not a lot of fish have made it through the mouth, hopes are high for a productive October and November further north in the Smith and whenever the rain comes, those will Chetco Rivers. (GREEN WATER FISHING ADVENTURES) kick off.”

The drought conditions that improved in the most recent wet winter had taken a severe toll on rivers further south, but the Smith and Chetco have been in better shape than others, giving anglers hope that some nice Chinook will be landed in the next couple months.

“Those (rivers) usually march to their own drums. We had a really good steelhead season on both of those rivers this last winter, and they got a little bit more rain up there. Even after the rough drought years, they didn’t have have a lot of guys who want to go up and play around and it quite as bad as down here at rivers like the Klamath and do some catch-and-release fishing.”

Eel and that way.”

“It’s not red hot, but we’ve been doing OK and hook“So I think there are going to be quite a few of those ing six or eight fish a day. It seems like above the Middle late-fall fish coming in and it just might be a pretty good Klamath has been really slow. There just aren’t a lot of fish year up there. That’s when we normally catch our big up there yet. I don’t know where they’re disappearing, ones.” CS

WHILE FALL KING SALMON FISHING ON THE KLAMATH RIVER HAS BEEN TOUGH, THE SMITH AND CHETCO SHOULD PRODUCE WELL WHEN RAINS BLOW THROUGH

N

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52 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

BAY AREA

FORAGING THROUGH THE BAY A LOCAL AUTHOR’S OBSESSION WITH THE SEA CREATURES AROUND SAN FRANCISCO

By Chris Cocoles

I

had a feeling that Kirk Lombard, the author of The Sea Forager’s Guide to the Northern California Coast, was going to provide a colorful conversation for me. He didn’t disappoint. When I asked the Moss Beach resident if writing his book was a hobby project, he turned the question on me to ask if I’d written a book – I haven’t – and his response set the tone for a rather fun interview.

“The only reason I asked you that is because, what I’ve learned in writing my first book is, you’d have to be an (expletive) lunatic to do that as a hobby,” Lombard says.

“It’s a lot of work, man.”

Lombard’s obsession with all things fish was born in his native New York – he could walk out of his house and cast a line into the Hudson River in minutes. He eventually

found his career calling after he moved to the Bay Area, where he first worked for the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and ultimately opened a sustainable seafood business, the Sea Forager (seaforager.com) with his wife, Camilla, and their children.

Lombard’s appreciation for the bounty of edible critters that congregate in the saltwater muck of San Francisco Bay and along the Pacific shoreline also inspired him over the years to host tours that educates visitors about these natural resources.

“If I have any detractors out there, what they would say is that I’ve given away all the secrets,” Lombard says.

“And they’re wrong. Those are people who haven’t done my tours. Because my tours talk about the resources, the history of the bay, and I talk about what you should harvest and what you shouldn’t be harvesting and how your

Kirk Lombard’s passion for not just the giant salmon of the Pacific coast but all of the region’s less celebrated little fish inspired the former Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission fisheries observer to write a book, The Sea Forager’s Guide to the Northern California Coast. (SEA FORAGER)

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BAY AREA harvesting might impact populations.”

And as educational as it gets, spend some time with Lombard – either on the phone for an hour or traversing around some coastal tide pools – and you’re going to get plenty of dry humor and entertainment.

Lombard chatted with us about his love for fishing, music and baseball – his band’s name, Rube Waddell, honors an early 20th century big-league baseball player who was one of the most bizarre characters the game has ever seen. Lombard provides quite a thrill ride, regardless of the content.

Chris Cocoles What was your inspiration behind your book?

Kirk Lombard The popularity of this term “foraging” is kind of a hip term now. Of course, everyone else has been doing this for years now. There’s a group out there called Forage SF and foraging workships and all kinds of sh*t going on. I want people to appreciate the resource rather than think of it as something to hunt down and kill.

There are a lot of chapters in that book that make you think, “I don’t even want to kill this thing now.” And that makes me happy.

CC Where did your love for fish and fishing come from?

KL When I was a kid, there were a lot of kids who would fish for trout and bass in the areas where I would spend my summers. And I became the guy who caught the hellgrammites [aquatic insects]; that was sort of my passion. But it really came from my grandfa-

54 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

“I really try to go with the most sustainable product I can, which typically is from guys in small boats fishing in ways that minimize the impact on the environment,” says Lombard, with his son, Django. (SEA FORAGER)

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BAY AREA ther. I grew up in New York, but he was born in Salinas and raised in Santa Cruz. He fished Monterey and in the rivers and used to tell me stories – great fish stories. And I was so in love with the man to begin with and he loved talking about the outdoors. [Lombard says his grandfather also acted on Broadway and once played basketball against famed California author John Steinbeck.] When I moved out to California it was a natural transition because my grandfather would talk so much about the salmon and steelhead out here and the rockfish offshore. And where grew up in New York we lived across the street from the Hudson River and used to fish for bluefish – we called them snappers. As a kid I was into fly fishing.

six years. I was already so crazy about all this stuff and the coastal resources – fishing and the culture of the fishing. I kind of fed my own passion.

CC Tell me about your experience with “poke poling.”

KL It’s a technique that kind of opened my eyes. I was Part of Lombard’s Sea Forager seafood business has included giving tours of Bay Area tidal flats, which are teeming with sea life. (SEA FORAGER)

CC Did you always want to be involved professionally in the seafood industry?

KL I worked with juvenile delinquents – kids who had been kicked out of high school – either as a counselor or art teacher, and I had a band, and that was my main gig for years. I got burned out on the (teaching) and I applied for a job with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.

And can you believe this? My job was to canvas the Bay Area shorelines, find people who were fishing, conduct a brief interview with them, identify, weigh and measure all the catch and do a questionnaire, and I did that for about

56 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

standing on this rock all day with my line way out in the water, because I thought you had to cast really far in order to catch something. On the coast here you learn that fish at low tide just go under a rock and don’t necessarily go

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BAY AREA out with the tide. My line was way out in the water and I was catching nothing, losing all my gear on snags. And this little skinny guy, with a sh*tty beat-up old wetsuit, came wading up, hopping along the rocks with a stick and a burlap sack; that’s all he had. And he goes right to the rock I was standing on and he puts the stick under the rock and catches a cabezon the size of my leg. Here I was with my line 100 feet out in the water, losing $20 worth of gear every time I went out there and catching maybe one little perch. And here’s this guy with a bag of fish. OK, you don’t have to show me that twice.

I talked to the guy and he introduced himself to me as “Cambodian Stan” and in my band I wrote a song about him [youtube.com/watch?v=N6u85A0eyMk]. He just showed me what he was doing; I think I saw him one more time and I never saw him again. But he imparted this technique, and I learned it, got good at it and that’s that. Poke poling is what’s called, and it’s very effective for getting fish from the intertidal zone. But it’s on the borderline between what is foraging and what is fishing.

You’re still using a hook and the fish is willfully biting, but you’re not casting a line out and you’re sort of walking along the shoreline. If you’re like me, while doing that you’re picking mussels, you’re looking for clams and picking at a little seaweed here and there. It encourages that

a lot more than it does standing on a rock with your line out in the water. But meeting Cambodian Stan was a huge thing for me. I think I would have run into that technique because a lot of people do that. But that changed the way I approached fishing on the shore.

CC Did you get a lot out of all the other people you encountered when doing your research?

KL When I was doing the survey I met a lot of fishermen and I learned a lot. But all the guys who were doing what I did, they pretty much got laid off. And I was really happy doing that and I wanted to figure out ways to communicate with the public and talk about seafood and doing all the stuff that I liked about that job, so I started doing these classes. I aligned myself with a group called forageSF. [Foragesf.com is an organization that offers outings ranging from mushroom picking to nature walks for edible plants to creating wild plant-based cocktails.] I saw how there was this huge population of people moving into San Francisco who basically didn’t have my grandfather. A lot of the people who would come in and do the tours might be people who had fished in Maryland and upstate New York, moved here and they want to catch fish but don’t know anything about the (Northern California) coast. My tour got a lot of positive reviews and people signed up who heard that this was a very entertaining tour. I was

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BAY AREA

Lombard’s love of foraging and selling locally sustainable seafood is matched by his passion for music, whether that’s playing with his wife Camilla in their “sea shanty trio,” The Fishwives, or blaring funky tunes on the tuba with his primary band, Rube Waddell. (SEA FORAGER)

able to start doing them on my own, but I still do a few tours for forageSF every year.

CC Is your Sea Forager Seafood business that you and Camilla run the perfect way for you to promote the idea of eating wild and where people can either fish or forage for food in the Bay Area’s backyard?

KL I really try to go with the most sustainable product I can, which typically is from guys in small boats fishing in ways that minimize the impact on the environment.

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That’s what I tend to favor and what I try to educate people about and about local resources. But I’m not providing monkeyface eels for the 600 people who subscribe to my

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BAY AREA CC So I have to ask you about your four-piece band, Rube service. [The monkeyface eel – not an eel at all – is tidal basin-dwelling ďŹ sh and one of Lombard’s favorite local inhabitants in the Bay Area’s coastal ecosystem.] But our seafood business is what pays the bills.

Waddell. Where did the musician in you come from?

KL So I was kind of a down-and-out artist in San Francisco in the ‘90s. [Laughs.] I was recovering from a bad breakup and kind of getting into doing my own stuff. And then I

ART ADDS HISTORIC DEPTH TO BOOK

One of the best parts of Kirk Lombard’s book is the funky illustrations provided by his friend, Leighton Kelly. Lombard talked to California Sportsman about their partnership. “On an aesthetic sense, I really wanted the book to look old. When we started, I didn’t want it to look like a newfangled ash in the pan. I wanted a person picking it up to feel like they’re picking up something that was published 50 years ago or longer – 100 years ago,â€? he says.

Lombard wanted his work to channel the book Between PaciďŹ c Tides, written in 1939 by Ed Ricketts, a marine biologist and the inspiration for John Steinbeck’s classic Cannery Row. Unbeknownst to Lombard at the time, Kelly’s grandfather, Ritchie Lovejoy, did the illustrations for Ricketts’ book. “But what’s interesting is, when we started the project, I had an artist I wanted to work with, I told that to Heyday (the book’s publisher). (Kelly) is one of my best buddies and I really wanted him to work with me on this,â€? he says. “What’s great is Leighton had a lot of ideas about the design of the book. And at the end of the project, the designer, Ashley (Ingram), said, ‘Leighton was the only artist I’ve ever worked with.

When he made a suggestion that I didn’t think was good, he’d say, ‘Hey, I want to do this,’ and I’d say there’s no way we can do that, he’d come in the next day and he already would have drawn it.’ So he would draw the whole page and bring it in. I’d look at it and say, ‘OK, yes, we’re doing this.’ He did that more times than any other artist she’d ever worked with. He just really had a brilliant visual sense.� CC Artist Leighton Kelly created this illustration of Kirk Lombard for his book. (LEIGHTON KELLY)

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BAY AREA met a sort of equally withdrawn crazy man, my bud Larry.

And we just started playing music together and we wanted to do something untraditional. Well, that’s not exactly true; we wanted to make more of our own instruments and find ones that sounded good. And we started banging on pots and pans and I would make these one-string guitars out of two-by-fours and cans and nails. And we wanted (the sound) to be kind of meaner. [Laughs.] I figured out that I could build little microphones and attach them to my one-string slide guitars and I could distort the hell out of them. We would play this unholy music and go out onto street corners and do this.

strikeout leader and inducted (posthumously) into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. But he was more known for doing backflips on the mound, chasing fire trucks that sped past the ballpark during games and being distracted by fans and opposing players who held up puppies to distract him. He would also sometimes leave during a game or not even show up so he could go fishing.] In telling that story to a bunch of musicians getting drunk, Larry said, “Hey, man, why don’t we just make that the name of the band? Let’s call ourselves Rube Waddell and live the life of Rube Waddell. We’ll be drunken lunatics, talking about baseball and going fishing more.”

CC What message do you hope you sent in writing this CC The band name pays homage to a rather colorful pitcher who played around the turn of the 20th century. Where did you get the inspiration to name the band after such an eccentric man?

KL Both Larry and I were diehard baseball fans. The name of our band had been Hellbenders, which is a type of salamander that lives in rivers of the South and they’re huge and ugly. And we were hanging out one night with a bunch of other musicians and I told the story of Rube Waddell, being the baseball nerd that I was. We were drunk off our asses and everybody was laughing because he was so insane and crazy. [Waddell was a six-time American League

64 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

book (see excerpt, California Sportsman, September 2016)?

KL There was another book that was written years ago called Foraging The Pacific Coast, by Peter Howorth. And I got a lot out of that book, a sense of appreciating what’s out there on our coast. And if I can just relay that appreciation to other people, I’m more than happy. CS Editor’s note: Throughout this month, California Sportsman readers can take 30 percent off the price of Kirk Lombard’s book with the coupon code CASM when you order it online at heydaybooks .com. For more on the Lombards’ sustainable seafood business, go to seaforager.com; his band’s website is rubewaddell.org.

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66 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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68 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

CENTRAL VALLEY

DOVE HUNTERS SET TO

TAKE FLIGHT AGAIN THE EARLY FALL DOVE SEASON HAD MIXED REVIEWS, BUT THE SECOND SEASON BRINGS FRESH HOPE OF LARGER FLOCKS

By Brad Hall

A

nother early dove hunting season has drawn to a close and, depending on who does the talking, the season was either quite memorable or one to quickly forget.

For those hunters lucky enough to locate a food source for the dipping, darting gray ghosts, shooting was wild and woolly. Grain, mullein, safflower and sunflower fields were sites that yielded big numbers of birds. Grape vineyards and young almond orchards laced with mullein between the rows also produced hot shooting.

I was fortunate enough to twice shoot over a mullein field in Calaveras County and on the outer limits of a sunflower field in Glenn County another time. Our group of six bagged just over 60 birds on a couple of occasions.

Small flocks of doves were literally exploding in our face, coming and going from the mullien, an invasive weed.

The action was sizzling at times. We had veteran hunters and beginners alike. Everybody heated up their barrels.

The hunting was not so spectacular at other venues; in fact, it was downright poor in some areas, according to Andrew Hughan, information officer for California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Frankly, it seemed like it was just one of those years,” Hughan said. “In most of the agricultural fields (in Regions 5 and 6), limits were sparse. In the Central Valley – the Fresno area – it wasn’t really bad, but hunters weren’t really killing it, either.”

OPPORTUNITIES COMING The state’s late dove season, which opens Saturday, Nov. 12, along with

pheasant and fall turkey seasons, allows hunters a second chance, though colder weather often sends the birds south. That’s not always the case, however.

Locating late-season flights of dove is a matter of finding their food source. And once you’ve found late-season birds, they’ll have gathered in larger groups than in the early season. Two of the wildest dove hunts I’ve enjoyed were in the second season, once in a grove of trees across a street from a corn field – the smallish birds, amazingly, were stuffed with corn kernels – and another time near a large lake with natural weed growth that produced seeds the size of a pea.

Second-season birds also are often larger, having matured somewhat and fattened up for the coming winter.

The second-season limit remains 15 birds, although there is no limit on non-native, invasive Eurasian-collared doves.

Hughan is hoping for more opportunities during the second season.

“There’s no indication of change, but maybe the birds will be more accommodating and fly more,’’ he said. “We want people to be successful.’’

Hughan and CDFW also want hunters to be legal and

Patty Dempsey (left) takes aim during the early portion of the dove hunting season. Though the author’s family had a couple productive days, birds were harder to come by than in past years, but there is hope that the second season that begins next month will be better.

(BRAD HALL)

calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

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CENTRAL VALLEY informed. Hunters should have their licenses on their person and be sure their ammunition is proper, he said.

Game wardens are not obligated to check their computer systems for licensed hunters, he added, so hunters should

Doves go crazy for mullein, a non-native herb that attracts a lot of feeding birds, as do grain fields, safflower and sunflower fields throughout the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. (BRAD HALL)

be prepared when wardens approach. And nonlead shot is required at any CDFW-operated ground.

I suspect this year’s dove season – like all its predecessors – left a mark of some kind on its participants. It could be a shiny new autoloader in the field that’s fondly

DOVE HUNTING MEMORIES RUN DEEP Recalling my first dove season nearly 50 years ago, I remember relatives driving from Stockton to our 300-acre ranch in west Calaveras County every weekend to hunt mourning doves with my dad. Back then, the season was nearly five weeks long. The limit was 10 birds per hunter per day.

For five consecutive weekends, this group stacked dove in piles. They hunted in a barren field laced with mullein weed and located near a large pond. The birds came in droves to feed and get water. I was too young to hunt but remember vividly the stacks of birds, as well as the stories and the camaraderie.

A couple of years later, I went on my first dove hunt. I toted a 20-gauge Ithaca Model 37 pump shotgun my dad had given me and tried to imitate the other guys – my dad, uncle and grandpa. I looked the part, all right, complete with vest, light-colored trousers and a tan baseball cap. But I didn’t really know the sport.

Birds flew past me all too often without me pulling the trigger. “Hey, those things are fast,” I remember thinking.

“This isn’t as easy as it appears! What do these old guys know that I don’t?“ Then, boom, I knocked down a bird and began feeling pretty good about myself. That is, until one of my uncle’s friends picked up the bird and brought it over to me.

“That was a pretty nice shot, son,’” said the man. “But it’s not a dove.”

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CENTRAL VALLEY remembered – or better yet, an old Parker 28-gauge sideby-side – a wide-eyed newbie hunter introduced, a favorite close relationship rekindled, or maybe a new one sparked.

Whatever the case, each season has an identity all its own.

KID-FRIENDLY HUNTING Dove hunting and kids go hand in hand. It’s probably the easiest hunting season in which to introduce a youngster or beginner. All that’s required is a hunting license, a shotgun, some No. 8 shotshells and a decent flight of birds. It’s the perfect recipe for newfound fun.

I remember my son shooting his first limit of dove when he was 12. The two of us lined up along a fence and marveled at the birds zipping into a field of – what else? – mullien that I had scouted a couple of days prior. In less than an hour, we bagged our 20 birds on the last evening of the season. Neither of us could have been prouder.

Another time, I short-changed us and miscounted. We only had 19 birds instead of the allowed 20. Just as we were laughing at my stupidity, a dove whistled overhead and my son dropped it with a stroke of genius. My oldest daughter killed a limit when she was 14. What she remembers most about that day was hitting two birds with one shot as they crossed. Better lucky than good, I always say.

Another friend’s daughter began hunting just recently at

Oh! I had dropped a meadowlark.

I soon shot my first dove, however. Then one day I bagged eight, which made me feel like I belonged to this grand fraternity of bird hunters. Want to know what was even better?

My brother only shot six, which meant – for the moment anyway – I was on top in our little teenage world. But I was missing the point entirely. There’s much more to dove hunting than numbers of birds in the bag.

Dove hunts often produce memorable gun tales. I remember when my dad, uncle and cousin each carried brandnew Charles Daly 20-gauge over-and-unders one opening day. My uncle had brought them back from the Philippines.

They were so sweet. They featured 3-inch chambers, which were rare back then. I remember thinking, where was mine?

Another time, a friend of my dad’s bought a new 12-gauge Remington 1100 autoloader. Never a crack shot anyway, this particular friend missed bird after bird and became so frustrated with his new purchase he tossed it in the field. My dad walked over, picked it up, brushed off the weeds and loaded three shells. About that time, three dove whistled in. Bang!

Bang! Bang! “Nothing wrong with this gun,” he said after the rare triple.

Still another friend showed up one opening day dressed to kill. New vest. Fancy hat. Leather gun case. Only trouble was, inside his gun case was a deer rifle.

Oh, the memories. BH

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CENTRAL VALLEY age 22 with little or no prior gun or hunting knowledge. She’s a regular in the group now, and hunts geese as well. She and her dad sat side by side and bagged 15 dove one evening.

The same day another young hunter watched a Eurasian dove spin down like a helicopter after being shot.

The bird was nearly on the ground when it muscled up, regained flight and flew away.

ADDING TO THE DOVE FAMILY There was a new member of our hunting group this year, my fiancée, a 51-year-old grandmother. She decided in the spring to take her hunter’s safety course, passed it, and purchased her license shortly thereafter. She hit the field opening day outfitted in camouflage from head to toe and sporting a 20-gauge Winchester Model 101 by her side.

She added a little sparkle to the field and bagged a couple of birds as well. She was inspired by the auburn sunset, the tingling of the cool, crisp evening air signaling the onset of fall, and the lasting scent of fresh gunpowder.

She won’t likely forget her initial hunting experiences.

Neither will I, even as I look forward to the second season, which begins on Nov. 12 and runs through Dec. 26. CS

Lizzy Coon (left) and the author’s fiancée, Patty Dempsey, had a good earlyseason experience. Lizzy was shooting a a Browning 20-gauge semiauto and Patty a 20-gauge Winchester Model 101. (BRAD HALL)

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CENTRAL VALLEY

TIME AGAIN TO GET IN A FOWL MOOD! DUCK HUNTING SEASON AWAITS – A VETERAN CENTRAL VALLEY WATERFOWLER PREPS YOU FOR THE HUNT

A pintail drake takes flight over a mallard, two of Golden State waterfowlers’ favorite species to hunt. Many of California’s management zones open this month.

(GEORGE GENTRY, USFWS)

By Bill Adelman

A

h, the mystique of the duck. What is the appeal to hunt it and other waterfowl?

Yes, they taste great. It’s an accomplishment to limit out. Reviewing pics at a later date recalls that magic day with your son. But it’s also extremely expensive.

Ducks are a pain to pluck. Is it fun to soak them overnight in salt brine, especially when your wife frowns every time she opens the fridge? Getting up at oh-dark-thirty, dressing out and traveling to your destination is something you

must anticipate. Putting on your chest-high waders and tying your boots when you forgot the stool is a part of the grind (hip boots are never suggested, except under very specific circumstances).

So wading through ankle-deep mud to access the blind, then later retrieving that unlucky spoonie is why we’re here. Spilling your coffee and dropping half of your bear claw when a singleton whizzes by at first light is a good thing.

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77

CENTRAL VALLEY duck hunting.

WATERFOWL HUNTING CHECKLIST Preparing for a 2016 waterfowl hunt? Check the Caliofornia Department of Fish and Wildlife website (wildlife.ca.gov/ Hunting/Waterfowl) for a detailed calendar of season dates for geographic zones and species.

And here is a list of miscellaneous things to remember: • Both a state ($20.52), and federal ($25) duck stamp are required purchases for hunters 16 and over; • A California resident license costs $47.01 and a junior is $12.45; • Have your safety on until ready to shoot; • Practice shooting in your hunting clothing to get used to how you’ll be dressed when it counts; • Practice with the same shells you’ll hunt with; • As a semi will sometimes jam, a pump is a viable alternative; • If you have the option of scouting an area, do it; • The Balance of State Zone limit is seven ducks per day, three limits in possession, which includes every duck in your freezer or offsite; • Your daily limit is restricted to two hen mallards, two sprig, two canvasbacks or two redheads and three scaup within a seven-bird bag; • The goose limit is 20 white and 10 dark geese per day, with the same three-day possession limit;

A CHALLENGING ENDEAVOR Waterfowling is possibly the single hardest learning experience for beginning hunters. The variables are never-ending. Most of us learned our most valuable lessons by making mistakes.

As a young duck hunter, you don’t recall how much more efficient a lead shotshell is over steel or nontoxic ammo, or how much less expensive it is. So much for history; there are so many ridiculous regulations in place today. But in my opinion, the top drawer issue is prohibiting the loaning of a gun or giving ammo to a junior or nonequipped hunter who is just starting out, although there is word on the street that it might be pulled sooner than later. The expense to get started is prohibitive, and it’s imperative that a hunting buddy offers assistance with just the basic set-ups while you’re testing the duck hunting waters.

The basic checklist for hunters includes full camo clothing that matches the environment where you’ll be hunting. Generally, that calls for a grassy pattern, as well as long johns, hand and foot warmers, a camo face mask, waders, waterproof gloves, good waterproof boots – if wearing stocking waders. Bring along a camo shotgun, a camo duck bag, nonreflective glasses, a brimmed camo cap or hat, a headlamp, duck strap, and at least 50 other things you’ll need as you gain time in the field (think insect repellent and water to start).

GUN TALK Your shotgun should preferably be a 12-gauge, which can hold only three shells total, and a plug is required to comply. A modified or improved modified choke is suggested, as a full choke is pretty much a thing of the past, although an exception is my 50-plus-year-old 870.

Be sure the barrel of your new gun is one that can handle steel and, if possible, will take different screw-in chokes. For ducks we generally shoot size four shot backed up by twos.

Quite often, we’ll be able to spot geese at a distance, allowing time to pull out the three T’s we set aside in a pocket and reload, just in case.

Of course, while awaiting the snows to arrive, a hen wigeon will undoubtedly set her wings at 20 yards straight out in front. Remember, you’re loaded with T’s. Memorizing the different species is a seri78 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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CENTRAL VALLEY • Coots, moorhens and gallinules, 25 per day with a possession limit triple the daily bag; • Check out national and state refuge hunt areas where reservations will help you get a chance at a superior blind; • Reservation application fees are $1.24 each and, if drawn, access fees are $21.09 per day or $34.05 for two days; • One-day private guided hunts are available – check for outfitters online; • Some private areas are available for a daily trespass fee; • Many public waterways are open to hunting, such as the Delta, where some sort of floating device is necessary; • Hunting clubs offer duck blinds as part of their package; • And blind leases are available for the season; while expensive, they offer many positives. BA

Sprucing up your decoys will improve your odds of bringing birds within shooting range. Faded or muddy dekes could result in ducks and geese flaring from the unnatural presentations.

(BILL ADELMAN)

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CENTRAL VALLEY ous requirement, especially if hunting alone. Study the color pics; again, that mentor can help a rookie’s cause.

CALLING CUES In California, we will generally see mallards, gadwall, teal, pintail, spoonies and an occasional redhead or canvasback. You’ll need to understand the nuances of calling each individual species. My younger mentor generally just tells me to be quiet when ducks are in sight. Some ducks quack while others whistle or squeak. Practice at home, but perhaps when the spouse isn’t around. If a duck jams on the brakes and retreats at your first squawk, consider a bit more practice.

A visit to a city park or waterway just to observe noisy ducks will offer positive reinforcement. When my son is out during the year – maybe during a fishing excursion – he’ll practice his call just because, or especially when he spots ducks, just to see their reaction.

DUCK AND COVER If hunting in a ground blind, cover is a must. When hunting from a levee or open setting where you’re exposed, consider a camo netting that completely covers you. Ducks will recognize something that’s out of the ordinary and flare, especially after being shot at just once.

82 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

Stella the retriever thanks Bill Everard for shooting straight and making it easy to bring back a lot of downed birds. (STEVE ADELMAN)

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Sean Ruddin’s first waterfowl hunt went quite well, but rookies should realize that these hunts can sometimes be a grind. Prepare for slow days, and relish those great days in the blind.

(STEVE ADELMAN)

Cover is everything.

The prehunt ritual is a requirement, and quite often enjoyable.

Check and possibly repeat a cleaning of your shotgun. Spruce up your decoys, and make sure the tie holding the weight is not rotted. Repaint the white breasts of your sprig, and your snow goose dekes.

Pack a small tube of Vaseline to doll up the heads of your drake mallards. Remove the mud from your boots. Tune all of your calls – prior to and during the season. Set out all hunting clothes and triple check your duck bag. Be sure to have your camo strap in tow, as it’s so much easier to carry stuff when you can shoulder your gun.

Charge your digital camera (even I no longer shoot with a 35mm Canon). The to-do list goes on and on and on. Also, don’t forget snacks that won’t melt.

Shoot straight and often, and enjoy every minute of duck hunting torture – we sure do, as we go back for more year after year! CS

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The Salton Sea might not be where traditional California duck hunters think of heading to for waterfowl, but for Southland residents it provides a convenient spot, and the hunting can be good too. (TIM E. HOVEY) 88 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

A SEA OF DUCKS SOCAL

MEMORIES OF HUNTING WATERFOWL NEAR THE MUDDY SALTON SEA

By Tim E. Hovey

M

y first sight of the Salton Sea occurred back in 1991. I was on a college driving trip to Mexico and we stopped off near the sea to regroup before we crossed over the border at Calexico.

At the time, the only impression the body of water made on me was the smell. I was just getting back into hunting, and despite the immense amount of waterfowl habitat bordering the Salton, I wouldn’t discover its hunting opportunities until years later. After college I found myself employed in nearby San Diego as a marine biology consultant. That’s where I met Darrin Bergen, now a good friend. He was a fisheries tech at the same institute and while he wasn’t there very long, we reconnected a few years later when we were both hired by the same resource agency on the same day.

During lunch one afternoon, we discussed getting out for a waterfowl hunt. Darrin had done his homework and explained to me that the Wister Unit of the state’s Imperial Wildlife Area was probably our best opportunity. Wister sits on the eastern side of the Salton Sea and offers waterfowl hunters structured blinds and wetland areas to hunt during the season. These locations are handed out to hunters in a numbered system on a first-come, first-served basis.

Darrin also suggested that we do a bit of exploring around the sea itself.

Some sections of the large lake are open for hunting without having to fight the crowds at Wister. Being new to the waterfowl scene, exploring on our own is where we decided to start.

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SOCAL

Managers of the Imperial Wildlife Areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wister Unit provide some primitive but effective blinds that are available on a ďŹ rst-come, ďŹ rst-served basis. (TIM E. HOVEY)

DEATH MARCH On the morning of the hunt, I loaded up my gear into Darrinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s late-model Ford F-150 pickup. We headed out at 3 a.m. to get to the area we had mapped out before sunrise. Some of the wardens from our California Department of Fish and Wildlife ofďŹ ce pointed us to a couple of spots that looked promising. One particular elevated blind a short distance from the shore appealed to both of us.

We arrived at the edge of the Salton about 45 minutes before sunrise. The signs clearly suggested we leave our vehicle where it was, as the muddy banks and frequent ďŹ&#x201A;ooding left the access road a complete mess.

We grabbed our bag of plastic decoys, shotguns, waders and packs, and we started walking along the sandy levee in the dark. Consulting the map, we knew we had a bit of a hike to get to our spot, but hearing ducks quacking in the distance had

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SOCAL us excited.

The stench of rotting everything was omnipresent during our hike.

Close to the blind, we began trudging across the crunchy bank while it was still dark. We had no idea that the shore was covered with the dried carcasses of tilapia, which with every step crunched beneath our feet.

At the water, we donned our waders and began wading into the greygreen stew. The bottom was soft and sucked us down at every step.

NO-FRILLS ACCOMMODATIONS Right at sunup, we thankfully reached the elevated blind and crawled inside. The plywood bottom was absolutely covered with bird droppings. Weathered camo netting and some brush were stacked inside to be used as a cover for the hide. No other comforts were available.

We tossed out the decoys and patiently waited. The ducks began to

The author’s friend, Darrin Bergen, shows off some of their Salton Sea ducks. The tasty meat of the greenwinged teal is coveted in these parts. (TIM E. HOVEY)

fly as soon as the sun popped up. We didn’t get too many shot opportunities, but after the flight died down we each had three ducks. We managed to drop two green-winged teal and four shovelers.

Since it was getting hotter and

92 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

nothing was flying, we decided to call it a day. I was facing the rear of the blind and loading up my pack when I spotted a vehicle near the levee a mile away. It was on the opposite side of the huge cove we were hunting and in the opposite direction

calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

93

SOCAL of where we had come into the blind.

I was about to point it out to Darrin when I realized it was his truck.

We had hiked to the blind in a long arc of over a mile. Now it was time to head back. At the shore we grabbed all our gear and started the long walk to the truck. With heavy waders, muddy boots, shotguns and the heat, it still remains as the most miserable hike of my existence. In

fact, if you separated us and simply stated “death march,” both Darrin and I would know exactly what you were talking about.

As the duck hunting years piled up, we began to get more selective on the ducks we harvested and the areas we hunted. We began to seek out preferred blinds rather than just settling for whatever was left at the Wister Unit. We had discovered a few easier locations to hunt on the shores

of the sea.

We learned that the teal would probably be the best-tasting ducks in the area and mostly targeted them.

After shooting quite a few shovelers, we started to pass on them since they frequently carried a visible parasite that made the breast meat unappealing. Diving ducks also got a free pass, since no matter how we cooked them, we just couldn’t get them to taste good.

IF YOU GO The Wister, Hazard and Finney-Raimer Units are all part of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Imperial Wildlife Area out of Bishop. Wildlife areas are designated by the state as multiuse lands where people can bird watch, hike, hunt and generally enjoy. There’s also the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge (fws.gov/refuge/sonny_bono_salton_sea), which allows hunting as well. Here, Darrin and I would hunt for free, finding areas close to Wister.

The state wildlife area was created in 1954 and encompasses roughly 7,900 acres right along the Salton Sea. During the waterfowl season, its units allow hunting on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday.

The rules out there are pretty much all the same for all the state’s zones. Reservations must be made between 7 and 10:30 p.m. the evening before the hunt. Reservations can be for up to six people, with no more than four of those being adults. Checkin is at 3 a.m. the day of the hunt, and in some areas you can hunt up to 100 feet from your blind.

Call (760) 359-0577 for details on these state units, and check out CDFW’s 2016-17 waterfowl regulations site for more info (fgc.ca.gov/regulations/current/waterfowlregs.aspx).TH

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Author Tim Hovey with a limit of ducks shot along the Salton Sea. His trips to Southern California’s salty inland body of water to hunt waterfowl are less frequent than in the past, but they conjure up memories of successful hunts.

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(TIM E. HOVEY)

Occasionally, ducks of better quality like pintails, mallards and gadwalls would pitch through our decoy sets and offer us a shot. If we picked our Wister blinds carefully, we’d get into snow geese, and each of us took our first big white birds there.

COMING INTO THEIR OWN With more trips came more experience. We began to better understand how to arrange our decoys so they were more attractive to flying birds. Our decoy collection had quadrupled since we started, and after consulting other hunters, books and the internet, we started to incorporate special placement patterns for our sets. We preferred the open V-space in front, allowing landing birds to splash down directly in front of us.

To us, it really didn’t matter which ducks showed up 96 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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SOCAL during the hunt. We enjoyed the anticipation of the early-morning flight and the adventure.

During those early years the duck limit was seven a day. While we had come close on several occasions to individual limits, we had yet to bag a limit of ducks. That would finally change towards the middle of our fourth season.

One November morning, Darrin and I had decided to hunt a section of the sea we called the “Edge.” It was located at the edge of the Wister Unit and adjacent to some amazing habitat. A huge stump tangled with deadfalls and branches served as a blind and the muddy bottom was usually firm enough to walk on when setting decoys and retrieving downed birds.

After kicking a raccoon out of the blind, we set up and waited. The teal were first and they came in like fighter jets in formation. Small, fast and hard to hit, we both pulled a few

from the early-morning flight. A bit later, a small group of mallards teased us, but they clearly didn’t like our decoys and scooted off out of range.

Groups of shovelers flared at our set-up and paid the price. We learned that not all shovelers had the parasite; this season we had harvested a few that looked perfectly healthy.

As the morning flight dropped off, a single teal dropped in and offered me a perfect flaring shot. The duck hit the water and my first-ever waterfowl limit was in the books.

On the drive home, I stopped off at an RV park to visit my parents.

They were vacationing nearby and I told them I’d drop by for a visit.

My dad seemed especially impressed with the duck limit and I decided to breast out a few for them to try.

SALTON SEA MEMORIES I can’t remember the last time I hunted the Salton Sea. I can only tell you that between 1999 and 2004 I

98 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

was down there a lot. I thoroughly enjoyed our hunts at the Wister Unit and the areas we discovered while exploring the shores of the sea. Both Darrin and I learned the intricacies of waterfowl hunting standing in that stinky water and peering through the reeds. As a hunter, those memories are some of my best.

In 2004 Darrin moved out of state and that same year I transferred north. Our hunts together are now planned way in advance and only occur once or twice a year.

He remains one of my closest friends and now enjoys the rank of “Uncle” to my daughters. I still feel an immense amount of appreciation that we conquered the shores of this inland sea in search of ducks together.

As the saying goes, the journey means so much more when you travel with the right people. I feel privileged to have shared a blind with a great friend while we chased the ducks of the Salton Sea. CS

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SOCAL

BACK IN BASS BIZ! EAST SAN DIEGO COUNTY GEM SAN VICENTE RESERVOIR REOPENS WITH LARGEMOUTH BITING and recreational area will help a new generation enjoy all the reservoir has to offer.

But it is important to remember that this reservoir is about more than recreation – it is a critical source for our region’s water supply.”

Some minor issues delayed the opening announcement to the point where some were not sure when the lake would open, but now it’s official.

Opening weekend was reported to be the best fishing at any San Diego lake in years. Anglers experienced 50- to 100-bass days, with fish averaging in the 2- to 3-pound range and many 4- to 6-pounders mixed in, generally matching rumors and biologists’ electro-shocking results. This writer hit the second day and anglers had to adapt a little as the fish went deep after a day of bass boats thundering over their heads.

Outside points in the main lake were the hot spots. Sitting in and throwing out into deep water and working uphill with various plastics and jigs was the ticket to success.

You could throw anything out there all weekend, as anglers scored on everything in their tackle boxes. Topwaters in the morning, jigs, plastics, crankbaits all worked.

How long will it last? That’s up for debate, but I’m sure it will be months of catching before the action cools off. It really depends on how

Author Bill Schaefer shows off a San Vicente bass caught on day two of the San Diego East County reservoir’s return to fishing access. (BILL SCHAEFER)

By Bill Schaefer

S

an Vicente Reservoir, located in San Diego’s East County, is finally open again after an eight-year stretch of being closed.

On September 21, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer officially reopened the once-popular fishery at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The lake had opened in 1947 but shut down in 2008 when the San Diego County Water Authority and the city planned renovations that took a long time to complete.

Improvements to the new facility include a six-lane boat launching ramp, new docks, a concession building and more parking space.

“This is an exciting day for anglers, water sport enthusiasts, boaters and San Diego families,” Faulconer said in a press release. “This new marina

the fish react to the new noise of boats on the water.

This opening was similar to the likes of nearby Lake Barrett when it reopened (California Sportsman, March 2015) after years of being closed. I think everything you can throw in your tackle box will catch fish right now.

San Vicente has a great population of bass, catfish, panfish, trout and crappie. It holds the state record for blue catfish, a 113.40-pounder.

In the winter, the lake plants trout and should continue in that direction. This gives the giant largemouth some extra nourishment.

Right now, the lake-record largemouth stands at 18.75 pounds and I’m sure that there will be a few double-digit bass brought to the dock over the next few months. The lake should fish well, even with 150 boats on it. It is about 75 percent full and its surface acreage will grow in size with fall and winter rains, adding a lot of new back bays. Another positive is that there will be no tournaments for the first year the lake is open. The fish will be in all the new brush lining the banks, so don’t be line-shy and go up a little in size – loading up some new braid could be a wise choice.

TicketMaster is handling permits to launch and fish San Vicente.

Those for each weekend of fishing go on sale a month ahead of time. On Thursdays at 7 p.m. call (800) 7453000 or go online at ticketmaster. com. For more information and instructions, go to the San Diego City Lakes website (sandiego.gov/water/ recreation/reservoirs/sanvicente).

If you have a permit I’m sure you will be successful at this newly opened gem! CS

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SOCAL

THE WATER’S FINE

THE PACIFIC REMAINS WARM, MEANING MORE ACTIVE FISH OFF SOCAL

By Capt. Bill Schaefer

A

s we enter October, the water temperatures off Southern California are still quite warm, courtesy of a couple recent hurricanes that also pushed pelagic fish north for their usual end-of-the-season finale.

Anglers are wondering how long can this last. Well, for one, last year there was almost no break in the action for yellowtail, and second, the tuna barely left the scene in Southland waters.

After a banner year of giant bluefin, which are still biting, kelp paddy action has been heating up for the last month, with boats taking yellowtail, dorado and yellowfin tuna off the floating structure.

Private boaters, half- and three-quarter-day boats, as well as the one-day boats and more have been scoring big time. The waters from the Coronado Islands all the way up to San Clemente Island have been putting out fish. The 9-mile Bank off Southern California has always been a great area to hunt paddies. Just remember that you shouldn’t charge a paddy with a boat on it – especially if they are hooked up. Use some fishing etiquette and radio ahead to ask to come over, or at least approach slowly. All too often anglers get in a fishing frenzy – almost as bad as the fish – and forget that charging the paddy can put the feeding fish down in a minute. Pull upwind of the paddy and float past it; you’ll hook up.

Gear for this fishing can range from light to extra heavy.

But you still want to be prepared for the big bluefin, if they show. Many anglers are now taking a page from the Florida fishing playbook and attacking the tuna with spinning gear, which is just another challenge against giant fish and how hard you can pull on them.

I have been using a Daiwa Proteus spinning rod with a Saltist 6000 reel. I’m loaded up with Maxima 50-pound braid and run a 60- or 80-pound leader of Maxima fluorocarbon. Mustad No. 7691 bait hooks are my choice, but some anglers prefer a circle hook.

Of course, regular tackle from light to heavy conventional gear works as well, but I have preached that you should be ready and prepared. You can’t grab the old rod you haven’t used in years and run out after these fish.

You must check your drags, reline and tie on a new hook.

San Diego-based Capt. James Nelson (619-395-0799) with a nice dorado taken off a kelp paddy. Thanks to still-warm waters, the floating mats are holding plenty of big fish. (CAPT. JAMES NELSON)

The points on hooks do deteriorate, even if just sitting in a package near salt air. They are so sharp the point can rust away easily. Better to invest in a new pack of Mustad hooks than keep wondering why you get bit but don’t hook a fish of a lifetime. CS

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SIERRAS

TAKE ME

TO THE RIVER

EVEN WITH THE TROUT NOT BITING, AN ANGLER FULFILLS A BUCKET-LIST WISH TO FISH THE EASTERN SIERRA’S OWENS RIVER

Kurt Johnson casts on the Owens, a river that might not produce fish the size of what author Jeff Lund (inset) is used to catching in Alaska, but was a California fishery he’d always wanted to try. (JEFF LUND)

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SIERRAS PART II OF II

By Jeff Lund

I

probably should have gone to the restroom and changed into shorts, but I was pretty excited, too excited to stop my progress. It was 54 degrees and rainy when I left Ketchikan, Alaska, dressed in jeans. In the rental car shuttle line at the Sacramento airport, it was a frosty 102.

When I lived in California, heading south from Alaska in early August was the routine, but one that left me nearly despondent. Trading the wild runs of salmon for wild runs of traffic ruined me.

I moved from California back to my home state of Alaska in 2013, and with it came this odd side effect that made me prone to California jealousy. My buddies sent pictures of beautiful trout in beautiful places, and it suddenly didn’t seem so unreasonable to leave Alaska for California, given that I would return, of course.

So I waited and I sweated, with my two lightweight fly rod tubes sticking out up from my pack and stoked to start my trip.

FINALLY HERE I had always wanted to fish the Eastern Sierra, specifically

110 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

Sunset on the Owens makes for a peaceful retreat. (JEFF LUND)

the Owens River. Alaska provides all the heavily wooded solitude an angler could want. The appeal of open, meadow-splashed solitude is what I wanted because anglers are never satisfied. There are always different fish in different places. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Naturally, the Owens was fishing poorly – poor enough that my buddy Kurt recommended a different river – one near Mammoth Lakes – that was hot.

All right, cool, we’ll go there, but … the Owens. It was

SIERRAS seeing pictures of the Owens two weeks before that had prompted me to buy the ticket in the first place. Sure, I wanted to catch fish, but I also wanted things to work on my terms, you know?

Thanks to ridiculous amounts of visitor traffic, the other river was accessible only before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m.

and all the camping spots were full. We could park and hike 2 miles downhill just to get to the river, but we’d have to then hike 2 miles out after however many miles hiked while fishing, just to get to Kurt’s truck and camp somewhere else.

The only chance to get the most water time was to go to the Owens, so I was secretly excited. We’d fish all after-

The fishing on the Owens was fittingly dead. The author caught just one 10-inch rainbow, but he says the trip was more about the destination than how many fish he caught (or didn’t catch). (JEFF LUND)

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SIERRAS noon and evening on the Owens, camp on its bank, wake up at 5, break camp and get past the gate to the other river by 7.

Everything was going to work out perfectly. Except for the rain that started once we headed east from Mammoth Lakes. And the lightning. And a stiff wind. And the fishing report.

“Is that a fire?”

“Yep.” In the mountains north of the dirt trail that led us to the river, angry smoke rose.

But it was in the distance and the rain had stopped.

Optimism as well as haze from the fire filled the air.

A SLOW BITE We stayed well back from the bank and looked for rising fish. We found a few and traded opportunities to stalk and cast through the wind. It soon became obvious that we would be better off fending for ourselves and working the water at our own pace. Put another way, the fishing was so slow that we couldn’t afford to sit around and watch each other cast.

Dries: nothing. Nymphs: nothing. A few times I walked right to the edge and looked down. Sure enough, there were trout down there, big ones too. I just couldn’t get

them to move. The romantic notions I had had of defying the fishing report to hook a meadow monster and proudly post it on social media left me, as did the sun. All I could muster was a 10-inch rainbow, which was good enough to avoid a skunking but not exactly what had lured me into buying a ticket from Alaska.

But over a dinner of a pound of seasoned ground chicken cooked over a small campfire, all frustration left. The point never is just the fish. Sure, you want to catch a fat trout, then another and another. That’s the goal of fishing, but goal is different than point.

“Can’t believe you’re actually here, dude.”

I laughed. As a high school teacher, I’m not wealthy, but I did have enough to afford the trip. Still, I’m not always the type of dude to do things like this, buy an impulse airplane ticket to California to fish. I’m almost always down for picking up my fly rod and heading out the door, but the more planning it takes or the more complications present, the less likely I am to make it happen. But that’s the point: making things happen. Life is better when you do the things you love, not just live off old memories.

FINALLY, SOME FISH The next morning we woke up, broke camp, hit the other river and combined to hook 60 fish by noon.

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SIERRAS golden – the Sierra Grand Slam (see next month’s California Sportsman for more on that) – and the following day netted two 20-inch rainbow trout in Redding on the Lower Sacramento River to the north. It was an epic, epic trip.

When Kurt dropped me off at the airport in Sacramento for my flight home, I was back in those jeans and plotting my next trip to the Owens.

Sometimes you need a fishing trip to be great enough to feel energized, but just being unsuccessful enough to keep you hungry and needing to come back. CS Editor’s note: Jeff Lund is the author of Going Home, a memoir about fishing and hunting in Alaska and California. For more, check out Jeff’s website, JeffLundBooks.com.

Oh, there were still fish to be caught, as Jeff’s Sacramento River rainbow attests. But he wants to return to the Owens when the trout are biting again. (JEFF LUND)

116 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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HELP DEFEAT PROP 63

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STOP 63

THE AMMO BAN

HUNTING Hunters would be among those responsible gun owners who would be affected by required background checks for ammunition purchases should Proposition 63 pass this November, opponents say. (CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE )

IMPACT ON HUNTERS IF PROP 63 PASSES

NOVEMBER BALLOT PROPOSAL WOULD INCLUDE REQUIRING BACKGROUND CHECK ON AMMO BUYS

By Sean Brady

G

ov. Jerry Brown signed several radical gun control measures into law this year, including one that requires people to purchase ammunition from a licensed vendor, which would then conduct a background check on the purchaser and record into a new state database details about the buyerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity and what is being purchased.

It also, with limited exceptions, bans all shipments of ammunition direct to consumers. As bad as this new law is

for hunters, Proposition 63 on the November ballot could make things even worse if passed into law by voters.

The law that was signed by Gov. Brown provides for point-of-sale background checks with a $1 per purchase fee. On the other hand, Prop 63 would require you to apply to the state to be included in its database of authorized ammunition purchasers. This application requirement in Prop 63 could spell disaster for your hunt.

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119

HELP DEFEAT PROP 63

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HUNTING WOULD AFFECT LAW ENFORCEMENT AS WELL you are already on a trip and discover the ammunition you have is not suitable, perhaps because you have lead bullets and the type of hunting you will be doing requires nonlead bullets.

So you go to the local store, but because you have not purchased ammunition recently, you do not possess the required “ammunition purchase authorization” to legally do so. Or there is a mixup with the state’s records – as often happens with California’s firearm records of this nature.

The vendor then denies the sale and tells you that you must first apply for authorization with the state, a process that can take up to 30 days – or more if clarification is needed – and cost up to $50, even if you only need a single box of far-less-expensive ammunition.

If you think you can just buy the ammunition you need from your guide, hunting partner or even a sibling, you would be wrong.

Prop 63 prohibits such private-party sales. And, if you are close to the state line and think you are just going to hop over to Oregon, Nevada or Arizona and come back, sorry, that practice would be prohibited as well.

Looks like you will be missing the hunt.

And if you are a law enforcement officer and think you do not need to worry about this, you are mistaken. Officers

Purchasing nonlead ammo, which the state will fully require to use for hunting by 2019, could be a lot more difficult on short notice if California voters agree to pass Prop 63. (ALBERT QUACKENBUSH)

are not generally exempt from these restrictions, which is one of the reasons not a single law enforcement group has supported Prop 63 to date, while numerous have opposed it, including the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, California State Sheriffs Association and Califor-

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HUNTING nia Police Chiefs Association.

Setting all this aside, it is hard to overstate the horrendous impact that Prop 63 will have on already hardto-find and costly nonlead ammunition, which will be required for all hunting beginning July 1, 2019. You as a taxpayer will be paying Prop 63’s projected tens of millions of dollars’ worth of annual price tag.

For these and many other reasons, everyone – but es-

pecially hunters – should vote no on Prop 63 during the Nov. 8 election!

Editor’s note: Sean Brady is an attorney for Michel & Associates in Long Beach (michellawyers.com) and also a member of the Coalition for Civil Liberties. The organization was founded by the California Rifle and Pistol Association (crpa.org) and has the backing of other firearms organizations in the state. For more on the opposition to Prop 63, go to stoptheammograb.com/the-issue.

PROPOSITION 63 DETAILS A complete breakdown of the proposition can be found at vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2016/general/en/pdf/text-proposed-laws.pdf#prop63, but this is how the Secretary of State’s office summarizes it: Requires background check and Department of Justice authorization to purchase ammunition. Prohibits possession of large– capacity ammunition magazines. Establishes procedures for enforcing laws prohibiting firearm possession by specified persons.

Requires Department of Justice’s participation in federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Fiscal impact: Increased state and local court and law enforcement costs, potentially in the tens of millions of dollars annually, related to a new court process for removing firearms from prohibited persons after they are convicted.

A YES VOTE MEANS A new court process would be created for the removal of firearms from individuals upon conviction of certain crimes. New requirements related to the selling or purchasing of ammunition would be implemented.

A NO VOTE MEANS No new firearm– or ammunition–related requirements would be implemented. CS

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HUNTING

FROM FIELD ...

ON THE

SCENT OF A BUCK

SNIFFING OUT A DEER’S PRERUT HABITS CAN HELP FILL YOUR TAG

By Scott Haugen

O

f all the game I’ve been fortunate to hunt around the world, few match the challenges presented by trophy blacktail deer. Having hunted most game in North America, and with 40 years of blacktail experience behind me, I think consistently tagging a trophy blacktail is the most challenging hunt of them all.

As with many hardcore blacktail hunters, I’m addicted to these deer but I’m far from having all the answers.

I routinely make scientific-based observations, however, and one that’s been proving itself helpful to me in recent seasons is hypothesizing how blacktails use their own scents as a form of communication, something hunters can capitalize on to fill more tags.

QUITE A CHALLENGE September and October are likely the toughest times for hunters to tag a trophy blacktail. This is because as soon as big bucks strip their velvet, they withdraw deeper into their core areas, making it hard for hunters to access them.

They’re also more nocturnal.

However, September and October are important times for blacktail bucks as they acquire feed in preparation for the calories to be burned during the rut. This is also a time when they lay down scents that inform other deer of their presence, what we call prerut.

Blacktails aren’t like mule deer, which tend to enjoy

When it comes to fall blacktails, knowing how they communicate through pheromones is important. This buck followed the path of a doe right into the open, something the author believes was due to scent distribution through the interdigital glands of the doe. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

commanding views of their habitat and can see other deer.

Trophy blacktails live in a brushy environment and behave so sagaciously that they rely on pheromones to figure out what’s going on.

Pheromones are chemicals that trigger innate behavioral responses within members of the same species. There are various forms of pheromones, including alarm pheromones, sex pheromones, trail pheromones and many others that impact both animal behavior and physiology.

For hunters, the most noted deer odor is that sweet smell of the rut, which is secreted from the tarsal glands of bucks during the breeding season. Preorbital glands, forehead glands and salivary glands are also important later in the season.

However, there’s a gland located between the toes of every deer – all ungulates with a split hoof have this gland – that’s important for hunters to recognize. It’s called the interdigital gland, and every time a deer takes a step, it lays down a scent with this gland. To deer, this scent is calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

129

HUNTING

Brought to you by:

... TO FIRE

TAMING GAMEY

RUTTY BUCKS

Avid hunter and chef Tiffany Haugen says using caper gravy and marinating the meat can eliminate gamey flavor from rutty bucks. (TIFFANY HAUGEN)

By Tiffany Haugen

O

nce in a while you find a recipe that works with any big game. We’ve used this one to prepare deer, elk, bear, pronghorn and caribou, and it’s turned out great every time.

Hunters who have taken proper care of their animal in the field and then aged the meat know how delicious it can be.

Even rutting bucks and bulls can make great table fare, if prepared properly.

Years ago, we were a bit hesitant when cooking a buck taken in the peak of rut. He was the strongest smelling deer we’d ever harvested. This recipe was developed specifically for the taste of gamey venison, as it combines a very flavorful marinade and gravy and comes out delicious every time.

1 pound venison steaks (cut ½-inch thick) 1 cup Italian dressing (not fat free) 2 tablespoons peanut oil Place venison steaks in a sealable plastic bag with Italian dressing. Marinate 30 minutes to 12 hours (refrigerate if marinating over 30 minutes). Prior to cooking, let marinated venison sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat peanut oil on medium-high heat.

Cook steaks to desired doneness and remove from pan. Prepare gravy in the same pan using the recipe below.

CAPER GRAVY 2 tablespoons butter ½ cup onion, diced 4 shallots, finely sliced ¼ cup capers, chopped 2 tablespoons flour 1 cup beef broth 1 cup water ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped ½ teaspoon white pepper Salt to taste 130 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

In heated skillet, melt butter on medium heat. Add onions and shallots and sauté until tender. Add capers and sprinkle flour evenly over skillet. Once the mixture begins to bubble, slowly add beef broth and water, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Cook to desired consistency, adding more liquid if needed. Remove from heat, add parsley, pepper and salt to taste. Pour gravy over cooked steaks or return steaks to pan and serve accordingly.

THIS CAN’T BE “WILD GAME” MARINADE Even people who claim they don’t like any type of wild game end up taking seconds of this meat. This works well with any venison that may be a bit gamey. Marinate two to three days for optimal flavor and tenderness.

1 to 2 pounds venison ¼ cup real maple syrup ¼ cup soy sauce ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce ¼ cup cider vinegar ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ cup olive oil Three to four cloves garlic, crushed Three sprigs rosemary Combine all ingredients in a sealable plastic bag or marinating container. Keep marinating meat refrigerated until 30 minutes prior to cooking.

Editor’s note: For 100-plus more great reci-pes and signed copies of Tiffany Haugen’s popular cookbook, Cooking Big Game, send a check for $20 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489 or order online at scotthaugen .com.

calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

131

HUNTING

Trail cameras reveal a lot about blacktail movement. Here a monster buck checks out a trail for scent, something that’s very common this time of year.

(SCOTT HAUGEN)

their identifying mark, sort of like how humans recognize one another by sight. The scent from this gland is so strong that humans can even detect it when fresh.

The scent from the interdigital gland is how does keep track of their fawns, and how mature bucks alert others of their presence in an area. In some Midwestern university studies on whitetails, results have led to the conclusion that perhaps some of the compounds in this scent may occur in higher concentrations among mature whitetail bucks, thus, we can speculate the same is true for blacktails.

So, why is the scent of the interdigital gland import-

ant to blacktail deer hunters? Because in early fall mature bucks start cruising trails, laying down identifying scents, checking to see what does are in the area, and beginning to figure out what bucks are in their domain. This is prerut behavior and it starts in September, continues through October and well into the November rutting period.

During late September and October, I think the interdigital gland is the most important of all glands for hunters to note, despite the fact that deer use it to communicate year-round. It’s important right now because as does go about their daily routines and utilize multiple trails to get to where they’re going, bucks will intently search these trails for fresh scent. At this stage, bucks are trying to figure out how many does are living in an area and where they congregate.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR If looking to tag a buck in September, concentrate on sitting near the intersection of multiple trails. But keep in mind that mature bucks rarely travel on primary trails other than during migrations. Telemetry studies conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife just north of the California border have shown that blacktails only use the same trail on two or more consecutive days 25 percent of the time. What’s even more eye-opening to some hunters is that big mature bucks rarely utilize primary trails

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HUNTING

Scott Haugen’s best California blacktail, a 152 5/8-inch buck taken from a discrete trail where he followed two does. The temperature was near 100 degrees, but the buck stuck tight to the trail and the does, sniffing the ground as he went. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

at all. Instead, they travel along more covered routes and wind their way through brushy cover.

Then why hunt trails this time of year? One thing I’ve observed a great deal is that big bucks will spot-check primary trails. That is, they deliberately travel to these main trails to smell the scents left on them by other deer. The scents they are seeking this time of year may be left by does, insubordinate bucks and even older bucks moving through.

134 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

Granted, mature bucks spend little or no time actually traveling these trails, but they do make an effort to see what deer have been on them. Most of the big bucks I’ve seen carry out the approach from the trail checks at a 90-degree angle, usually along hillsides.

They come to the trail, sniff along it for a few feet, then move onto the next trail. I have observed them hopping on these trails and following them a short distance, an act which I can only speculate means they’re trying to let their presence be known or they smell something that piques their interest. The more the prerut progresses, the more often I’ve seen bucks checking trails.

Once you’ve cracked the code of how blacktails move and communicate, you’re on the way to consistently filling tags. And when you lock in to truly big bucks, you’ll take the thrill of hunting blacktails to a whole new level. CS

Editor’s note: Signed copies of Scott Haugen’s popular book, Trophy Blacktails: The Science of The Hunt, can be ordered at scotthaugen.com, or, send a check for $20 (Free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489. This book captures year-round blacktail behavior like no other.

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Our Los Angeles-based Urban Huntress, Brittany Boddington, had a last-minute chance to replace a colleague on an Alaskan brown bear hunt. To hunt in wild tundra terrain like this, who could blame her for jumping at the opportunity? (NEIL COWLEY)

AN ALASKAN PINCH HUNTER

A LAST-MINUTE INVITE TO THE LAST FRONTIER TO CHASE BROWN BEARS AND MINGLE WITH FOXES

I

got a phone call on a Friday morning from a fellow host on Petersen’s Hunting Adventures, who provided me with quite an opportunity.

Due to wildfires in Northern California, he would not be able to go on his grizzly bear hunt in Alaska and asked if I could go in his place. The hunt would start on the ensuing Tuesday. Obviously, I had little to no time to think about it, but with my heart pounding in excitement I said I would work things out so that I could go. The scramble to head north began.

I didn’t have any of the Alaskan hunting gear on the packing list I was sent, and since it was the end of the week, there was little chance to order anything and get it in time. However, I was going to visit my friend in Colorado for her birthday that weekend, so I asked her to take me to Cabela’s since there are none in California.

There, I bought everything I needed.

THE FUN PART BEGAN in Kotzebue, Alaska, which is on the western side of the state north of Nome. We flew into a calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

139

little airport and transferred our things to the flight strip, where a bush plane picked us up and transferred us to the hunting area. The plane was tiny but had big rubber wheels, which came in handy as we bounced down the gravel bar that’s used as a landing strip. Our camp was right next to a river that was supposed to be great for fish-

ing, though we were there to hunt first.

Our camp guide, Allan, had a very laid-back approach to hunting grizzlies, more along the lines of “let them come to you.” We stayed around camp and glassed a lot the first day.

On day two, we decided to go for an afternoon walk up to a lookout point on a neighboring hill. We didn’t see anything – no fresh bear tracks, dung or anything else. We all agreed that while there were probably bears around, To spy out bears on the northwest Alaska tundra requires getting to good glassing points above rivers. (NEIL COWLEY)

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they were not in our immediate area. We did some fishing and I caught three Arctic grayling, which we ate for dinner. They were especially delicious after eating dehydrated food for our previous meals.

DAY THREE CALLED FOR a relocation. We got picked up one by one in a Super Cub flown by our outfitter, Brad Saalsaa, and then dropped off in a different camp about a 20-minute flight away.

I was the first to go, and when I landed, Jon, who would be our guide for the rest of the adventure, met us on the landing strip. After we unloaded my gear and my tent, Jon informed me that the camp was across the river from the landing strip. I got my waders on, we took my stuff across and started setting up camp.

Once everyone had arrived and set up their tents, we talked about the plan for the hunt, Crossing an ice-cold Alaskan river is part of the grind of hunting in the Last Frontier. (NEIL COWLEY) and I discovered Jon had a different approach to hunting grizzlies. The plan was to get up just at dawn, the mountain and stay up there for the day to glass. He head out to the river’s edge and glass the mountain across warned us to always carry a firearm for safety, since there the river. Then we would cross the river, get on top of were lots of bears around.

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We climbed the hill the next day, sat down and glassed. We saw seven bears, though none within reach.

I was second in line to shoot, after Jason Morton of CZUSA firearms, since he had come the year before and not been successful.

The area was beautiful, with big open expanses on all sides of our lookout point. We could see for miles in all directions, and the weather was beautiful for the first couple days. But the wind kicked up after that and never let up.

yards out. I could talk softly to them and get them to come right in. They obviously had never seen a human before.

On one particularly terrifying night, I was sleeping in my tent and awoke to the sound of footsteps on the gravel outside. I listened intently and got ready to grab my gun.

I was sure it was a grizzly, and I was sure it was seconds away from invading my tent. I lay there for an hour in-

SITTING ON THE MOUNTAIN for 14 hours at a time started to get brutal. The wind was cold and the lookout spot had no shelter, except some bushes on the point. I managed to squeeze down into the bushes for a nap from time to time, and I found a perfect little hollow spot. Unfortunately, I was not the first one to nap in there. It smelled like salmon and there were tufts of fur inside. I was definitely napping in the bed of another hunter – a bear.

Tracks were everywhere and we saw bears every day, but unfortunately neither Jason nor I ever got close enough to close the deal on a bruin. But I did make friends with some foxes on top of the mountain. They were so curious about us; they would come right up and sniff us at around 5

144 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

After relocating to a new camp with a new guide, Brittany and her fellow hunters did spot some bruins, but they were never close enough to be in shooting range. (NEIL COWLEY)

LODGE SPOTLIGHT

The author thought she found a clean place to rest, but she quickly realized that bears had previously enjoyed a meal here and used it as a chill spot to kick back. (NEIL COWLEY)

She didn’t get the bear she’d come for, but Brittany vows to get back to Alaska again and make good on the expectations she’s heard about. (NEIL COWLEY)

tently listening as something moved around in the bushes and on the gravel.

Whatever it was went away, but I definitely didn’t sleep that night. The next morning, I told the guys about my traumatic night and we went to look for tracks by my tent.

As it turns out, it was nothing more than a little fox digging

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for bugs or rodents. The guys suggested it was probably the one from the mountain and had sniffed its way to camp.

The trip ended with my thought-it-was-a-grizzly-butit-was-only-a-fox experience being the most exciting moment. But the land is beautiful, and now I have a perfect excuse to go back to Alaska next year and try again! CS

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THE

HUNTING

RELOADING

REVOLUTION

WITH HUNTERS’ AMMO CHOICES DETERMINED BY CHANGING REGULATIONS, HERE’S HOW TO ADAPT

Author Al Quackenbush hand-loads one of his .300 Win Mag rounds. He will be using a mixture of brass- and nickel-plated ammo since he has some of each and will not let the material go to waste. (ALBERT QUACKENBUSH)

By Albert Quackenbush

B

ullets are an incredibly hot topic these days. If you live in California, so is lead-free ammunition for hunting, and let’s face it, copper bullets are expensive!

No matter how you look at it, the price for most copper ammo is double (or more) than the lead equivalent.

I understand the process of making bullets is very different for copper versus lead, but it really hurts the wallet. After I purchased a few boxes of lead-free ammunition for my .300 Win Mag, I realized that I needed to learn to roll my own.

When I was younger, my dad taught my brother and me how to reload our varmint rounds. We would make an afternoon of it and learn the proper steps – from eye protection to getting that bullet seated properly

These lead-free Hornady 165-grain GMX bullets are ready to go. Quackenbush’s research suggested they will shoot flatter at long distances, in higher elevation, and still have plenty of knockdown power for big game. (ALBERT QUACKENBUSH)

in the case. One of the things I truly love about my dad is his attention to detail. He scrutinized his process long before my brother and I started and he made notes for everything. In fact, my brother is still using them today, after nearly 30 years. Having no reloading equipment, I needed help to relearn the process.

BROTHERS IN ARMS It turns out that I have friends with similar interests and they love to go to the range and shoot. For them, ammunition is even more expensive because they are constantly firing off hundreds of rounds to my handful!

One of my target-shooting friends, Bill Gardner, just happens to live a couple miles away from me and offered to help by allowing me to use his reloading equipment. In fact, he offered to guide me through the pro-

cess and work with me to build the proper hunting load. Talk about a good friend to have!

With the passing of Assembly Bill 711, which requires hunters to use lead-free shot and bullets when taking any California wildlife, and Senate Bill 1235, which requires people to register to buy ammunition, I figure, why wait and adjust my loads later when the laws go into full effect?

I will get everything set now so that I am not behind when it becomes mandatory in all zones. The timing is extremely close anyway.

Plus, in the near future, we will have to register to buy ammo and order in limited supply. In my humble opinion, that’s garbage, but I will follow the law. Even still, I want to make the most of my hunting experience and my bank account, so I am using a

calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

151

HUNTING little foresight and getting the wheels turning now.

My first hurdle was deciding what animal(s) I planned on hunting with the rounds I would be reloading. If I was hunting coyotes with a .223 round, I would not use the same round on a bighorn sheep high in the mountains. I knew when I built my .300 Win Mag earlier this year that I would be hunting deer, bear, pigs and, hopefully, wild sheep someday.

I opted to reload using a Hornady GMX 165-grain bullet. According to research, it will shoot flatter at long distances, in higher elevation, and have plenty of knockdown power for any of those animals.

POWDER POWER The hardest decision I had to make was what powder to use. Did I want a faster-burning or slower-burning one?

What about a powder that wouldn’t foul my chamber as much as another?

These are all factors I had to carefully consider.

I came to the conclusion that I could use one of two powders effectively, but when I went to purchase the one most recommended, it was sold out and wouldn’t be in stock for weeks. Hodgdon H4895, being my second choice, was available, so I bought what I needed to get me started to build different loads for my weapon.

Cases, or brass, are constructed using different materials, depending on the manufacturer. For example, Federal is using nickel-plated brass for its copper rounds. I will be using a mixture of brass- and nickel-plated cases. Why? Quite sim-

152 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

A cleaned pocket awaits insertion of a new primer. (ALBERT QUACKENBUSH)

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calsportsmanmag.com | OCTOBER 2016 California Sportsman

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HUNTING ply, because I have some of each and I will not let them go to waste. I am going to try different ones and compare how they perform. Will they fire the same? That remains to be seen, but those are some of the reloading tests I will be considering. Being so new to the reloading game, I know it is something I will be learning along the way.

To speed things up, I had dropped my brass off with Bill and he ran them through the tumbler to get them cleaned up. I met him at his house and we got started. Now, I won’t run through the detailed process, but as you can imagine, it took us awhile to get things moving.

Bill is very experienced and I am being reintroduced to reloading. He cleaned the primer pockets for me before I arrived to speed things up.

After the resizing of the cases and primer insertion, I chose four different loads to take to the range.

Bill Gardner takes detailed notes analyzing the author’s .300 Win Mag brass bullets. Having a friend with reloading equipment can come in handy to save a few steps and get a few tips.

(ALBERT QUACKENBUSH)

Getting the right load for your weapon is something every hunter

must choose. I know that for many of you seasoned reloaders this will seem elementary, but it is very important for those who are new to it. This way I can see which one groups the best out of my rifle. I decided I would load in 20-round batches to be sure I would have enough for the range. Sure, it might be overkill, but like my dad, I like to be thorough.

Bill has a great system, and while I took notes he had better ways of tracking each component in each hand load. I was not only impressed but had a great time reloading my own ammunition and talking firearms with Bill. It was therapeutic and less expensive than retail. I figure I saved nearly $1 per round by reloading my own, plus I get to load exactly what works best from my weapon.

Now it’s time to head to the range to test my reloads out and lock down what I will be using for hunting season. CS Editor’s note: For more on the author, go to socalbowhunter.com.

154 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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Meet a Family with a Battery-Powered Landscape

“We like to do yard work. We like to maintain our property.”

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STIHL BATTERY-POWERED PRODUCT HOMEOWNER

It’s hard to maintain a home with four children. It’s even harder when that home sits on four acres of property dotted with trees and landscaping. But Scott and Kelly Cengia manage it all with the help of STIHL Lithium-Ion blowers, trimmers and hedge trimmers.

“We’ve got practices for swimming, soccer and basketball all the time,” said Scott.

“Our four-acre property also requires a lot of maintenance. STIHL Lithium-Ion products really help with that.”

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STIHLdealers.com 156 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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BULL PACS FRAMES Interview by Steve Joseph A conversation with Sam Kolb, owner of Bull Pacs frames and accessories Steve Joseph How did Bull Pacs get its start?

Sam Kolb About 20 years ago, some elk hunters out of Lewiston, Idaho, packed out an elk on some rickety old aluminum pack frames and swore there had to be better equipment out there for the job. Their search left them empty-handed, and since they ran a machine shop they decided they’d make their own. After several years and countless hours, they finally fine-tuned a frame that was super strong, pretty lightweight and much more comfortable for those long packs out of the mountains loaded with elk.

Though they weren’t really interested in making that part of their machine shop production, they had the production aspect all figured out. Their mother, Janice, moved back to Lewiston and was looking for work when the business idea was born; the shop would manufacture Bull Pacs and Janice began sewing the components, assembling packs and shipping orders. In 2014, Janice decided she wanted to retire from pack production, and after months of training and passing of the baton, our family moved Bull Pacs to Vancouver, Wash., where we have continued with pack production and started working on new accessories and ideas to go with the Bull Pacs.

SJ What sets Bull Pacs apart from the other packs?

SK We’ve always had a passion for good, solid hunting gear. When I first laid eyes on the Bull Pacs, the solid design and workmanship definitely stood out. Once I tried it on, I loved the way it fit and was convinced it could comfortably handle any load I was able to shoulder. I couldn’t wait until the next season to try it out with a load of elk meat! That was 14 years ago and I have packed thousands of pounds of game on my original Bull Pac, with very few signs of wear and tear. I was actually surprised at just how tough and comfortable Bull Pacs really were, whether packing out elk quarters or just hiking the backcountry in pursuit of the next big adventure!

SJ What about accessories that are available?

SK We have started producing a number of new accessories to outfit new or old packs.

Our most popular addition is the rifle mount, which mounts securely to the Bull Pac frame and provides handsfree use when hiking or packing meat, but still allows quick access to ones rifle without removing the pack. We have also developed a decoy extension that allows a person to securely strap on super-tall loads that are otherwise unwieldy to haul around. We have started carrying RAM Mount accessories to facilitate attachment/use of flashlights, Go Pro cameras, spotting scopes and cameras or other similarly threaded electronic equipment. We have a couple different sizes of game bags for bone-in quarters or boned-out meat. We also have Bull Pac Straps for quickly cinching download on the pack frame for hauling meat and/or gear. And we are just finishing up an axe mount similar to the rifle mount to facilitate safe axe hauling. We have several other ideas we are working on, with things to come in the future.

SJ Speaking of, where do you see Bull Pacs heading in the future?

SK We are excited to continue the company’s legacy that’s built on quality, durability and personal customer service that Bull Pacs has provided to the outdoor community for years. While we love the Bull Pac, we are also working on a number of accessories and other innovative adaptations that will make your Bull Pac useful in a number of different applications. We hope to continue to grow as a grass roots pack company that represents solid, no-nonsense gear that gets the job done and doesn’t let you down, for the everyday hunter.

SJ You have a lifetime warranty. How important is that for your customers?

SK We do our best to produce products that will provide decades of worry-free use. What good is a warranty if it craps out on you in the bottom of the canyon? However, as we all know, anything mechanical can break. If you have something break, slip and land on a rock and bust a weld or have something you don’t think held up as it should have, we will happily take care of it and make it right!

We pride ourselves on customer service that’s second to none. We treat our customers how we’d want to be treated and don’t make excuses if an issue arises. More people like a company that stands behind their product, and we make sure our customers feel appreciated and are well taken care of!

Bullpacs.com • (208) 798-3299 158 California Sportsman OCTOBER 2016 | calsportsmanmag.com

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