SACRAMENTO—The last of the 35,000 "Big Green" B zone deer tags in California were sold on Aug. 9 this year, and the last of the 33,000 D3-5 deer tags were sold on Sept 30, leaving very few options for deer hunters in California after that date.

The early sale of the most coveted deer areas in the state prompted some WON sources to think that animal rights groups had orchestrated the purchase of deer tags, but considering the requirements of passing a hunter safety course, buying a hunting and purchasing tags by upwards of 10,000 people, that is highly unlikely.

Animal rights, anti-hunting groups don't have to do that. After all, they already sit on decision-making groups in the California Fish and Game Commission, and are influencing our Department of Fish and Wildlife and our state government at the highest level. And they are making an impact.

The reasons for the earlier and earlier tag purchase dates, according to Stafford Lehr of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, are multiple:

"In 2011 CDFW cut the number of deer tags in the B Zone (Interior Coastal mountains in Mendocino to the Oregon border," Stafford said. " In 2011 the quota went from 55000 to 35000. It has filled every year since (note that more than 35000 tags were issued in all prior years). There is a spike in sales around the time of the tag drawing (usually around June 10th).  Looking further into this the date the licenses have sold out has moved up each year." Here are the dates of the quota being met since 2011 in the B zone:

"This trend is based upon buying behavior that each year hunters realize that they need to buy their tag now rather than wait," Stafford said. "Many hunters used to buy their first tag, and if they were successful, then they would purchase their second tag (hunters are allowed to buy two tags in this zone as well as the D3-D5 zone).  Realizing that when they went to buy their second tag the trend was we had sold out, so now their behavior is to buy the second license when they purchased their first one and not wait.

It would make sense that these were first time B zone purchasers.  

"We looked at new B zone hunters by year, basically counting all the unique people that purchased a B zone tag from 2013 up to the specific year and then, in that year, how many of the tag holders were first time purchasers," Stafford said. "5504 (hunters) purchased their first B tag in 2015. Note the percent of first time B zone purchasers declines very steadily throughout the 2013-2016 license years. Based on this data, it does not look like there was any unusual influx of new purchasers in 2016. This, and the previous data provided, indicates that the faster fill date for the hunt is caused by more traditional B zone hunters purchasing 2 tags each year and purchasing tags earlier." Note the percentage of new hunters purchasing B zone tags in this graph:

"As to other zones that sold out, the trends of B Zone are mirrored: Here is the summary for D3-5 in the  past few years"

Stafford said that likely that a lot of this relatively minor change is due to:

1. Increased drawing participation – marketing and preference points have created a steady increase in participation while quotas have been stable to declining for draw hunts. This leaves a lot of unsuccessful draw hunters that now can claim any available tag – they have already paid the fee and it is not refundable:

2. Quota reductions in other zones shifted hunters to B and D3-5, as follows: C zone went from 12000 quota in 2003 to current 8150 quota, G1 went from 4000 quota in 2000 to current 2710 quota.

Some more recent reductions (2011 to 2016) are as follows:

"It seems like if an organizations membership attempted to buy up tags to stop deer take, it would be a self-defeating effort," Stafford said. "Hunt License and tag revenue would increase. Harvest to tag percent would decrease and likely result in higher tag quotas to obtain harvest level goals."

What was left out of his comments, is that if anti-hunting, animal rights groups can orchestrate their goals from within the Fish and Game Commission and the DFW, there is no reason for their members to "take away" deer tags from hunters by buying them. Their goals will be fulfilled by poor deer management, increase of predators such as mountain lions, bears, coyotes, and what looks like the encroachment of more wolf packs in the state.

As these apex predators wipe out deer and elk herds, tag numbers will be lower and lower, hunters will have less and less opportunity, and hunting in the state will be so poor that hunters will have little or no opportunity to find success.

The only deer tags left available in California as of Oct. 20 were archery only, and some low-success D zones in southern California as follows: Archery only: 92,308, D8: 1,458, D10: 29, D11: 1,174, D13: 1,219 and D15: 724. 

-- BILL KARR

Western  Outdoors News