Every year, deer hunter Aaron Walls of Fresno scouts the mountains around Wishon Reservoir for the best spot to place two motion-sensitive cameras.
Each time a deer or bear walks past, the camera snaps a picture. Over the last few months, Walls' cameras photographed more than 100 deer – including one 3x3 buck with velvet antlers – and nine bear.
"I think it's going to be a good year," Walls said. "With all the rain we had, there's still water in creeks that are normally dry.
"[The deer] have a lot of choices. They don't have to walk 2 miles to get water. There's a lot of them, but they're going to be really spread out."
General deer and bear hunting season begins Saturday and continues until Oct. 30 in zone D7, which encompasses most of eastern Fresno and Madera counties south to the middle fork of the Kings River. Zone D8, which includes most of eastern Tulare County, opens Sept. 24 and closes Oct. 23.
Last year, 399 of the 9,000 deer tags issued for D7 were returned for a reported success rate of 4.4%, according to Department of Fish and Game hunter surveys. The estimated success rate (not all tags are returned, so DFG experts calculate how many deer were likely taken) was 6.9%. Those represent a slight bump from the 3.9% reported success rate and 6.2% estimated success rate in 2009.
The 2010 reported success rate for D8 was 5.8%, up from 4.5% in 2009.
The upward trend could continue this year as hunters report ample amounts of water and foliage, although most flowers and berries are late to bloom. Bryce Mann, a licensed hunting guide from Tollhouse, said he saw "a lot" of deer but only two legal bucks during a recent trip.
"I'd say either I was in the right place at the right time or we've got a real good year coming," Mann said.
Also ...
- The DFG will be conducting a checkpoint Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Highway 168 and Lodge Road to ensure compliance with fish and game laws and gather biological data. For details call Lt. Holly Spada at (559) 243-4005, ext. 0.
- DFG biologist Greg Gerstenberg will speak about local deer herds at tonight's Fresno County Sportsmen's Club (10645 Lanes Road) meeting at 7:45 p.m. The public is welcome.
The reporter can be reached at marekw@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6218.
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