California Buck Seasons




		California Buck Seasons
		The weather, coupled with a slow gradual decline in deer numbers throughout most of California, may make deer elusive this year, according to the Department of Fish and Game's Region 1 office. While biologists ponder the long-term forces working on the California deer herds, weather can still be counted on to be the biggest factor in the 2003 deer seasons. The DFG said cool, wet conditions will almost guarantee an improved buck kill during the various archery and rifle seasons. According to DFG biologists, storms tend to make both deer and hunters more active and can produce downhill herd migration to mid and lower ranges. Hunters may hunt each day from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Legal bucks are those with a forked antler or better on at least one side. No antlerless or either-sex deer hunts are scheduled in Region 1, per the agency. Last year, hunter success throughout the B zones was 23 percent, up slightly from 22 percent in 2001. All C-zone tags sold out August 4. The success rate dropped slightly from 16 percent in 2001 to 15 percent last year. The total kill in the C zones for 2002 was estimated at 1,619 bucks as compared to 1,776 in 2001.
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