Category: News

To apply for the spring turkey hunt lottery, call (916)575-7745. Payments for lottery applications are due at the time of registration. Each application for each period carries a $10 fee per hunter. If you are drawn for a hunt, there is a $50 fee per hunter, per hunt period that is due immediately after drawing is held.

Below are the hunt periods:

Youth Only Opener: March 20-21      

General Opener: March 27-29

General Period 2: April 2-3

General Period 3: April 9-10

General Period 4: April 16-17

General Period 5: April 23-24

General Period 6: April 30 – May 1

Archery or Youth Only Final Weekend: May 14-15

CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR EVENT DATES:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gYLRhxwPIYWC5En9oULtO69JJoJ3vSYSKdtTJw4MOqc/edit#gid=937675954

California Deer Association is expanding its territories!! We are looking for some amazing volunteers to help start Chapters in the following locations.

Vacaville, Stockton, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Susanville, Napa Valley, San Diego, Bakersfield, Kern River Valley, Ridgecrest, Bridgeport, Delano Tulare, Visalia, Salinas, Jackson,  Los Banos, Truckee, and South Lake Tahoe.

If interested, please, click this link to fill out a volunteer form https://caldeer.org/volunteer/ or call the office at 916-575-7745.

California Deer Association(3)

BEING A HUNTER IN CALIFORNIA IS NOT EASY. Sure, our prey is wary and difficult to harvest. But, the greatest challenge we face as a community is not the game we pursue.Over the course of the past couple of decades it seems that every type of hunting has been confronted with a political threat of some type. But, perhaps the greatest threat to ourability to stay in the field isn’t a proposal to stop what we hunt, rather one which challenges what we hunt with. California Deer Association’s (CDA) political team is always atwork – not only watching out for and confronting every new challenge to hunting in our state, but also pushing back with our own positive proposals to keep you in the field. Legislation CDA is currently co-sponsoring in California’s State Legislature is just one example.Even the most out-of-touch hunter has heard by now that recently passed legislation will soon make California the only state in the Union to require the use of non-lead ammunition for the taking of any wildlife, anywhere in our state. Specifically, Assembly Bill 711, legislation passed by the California State Legislature in 2013, mandates that non-lead ammunition be used for the taking of all wildlife – including all game mammals, game birds, nongame birds and nongame mammals – with any firearm by July 1, 2019. AB 711 left the dirty details of developing the exact schedule for phasing in the ban to the California Fish and Game Commission – giving them a full implementation deadline of July 1, 2019, buturging them to move much quicker. With nontoxic ammunition already required for waterfowl hunting for the past quarter century, the Commission did move quickly on placing the non-lead requirement on wildlife typically taken with “waterfowl size” shotgun loads. But aware that ammunition manufacturers would need more time to develop and produce effective big game loads, CDA worked with the Department of Fish andWildlife and the Commission to delay requiring non-lead ammo for deer and most other big game right up until the July 2019 deadline.

AB 711 is not the first bill banning the use of lead ammunition in California. In 2007, then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 821, legislation which banned the use of lead ammunition in all deer hunting zones within regions of the state inhabited by the California Condor. Admittedly, that ban has caused relatively minor problems, but only because hunters currently have choices. Presently, if you prefer to hunt with a rare caliber for which you cannot find non-lead ammo, you can put in for a tag for a zone outside the “condor range” and use your lead loads. If you shot a popular caliber such as 30.06 or .270, you’ll pay more, but you can currently find non-lead ammo on some store shelves – but only due to the present low demand. Yet, when the full mandate goes into effect in July 2019, everybody who hunts or takes wildlife for depredation purposes in California must use non-lead loads. The more popular your preferred caliber, the higher the demand, and the lower the chance you find it at your local retailer. The more unique your preferred caliber, the more likely non-lead loads may not even be in production.

With the 2019 statewide lead ban fast approaching, California hunters have taken some comfort in knowing that, when that time comes, they could look to out of state retailers to meet their sudden need for non-lead loads – that is, until just recently. Last summer’s passage of Senate Bill 1235 and subsequent approval of Proposition 63 on our November 2016 ballot, will prohibit
the direct internet and mail order purchase of all ammunition beginning on July 1, 2019 – Yep! The exact same day that California will require the use, statewide, of non-lead ammunition for all big game and other wildlife species. Thinking of driving up to Cabela’s in Nevada to buy yours? Think again. These new laws also prohibit bringing in ammunition purchased out of
state unless you go through a licensed ammunition vendor. If you can’t acquire the non-lead ammunition you need, you can’t hunt – period… regardless of the long-coveted tag you may have finally drawn.

 

Secretary of Interior, Ryan Zinke, signing Secretarial Order 3346, which repeals a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service directive the Obama administration issued the day before Trump took office, barring the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle in national parks and wildlife refuges. Despite this victory, the state of California, still faces the non-lead 2019 deadline.

 

 

 

With non-lead loads for big game sure to be toughest to find on local store shelves, CDA is aware that our members will be the absolute hardest hit by the collision of these two mandates. Not willing to sit idle, CDA is taking a stand. Earlier this year, CDA’s political team drafted language for legislation which, if passed, would provide big game hunters with critically needed relief – should the combination of these new laws make any caliber of non-lead ammo hard to find on California retailer shelves in 2019 and beyond.

Working closely with Assembly Member Brian Dahle (R-1st/Bieber) and Assembly Member Devon Mathis (R-26th/Visalia) – California Deer Association is proud to be a lead co-sponsor of Assembly Bill 1544, legislation intended to keep California’s hunters in the field. Currently, language in the Fish and Game Code allows the Director of Fish and Wildlife to temporarily suspend the prohibition on lead ammunition for a specific hunting season and caliber, if non-lead ammunition of that caliber is not commercially available because of federal prohibitions related to armor-piercing ammunition. Specifically,Assembly Bill 1544 proposes to substantially expand this exemption to allow the Director to suspend the prohibition for a hunting season and caliber should ammunition of that caliber not be available for any reason.

Introduced in the California State Legislature February 17th, Assembly Bill 1544 will first be heard in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. Although, at the time of this writing, the bill had not yet been scheduled for hearing, it will likely be first heard in early to mid-April. Make no mistake about it – passing this positive, pro-hunting bill in California’s often unforgiving Legislature will be very difficult. But CDA’s experienced political team is up to the task, and our members can help. Through California Deer magazine and other outreach, we will be pleased provide our members with updates on the progress of Assembly Bill 1544. CDA members can play a critical role in helping to pass this bill by contacting their elected representatives and urging them to strongly support this critically needed legislation, and/or attending committee hearings at our State Capitol and testifying in support.

California is well known for being ground-zero in the nationwide effort of animal-rights groups to take hunters out of the field. The California Deer Association is proud to be on the front-lines of this non-stop battle, fighting against the continual challenges to our outdoor traditions. Working with Assembly Members Brian Dahle and Devon Mathis on the introduction of Assembly Bill 1544 is just one of CDA’s many efforts on the political front. Working together with our members on this important proposal, as well as in addressing other issues of concern, CDA will ensure a strong and proud future for deer and deer hunting in California.

 

 

BILL GAINES

info@gainesandassociates

 

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CALIFORNIA ALREADY HAS THE STRICTEST GUN LAWS in the nation. Many of those who live, hunt and/or shoot in our state are regrettably hardened to our Second Amendment rights being kicked around at our State Capitol. But never has the hunting and shooting community been under siege like we are today. Using last year’s San Bernardino shooting as their springboard, California’s urban lawmakers have launched an unprecedented salvo of bills targeting our arms and munitions. But, it doesn’t stop there. With countless gun bills already brewing at our State Capitol, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom has now placed his highly aggressive “Safety for All Act” gun control initiative on the November 2016 statewide ballot. Making matters even worse, Newsom’s efforts outside the Capitol have ignited a duel with lawmakers inside the Capitol on who can pass the most gun control first.

Below is a glance at just some of the serious challenges currently confronting California’s hunting community: “Safety for All Act” Initiative – November 2016 State Ballot California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom’s “Safety for All Act” is easily the most aggressive single gun control package ever brought forward anywhere in our nation. Among many other things, this ballot initiative would:

• Ban all on-line and mail order sales ofammunition;

• Require those who purchase ammo to undergo a background check;

• Require tracking of what type/how much ammunition you buy;

• Ban possession of magazines which hold more than 10 rounds;

• Ban all private transfer of ammunition;

• Prohibit ammunition purchased out of state from being brought back into California;

• Prohibit ammunition purchased at a range from leaving the range.

To view the entire text of the “Safety for All Act”, visit http://safetyforall.com/fulltext.htm

While the “Safety for All Act” awaits its November fate, California lawmakers are racing to beat Newsom to the gun control punch. Below are just some of the record number of gun bills currently pending at our State Capitol:

With countless gun bills already brewing at our State Capitol, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsome has placed his highly aggressive “Safety for all Act” gun control initiative in the November   2016 on the November 2016 statewide ballot.

AB 156 –Ammunition Regulation AB 156 would require those who purchase ammunition to provide their name; date of birth; address; driver’s license number; and brand, type, amount and date of sale of ammunition purchased, and undergo an electronic background check. The bill would require ammunition vendors to obtain a vendor license and that Department of Justice (DOJ) establish a database on both vendors and buyers. AB 156 would also prohibit most internet and mail order purchase, and limit the sale or transfer of ammunition between hunting or shooting partners, and even family.

A “two-year” bill introduced in 2015 to deal with global warming, AB 156 passed through the Assembly last year. In early May 2016, the bill was gutted and amended to attack ammunition purchases. As newly amended, AB 156 quickly passed through the Senate and is now back in the Assembly for concurrence on the amendments in the Senate.

AB 1135 –Assault Weapons AB 1135 would reclassify some common semi-automatic hunting rifles as “assault weapons” by amending the definition to refer to a firearm that has one of several specified features, and “does not have a fixed magazine”. AB 1135 would expand the definition of “detachable magazine” to mean an ammunition feeding device that can be easily removed from the firearm without disassembly or use of a tool. The bill would exempt firearms legally possessed from 2001 through 2016, but require them to be registered. A “two-year” bill introduced in February 2015 to deal with agricultural products, AB 1135 passed through the Assembly last year. In early May 2016, the bill was gutted and amended to deal with assault weapons and quickly passed through the Senate. The bill is now back in the Assembly for concurrence of the amendments taken in the Senate.

AB 1511 – Firearms: Lending AB 1511 would require the loan of a firearm to anyone except a spouse, registered domestic partner, or immediate family be conducted through a licensed dealer. AB 1511 was introduced in May 2015 to deal with energy. In May 2016, with the bill already through the Senate, AB 1511 was gutted and amended to deal with the loaning of a firearm and quickly passed through the Senate. The bill is now back in the Assembly for concurrence of the Senate amendments, where it is scheduled to be heard on June 21st in Assembly Public Safety Committee.

AB 1664 –Assault Weapons AB 1664 would reclassify some common semi-automatic hunting rifles that can accept a detachable magazine as an “assault weapon”. The bill would expand the definition of “detachable magazine” to mean an ammunition feeding device that can be easily removed from the firearm without disassembly or use of a tool. AB 1664 would exempt firearms lawfully possessed from 2001 through 2016, but would require them to be registered. AB 1664 passed off the Assembly Floor and over to the Senate on June 1st. The bill will next be heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee in mid-June.

AB 1674 – Firearm Transfers AB 1674 would prohibit an individual from acquiring more than one shotgun or rifle within any 30-day period. AB 1674 passed off the Assembly Floor and over to the Senate in early June. The bill was heard on June 14th in Senate Public Safety Committee, passing out on a 5 to 2 party line vote. The bill will next be heard in Senate Appropriations Committee later this summer.

SB 880 –Assault Weapons SB 880 would redefine an “assault weapon” to include a semi-automatic center fire rifle, or pistol that has one of several specified features and “does not have a fixed magazine”. The bill would also redefine “fixed magazine” as “an ammunition feeding device contained in, or permanently attached to, the firearm in such a manner that the device cannot be removed without disassembly of the firearm action”. SB 880 would exempt those firearms lawfully possessed from 2001 through 2016, but require them to be registered. SB 880 passed off of the Senate Floor in mid May and over to the Assembly, where it was first heard on June 14th in Assembly Public Safety Committee, passing out on a 5 to 1 party line vote. The bill will next be heard in Assembly Appropriations Committee later this summer.

SB 1235 –Ammunition Regulation Similar to AB 156, SB 1235 would require those who purchase ammunition to provide extensive personal data prior to purchasing ammunition, undergo an electronic background check, and that the type and quantity of ammo they purchase be recorded. The bill would also require ammunition vendors to obtain a vendor license, and DOJ to establish databases on both vendors and purchasers. SB 1235 would also require ammunition to be purchased “face-to-face” with few exceptions, and limit the private sale or transfer of ammunition.

SB 1235 was originally introduced in February 2016 to deal with public employees’ retirements. In early May, SB 1235 was gutted and amended to deal with ammunition regulations and swiftly passed off the Senate Floor and over to the Assembly. The bill was heard on June 14th in Assembly Public Safety Committee, passing out on a 5 to 2 party line vote. The bill will next be heard in Assembly Appropriations Committee later this summer. The California Deer Association strongly urges it members to contact their Senator and Assembly Members to ask them to oppose these threats to our hunting and shooting traditions. Don’t know who your Senate and Assembly representatives are? You should! Find out by visiting http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

For more information on any of the above bills or any other legislation of concern, please contact Gaines & Associates.

BILL GAINES

Info@gainesandassociates.com