In another turns of events for California outdoorsmen, the CA Department of Fish & Game is now going to require us to submit our tags, successful or not, back to the DFG. We can mail them or fill them out online. I see this as being good and bad. Sure, it’ll help keep tabs on wild game and keep us accountable, which is good. The bad news is that it makes an already difficult and confusing system even more tiresome. Especially for the unsuccessful hunters. Why should they have to report if they didn’t kill anything? To me that makes no sense and there is nothing like rubbing salt in the wound of having to eat tag soup.
When I lived in NY, we went through similar changes, such as being able to submit our kill info via phone vs. having to mail it it. Calling it in made it very easy, saved some hassle and once it was done the NYSDEC had a digital record of it. I didn’t mind doing it because the laws in NYS are much easier to follow and they try to work WITH you and not against you. In California I feel there is way too much political/private party influence. Plus, you didn’t have to call in if you were unsuccessful.
This is taken from the CA DFG website Harvest Reporting post:
DFG needs your harvest data to manage fish and wildlife populations in California. Information gathered from hunting tags and sport fishing report cards is important data needed by fish and wildlife biologists to support science based hunting and sport fishing seasons and sustainable quotas for harvest. This data is one of the critical components used to prepare the regulatory and environmental documents required for hunting and sport fishing programs. Because harvest and effort data is essential to fish and wildlife management, hunters and sport fisherman are required by regulation to report hunting tags and sport fishing report cards in a timely manner. For most species, you must report even if you were unsuccessful or did not hunt or fish.
The other tough thing about this is that, as far as I can tell, it was just recently announced. No one mentioned this when I bought my tags, which would have been helpful. I wonder how many hunters will completely let this slip because it’s so new and they weren’t told about it. I hope the CA DFG is forgiving this first year.
How do you hunters and fishermen feel about this new guideline and how do you think it will affect this season and future seasons?
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