Jesse's Hunting > Jim Matthews > January 2002 to June 2002

January 2002 to June 2002

MOJAVE, HUNTER SAFETY UPDATES -- matthews-ONS -- 26jun02

Mojave hunting: more bias

Several environmental groups have petitioned Secretary of Interior Gale Norton to close the Mojave National Preserve to hunting in the spring and summer months under the guise of protecting desert tortoises. They've asked that all hunting for coyotes and bobcats be banned, and that all hunting be stopped from March through August, when tortoises are most active.

Since I doubt there is a single documented incident where a hunter has shot a desert tortoise when hunting other legal game, it is fairly easy to see through the petition's stated reason for closing the preserve to hunting half the year and to restrict what game can be taken. This is an anti-hunting move, but none of them have the courage to simply admit hunting is the issue, so they try to backdoor the problem.

Here are the real issues:

1) Many of the people behind this petition are still fuming that hunting is a part of the preserve at all. They believe hunting -- all hunting -- should be banned, and this is their first step in that process. The tortoise is their excuse.

2) They find it especially deplorable that furbearers are still shot on the preserve. Some of them can swallow the idea that gamebirds and deer, which are eaten by hunters, can be taken, but the idea that we'd shoot predators for their pelts or the mere enjoyment of hunting a great game animal, sickens them.

3) They are against added water in the preserve -- guzzlers and cattle water -- not because they are concerned about their unnatural quality or truly believe there are environmental drawbacks. They even know that man-made water can be a part of the preserve under the diverse and often conflicting guidelines, but they want them removed because these water sources are maintained by hunters and encourage hunters to come to this game-rich area.

4) They want to use the tortoise to portray hunters as bad people who shoot anything out in the desert. I'm sure they will produce tortoise shells with bullet holes as "evidence" that hunters should be banned because we are bumbling Elmer Fudd's who blast away at everything and are careless. Hunters have guns. Here's a tortoise shell with bullet holes. Hunters must be to blame. That's their mentality, however ignorant, prejudicial and wrong it may be.

The outright dishonesty and self-righteousness these people display is frightening. Fifty or 100 years ago these environmental wackos would have been racists and focused their energy in perpetuating lies and control over ethnic groups, touting their own race as the superior one. Today, they are focusing on hunters, portraying us as lesser beings and their environmental cause as the superior one.

HUNTER SAFETY UPDATE: A recent survey of local hunter safety instructors has shown that their classes aren't growing proportional to the void left by the closure of the Turner's-Raahauge's hunter safety class -- formerly the largest in the state. The net result is that fewer new hunters get hunting licenses this year. With a steady, annual decline in hunter numbers, the Department of Fish and Game is making the problem worse.

The DFG effectively closed down the class by not allowing the budget -- specifically expenses for hall rental and advertising, even though both of those things are allowed under the guidelines for hunter education classes. Knowing there was nothing illegal done, the DFG has never issued a citation.

Now we have been told that the pressure to end the Turner's-Raahauge class came from Sacramento. Jack Edwards, the DFG warden in Sacramento who oversees the hunter ed program, said recently in a public meeting "we have been trying to close down the Raahauge class for 10 years."

This DFG fiasco has continued to spiral out of control. We understand now, that in an effort to cover their tracks, the DFG is auditing many other classes and expenses are being disallowed because instructors "are charging too much."

Instructors are not allowed to make a profit when running a hunter education class, but they can charge enough to cover legitimate expenses -- such as space rental, bookkeeping, postage, flyers, advertising, etc.

But apparently you can charge for these expenses only if the DFG decides by some arbitrary measure that it isn't too much.

CLASSES COMING UP: For those of you who have been left wondering where a son, daughter or hunting buddy can take a class this year, there are 32 classes slated in July at various locations throughout Southern California. Most are one-day, 10-hour classes, but there are also some two, four, and five-day classes that space the mandatory instruction out over several days. All these classes listed on the DFG's website at: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/huntered/he_classes.html. You can also call the DFG in Long Beach at (562) 590-5185 for information.

RABBIT SEASON OPENER -- matthews outdoor column -- 19jun02

Rabbit season opener July 1

Most guys skip the open day of cottontail rabbit season on July 1 because it's always hot, and many people still buy in to the myth about rabbits being wormy this time of year. I think I look forward to this season as much as any other through the fall. Maybe more.

Maybe it's because the plums on the tree in my backyard are fully ripe by the cottontail opener, and I'm think about fall harvests (and a wonderful plum-garlic baste we make for game). Maybe it's because I hunt rabbits with my favorite rimfire rifles. Maybe it's because rabbits are so darn good on the barbecue. Maybe it's just because its the first hunting season of the year.

Hunters can get excited about the coming fall in May and June because of tag application deadlines, new hunting licenses, maybe the purchase a new gun and getting it ready for our big game hunting. But October and November still seem like a long way off. The rabbits provide an outlet, an excuse, to get up before first light and go sit at the edge of an opening or old burn in chaparral and glassing the edges of the brush for moving rabbits at first light. Or last light after a day at work.

The beauty of rabbits for me is that they are not expeditionary. Big game -- even upland birds and doves to some extent -- require more planning and time. Big game mandates that you prepare for success and have a myriad of gear and ice chests. It involves longer hikes into country further from roads. Bird hunting requires, at least for me, the packing of dogs and all their gear. Even short hunts often stretch into half a day or more. Rabbit hunting requires a .22 and about a hour of spare time first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening. In 30 minutes, I can be hunting cottontails from just about anywhere in Southern California. I have some pretty good spots only 10 minutes from my house. The .22 stays in the truck this time of year. A guy never knows when he might get a chance to go.

The other thing is that I usually hunt rabbits alone. While hunting is traditionally a fraternal sport, which is one of the reasons we all like, I generally find myself by myself when hunting rabbits. I have hunting buddies who dearly love to hunt rabbits and get sidetracked when hunting quail if they find a pocket of bunnies, but I prefer to hunt rabbits like big game. Usually I sit with binoculars watching a small clearing with the .22, but the distances are usually short and if I don't have binoculars in the truck when I decide to go, it's not a big deal.

Sitting quietly with your own thoughts is not a bad way to begin or end a day. All the unimportant clutter filters out of your mind while you watch the scrub jays, hear the first coyote howl of the evening, and maybe even see a cottontail come out of the brush and feed its way along the edge of some chemise.

Sometimes I'll still hunt along a wash, rather than sitting, but I force myself to not cover more than 200 yards or so in that magic first or last hour. You take a step and watch for a black eye looking toward you, catch every movement and flicker. Another half step. It's not a whole lot different than sitting in one spot.

I don't bring a lot of game home hunting this way, but I suspect that's not entirely the point. It's the first hunt of the new season.

Rabbit hunting primer

Like with most other small and upland game, rabbits are creatures of their habitat, and good rain years generally translate into good rabbit years. Bad water years, like this one, seems to concentrate the rabbits in areas where the moisture and feed are best. Find the spots where the water and feed is good, and you'll find rabbits even in these dry years.

Scouting: That requires a little scouting. Since I often don't bother or have time to scout prior to the season, my scouting is usually done with a .22 in hand -- just in case. I mostly hunt Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management land. Two to five-year old foothill burns in canyons that have seasonal or permanent water are usually hot spots because they allow for lots of fresh vegetation and -- more importantly for us -- enough openings for visibility. In more arid areas of our deserts, hunting rabbits like big game makes sense: focus on the northeast-facing slopes where there is more vegetation and cover. I focus most of my scouting in chaparral and pinon-juniper habitats, and driving dirt roads after dark is a good way to find areas with concentrations of bunnies.

Binoculars: I learned a long time ago that you see more game by looking than walking. This is just as true with rabbits as big game, and I hunt with a binocular around my neck. Since most game is spotted at first or last light, I like binoculars that have an exit pupil of at least 4 mm (divide the power into the diameter of the object lens to determine exit pupil), which lets out most compacts for me. The greater exit pupil allows you to see better in low light, allowing you to peer into deep brushy shadows and see game at last shooting light.

Rifles and Ammo: One word here -- accurate. For more of my rabbit hunting, I use one of two rifles, an Anschutz Model 1516 in .22 magnum or a Ruger M77/22 in the regular .22 rimfire round. Both bolt rifles are accurate. I know that I can hit a rabbit in the head at 50 yards with either gun. In fact, I'm pretty confident with the .22 mag on out to 125-yard shots. I find most shots are from 20 to 40 yards, almost always on sitting game. There's not a lot of meat on the front quarters of a yearling rabbit, and if you are more comfortable with this bigger target, instead of the head, use the front quarters as your aiming point. Both shots will anchor a rabbit quickly and humanely. With the .22 mag, I generally use Winchester Supreme 34-grain load, Federal's Premium 30-grain load, or the new CCI 30-grain TNT load, while with the .22, I use Winchester Power Points or Remington Yellowjackets.

Game Care: Try to clean and skin your rabbits within two hours after you shoot them. If you happen to shoot them in the guts, clean them quicker. Don't leave them in a game bag or truck bed half a day. I like to get them cleaned and in marinade within an hour and have them the next day, or that evening if it was a morning hunt. If you want to save up three or four rabbits for a bigger gathering, rabbits retain their wonderful flavor even after freezing. I would recommend a vacuum freezing system to eliminate freezer burn, or you can freeze rabbits in those hefty freezer bags filled with water so the rabbit is completely encased in ice. That helps eliminate the contact with air that causes freezer burn.

I like rabbits just about any way they are prepared -- in stews (with big shitake mushrooms, ummmmm), grilled, fried, or even baked. I probably barbecue them (after soaking in one of several simple marinades) more than any other method. They are better than chicken.

WHERE BIG CATFISH COME FROM -- matthews column 12jun02

Giving a new meaning to the term `trophy cat'

The four men slipped into the waist deep water, wading around in the dark with huge nets. The muddy bottom sucked at their feet. Tropical birds shrieked out their night calls and then a lion roared. A huge Egyptian goose, flushed from its night-time bed, startled by the men struggling with a large fish in the net. Repeatedly, the night sounds would send fear into the men's throats, goosebumps ran down their spines. Were there crocodiles in the muddy water? Hippopotamus?

The four were netting huge catfish that would be transferred to one of four popular fishing lakes in urban Southern California -- Santa Ana River Lakes, Anaheim Lake, Corona Lake, or Irvine Lake.

But they weren't in Africa or Asia doing their netting, they were in Southern California. The catfish were 30 to 60-pound fish that were to be the centerpiece of summer angling for several years at these lakes, and some are almost certainly still swimming in these waters today. But the true story of where those trophy catfish came from could never be told before because the men catching them were sworn to secrecy.

Today, Bill Andrews, who along with his partner Doug Elliott, own and manage the recreational fishing programs at Santa Ana River Lakes, Anaheim Lake, and Corona Lake, and formerly ran Irvine Lake as well, will tell the story of those trophy cats.

Do you remember Lion Country Safari and its water rides? Well, all of the canals where those boats cruised were filled with huge catfish. Sometimes the cats would get caught between one of the boats and its rail track, damaging the boat and tipping people into the drink. The big catfish also would horrify visitors by eating ducklings in the spring. Kids would be feeding the birds, and "sploosh" a duckling would disappear in a swirl and splash.

"They wanted us to get them out of there but didn't want anyone to know because some people treated them like pets and fed them. So we would get in those canals at night with seines and catch those huge catfish. It was the eeriest darn thing to catch those fish with all those birds calling and lions roaring," said Andrews.

"We got tons and tons of fish from them, and I don't think there was anything under 25 pounds and there were 50 and 60-pounders. They wanted them out, so we eventually cleaned `em out," said Andrews.

The story can be told since that Lion Country Safari closed its doors. Anglers now know those big trophy cats they caught at Santa Ana River Lakes and Corona grew up listening to the calls of African wildlife and eating baby Egyptian geese and mallards. Hot dogs and popcorn made them heavyweights.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story.

Because of the size of those fish, many of them have survived for years in Corona Lake, which continues to produce a few monstrous cats each year. The biggest catfish caught at Corona was a 55-pounder landed by Mike Bradshaw of Riverside, and Smokey Wilson of Los Angeles nearly broke Bradshaw's record with a 54.6-pounder. The same week Wilson caught his fish in Oct. 1999, a 68.4-pound cat was found dying at Corona Lake. The fish had an array of lines and hooks in its mouth.

At Santa Ana River Lakes, the record catfish was a 67 1/2-pounder caught by Lee Porter of Los Angeles -- one of those Lion Country Safari cats. That fish that might have made the trip back and forth between Santa Ana and Anaheim Lake a time or two before it was finally landed by Porter. Both of those lakes are drawn down for maintenance each year and fish are netted and moved to the other lake. There are still a few big ones that make the trip each year, but the numbers have grown fewer each year and most of the super trophies are almost gone.

Andrews is nostalgic about those old days when he, Doug Elliott, his brother Craig Elliott, and Louie Cervantes netted those Lion Country cats.

"There were a couple of summer's there where we had 40 and 50-pounders caught each week," said Andrews.

Now the biggest catfish he can buy from suppliers are mere 10 pounders. No one is raising bigger fish.

"We're going to put in the biggest fish we can find this year," said Andrews. But then he sighed. "But the best we can get right now are only 10 pounders -- and they're rare. The fish growers we work with in the state grow lots of two and three pounders, and we can get lots of five and six pounders, but those eight to 10 pounders are rare."

Now most anglers are thrilled with five and six pound catfish, but Andrews and Elliott have spoiled anglers with their stockings of Phil Mackey's Mt. Lassen Trout Farms rainbow trout. Each of the past two years, Santa Ana River Lakes tackle shop alone weighed in over 500 rainbows bigger than 10 pounds. In fact, there were over 1,000 trout over 10 pounds at SARL last season and right at 600 this season, including six trout bigger than the current state record rainbow of 23 pounds. Add in Corona Lake's whoppers and there have been around 2,000 rainbows over 10 pounds caught at the two lakes the past two years.

So you can understand why Andrews is little wistful about catfish season. He'd like to have 20-pound and bigger catfish available for his fishing customers. Andrews will hint that Phil Mackey is working with catfish now and expects that Mackey will be growing 60- to 100-pound catfish someday.

Hundred-pounders! It won't be this year, but it will happen. This year anglers will have to be content with fish up to a mere 10 pounds -- along with one of those occasional Lion Country Safari fish that has managed to survive over the years. Perhaps these veteran fish pull harder and fight harder than regular hatchery fish -- after all, they did grow up in the jungle. These were catfish listening to the roar of lions.

Popular San Diego sportboat captain Manny Silva dies at 88

SAN DIEGO -- Captain Manny Silva, a rare man who touched the lives of many people during his 50-plus year career in the sportfishing industry, passed away Saturday at the age of 88.

Manny began his career in 1938 as a deckhand aboard Mel Shear's sportfisher Mascot III which operated from H&M Landing's original location at the foot of Broadway. He had arrived in San Diego from his hometown in Tulare, Calif., where he spent his youth working on his family's dairy farm. At 24 he decided that fish and people, not cows, would be his life work.

He served in the navy from 1942 until 1946 as bosun's mate in World War II on assignments that took him throughout the Pacific. He returned to San Diego, got his skippers license and took the helm of the Mascot III in 1948. It was aboard the Mascot III that he met his wife Louise where she worked as the galley cook.

Over the next five decades, Manny served on 15 sportfishers including the Miss California, NuGaGa, Worrier II, Worrier IV, Worrier VII, Sportfisher V, Aztec II, Mascot IV, Speed Twin and Malihini. When he retired in 1988, it was estimated that he had steered more than 500,000 anglers into some two million fish during his illustrious 50-year career.

Manny loved the sea and enjoyed the daily challenges of finding fish and working with people. Through he years he helped many new crewmen up through the ranks, sharing expertise and information generously. He was a gentleman, a living legend who was recognized by all for his soft spoken manner and his willingness to go out of way to help others.

Captain Ben Griffin of Morning Star Charters, like so many others, remembers Manny as a very special man who always had a smile and a helping hand.

"When I got my first helm on the Sabre in 1966, Manny would go out of way. If he found fish, he'd readily share the information. There not one person I can imagine that has anything but praise for Manny Silva," said Griffin.

Phil Lobred, owner of H&M Landing said, "Manny was the nicest man I ever knew."

Doug Warriner, a friend of Manny's for more than 20 years said, "I've met a lot of people in my lifetime, Manny was the very best I've ever known."

Manny is survived by his son Phil and his wife Kathy, grandson David, all of San Diego, and his sisters Mary DeMello of Hesperia and Francis Schaffenberger of Colorado.

A celebration service is planned for 10 a.m. Monday, June 17th, at the Sacred Heart Church of Ocean Beach. In lieu of flowers the family suggests a donation to the American Cancer Society.

SPORTS FAIR FOLLOW AND MORE -- matthews column 5jun02

Exhibition shooters were worth price of admission at Shooting Sports Fair

NORCO -- It wasn't planned, but when three of the finest speed handgun shooters in the world found themselves together giving individual exhibitions at the same show this past weekend at the Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair, something was bound to happen.

What happened were two of the most amazing and entertaining impromptu shooting events ever seen in Southern California. Rob Leatham, Todd Jarrett, and Jerry Miculek, probably have won every major handgun shooting event in the nation between them, multiple times. When they get together, it is usually in a competition. It usually comes down to one or the other winning the event.

At the Shooting Sports Fair, they couldn't help themselves. They set up an informal competition between the three of them as an exhibition. Fair schedules were adjusted and crowds gathered to watch. The game was pig. One of the shooters would make up an event, shoot, and the other two would have to beat his time. You lose, you get a letter. Lose three times. You're the pig. The slow pig, as it were.

"You know what we do with pigs in the South," drawled Miculek, a Louisiana native and known as the world's fastest revolver shooter. "We make `em squeal."

He said that after putting six shots from his revolver on a paper target in just over a second, beating the other two shooting their autoloading pistols -- which Miculek called "bottom feeders" -- by a slim margin.

Those of us watching went from being in awe to laughing as the trio shot and heckled each other. Miculek, the elder statesman of the trio, won the fun competition on Saturday and Jarrett won on Sunday. Leatham, who acted as ringleader both days, finished last both times -- graciously and with a sense of humor. If he missed a steel target, he'd shoot an extra time or two, then peak around at the crowd to see if anyone noticed that he'd taken an extra shot.

The exhibition ended on Sunday with the trio in a "gunfight" with about 20 falling steel targets that were mowed down in less than three seconds. It was worth the price of admission.

Turner's Hunter Safety Class Closure

With the closure of the Turner's Outdoorsman hunter safety classes, formerly the largest classes in the state, there will be some 2,000 students a year who will need to find a class in Southern California. At least three of the course instructors in the region are gearing up to try to field the additional students they expect to come to their classes. Jim Everitt (909-874-2449) of the West End Gun Club said they normally teach 25 to 30 students, but could handle up to 100 at the clubhouse in Ontario. Blaine Allen (909-781-4868), who runs classes at the Inland Fish and Game range in Redlands, said they could probably double their normal student class size. Tom Harris (909-987-0811), who runs classes at his home in Rancho Cucamonga, could field up to nearly 200 students if needed, but normally has classes that are much smaller.

For a complete list of classes available, first-time California hunters should check the DFG's website at: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/huntered/he_classes.html. You can also call the DFG in Long Beach at (562) 590-5185 for information on classes.

Bart Crabb Passes

Bart Crabb, a rabble-rousing outdoor writer from the Midwest who settled in Southern California to write about bass fishing, died after a long illness this past weekend. Crabb was most well-known as the author of "The Quest for the World Record Bass," an amazing compilation from across the nation of big fish data and interviews with anglers who pursue trophy largemouths. Crabb chronicled all the information around every big bass caught each year, as much for his own use as for any story. Bart wanted to catch that big one, too, and he figured the more he knew gave him an edge.

Many who knew Bart didn't know his biggest largemouth was a 15-pound, 9-ouncer, but his biggest battle was his win over alcoholism. I admired him for both. He was a buddy, and I'll miss him.

Sports Fair attracts big crowds over three days

NORCO -- The Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair, the largest hands-on gun show in the country, attracted its biggest crowds ever this past Friday and Saturday, while numbers might have been slightly lower on Sunday, perhaps due to the Laker's playoff basketball game.

"Overall, it was the best show we've had in a long time," said Mike Raahauge of the annual three-day event.

The trio of exhibition handgun shooters -- Rob Leatham, Todd Jarrett, and Jerry Miculek -- drew tremendous crowds for all of their sessions, and the three shooters put on a group show Saturday and Sunday, jointly demonstrating their speed shooting skills with pistols and revolvers. They also had a series of competitive events, where each shooter choose an event. The three put on an amazing exhibition of speed shooting and had the crowd laughing all the way through.

"Those guys are simply amazing," said Raahauge. "I'm not much of a pistol shooter, and I really enjoyed watching them. That revolver shooter -- Miculek -- was amazing. Anyone who is in to handgun shooting and didn't come out and watch those guys shoot missed an amazing show."

John Cloherty's exhibition shotgun event was also -- as always -- a real crowd pleaser, especially his creation of the "half-acre salad" at the end of his show. Winds in the afternoon made the event like a Gallagher Sledge-O-Matic performance where folks downwind needed rain jackets or plastic sheeting.

In previous years, it was estimated something on the order of 1/2 million rounds of ammunition were fired over the two days. Raahauge said there were over 20,000 rounds of shotgun ammunition shot just on the five-stand and sporting clays courses, and Steve Johnson of Remington said they went through more than double the ammunition they shot last year.

The tentative dates for next year's Sports Fair are May 30, 31, and June 1.

California Deer Association has first banquet slated for June 22

NORCO -- The Southern California Chapter of the California Deer Association will have its first banquet-auction Saturday, June 22, at Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises to raise money to fund deer habitat work in the Golden State. CDA is working with the Mule Deer Foundation to jointly fund projects in California, allowing both organizations' money to have more impact on the ground, according to Glen Tessers, CDA committee member for the SoCal Chapter. The group has already funding controlled burns, studies on deer herd migration, mountain lion predation in California, and one of the groups in a coalition battling to keep cattle water flowing on the Mojave National Preserve. In all, since it was formed in 1996, it has put over $1 million into on-the-ground projects.

Tessers said that more than 200 people signed up to become members of the new Southern California Chapter at the International Sportsmen's Exhibition in Pomona earlier this year, and the group will have a booth this weekend at the Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair in Norco. Banquet tickets are $60 per person or $95 per couple. Juniors 15 and under pay only $35. For more information on the dinner, contact Tessers at (310) 973-8148 in the evenings or via e-mail at glen.tessers@trw.com. You can learn more about the CDA at its website at www.caldeer.com.

Quail Unlimited snake avoidance clinic set for June 29 in Riverside

The Riverside Chapter of Quail Unlimited is hosting a June 29 snake avoidance clinic for hunters and other pet owners who take their dogs in the field. The class is a proven method to snake-proof dogs and prevent dangerous snake bites. The class is conducted by experienced Nevada dog handler and trainer Bob Kettle. Cost for the class is $50 per dog, and the pets must be at least six months old. Classes will be held 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations are required. For more information, contact Lee O'Donnell at (909) 735-7748.

August 6 deadline to apply for SoCal upland bird hunts

LOS ALAMITOS -- There will be three special dove hunts and one special quail hunt held this year as part of the Department of Fish and Game's Game Bird Heritage Program, designed to increase hunter opportunity in the region, and the deadline to apply for these hunts is August 6. For the dove opener, there will be hunts on September 1 in the Cuyama Valley in Santa Barbara County, Peace Valley near Gorman in Los Angeles County, and the Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve in San Diego County. There will also be a Sept. 2 (Labor Day) hunt at Rancho Jamul, and an Oct. 19 and 20 (quail opener) hunts at Peace Valley.

There will be morning and afternoon hunts at each location each day for the dove opener, while the two quail hunts are morning-only events. To apply, hunters need to send in a standard-sized postcard which includes each applicants name, address, day and evening phone numbers, and 2002-2003 hunting license number. Up to two people may apply together. You must also specify which hunt and time period you prefer. You may apply only once for each hunt, but you may submit a postcard application for each hunt. Postcards should be sent to Department of Fish and Game, Game Bird Heritage Special Dove/Quail Hunts, 4665 Lampson Ave., Suite C, Los Alamitos, CA 90720, attention Scott Sewell. For more information, contact Sewell at the 24-hour game bird hotline at (562) 590-5100.

SPORTS FAIR SPEED SHOOTING -- matthews column 29may01

Sports Fair features hot handgunners

In the real old West, the frequency of high-noon faceoffs at 25 paces, made famous in B-Western movies, only happened on occasion and usually among contestants who had been drinking too much.

There is apparently a true but embarrassing tale of two coattail relatives who retired to the street, drew their guns, blazed away at each other from only a few paces until both revolvers were empty, and not a wound administered. The two stood in silence while the adrenaline. drained from their bodies and the smoke from the event cleared from between them. They both came to realize that neither was worse off. Finally, one broke the silence by suggesting that they both go home and get axes, something a man living on the frontier probably used more frequently than his revolver. They started laughing and ended up going back into the saloon to get drunk together, both vowing eternal friendship and to practice more with their guns.

The few real gunfighters of the old West would turn ghostly pale and probably decide that leaving the county was a good idea if they could have seen the likes of the three handgun shooters -- Jerry Miculek, Todd Jarrett, and Rob Leatham -- who will be giving shooting exhibitions this Saturday and Sunday at the annual Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair in Prado Basin in Norco.

Jerry Miculek has the title of the fastest revolver shooter in the world, actually setting a world record by placing eight shots from his Smith & Wesson on a target in one second. One-thousand-one. That long. Eight shots on target.

Todd Jarrett is considered by many to be the best handgun shooter in the world, and he has won five national championships and held the world championship title four consecutive years in practical handgun shooting competitions. Practical handgun shooting events are kind of set up like gunfights or combat situations, but those terms are politically incorrect so the events are called "practical." Practical for military, police, and 7-11 clerks.

Rob Leatham can beat either Miculek or Jarrett on any given day and might actually have more titles than either of the other two shooters -- including at least 12 national titles and three world titles -- also in these "practical"-type shooting events.

The first time I saw Leatham shoot was in at the Steel Challenge event over a decade ago. This is a neat event where you have to draw and shoot a series of steel targets at different distances and of different sizes. The clock starts at a buzzer and ends when the last plate falls. There are several stages, and I'm fuzzy now on all the rules. I do know that you can throw out your worst time on each stage. Well, Leatham had the best time on one stage and still had to shoot it again. What-the-heck, he decided to pull out the stops. I don't remember the actual time he completed the stage, but if you blinked you missed it. I remember everyone who was watching jointly say, "ouuuuu." It was like some quiet Eastern chant arose from the spectators. The sounds of the slugs hitting each target seemed to come all at once. Other competitors shook their heads in disbelief. A guy sitting next to me said "that's impossible." He was looking around for a grassy knoll, sure there was a second shooter.

That was the first time I thought that the gunfighters of the old West wouldn't have had a chance.

Muculek's feats convinced me even more because he was using a revolver. Not a whole lot different than the cowboys. Eight shots in a second on a single target is one thing, but he also put two shots each on four different targets in 1.06 seconds. That's the whole Earp clan mowed down. The third world record he set back in 1999 was 12 shots on one target in 2.99 seconds. With a revolver. He had to fire six shots, reload, and shoot six more times. It took you more time to read that last sentence than it did for Miculek to accomplish the feat.

"I can't say [what spectators will see] will be that fast, but it'll give `em an idea of what can be done with a revolver," said Miculek about his daily shows on Saturday and Sunday.

Does he see himself a steely-eyed sheriff from the old West misplaced in time and space? Would he have been the protector of Tombstone if he'd have lived in that time?

"Well, I'd probably have been like the rest of the guys back then where you sneak up behind the bad guys and shoot `em in the back. You lived a lot longer that way," laughed Miculek.

[On both Saturday and Sunday, Leatham's shooting exhibition begins at 1 p.m., followed by Jarrett at 2 p.m., and Miculek at 3 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults with kids 14 and under free. The Shooting Sports Fair is the largest hands-on gun show in the nation where those who attend the event can actually shoot all of the latest firearms -- rifles, shotguns, and handguns. Show hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information or directions, call Raahauge's Shotgun Sports at (909) 735-7981.

SPORTS FAIR STORY PACKAGE -- matthews-ons 29may02

`Hands-On' Shooting Sports Fair to be held May 31-June 2 at Raahauge's

NORCO -- The 2002 version of the Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair -- the original hands-on gun show -- will be held May 31-June 2 at Raahauge's facility in Norco. The Sports Fair remains not only the first but the largest hands-on gun show in the nation where you can actually shoot nearly everything on display. This is the ultimate test drive because you can shoot dozens of different firearms at the same place.

In addition to the opportunity to shoot just about any firearm made today, the Sports Fair will have a whole host of shooting related activities, seminars, demonstrations and displays that have made many visitors decide to come back for a second day when they found they couldn't do and see everything at the show in a single day.

The top seminars for this year's show include:

Exhibition shooting displays will be put on each day by three of the finest pistol shooters in the world -- Rob Leatham (who was at the show last year), Jerry Miculek, and Todd Jarrett.

"This is the best collection of exhibition pistol shooters ever gathered in one place at one time," said Mike Raahauge, show organizer.

John Cloherty, one of the most versatile trick shooters who uses rifles, handguns and shotguns, will put on daily shooting exhibitions that include creation of the half-acre salad in a dazzling display of shotgun shooting.

For enthusiasts of new firearms, here are some of the new products hunters and shooters can see at the Sports Fair along with other activities worth noting:

-- The hottest new varmint and rimfire round going -- the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire -- will be at the fair. Both Ruger and Marlin are expected to have their new guns in this caliber, and you can ogle the new ammo at the Hornady booth. Hunters who have been shooting the new round are already calling it the "sexy .17 rimfire."

-- You've read all the hype about the new short magnums from Remington and Winchester, well both companies, along with Browning, will have a variety of short mags there to see and shoot in the latest rifles -- from the .270 WSM to the .300 Ultra SA.

-- You've read about the new ultra-lightweight Smith & Wesson scandium or Taurus titanium handguns in .357 magnum or .44 Special and the idea of such a light, powerful gun appeals to you, but you weren't sure if you could handle the recoil or muzzle blast from such a light gun. Well, here you can shoot a couple of cylinders-full of ammunition and make an informed decision

-- You can shoot a round of Sporting Clays or Five Stand using the latest shotguns from Winchester, Browning, and others. And do it at bargain prices that include ammunition and targets ($10 for a round of 25).

-- You will want to stop by the California Sporting Goods Association's booth and spin the wheel of fortune a time or two. For every $5 spin you win a prize of that value and have a chance to win much more.

-- Pick up a copy of the Turner's Outdoorsman coupon book -- available only to fair goers -- that has more than $10,000 worth of savings on shooting, hunting, and firearm products. It's free and the coupons are good for the month or two after the show.

-- Nostalgia freak? You might want to go just to shoot a genuine, restored Gatlin gun, cranking out a 20, 50 or 100 rounds. (We don't want to know what you're imagining when you do that.) Or Learn about Cowboy Action shooting and fire authentic guns from the old West, or watch the mounted posse show how the cowboys did it in the old days from the backs of their steeds.

-- Or maybe you just want to shoot the new Ruger .480, one of the most powerful handgun rounds in the world. Maybe you have an elk hunt scheduled for this fall and want to actually shoot one of the new Remington Model 700 7mm Ultra Mags before buying one. Or do you want to test the new Marlin .450 lever gun to see if it truly lives up to its billing as the ultimate bear and pig gun.

-- For sure, you'll want to visit the kid's Red Ryder air rifle booth. It is a blast for both kids and adults. Joel DePaoli, who has run the booth the past several years, has expanded the booth size so the lines don't get too long and the kids can shoot even more at this free shooting booth.

-- Or take the family to the Turner's Outdoorsman Women's and Youth Shooting Booth allows women and youngsters an opportunity to shoot .22 rimfires and 20 gauge shotguns while getting instruction in gun safety and shooting techniques. These two are good first stops for families before heading to other shooting stations.

Admission to the show is $12 for adults per day, and parking is free this year. There is a $5 fee for preferred parking, with all of the proceeds for this parking fee going to the California Sporting Goods Association to battle anti-gun politicians. You can pick up a $2 off admission discount coupon at all Turner's Outdoorsman stores. On Friday, women are admitted free, and kids 14 and under get in free all three days.

There will also be National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) booths outside the show grounds, and if you sign up for NRA and/or GOA memberships, you will gain free admittance to the show. Show hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information or directions, call Raahauge's Shotgun Sports at (909) 735-7981.

SHOOTING SPORTS FAIR: JOHN CLOHERTY FEATURE -- 29may02

John Cloherty sees the world through rose-colored glasses

NORCO -- John Cloherty buys aspirin by the hundreds but he doesn't use them to ease the pain of headaches. In fact, he might give a few headaches as he shoots the aspirin out of the air with a .22 rifle. But he also likes to blast clay targets in flight with his revolver, and he prefers making his tossed salads with a shotgun.

While some people might see this activity as a bit odd, Cloherty is seeing the world through rose-colored glasses -- both figuratively and literally. The 47-year-old Pasadena resident has the reputation as one of the finest exhibition shooters in the West, reviving the era when all of the major firearm manufacturers had traveling road shows with trick shooters who used shotguns, rifles and pistols in their often incredible displays of marksmanship. It's like living a dream for the long-time shooter and hunter.

"This career has developed well past my wildest dreams," said Cloherty, who will be returning the weekend of May 31-June 2 to the place where his career was launched 15 years ago. "I watched Dan Carlisle, one of the best exhibition shooters in the world, perform here. I was just amazed, and 10 minutes later I decided I wanted to learn how to do some of those tricks."

Cloherty had watched Carlisle, an Olympic medalist in shotgun shooting, at the Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair. This year, Cloherty will return to the Sports Fair as the headlining exhibition shooter at this annual event. And he's adding some new twists to the succession of outstanding exhibition shooting programs that have been a benchmark of this show since its inception.

"I'm trying to bring a wider range of guns into my act than has ever been done in recent years,'" said Cloherty of his daily performances. "Using shotguns, rifles, and handguns hasn't been done since the 1920s and 30s."

Cloherty, who set a world record at the Sports Fair for the most clay targets broken in one hour at 4,551, also sees his exhibitions as a benefit to the shooting sports and gun ownership in general.

"This is a way for all people to see that those of us who like to use guns are not insane whackos in a tower some where. We are just people who like to go out with their guns and have fun," said Cloherty.

He uses the booming growth of sporting clays shotgun shooting, as an example of a tremendously fun and safe sport that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

The Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair, which was the first firearms show in the nation that was a hands-on affair, allowing those attending the show to both look at and shoot the latest in firearms, has never had an exhibition shooter that used anything other than shotguns in his program. Cloherty uses a .22 rifle to break a succession of smaller targets in the air, finishing with Alka-Seltzer and aspirin tablets. He also uses a .45 auto handgun to break aerial targets. But shotgun shooting is his specialty. His trademarks are a brilliant-colored gun and an over-the-head shooting style. He can also break targets shooting between his legs like a football center, while holding the gun upside down. He calls this stunt the "quarterback's nightmare."

The perennial favorite of his program is something all of the shotgun exhibition shooters call the "quarter-acre salad." There is something about watching cabbages and watermelons explode that delights an audience. Attendees of the Shooting Sports Fair have watched Dan Carlisle, John Satterwhite, and Tom Knapp do their versions of the salad in the past. Cloherty says "I do believe that I'm 10 times messier than anyone who does it. It just has gotten messier and messier over the years. I go through a supermarket now and wonder, `how would that blow up?' Everyone loves it."

Cloherty brings more than a visual element to the show. He has found that shotgun-exploded onions add a wonderful aroma to the program.

In fact, it brings tears to your eyes.

But for Cloherty, who wears rose-colored shooting glasses, they are tears of joy because it has allowed him to turn his avocation into a career.

[Cloherty's shooting exhibitions will be 3 p.m. Friday, and noon both Saturday and Sunday. Admission to the Sports Fair is $12 for adults with kids 14 and under free. Show hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information or directions, call Raahauge's Shotgun Sports at (909) 735-7981.]

Quail Unlimited snake avoidance clinic set for June 29 in Riverside

The Riverside Chapter of Quail Unlimited is hosting a June 29 snake avoidance clinic for hunters and other pet owners who take their dogs in the field. The class is a proven method to snake-proof dogs and prevent dangerous snake bites. The class is conducted by experienced Nevada dog handler and trainer Bob Kettle. Cost for the class is $50 per dog, and the pets must be at least six months old. Classes will be held 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations are required. For more information, contact Lee O'Donnell at (909) 735-7748

August 6 deadline to apply for SoCal upland bird hunts

LOS ALAMITOS -- There will be three special dove hunts and one special quail hunt held this year as part of the Department of Fish and Game's Game Bird Heritage Program, designed to increase hunter opportunity in the region, and the deadline to apply for these hunts is August 6. For the dove opener, there will be hunts on September 1 in the Cuyama Valley in Santa Barbara County, Peace Valley near Gorman in Los Angeles County, and the Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve in San Diego County. There will also be a Sept. 2 (Labor Day) hunt at Rancho Jamul, and an Oct. 19 and 20 (quail opener) hunts at Peace Valley.

There will be morning and afternoon hunts at each location each day for the dove opener, while the two quail hunts are morning-only events. To apply, hunters need to send in a standard-sized postcard which includes each applicants name, address, day and evening phone numbers, and 2002-2003 hunting license number. Up to two people may apply together. You must also specify which hunt and time period you prefer. You may apply only once for each hunt, but you may submit a postcard application for each hunt. Postcards should be sent to Department of Fish and Game, Game Bird Heritage Special Dove/Quail Hunts, 4665 Lampson Ave., Suite C, Los Alamitos, CA 90720, attention Scott Sewell. For more information, contact Sewell at the 24-hour game bird hotline at (562) 590-5100.

MOJAVE PRESERVE CONSIDERING KEEPING WATER -- matthews -- 22may

Cattle water developments may be preserved in Mojave to support native wildlife

KELSO -- Cattle water developments that have supported wildlife for up to 100 years in the East Mojave may be retained even as cattle allotments are retired. Sportsmen came away from a meeting Tuesday with the National Park Service and Department of Interior staff heartened that there was now at least a dialogue that could lead to the retention of important water sources for wildlife.

But no one was holding their breath.

Cliff McDonald, a Needles sportsman who pulled together a diverse coalition of sporting groups who applied pressure to retain the cattle water development locally and through Washington D.C., said he was disappointed that some water sources already shut down would not be restored during this drought year. But the door was left open to retain other water sources and even to restore those in Carruthers Canyon.

"We got a lot of people together who should be on this issue," said McDonald of the representatives at the meeting, which included Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep, Safari Club, the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, the Mule Deer Foundation, California Deer Association, Quail Unlimited, Western Gamebird Alliance, and California Varmint Callers. "I feel that we made a point -- that we're not going to roll over and just let this happen."

But it was also clear that park superintendent Mary Martin didn't believe the cattle water was either necessary or even allowed under rules that guide her management of the preserve. Under the biological opinion written for the endangered desert tortoise, all cattle water must be turned off in tortoise habitat when cows are no longer on an allotment.

Paul Hoffman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, was less pessimistic about what could be done. "We want to take all of this information back and see what we can do to work this out. Hopefully, we can work this out to benefit everybody and get a win-win situation."

Hoffman said there were a lot of competing uses and conflicting regulations and guidelines that the park service must follow, but that "there are a lot of flexibilities built in" that would allow for artificial water to be maintained on the preserve.

The meeting was held at the Hole-In-The-Wall Visitor Center in the middle of the preserve. Afterward, I drove up Wild Horse Canyon and saw four mule deer adjacent to one of the still-functioning windmills, and the area was tracked up with deer sign. According to my maps, the nearest open water for deer was a natural spring nearly four miles away. There's no doubt in my mind, these deer would use that spring water if the windmill and stock tank were moved, but it would reduce the available habitat these deer could use and probably would result in lower numbers overall. Deer, like cattle, tend to stay close to their water sources. With lots of water they distribute and move, making their impact on the habitat more general, making predators' jobs tougher. Their numbers increase. This isn't rocket science.

Some of us fail to see how this is a bad thing, especially if you can't document significant negative impacts with the added water. It's not like we want to add water into an environment that doesn't have any? There are over 100 natural springs on the preserve, and the preserve staff have agreed not to pull out the 133 small game guzzlers and six big game guzzlers. How is the historic cattle water any different?

The park service sees the additional water as "enhancing" the area unnaturally for wildlife. Some would even like the guzzlers to go. Sportsmen conservationists see enhancement and mitigation as our role. We need to help restore some of the historic water sources and wildlife populations that once existed in these areas. If one in six canyons has a natural spring, what's wrong with adding water to two or three more canyons with windmills and water tanks feeding small drinker boxes?

At the meeting, one of those against "artificial" water suggested that perhaps adding water for bighorn sheep wasn't a good idea. It didn't seem to matter than on a range of mountains in the preserve that once held only an occasional group of sheep now has a population of over 200 thanks solely to the addition of water. It didn't seem to matter that bighorn sheep once numbered over a million in the West and now the number is a tiny fraction of that. Adding that water was artificial and somehow wrong.

The difference is philosophy. Neither side is really right or wrong, but it comes down to how you feel about our role in managing and protecting resources. Some of believe that in today's world of impacted environments we should be "enhancing" places like the preserve for all 300 species of plants and animals that live there -- not just endangered species, not just game species, but all of them. The removal of cattle and burros will be a boon for plant species and other species that depend on those plants. Closures of many of the dirt roads will benefit tortoises and many other species. Controlling raven numbers (at 1,500 percent of historic levels) would help so many species, protecting them from the ravens' increased predation.

But the decision to be proactive is sometimes the hardest one. Burros and ravens need to be shot. That would be hugely controversial. Vegetative management and plantings may be needed for some plant species. But the hands-off crowd is against that. Herbicide use on non-native plant species would be a good thing -- but impossible because of political constraints. Removing some cattle water may even prove to benefit some species. We don't know that to be true now, but we do know that the water helps many species. The preserve is an incredible resource now, it could even be better with aggressive management that includes enhancement. With an ever shrinking natural world, we need to optimize what we have for wildlife. That requires a change in management philosophy for the National Park Service, and there's not a place better for that to start than on the Mojave National Preserve.

AMMO TAX, SPORTS FAIR -- matthews column 15may02

New tax: 5 cents for each round of ammo

Members of the California legislature are proposing a constitutional amendment that would charge a five-cent tax on every round of ammunition, or ammunition component, sold in the state to pay for medical expenses of victims of illegal firearm activity. So, those of us who use firearms responsibly would be forced to pay exorbitant prices for ammunition because of the illegal activity of a minuscule few?

Rimfire ammunition costs less than $2.50 for a box of 50 rounds. Many brands sell for a $1 to $1.50. The tax would more than double the price of the ammo. That five cent tax would also be charged for each primer or bullet sold to reloaders, and potentially -- depending on how literally our state attorney general would construe the law -- for every pellet bought for shotshell reloading. When you consider that a one-ounce load of 7 1/2s has 350 of those tiny pellets, the cost of reloading a single trap load would really get exorbitant -- at $17.50 just in taxes for the shot.

There is something on the order of 5 billion rounds of just .22 rimfire ammunition sold and shot in the this country each year. That 5,000,000,000. Add in centerfire rifle, pistol, and shotgun ammunition shot each year and the number of rounds sold and shot probably triples. How much of all that ammunition is used illegally? If you count the ammunition just in guns held by crooks, shot or not, it still probably only amounts to a few thousand rounds. I'm pretty sure I shoot more ammunition recreationally, legally each year than all criminals combined do illegally.

So you don't own a gun or shoot and don't care? How about this: Lets charge a $2 per gallon tax on gasoline to pay for death and damage caused by arson fires set with gasoline. Oh, now you'd howl. Proportionally, the tax on rimfire ammunition would be about the same as a $2 per gallon tax on gasoline. And proportionally, there's probably about the same amount of gasoline used to set illegal fires as ammunition used in crimes. But what correlation is there between the gas you use in your sedan and some yahoo setting fires in Bouquet Canyon? It's the same for ammunition. None.

This is brain-dead legislation. I would find it difficult to vote for a legislator who can't see the bias and prejudice in this amendment. How rational and sensible would they be on other issues? It's not just bad law, it's a scary mind-set.

HAPPY SOUNDS OF GUNFIRE: Sort of an antithesis to this mind-numbing bias against anything "gun," the annual Shooting Sports Fair will be held May 31-June 2 2002 at Mike Raahauge's shooting facilities in Norco. This event remains the largest hands-on gun show in the nation, where everyone who attends the event can shoot all of the latest guns from all of the nation's makers of sporting and personal protection firearms.

And there's so much cool new stuff this year. Well, at least things I'm interested in shooting. Ruger and Marlin will have rifles chambered for the first new rimfire cartridge in three decades -- the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire. Smith & Wesson will have its new ultralight Scandium-framed .357 revolvers to shoot. Ideal hunting and fishing vest or backpack guns, they weigh less than a pound. And Legacy Sports will have it's .454 Casull Model 92 Puma lever rifles there -- the ultimate wild hog and bear gun.

Something on the order of 12,000 of us will attend this show and shoot about a half-million rounds during the three days of the event. Hummmm.... If we all coughed up a nickel for every round we shot that would be $25,000 to fight the ammunition tax. Call it an investment in common sense.

For those of you who don't shoot, but have an open mind, I would bet you show admission that you and your family would enjoy the event if only for the shooting exhibitions. Each day, three of the world's finest handgun shooters -- Jerry Miculek, Todd Jarrett, and Rob Leatham -- will give speed shooting demonstrations that would make the gunfighters of the old West turn pale. And there isn't a person in the world who doesn't get a huge kick out of watching trick-shooter John Cloherty create his half-acre salad. He's sort of a Gallagher with a shotgun. There's just something fun about exploding fruits and vegetables.

Mark your calendar now. Show hours are noon to 6 p.m., Friday, May 30, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, June 1, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, June 2. Admission is $12 per person, but women get in free on Friday, and kids 14 and under are free all three days of the show. You can also get in free if you join the National Rifle Association or Gun Owners of America before you go into the show. For more information or directions, call (909) 735-2361.

I plan to be there all three days because there's too much to see and do in just one day.

HUNTER SAFETY CLASS FOLDS -- Jim Matthews column 08may02

DFG actions force largest hunter safety class in state to close

The largest hunter safety class in the state has been forced to close it's doors because the Department of Fish and Game wardens who oversee the program believe the class operators are charging too much money -- even though all the fees are justified under the DFG's own guidelines.

The cancellation of the Turner's Outdoorsman classes will potentially eliminate 10 percent of all the students who earn hunter safety certificates statewide because there is a severe shortage of classes now.

"I have people from Northern California fly into Ontario, rent a car, and come to our class because they can't get a class there," said Mike Raahauge, who helps administer the program with Turner's.

The cancellation of this program will leave a huge hole in the hunter safety program statewide and will almost certainly cost the DFG money in lost license revenue. And it's all happening because there are people within the DFG who don't have a clue about what it takes to run successful classes or how to gauge the actual costs involved.

Andy McCormick, Turner's Outdoorsman's public relations specialist who oversees the hunter safety classes, said Turner's has continued to operate the classes at $35 per student for years -- a fee that is increasingly less than it costs to run the program. Turner's has continued to do these classes because they recognize that it is good for their business and for the state to recruit and properly educate new hunter-conservationists so they will buy hunting licenses that support the state's wildlife programs and handle guns safely.

"We really believe in this program, which is why we've gotten behind it in such a big way over the years, but now everything's coming to a screeching halt due to the infinite wisdom of Fish and Game," said McCormick of the Turner's decision to pull the plug on the classes because the DFG won't allow them to charge the $35 fee.

As background, the Turner's Outdoorsman classes were held 17 times a year at Mike Raahauge's Shooting Enterprises in Chino and most classes had 100 to 150 students. Mike Raahauge said around 2,000 first-time hunters and new gun owners took the class each year.

The Turner's-Raahauge class attendance represents 10 percent of the total who take such classes statewide, according to warden Joe Gonzales, deputy chief of hunter education for the DFG in Sacramento. Gonzales said there are 1,400 to 1,500 "active" hunter safety instructors and that from 19,000 to 25,000 new hunters take the class each year in California. The total was about 21,000 in 2001.

"We're 10 percent of the whole program?" asked McCormick, when he learned how many students took the classes statewide. Then he got red in the face. "Gonzales sat in this office and lied to us. He told us some astronomical number. Now, I assume to make us feel like we were a minuscule part of the program."

This is an agency that just doesn't get it. Turner's five to eight volunteer instructors teach about 2,000 students a year, or about 250 students each That means the rest of the state's instructors average about 10 students per year. It's almost like the DFG is penalizing someone who's doing a good job.

"This is one of the best classes in the state. Our volunteers are mostly school teachers who believe in this program and have been doing it for 20 years," said McCormick. "We have one of the lowest failure rates in the state because our instructors do such a good job. We support these guys by filling their classes. Yet, the DFG wants us to do these classes at an even greater loss? There's a point where we have to say `that's it.' Well, we're there."

But several warden's I've spoke with somehow, ignorantly believe Turner's and Raahauge's are making a killing on this program. Perhaps it comes from never having a job in the private sector or tried to run a business.

"By law, [hunter safety instructors] are not allowed to charge for their services, but they can charge to cover fees," said Gonzales.

Apparently, they can charge for fees unless the DFG arbitrarily says you can't charge for fees or doesn't like them.

Hunter education coordinator Mike Wolter of Victorville in an April 23 letter to Jim Bozarth, one of the main volunteer instructors for the Turner's-Raahauge classes, refused to allow for two major expenses. One makes the class a success and the other allows it to happen.

First, Wolter said the $1,000 a month advertising fee that Turner's uses to put information about the classes in all of its advertising in 13 to 16 newspapers in the region each week, on its web site, and in flyers it distributes at its stores and events throughout the region wasn't allowed this year. The fee is a fraction of what it normally costs for co-operative advertising as part of a Turner's ad, and an even smaller portion of what it would cost to buy a separate ad in all of those publications each week.

Second, Wolter arbitrarily cut the hall rental fee where the class is held from $2,200 to $1,700, as if he could control what someone charges for their facility rental.

Yet, according to the DFG's Hunter Education Operation Manual hunter safety, while instructors cannot make a profit teaching the classes, they can charge students a fee to cover the expenses of running the program, including "range fees, ammunition, mileage, advertising, classroom and equipment rental," and other fees.

The real waste of money is paying the salaries of the DFG staff administering this program. They want the volunteers and those who support hunter safety in the private community to work for free and foot the costs of running a successful class. Yet, these same wardens draw their check each week. Maybe the wardens should not be paid for the time they spend working on hunter safety.

There's a better solution: Since the hunter safety program is federally funded with Pittman-Robertson funds (an excise tax on hunting and shooting equipment), it's time for the state legislature to turn the administration and operation of hunter safety over to a non-profit group set up to run this show. Get the DFG out of the program. I'd bet we'd save on administration, staffing, printing costs for all the materials the DFG provides to instructors, and increase the number of people who take the classes.

TROUT OPENER AND MORE -- Jim Matthews-ons 01may02

The Eastern Sierra trout opener has become increasingly less crowded. Once upon a time, over 20,000 anglers would crowd onto just Crowley Lake alone for the opener weekend, and in the early 1980s I heard estimates that there were 150,000 anglers scattered throughout the Eastern Sierra from Bridgeport to Lone Pine for this annual pilgrimage.

There was probably more hyperbole to that estimate than fact, but the crowds have thinned down, according to everyone who attended this year and also were veterans of the openers in the 1970s and 80s. Crowley was busy, but fishable. The June Lake loop was crowded but not uncomfortable. There were places where you could even find a stretch of water all to yourself.

The fishing? It was generally pretty decent, but not great. That was mostly because of spitting rain and snow in places and lots of cold wind just about everywhere.

BROWNS GALORE: Jim Reid, owner of Ken's Sporting Goods in Bridgeport, was a little amazed about all of the quality brown trout that were caught in that region this year. There were none of the 15 to 20 pounders that once made the Twin Lakes at Bridgeport famous, but a lot of three- to six-pounders were weighed in at Ken's.

"We probably weighed in more brown trout than rainbow trout. I can't ever remember it being like that before," said Reid.

The best brown trout was a 7-pound, 6-ouncer caught by Ruben Black of Woodland trolling a new Tail Dancer Rapala with a rainbow trout paint job caught from Lower Twin. The best trout from Bridgeport Reservoir was caught by 15-year-old Brian Johnson of Goleta. The 6 3/4-pound brown made him "so happy he couldn't contain himself," said Reid.

The browns are particularly noteworthy because the Department of Fish and Game either doesn't stock these fish or they are planted only as fingerlings and subcatchables. That means they grew to those sizes on their own, eating wild aquatic insects, sculpin, and maybe even a few planted rainbows.

JUNE LAKE LOOP BIGGIE: The best trout taken in the June Lake Loop was an 8-pound rainbow taken from Gull Lake. It was one of the big brookstock rainbows the DFG plants each fall that survive the winter under the ice. It was caught by Wayne Wallace.

CITATION TALLY: The DFG sent 20 wardens into the field for this year's opener in the Sierra. According to Lt. Art Lawrence, with the DFG in Bishop, they contacted 4,181 anglers over the weekend and wrote only 62 citations -- three of them for possession of marijuana. The biggest number of offenses at 32 was for the use of bait or barbed hooks on special regulation waters. There were only 12 anglers who were cited for overlimits, but then Lawrence -- who patrolled the Bridgeport Region -- said the fishing was generally pretty tough except for the Virginia Lakes, where ice fishermen really scored.

PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T GO: No one at Santa Ana River Lakes would tell you this Orange County water is more scenic than Crowley Lake, although it might have been no more crowded. What the people who stayed home will tell you is that the fishing at this urban water was better than the Sierra. There were 58 rainbow trout over 10 pounds caught this past weekend Santa Ana, including perhaps the most incredible five-trout limit ever record. Carlos Ortiz of Buena Park had a stringer that weighed 95-pounds, three-ounces, and it included trout at 21-12, 21-0, 20-5, 19-5, and 12-13. Every one of those fish was bigger than the biggest trout landed in the Sierra for the opener.

2002 `Hands-On' Shooting Sports Fair to be held May 31-June 2 at Raahauge's

NORCO -- The 2002 version of the Raahauge's Shooting Sports Fair, still one of the only hands-on gun shows in the nation where you can both handle and shoot all of the latest firearms, will be held May 31-June 2 this year at Raahauge's ranges here.

When buying a new firearm, a lot of us go through months of anguish worrying about whether or not a certain new gun is actually what we want. We drive our local gun shop dealer a little batty, showing up once or twice a week to get fingerprints all over the new shotgun or lightweight revolver, peering through the sights, checking its fit in our hands. If we could just step out back behind the gun shop and shoot a box of ammo, the deal would be cemented in our minds much quicker.

The 2002 Shooting Sports Fair is an opportunity for consumers to test drive the gun of their dreams. The Sports Fair remains the largest hands-on gun show in the nation where you can actually shoot the firearms on display. This is the ultimate test drive because hunters and target shooters can actually shoot dozens of different firearms at the same place.

Virtually all of the nation's major firearms makers will be in attendance and Mike Raahauge said the show's shooting line has actually been increased in size for this year and that there will be more exhibitors than last year. The show offers gun enthusiasts a unique opportunity to not only handle the products, but also to shoot them under supervised conditions to see how the guns will perform on the range and in the field. New shooters can get practical instruction and learn the fun of the shooting sports.

Just some of the reasons to attend the event:

-- You've read about the new .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire (HMR). Well, you'll be able to shoot at least Rugers and Marlins in this hot new rimfire round.
-- The new .270 Winchester Short Magnum will be on hand for shooting at the Browning booth. You will find it doesn't recoil much more than a regular .270 but offers a lot extra in performance.
-- Check out the new autoloading and over-and-under shotguns imported by Legacy Sports International, the Escot and Selma scatter guns. Or shoot the Puma Model 92 carbine in .454 Casull.

There'll be so much more. In addition to the opportunity to shoot just about any firearm made today, the Sports Fair will have a whole host of shooting related activities, seminars, demonstrations and displays that have made many visitors decide to come back for a second day when they found they couldn't do and see everything at the show in a single day.

Admission to the show is $12 for adults per day, and parking is free this year. There is a $5 fee for preferred parking, with all of the proceeds for this parking fee going to the California Sporting Goods Association to battle anti-gun politicians. You can pick up a $2 off admission discount coupon at all Turner's Outdoorsman stores. On Friday, women are admitted free, and kids 14 and under get in free all three days.

There will also be a National Rifle Association booth outside the show grounds, and if you sign up for NRA membership, you will gain free admittance to the show. Show hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information or directions, call Raahauge's Shotgun Sports at (909) 735-7981.

California Deer Association has first banquet slated for June 22

NORCO -- The Southern California Chapter of the California Deer Association will have its first banquet-auction Saturday, June 22, at Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises to raise money to fund deer habitat work in the Golden State.

CDA is working with the Mule Deer Foundation to jointly fund projects in California, allowing both organizations' money to have more impact on the ground, according to Glen Tessers, CDA committee member for the SoCal Chapter. The group has already funding controlled burns, studies on deer herd migration, and mountain lion predation in California.

Tessers said that more than 200 people signed up to become members of the new Southern California Chapter at the International Sportsmen's Exhibition in Pomona earlier this year.

For more information on the dinner, contact Tessers at (310) 973-8148 in the evenings or via e-mail at glen.tessers@trw.com. You can learn more about the CDA at its website at www.caldeer.com.

TROUT OPENER -- mud snail -- matthews-ons 24apr02

New Zealand mud snail expanding range in Sierra; fisheries could be harmed

The most serious threat to trout fisheries in the Western United States -- potentially far worse than whirling disease -- is being spread rapidly by those who generally fight to save fisheries.

The New Zealand mud snail is invading the West's premier trout waters at a rapid pace, most likely being carried from water to water in the waders and gear of traveling anglers. Once in its new home, the tiny snail reproduces so rapidly and prolifically, it becomes the primary life-form in streams and lakes, almost completely displacing all other aquatic invertebrates.

With trout season opening in the Sierra Nevada this weekend, biologists with the Department of Fish and Game are sounding the alarm for the second year in a row. In just one short season, the small snail has found its way into more Eastern Sierra waters, most likely the result of hitching rides with wader-clad anglers who visit the Sierra's best waters over the course of a weekend.

The snail was first discovered at one location in the upper Owens River in 1999. Since then, it has been found in the canals around Bishop, in the Wild Trout stretch of the lower Owens, and further downstream near popular fishing locations.

"It looks to me like its centered on areas of high recreational use," said Dawne Becker, an associate fishery biologist with the DFG in Bishop. "We only had a couple of sites in the Owens River last year. This year, we have really high densities of the snail at Five Bridges Road and in the Wild Trout stretch."

By where the snail is appearing, it is almost certain that anglers are inadvertently spreading the snail to their favorite waters.

The New Zealand mud snail has been in the Western United States since at least 1987, when it was first found in the middle sections of the Snake River in Idaho. It had found its way to the Madison River by 1989, and by 1994, it was throughout the greater Yellowstone ecosystem -- infecting famous rivers like the Firehole and Gibbon. By 1997, it had spread to over 300 miles of the Snake River, moving both upstream and down.
The small snail, which grows no bigger than 12mm, or about 1/2-inch, with most being 3.5mm to 5mm, can reproduce prolifically. Most importantly, it rapidly displaces other organisms. In the upper Madison River, it has already been found at densities of 300,000 to 1,000,000 snails in a square meter of stream bottom, and it comprises up to 95 percent of the total invertebrates at many sites.

"It is completely changing trout stream ecosystems," said David Richards, a research ecologist with EcoAnalysists in Bozeman, Mt., and a PhD candidate at Montana State University. "It has the potential to destroy some of our premier trout fisheries. My personal feeling is that spring creek and highly productive trout streams will be the most highly impacted."

Richards said that many sections of the Madison and Firehole have already seen their aquatic insect populations drop by 50 to 75 percent.

In California, the New Zealand mud snail could spell doom for the prolific invertebrate populations that exist now on waters like Hot Creek, the upper Owens River, Crowley Lake, and any other water where they are introduced. It is the invertebrates that make healthy trout populations possible at these waters and they are being displaced by the snail. Because the mud snail has almost no nutritional value to trout, fish populations are almost certain to crash. Even if the trout eat the mud snails, the snail can close its operculum, the door to its snail shell, and survive passage through the fish's gut. They get no nutritional value from the snail.

"There are a lot of indirect impacts to the fishery," said the DFG's Becker. But she warned there are no ways known to get rid of the snail once its in a fishery. "How are we going to handle this thing? Our biggest effort has to be in training people how not to be vectors -- to stop the spread and contain the population to where it exists now."

The mud snail can survive up to 25 days out of water in a moist environment (the felt in waders, a damp boot sole, etc.), and a single snail can start a new population. So fishery managers are trying to stop the spread of the snail by asking anglers to make sure they clean and thoroughly dry their waders and other gear that might carry a snail from water to the next -- especially when they fish waters known to have mud snails.

Because the mud snail is such a recent introduction to this country, its full impacts on trout fisheries is yet to be known, but many biologists are fearful it may have catastrophic consequences.

SIDEBAR: HOW TO NOT TRANSPORT MUD SNAILS -- matthews-ons 24apr02

How to prevent the spread of New Zealand mud snails

Anglers can help prevent the spread of the New Zealand mud snails by following these tips offered by the Department of Fish and Game:

-- Rinse all fishing equipment -- waders, wading shoes, socks, and any other fishing gear or clothing -- in water at least 115 degrees for no less than 15 seconds. This will kill New Zealand mud snails.
-- If a hot rinse in not available, completely dry all equipment and brush off all debris. Mud snails can survive up to 25 days in a moist environment and young snails can be as small as a grain of sand.
-- Expose equipment to extremely hot temperatures or cold temperatures.
-- Do not transport fish to other waters before cleaning them and discard guts in closed trash containers or bury them. Mud snails can live in a trout's gut and can be transported in this way.
-- If you plan to fish a number of waters in an area, visit the sites known to have New Zealand mud snails last.
-- Pets and pack stock wading through infected waters can pick up snails and transport them in wet hair or fur.

HOW BIG FISH GROW OVER TIME -- matthews column-ons 24apr02

Time's enlarging lenses.

Photographs may or may not be a good thing when settling disputes about the size of fish or game taken at some point in the past.

Most anglers are bright enough not to actually lay a fish on a yardstick unless the beast is being considered for some world record, in which case the fish was big enough to measure up to any memory anyway.

Anglers tend to get put up in rafters or hammered to gates or otherwise lost, and even those that are put atop mounted game heads continue to shrink over time. This is a proven fact. Trophies measured for Boone & Crockett records remeasured 25 years later have always lost four to five inches in gross score or more. Diameters of antlers contract, widths shrink. Those that were never scored shrink a whole lot more than those that were scored. At least that's how I remember it.

The point is that photographs don't really help much in solving disputes about fish caught in the past or game that was taken. We all know the tricks used to make things look a lot bigger and those blunders when things appear smaller in photos. Photos are no better than memories.

This whole question came up when I pulled from under the bed a mounted photograph of a big brown trout I had caught from Crowley Lake at the mouth of the Owens River many years ago. The fish looked huge. Of course, I remembered that it was huge, but the photo made me rethink the whole deal. A great photo, the brown looked to be seven or eight pounds. My brother-in-law, R.G., who actually snapped the photo, didn't remember it that big. Maybe five pounds. Probably not even that big. He reminded me that it was only 23-inches long.

My memory has it a lot bigger than that. I was cradling it in my arms like a baby it was so big. We took a couple of photos and released it so it would spawn in the Owens River that fall. It was huge.

Since I'm a pack rat of sorts, I went back and dug up a notebook that I was keeping back in those days and found both my notes and a story I had written about that big brown trout. R.G. was right. The fish was just 23-inches long and we guessed that it weighed about 4 1/2 to five pounds at the time. My notes showed that I'd caught a 19-inch brown from the East Walker a couple of years earlier and it didn't even weigh three pounds. I think I tell people that fish was a four-pounder when I show the photos. It looks that big.

The last few days I have been wondering about the incredible growth of fish and game that seems to take place over time -- how catches get bigger, stringers heavier, game more plentiful. It has always been attributed to hunters and anglers just being natural-born liars who want to exaggerate their skills, and I'm sure there's a fair amount of that going on. But you can identify the guy who's going to do that right off the bat because he'll show you a photo of a 14-inch trout held out at arm's length toward the camera and call it a three-pounder with a straight face. He's the same guy who always goes into a stall to pee rather than take his place at the urinal with the other guys.

For the rest of us, especially those who pride themselves on being credible reporters when telling fishing and hunting stories, I have come up with a plausible -- even probable -- explanation how this happens.

Follow me here: Most of us began our hunting and fishing careers when we were mere kids, tagging along with dads and moms, uncles and aunts, or gruff old family friends on our early trips. When you are little, your palms might only be 2 1/2-inches across and you might only be four-feet tall. A six-inch bluegill or nine-inch trout is going to take both hands to hold. A stack of five or six doves will seem immense, the birds huge. It's a matter of proportions. Those early experiences with game and fish are about the only memories I have of my youth. (Why would you want to remember getting beaten up by your cousins?) I remember the bluegill bigger the number of quail as more because proportionally they were. So that enlargement over time continues even when there is no more proportional difference.

As a Little League coach, we hear a lot about teaching kids "muscle memory" so they throw the ball and swing the bat correctly without having to think about it. They practice it a lot and get the muscle memory of doing it correctly down. Then they bat .450, sign the big contract, and play for 20 years in the majors. All that thanks to muscle memory.

The brain is a muscle, too. For the years I was growing up into a full-size adult, I handled a lot of fish and game. They might have been measured and weighed, but in memory, with each growing spurt, they were bigger in my memory than the scale or tape measure said. You related the game to your own size. It was indeed bigger back then. Proportionally. So to the brain was trained in our youth that things just naturally assume larger proportions over time. That continues even when the proportional difference doesn't exist. It continues because of muscle memory.

Women misjudge and unintentionally lie about the size of their game and fish for another reason, too, but this is a family newspaper.

So now you know why fishermen and hunters exaggerate the size of their fish and game. It's a completely normal and natural thing that has been developing since we were children. Just something to remember this trout opener.

Turkeys, hogs abound on Rancho San Julian -- matthews column-ons 17apr02

Wild turkeys are an exercise in frustration. The wary birds always seem to find a way to give hunters the slip, but sometimes everything goes just right. Not often, but sometimes. Sitting on a ridge 1/2-mile away from three gobblers working across an open oak hillside I got one of those funny feelings that the planets were aligned correctly and that those birds might be in jeopardy. Maybe this was going to be one of those times.

Brady Daniels, a wildlife biologist who is running a new hunting program at Rancho San Julian, an historic 20,000-acre land grand on the Central Coast that has been in the same family ownership for over 140 years, looked up from his binoculars and asked me what I thought. Daniels, my oldest son Bo, and I were glassing groups of birds in three directions. The place was thick with birds.

This was Bo's first turkey hunt, and we'd already somehow spooked one big old tom, not really sure how it happened or where he had gone. We had snuck up a draw, set up decoys and called, but the bird never answered and we never saw him again. It was a mystery -- a typical turkey hunt. So we had come up to the ridge with a view and started glassing birds all up and down the main canyon below us.

When Daniels asked me what I thought a second time. I told him I thought we should go after those three gobblers, sneaking over to a big shrubby bush in the middle of a meadow on the other side of a small draw from the big gobblers. The willows and oaks in the draw should screen our progress, but it would put us within a 100 yards or so from the birds. It took all of 15 minutes to get to the bush. Brady set up three decoys, and then he and Bo hunkered back under that brush. I set up off to the side to watch the action.

When I was hidden, Brady scratched a few yelps out on his slate call and there was a gobble immediately. I was watching Bo through the telephoto lens on my camera. Brady called more quietly, then a moment later he made a few louder yelps again. There was another gobble, but much closer this time. The birds were moving toward us.

The bird gobbled twice more, closer each time, and then I saw Bo raise the shotgun. I couldn't see the birds where they came up out of the small draw on a cattle trail, but I knew they were strutting and displaying for the decoys. I saw the muzzle blast before I heard it and saw feathers blow toward Bo and Brady. Brady was a blur, sprinting after the big tom. Bo jumped up and went after him. By the time I got over to the decoys, Brady was carrying the big bird back to Bo.

Brady had tackled the bird, which had the plumbing at the top of its heart severed by at least a couple No. 6 pellets and had went into a death sprint. Bo marveled at the size of the gobbler, stroking the feathers. The gobbler weighed 22 pounds, sported a nine-inch beard, and had 1 1/8-inch spurs. He was a big, mature bird.

Everything had happened like it was supposed to happen this one time, and Bo was hooked. He had me ordering decoys this past week and wanted to learn how to call. At 17, he decided he could drive himself hunting on those days when he didn't have school, work, or baseball -- even if I couldn't go.

The next day, hunting with Daniels and Dean Michael Lee, president of the Central Coast Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Bo saw how turkey's generally win the battle. Every attempt -- and there were several -- was foiled by something. You'd think that on a big, private ranch, that hadn't been hunted in years, birds would be fairly easy to approach and call. Not turkeys. The only advantage was being able to see and work a lot of birds unhindered by other hunters.

And Rancho San Julian has a lot of turkeys. Daniels, who is a wildlife biologist who has worked with the ranch for a couple of years, said they were estimating the turkey population on the property at something over 200 birds. He and his partner Scott Engblom, who is a fishery biologist, convinced the ranch owners to start a hunting operation, mostly as a way to make a little money on the proliferating wild hog population.

The hunting camp sits right next to a small creek beneath a huge, sprawling cottonwood and equally large oak. When we were there, Daniels had two large canvas tents set up on wood platforms off the ground as sleeping quarters, and a fire ring set up in the meadow for the evening talk sessions under the stars. The camp was how I always had dreamed an African safari camp would look, and there certainly was as much game. In the short 1 1/2-days we were there, we saw hogs, turkeys, a tremendous three-point buck in velvet, a big bobcat, mourning dove, and several coveys of valley quail. Bo's ready to go back tomorrow.

(For more information on hunting Rancho San Julian -- and there are still a couple of spots available for turkey this season -- contact Brady Daniels, Rancho San Julian Outfitting, 1527 Kowalski Avenue, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, or call him at (805) 878-5958 or (805) 560-6582.)

GUN SAFETY OUTDOOR COLUMN -- matthews-ons 12apr02

Safety a first requirement for turkey hunters

There are more hunters injured during turkey and dove seasons than any other hunting seasons.

For doves, the reason is because there are so many participants and shooting is often done near other hunters. Hunters frequently get dangerously peppered because hunters shoot at low-flying birds, and I don't know a dove hunter who hasn't had a few No. 8 pellets rain down harmlessly on them from a shooter 300 or 400 yards away who was shooting safely.

For turkey hunters, the danger is greater because people are skulking around the woods in camo and hunting with decoys and making turkey sounds. Hunters who try to sneak up on birds frequently end up in other hunter's laps and I know of more than one story of decoys and hunters being shot by careless hunters.

I have been on a number of pig and turkey hunts in the past year where I have been appalled by the general gun handling of an occasional hunter in camp or in the field. The two most fundamental rules of safe gun handling -- always checking any gun to see if its loaded, and always treating every gun as if it were loaded, keeping the barrel pointed in a safe direction at all times -- were routinely violated.

I do not like having a gun pointed at me -- even one I know to be empty. I come unglued if someone points a gun at me that may be loaded. Don't tell me about safeties. Don't tell me there are just shells in the magazine. That is how people get killed. Keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction. Always.

I have a friend who did something that he is embarrassed about, so I won't use his name. But I think it was a testament to his safety training. He took an unfamiliar rifle from a gun rack in a hunting camp, opened the bolt, wiggled his finger up into the chamber to make sure it was empty, and then closed the bolt to test the trigger. He might have been distracted a little by something during this process -- a squirrel, a falling acorn -- something. Because when he pulled the trigger, the gun fired. He hadn't noticed that the bolt had picked up a shell out of the magazine and fed it into the chamber. But the gun was pointed in a safe direction, and the only thing harmed were wits and self-esteem.

Even when we make mistakes, if we make sure that one golden rule is always followed -- keep the gun pointed in a safe direction -- we don't become a statistic.

I'm happy to say, I'm generally pleased with the gun handling I see, and the statistics on gun "accidents" show that as a group we are extremely safe. I think I'm pretty typical when I say that people who aren't safe don't get invited back to our hunting camps and I simply won't hunt with them again. Ever.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: I recently had lunch with August and Tom Harden, who run Cross Country Outfitters out of Paso Robles, one of the premier guided hog hunting operations in the state. August had never hunted turkeys before, but they are starting to see a few on one of the ranches where they hunt pigs. The owner of that ranch wanted to try to shoot a bird, so Gus volunteered to take him out.

"Apparently rednecks come with the turkey calling gene fully installed and operational," said Harden. Two jakes ran across the road in front of the truck as they were going out to hunt. So they drove past the birds and around the corner, parked, went over to the mouth of a canyon, and Harden rasped out some calls on a box call his brother showed him how to use a day or two before. The two jake birds ran right up to them, and the ranch owner shot one.

"There's nothing to it," said Harden.

NEW RIMFIRE UPDATE: Ammunition for the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, the hot new rimfire round that is causing varmint hunters to swoon, is now available in limited quantities in some stores. The 50-round boxes are selling for $9 to $12.50, if you can find any. It's looking like it will be easier to find rifles than ammunition. Most shops have the Ruger M77/17 and the Marlin bolt rifles available in the new round, but ammunition supplies are going to be scanty. If you have or are getting one of these new guns, I recommend you buy the ammunition when and where you find it. The crunch will probably ease later in the summer, but for now I'd hoard a little.

BIG BASS, STEELHEAD, BONEHEAD -- matthews column 10apr02

Casitas bass weights in at 19 1/2 pounds

Veteran Casitas Lake bass angler Randy Crabtree caught a 19 1/2-pound largemouth Tuesday this week while fishing on of his specially modified Castaic Soft Baits. The fish is thought to be the largest bass caught in the nation so far this year.

"When it first hit, I told Ed (Guyette, his fishing partner) it was a big fish, but it wrapped up almost instantly. I had to pull weeds up with her," said Crabtree. He was fishing with a big 12-inch bait that he added lead weight to and rattles so he could fish it in 20 to 30 feet of water on the outside edges of the weed beds around structure. The whole battle lasted about 20 minutes before the fish was in the boat and could be weighed at the marina scale and then down at the local market.

Crabtree didn't think the fish was as big as it was at first or he might have been a little more breathless over the catch.

"She was just in good shape. She hadn't been on a bed yet. Her tail wasn't all bloody and worn. I'm sure she was full of eggs -- she had a gut like me," laughed Crabtree.

Crabtree has probably landed over 150 bass topping 10 pounds from Casitas, and his biggest fish before the 19 1/2-pounder was a 16-2 he'd caught only two weeks ago. But he didn't want to talk about either of those fish, he wanted to talk about a fish he saw recently. The one that got away, sort of.

"A couple of days before I got my 16-pounder, I saw a monstrous fish. I think it was 10 pounds heavier than this fish I got. This thing was big that I seen," said Crabtree. The big bass -- the fish that would have weighed 29 1/2 pounds if it was honestly 10 pounds bigger than the bass he caught Tuesday -- came up behind his big Castaic Lure. "It made me stop dead in my tracks and I said to Ed, `Look at that fish.' It was a monstrous fish."

Bass approaching 20 pounds send dedicated trophy bass anglers swooning like teenage boys around Brittany Spears. They don't act rationally. It is every bass angler's dream to beat George Perry's world record of 22-pounds, four-ounces set way back in 1932 -- the catch coming up on it's 70th anniversary in June. Most anglers will even admit to you they dream about catching the record. Crabtree believes there's one that big in Casitas right now, and he will be fishing the lake at least two days a week trying to catch it.

STEELHEAD PLANTS: The Whitewater Trout Farm is planting rainbow trout that have come from steelhead stock in a lot of local waters this year. Steelhead are ocean-going rainbow trout that are known for their dogged battles and acrobatics on the end of a line. Apparently, some of those traits are genetic. Every place the "steelhead" have been planted, anglers rave about the fishes' fighting abilities.

"They're real hard fighting," said Paul Mintzer, a Riverside angler who caught them at Angler's Lake in Hemet. "They'll jump three or four feet out of the water and everything. I hooked one that was only two or three pounds and he took me all over the lake. I though I had a real big fish."Maybe these fish will help anglers appreciate what wild trout are like in their natural environment. Maybe not.

REAL STEELHEAD: Remnant populations of real steelhead exist in a number of the small streams in Southern and Central California. Malibu Creek's fish have received a lot of publicity in recent years, but there are many others