Wildlife Branch Game Species Conservation Documents

BGMAC 2025 Agenda

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 16:17:25 -0800

BGMAC Agenda - Agenda for 12/18/2025 BGMAC meeting

Conservation and Management Plan for Bighorn Sheep in California

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 14:18:26 -0700

Bighorn sheep conservation and management - This Plan is intended to provide an overview and update for bighorn sheep management across California and has been developed by Region, Wildlife Health Laboratory, and Wildlife Branch staff.

August 2024 Big Game Management Account Advisory Committee Meeting

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 17:26:30 -0700

August 2024 Big Game Management Account Advisory Committee Meeting -

2023 Elk Hunt Zones

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 14:19:49 -0700

2023 Elk Hunt Zones - Map of 2023 elk hunt zones.

Report on aerial surveys of tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) in 2018–2019 in Bear Valley, Cache Creek, East Park, and Lake Pillsbury Tule Elk Hunt Zones

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 09:08:15 -0700

Population assessment - In 2018-2019, staff from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in the North Central Region and Wildlife Branch conducted aerial surveys of tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) from a Bell 407 helicopter in 4 elk hunt zones (i.e., Bear Valley, Cache Creek, East Park, and Lake Pillsbury) encompassing three elk herds (Cache Creek, East Park Reservoir, and Lake Pillsbury) in Colusa and Lake Counties. We used distance sampling and a stratified sampling design with two strata of elk use defined from 63,727 locations of 78 GPS-collared elk. Our minimum count for the entire survey area was 523 elk, including 316 adult females, 135 adult males, and 77 juveniles (<1-year old) and were greatest in Bear Valley (215 elk), followed by Lake Pillsbury (140 elk), Cache Creek (85 elk), and East Park Reservoir (83 elk). Population estimates from distance sampling were 252 (90% CI = 160–397) for Bear Valley, 144 (74–281) for Cache Creek, 109 (56–210) for East Park Reservoir, and 166 (91–302) for Lake Pillsbury. The average detection probabilities of elk by helicopter survey crews at the minimum (0%), mean (19%), and maximum (80%) levels of canopy cover were 0.92 (90% CI = 0.72–0.98), 0.84 (0.66–0.94), and 0.34 (0.20–0.57), respectively. The survey design likely resulted in population estimates that were biased low and we make recommendations for changes to future survey designs to mitigate that potential bias.

nonlead ammo TB Ammo LLC

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 23:25:11 -0700

nonlead -

Upper San Joaquin Watershed Deer Herd Delineation, Migratory Behavior, and Population Dynamic Telemetry Project Final Report

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 18:55:40 -0700

Deer Assessment - The CDFW placed GPS collars on 40 adult or yearling does, and VHS collars on eight adult or yearling does and one buck. One buck fawn was ear tagged. We defined a primary winter range and three migratory corridors used by deer in the watershed. We identified five holding areas, and evaluated summer habitat range. We compared current data to that from previous research to develop understanding of deer behavior and biology in the watershed, as well as change over time. We discuss major habitat changes, particularly during the study period, and provide recommendations.

2018 BGMA Proposal Solicitation

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 18:40:34 -0700

BGMA PSN -

Inyo-White Mountains Deer Herd Plan

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 18:03:51 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

2021 Elk Tooth Age-At-Harvest

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 12:16:37 -0700

Elk management - 2021 age-at-harvest results from hunter-harvested tooth samples submitted for cementum annuli analysis.

Report on spring aerial surveys of tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) in the Mendocino Elk Management Unit

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 13:31:06 -0700

Tule elk survey - Routine population monitoring is essential to inform management, including regulated harvest, of big game species. In March 2020, staff from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in the Northern Region, North Central Region, and Wildlife Branch conducted the first aerial surveys of tule elk in the Mendocino Elk Management Unit (EMU) since 2016. March 2020 surveys were the first in a proposed three-year series of surveys to establish baseline information on tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) population numbers and distributions, which are anecdotally reported to be increasing. Staff spent two days conducting 13 h of aerial surveys from a Bell 407 helicopter to count elk in the Mendocino Elk Management Unit (EMU) in Mendocino County. A contract pilot flew the helicopter along transects spaced 800 m apart in the entirety of five polygons located in the vicinities of Potter Valley, Willits, Eden Valley, Laytonville/Sherwood Valley, and Covelo. The minimum count was 536 elk, of which 96 elk were positively identified as adult males, 4 were calves estimated to be <1-month old, and the remaining 436 included adult females and juveniles of both sexes that could not be distinguished definitively from adult females. Because of dense forest cover in some areas, we think our minimum count is conservative and lower than the true number of tule elk present in the Mendocino EMU. Thus, we recommend follow-up surveys from the ground during summer when elk are on pasture, if CDFW can collaborate with private landowners to survey elk on private lands. We recommend flying surveys between late August–January annually to acquire more accurate information on age and sex ratios of elk in the Mendocino EMU. Lastly, we also recommend following up aerial surveys of tule elk with ground surveys for Roosevelt elk along the heavily forested Mendocino coastline, where elk cannot be seen from a helicopter, to produce an EMU-wide estimate of elk abundance.

Bighorn Sheep Hunt Zone Map 2019

Fri, 17 May 2019 09:15:50 -0700

Bighorn Sheep Hunt Zone Map 2019 -

Tree Squirrel Hunt Zones and Western Gray Squirrel Predicted Habitat Quality

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 10:25:38 -0700

Tree Squirrel Hunting - BIOS CWHR M077 [ds2534] [ds1343]

Earth map of deer zones

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 16:13:38 -0700

Deer Hunting Zones -

Wild Pig Take Report 2015 - 2016

Fri, 22 Jun 2018 08:14:07 -0700

Wild Pig Season Results - Results of 2016=2016 hunting season.

Junior Spring Turkey Hunt

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 13:52:34 -0800

2018 Spring Turkey Hunt -

Opening Weekend Spring Turkey Hunts

Mon, 12 Feb 2018 11:27:46 -0800

2018 Spring Turkey Hunt -

Balance of State Spring Turkey Hunts

Mon, 12 Feb 2018 11:27:23 -0800

2018 Spring Turkey Hunt -

I-280 Wildlife Connectivity Study: Findings and Recommendations

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 14:05:33 -0800

Wildlife Connectivity - Three types of wildlife observation data along I-280 were used to characterize wildlife movement: wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC), images from wildlife camera traps at highway under-crossings, opportunistic track surveys, and deer movement patterns using GPS-collars. The purposes of the project were to increase commuter safety by reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions, and to restore wildlife and movement habitat connectivity across I-280.

Tahoe Urban Bear Home Range Analysis and Urban Area Overlap

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:55:19 -0800

Black Bears - Black bears are known to frequent urban areas as they are attracted to garbage (Rogers et al. 1974, Herrero 1980, Mccullough 1982, Spencer et al. 2007) and consequently become human food conditioned and habituated to humans (Hopkins et al. 2010). When bears are habituated to people and conditioned to human food, public safety concerns increase (Herrero 2002, Herrero and Higgins 2003). Conflicts involving black bears are increasing in number and significance throughout the western United States (Lackey and Beausoleil 2009). The size of the home range might indicate how much space a bear needs, how this area varies across seasons and how this overlaps with urban areas. Overlap of the home range with the urban area was considered to be a good proxy for assessing the importance of this area to bears. This is a key step when trying to understand potential for conflict and mitigation strategies.

Black-tailed Deer Population Assessment in the Mendocino National Forest, California

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:47:28 -0800

Deer Assessment - CDFW partnered with University of California Davis (UCD) researchers to conduct a field investigation to determine the extent and causes of the black-tailed deer population decline. The Mendocino National Forest and adjacent private properties were chosen as the study site because of the area’s popularity for deer hunting and its ease of access for those pursuing deer from major urban areas including Sacramento, San Francisco Bay Area, and Redding. This study followed a previous study (2004 – 2007) focusing on habitat use of black-tailed deer in the Mendocino National Forest (D. Casady, CDFW) to direct habitat enhancement projects. Data from the previous study were made available and partially incorporated into our analyses and results.

Evaluating the Feasibility of Reintroducing Desert Bighorn Sheep into the North Sierra Nevada

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:42:04 -0800

Bighorn Sheep Conservation - This study used geographic information system (GIS) habitat suitability models to identify and quantify winter and summer home range habitat conditions and applied density figures to determine if the home ranges could support a viable population of bighorn sheep (100-125 individuals). A risk analysis was also conducted to evaluate the proximity of active domestic sheep allotments to each potential study plot. Our results found that all six plots exceeded the amount of year round habitat needed to support a herd of 100-125 bighorn sheep.

Efficacy of Noninvasive Fecal DNA-based Estimation of the Pacific Deer Herd

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:38:08 -0800

Deer Abundance - The primary objectives of the field study (Section I) were to use and compare non-spatial and spatial CR methods to (1) estimate ? N and D of the migratory portion of the Pacific deer herd, a partially migratory mule deer (O. h. californicus x columbianus) population, on their summer range in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and (2) explore approaches to extrapolating ?N and D to broader scales, including use of SCR to model deer-habitat relationships in terms of D. We also estimated sex ratio and sex-specific survival. The primary objectives of Section II were to (1) determine the precision required of annual and biennial CR abundance estimates to detect multi-annual trends of varying magnitudes with specified power and type-I error rates, (2) assess optimal allocation of effort between numbers of transects and numbers of surveys per transect to maximize precision within years (and, therefore, power to detect trends across years), and (3) develop a set of tentative guidelines for study design and frequency of monitoring. Section III provides cost estimates based on results of the preceding sections to aid in planning of monitoring programs.

Final Results from the East Tehama Deer Abundance Study

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:32:06 -0800

Deer Abundance - For an 11,500 km2 study area comprising 14% of deer summer range in California, we demonstrate how the combined use of fecal DNA surveys, camera stations, and GPS collars can be implemented to efficiently estimate deer population size. For the mostly forested, 3-zone area, we found an average density of 2.82 does per km2 (7.30 per mi2) and 1.11 bucks per km2 (2.87 per mi2) summing to a total of 12,718 bucks (90%CI: 10,534–15,302) available for hunting. Besides establishing a baseline against which to monitor population trends, our methods can be readily applied to answer a variety of other questions of conservation and management interest. For example, we demonstrated an association between relative density of bears (and other deer predators) at survey sites and the abundance of fawns.

California Hunters' Opinions on Deer Hunting, Season Structure, Regulations, and Deer Management

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:27:37 -0800

Hunters' Opinions - This study was conducted for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (hereinafter referred to as the Department) to determine deer hunters’ opinions on deer hunting and deer management in California. The study entailed a scientific multi-modal survey of California deer hunters. The survey questionnaire was developed cooperatively by Responsive Management and the Department. The surveys were conducted in January 2015. Responsive Management obtained a total of 13,846 completed questionnaires. The analysis of data was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences as well as proprietary software developed by Responsive Management.

Assessing Impacts of Solar Power Facilities on Pronghorn in the Carrizo Plain

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:20:58 -0800

California Pronghorn Antelope - In this study, we examine pronghorn offspring recruitment and fawn habitat selection on the northern Carrizo Plain in areas adjacent to the Topaz Solar Farm and within mitigation lands. Results from this study will provide agencies with an important resource for making management decisions to improve habitat on mitigation lands and to reduce potential negative impacts of future solar development. Additionally, this study will be a valuable extension of previous research on the CPNM, where results may be compared, or combined, to contribute to long-term regional management goals for pronghorn.

Anticoagulant Rodenticide Surveillance in Game Animals in California

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:16:27 -0800

Rodenticide Exposure in Big Game Animals - Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are used to control rodents around homes, buildings, and in agriculture. They have been found widely in predatory and scavenging wildlife as a result of secondary exposure and less commonly in herbivores and omnivores from primary exposure. Game animals may be exposed to ARs through direct consumption of bait, ingestion of contaminated food or vegetation, or consumption of contaminated prey items. Carcasses of three kinds of game animals; black bear, wild pigs, and deer; were collected opportunistically for this study. Preliminary Conclusions - The highest prevalence of AR exposure was found in bears, with 83% of tested livers positive. Prevalence of exposure in wild pigs was 8.3%. None of the deer livers tested positive for ARs.

Estimating Abundance of Multiple Deer Herds Using Fecal DNA in the North Central Region

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:48:04 -0800

Deer Assessment - Population indices derived from pellet counts have been used to monitor trends in deer populations. In principle, mark-recapture approaches are the most reliable and accurate way to estimate population abundance (Lukacs and Burnham 2005). However, physically marking and re-capturing or re-sighting deer is prohibitively expensive. Consequently, non-invasive DNA-based mark-recapture techniques are the only feasible way to conduct such surveys and are necessary to establish robust population estimates for deer within the NCR. In particular, DNA from deer fecal pellets would be used. This method has been successfully used to estimate population density of ungulates and black bears (Brinkman et al. 2011, Harris et al. 2010, and Bellemain et al. 2005) and deer (Brinkman et al. 2010, Lounsberry et al. 2015). This methodology has proven to be effective in estimating abundance for deer in the North Central Region (Brazeal et al., 2016, Report to CDFW). Our objective is to estimate abundance of deer herds within the North Eastern Sierra, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley and North Coast DCUs using deer fecal DNA over a six year period.

Development and Assessment of an Aerial Survey Sightability Correction Model for Deer in Sand Diego and Orange Counties

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:41:11 -0800

Deer Assessment - Well-designed monitoring strategies are vital to obtaining data required to adequately determine population parameters and produce robust deer population estimates. Explicit knowledge of population parameters are needed to effectively manage deer whether hunted or part of multispecies conservation planning programs. Population parameters of deer in DMU 500 and 510 are virtually unknown. This project will develop a statistically rigorous and repeatable population survey for resident deer within the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges Deer Conservation Unit (DCU), DMU 500 and 510 which allows reliable estimates of population abundance and density and rates of population change to be obtained over time.

Monitoring Desert Mule Deer Using DNA-Based Capture-Recapture

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:37:56 -0800

Deer Assessment - Our objective is to implement a monitoring plan for desert mule deer in D12, which provides annual estimates of population abundance, composition, and potentially annual survival and rate of population change. In addition, the ability to estimate population size and demographic vital rates is crucial for understanding impacts of energy development, as well as their habitat mitigation measures, on desert mule deer populations.

Greater Monticello Deer Abundance Project

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:33:41 -0800

Deer Abundance - We propose to utilize non-invasive DNA techniques to obtain rigorous estimates of abundance and density with moderate precision within the non-migratory deer herds found in the Bay Delta and North Central regions. This multi-year project will assess the Monticello, Capay, Santa Rosa, and Clear Lake herds.

Effects of Livestock Grazing and Energy Development on Tule Elk in San Luis Obispo and Kern Counties

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:28:55 -0800

Tule Elk - The Department is seeking information on elk responses to changes in their environment. The Department has previous GPS collar data for the project area that has had landscape level changes since the original collar data was collected. These include the construction of large scale solar arrays, conversion of agriculture lands (heavily utilized by elk) into grasslands, and re-initiation of livestock grazing on previous ungrazed lands (Conservation Reserve Program). It is important to understand and identify how elk respond to these changes. The Department will evaluate home ranges, distribution, habitat use, and population levels. These types of information are important for direct management of the La Panza herd as well as provide a high quality data set for directing tule elk management actions throughout the remainder of their range. All of this information will address a number of issues identified in both the elk management plan as well as the plan for the La Panza elk management unit (EMU). Specifically, this study will address the following objectives identified in the statewide and EMU elk plans; herd viability, population thresholds, habitat, recreation, depredation, population monitoring, reintroduction, and connectivity.

CDFW Central Region Deer Hair-loss Syndrome Project Proposal

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:19:08 -0800

Deer Management - The goal of this project is to determine whether exotic lice impact survival, determine methods to lessen the impact of exotic lice on louse-infested deer populations, and to reduce the spread of exotic lice to noninfested deer populations. Secondarily, the U.S. Forest Service Stanislaus National Forest has several landscape scale projects that will be proposed within the next five years on the winter and transitional ranges. The distribution data collected under this project can be used to assist in the implementation of habitat projects intended to benefit deer populations.

East Walker Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:17:57 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

San Diego Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:17:46 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Burro Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:17:36 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

San Jacinto - Santa Rosa Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:17:24 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Santa Ana Mountains Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:17:08 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

San Bernardino Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:16:56 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

East Mojave Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:16:37 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Monache Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:16:05 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Goodale Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:15:53 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Buttermilk Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:15:33 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Sherwin Grade Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:15:23 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Casa Diablo Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:15:11 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Mono Lake Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:14:58 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

West Walker Deer Herd Plan

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:14:18 -0700

Deer Herd Management -

Pig Take Report- 2015

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:13:28 -0800

Pig Take Report -

Pig Take Report- 2014

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:12:35 -0800

Pig Take Report -

Pig Take Report- 2013

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:11:49 -0800

Pig Take Report -