SECTIONS 450-460 - California Statutes

FISH AND GAME CODE

SECTION 450-460

450. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the Legislature to
encourage the conservation, restoration, maintenance, and utilization
of California's wild deer populations. Such conservation shall be in
accordance with the principles of conservation of wildlife resources
set forth in Section 1801 and in accordance with the objectives and
elements stated in "A Plan for California Deer, 1976."

451. As used in this chapter "general deer hunting season" means
the annual season for the area in question as is set by the
commission under its general regulatory powers, or set by statute,
for the taking of male deer.

452. The department shall designate deer herd management units and
designate the manager for the units. Such units may encompass a
single deer herd or a group of deer herds having similar management
and habitat requirements and characteristics. Boundaries of such
units, unless appropriate, need not follow county boundary lines.

453. The department shall develop plans for such deer herd
management units. The objectives of such plans shall be the
restoration and maintenance of healthy deer herds in the wild state
and to provide for high quality and diversified use of deer in
California.

454. Such management plans shall contain the following program
elements:
(a) Document existing information on deer herd management units
and programs to obtain information that may be needed.
(b) Develop programs to maintain and increase the quality of deer
habitat statewide. Such programs will emphasize cooperative action
between the department and the appropriate land management entities,
both public and private. Emphasis shall be directed towards
identifying critical deer habitat areas and the maintenance and
management of such areas.
(c) Develop programs to reduce natural mortalities where such
reduction may be critical to meeting deer herd plan objectives.
(d) Develop programs to decrease the illegal taking of deer
through modern law enforcement methods supported by public and
private cooperative efforts.
(e) Develop diversified recreational use programs, including both
hunting and nonhunting uses, consistent with the basic individual
deer herd management unit capabilities.

455. Deer herd management unit plans shall be reviewed annually and
shall be the basis for department recommendations to the commission
pursuant to this chapter.

456. (a) The department shall biennially report to the Legislature
and to the Fish and Game Commission on the progress that is being
made toward the restoration and maintenance of California's deer
herds. The first report shall be submitted on or before October 1,
1989. The report shall include program activities regarding deer
habitat, particularly addressing problems dealing with identification
and preservation of critical deer habitat areas; the amount of
revenue derived from the sale of deer tags during the two previous
fiscal years; a list of expenditures during the two previous fiscal
years and proposed expenditures during the current fiscal year; and a
report of general benefits accrued to the deer resources as a result
of the program.
(b) The department shall not recommend to the commission any deer
management program or any modification of the commission's deer
hunting regulations submitted pursuant to Section 460 unless the
recommendations are consistent with adopted deer herd management
plans.

457. The department shall determine prior to December 15 of each
year its proposed recommendations to the commission, including its
recommendations as to whether any antlerless deer hunts should be
ordered. The recommendations of the department shall include the
number, if any, of antlerless deer that should be taken in units,
whether the permits should be either-sex permits, the proposed dates
for each such taking, and the number of permits proposed for each
unit.

458. The department not later than December 15 shall notify, by
certified mail, the board of supervisors of each county affected of
the details of its recommendations under Section 457.
The board of supervisors of any affected county may elect to hold
a public hearing on the proposed recommendations of the department.
Any such hearing shall be held prior to February 1. The director or
his or her representative shall attend the hearing.
The board of supervisors of any county to which this section is
applicable may, by resolution, elect not to exercise the rights
conferred by this section.
This section applies only to the counties of, and to those
districts or parts of districts in, Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity, Shasta,
Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa,
Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Lake, Madera,
Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange,
Placer, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,
Tehama, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba Counties.

459. The board of supervisors of any county specified in Section
458 which has held a public hearing pursuant to Section 458 may, not
later than February 1, by resolution, object to the proposed
recommendations of the department or may, by resolution, determine
that the proposed recommendation should be modified, setting forth
the necessary modifications.
A resolution objecting to, or setting forth modifications of, the
proposed recommendations shall be based upon the testimony and
information presented at the hearing or presented to the board of
supervisors at its meeting to consider the resolution.
The department shall not recommend to the commission, and the
commission shall not authorize, the taking of antlerless deer in a
county specified in Section 458 if it has received from the board of
supervisors of that county a resolution objecting to that taking. If
a board of supervisors of a county has submitted a resolution
determining that the department's proposed recommendations on the
taking of antlerless deer should be modified for that county, the
department shall either so modify its recommendations and the
commission shall so modify its orders or the department shall not
recommend, and the commission shall not authorize, the taking of
antlerless deer in that county.

460. Prior to the February meeting of the commission as required in
Section 207, the department shall recommend to the commission those
deer herd units to be placed under a general deer hunting season. At
the same time, the department shall recommend to the commission,
subject to the provisions of Sections 458 and 459, whether any
antlerless deer should be taken and in what deer herd units
antlerless deer are to be taken. If in the judgment of the department
there are deer herd units in which hunting pressure would adversely
affect the deer herd, impair the hunting experience, or endanger the
public safety, the department shall also recommend to the commission
those deer herd units where hunter numbers should be restricted and
which should be removed from the general deer hunting season
designation. The department shall inform the commission of the
condition of each deer herd unit. Upon receipt of the recommendations
and information required in this section, the commission shall make
that material known to the public and its determinations regarding
proposed regulations. The recommendations of the department shall, in
accordance with the provisions of Sections 458 and 459, include the
number, if any, of antlerless deer that should be taken in deer herd
units, whether the permits should be either-sex permits, the proposed
dates for the taking, and the number of permits proposed for each
deer herd unit. At the same time, the department shall recommend the
establishment of any hunter-restricted quota units, if needed, and
the number of the quota and manner in which the quota permits should
be issued.