Lake Sonoma preserve calls on bow hunters to control deer

Managers of a 5,000-acre nature preserve near Lake Sonoma are for the first time asking bow hunters to take aim at local deer in order to control their numbers.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the land, and the nonprofit Friends of Lake Sonoma are launching the program, which will allow hunters into the mostly wild preserve for the first time since it was partially closed to the public when the Warm Springs Dam was constructed more than 25 years ago, the Press Democrat reported.

But there’s a catch: Hunters will be restricted to using bows and will have to be escorted by a hunting expert chosen by Lake Sonoma preserve managers. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which will be issuing a limited number of permits, hunters will be allowed to take only a total of six bucks this season.

Hunters will also have to pay a $500 fee to be donated to Friends of Lake Sonoma, which runs tours and educational programs at the park in Sonoma County, the Press Democrat reported. But in return, the handful of hunters who are granted permits will be virtually alone on the wilderness landscape.

The hunter “has got that all to himself,” Jayson Collard, an avid bow hunter who will be escorting permit holders, told the newspaper. “You couldn’t cover half of that in a day, it’s so wild.”

It’s also more difficult than hunting with a gun.

Bows are accurate to only a few dozen yards and tend to do less damage than bullets, meaning a poorly placed shot has a much higher chance of simply wounding an animal, allowing it to escape and increasing its suffering. That means a bow hunter has to get a great deal closer to the quarry than a rifle hunter and wait for the perfect shot, according to the Press Democrat.

“You have to stalk out your animal, particularly deer,” Collard told the paper. “They are really in tune with their environment.”

This isn’t the only animal population control program at the preserve, which also hosts annual hunts for invasive wild pigs throughout the year.

Hunters who participate in the new deer program still must follow state game rules, such having state licenses and tags. The season will run through the fall.

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