Paying sharpshooters gets the nod over hunters who would pay to manage the resource
BY MIKE STEVENS
AVALON – The California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved a controversial plan to completely eradicate Catalina Island’s entire deer population put forth by the nonprofit conservation organization, Catalina Island Conservancy (CIC). This plan calls for the deer to be exterminated by professional hunters over the course of five years. The CIC’s original plan was to deploy sharpshooters in helicopters, but that idea resulted in a significant public backlash.
According to CIC’s estimates, the mule deer population on Catalina is around 1,800. The method they used was “spotlight surveys” which consists of driving around the island with spotlights, counting reflections from deer eyes, and extrapolating that data over the entire island. Their issue with the deer is that they are not native to the island, have no natural predators there and they cause environmental damage by eating too many native plants which leads to easily eroding soil, more dry grass, less water in creeks and less resources for other local wildlife.
A full-length documentary produced by Howl For Wildlife (HOWL) premiered (currently available on YouTube) at about the same time the CDFW was approving the plan. According to that organization’s founder, Charles Witham, they flew drones over a much larger swath of the island than the spotlighting, and it was determined that the deer populations are not consistent across all areas on the island. HOWL has offered to put up multiple drones with multiple pilots and cover the entire island with thermal-detecting drowns to get a more accurate number of Catalina’s deer. According to Witham, once an accurate number is determined, then a plan to reduce the deer population to a certain number can be determined. CIC has never done such a survey, and they declined this offer by HOWL.
According to CIC, efforts to manage Catalina Island’s deer population with recreational hunting has not been effective. Historically, mule deer hunting on the island was only available for residents, their guests and hunters who booked with a local outfitter. Public (DIY) hunting was offered in 2020, and in 2024, when the estimated deer population was 1,800 (another number HOWL finds highly questionable due to the lack of an efficient survey), hunters were issued 754 tags and 379 of them were filled. The CIC saw that as a failure, while Witham points out that hunt alone eliminated 22 percent of the population in that season alone.
The CIC plans to offer a final locals only hunt in 2026.
