Another excerpt from Harold Gilliam’s Sierra Shangri-la about Lassen County.
“The State Fish and Game Commission last year [1951] set off a major explosion by declaring a 9-day open season on does in the Doyle herd of some 20,000 mule deer which migrates down from the mountains and winters in the Doyle-Milford area below Honey Lake. The purpose was to hold down the surplus deer population which the commission said was outgrowing its own food supply and diminishing the natural pasture for cattle and sheep.
“A vociferous protest immediately arose from Northern California hunters’ organizations. They denied that there was any ‘surplus’ of deer and condemned the whole principle of shooting does which violates the instinctive code of many California hunter who regards it something akin to shooting women and children.
“Farm groups supported the Fish and Game Commission. Hearings were held in Susanville and protests were made to Governor Earl Warren.
“‘I shot my first doe last season,’ said one regretful hunter. ‘When I heard that poor doe let out a bleat of pain I knew I could never do it again.’ The man at the bar in the Pioneer felt the same way. ‘It’s all a few big cattle ranchers down there,’ he fumed, ‘that put the pressure on to get this doe shoot put through. They’re the ones behind it. They’d as soon get rid of all of the deer. I never violate a law, but if they’re gonna start shooting does, if I get hungry I’d soon shoot a calf or two.”
“The doe-shoot controversy may die out this year if the severe weather conditions kill off enough deer to make the doe shoot unnecessary in the opinion of the Fish and Game Commission.”