Here And Gone Photos by Linda Smolek
HELP STOP DEER POACHING ON AMERICAN RIVER PARKWAY
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heir weapon is a crossbow— gunshots draw attention. They skulk under cover of darkness, late at night and early in the morning. Night-vision optics help locate their targets—big bucks with large antlers. The bigger, the better. “They call the arrow a bolt,” says Tim McGinn, wildlife advocate, nature photographer and longtime member of the American River Natural History Association. “The tips are like five little razor blades. If they hit them in the lungs or chest area, the deer will last maybe two or three minutes. It’s lethal.” This is poaching—the illegal taking of fish and wildlife—and it’s a reality along the American River Parkway, where it’s never legal to hunt, McGinn says. “Never. No hunting. No guns.” October through late January is rutting (or breeding) season for hooved
CR By Cathryn Rakich Animals & Their Allies
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animals, such as mule deer, the type of deer found along the river parkway. Ancil Hoffman Park in Carmichael, at the midpoint of the American River Parkway, is 396 acres and home to Effie Yeaw Nature Center, a sanctuary for wildlife and a hub for breeding. “The females go into heat around the middle of October,” McGinn explains. “They’ll go out of heat in about six weeks.” The few does that don’t breed go into a second heat in late December. Those four months are a critical time for law enforcement and the public to be vigilant about spotting poachers. “If you see a buck in a rut (mating season), he will walk right past you,” McGinn says. “He doesn’t care. He wants to breed with the doe. That’s perfect for a poacher.” McGinn, a painting and building contractor in Sacramento since 1969, attended Sacramento State and Oregon State University, where he studied wildlife management. He has frequented the nature area for more than 45 years and is familiar with the herds. “There are some tremendously large bucks in this area,” McGinn says. A male mule deer can weigh as much as
Tim McGinn
