Anglers may fish for free on Saturday, when the Department of Fish and Game will waive the license requirement for citizens 16 or older.

Free Fishing Day, the last of two offered by DFG this year, allows people the opportunity to fish on all freshwater and ocean waters in California.

“The Department of Fish and Game encourages experienced anglers to become instructors and to approach the event as a ‘share the sport’ day,” said Joe Ferreira, coordinator of the Sacramento-area Fishing in the City program.

“It is a perfect opportunity to take friends who have never fished out to give it a try. You won’t have to ask your new students to purchase a license at this time and it should prove to be great fun for all of you.”

While a fishing license is not required, all other fishing regulations, such as bag and size limits, gear restrictions, fishing hours and stream closures, remain in effect.

Also, even on Free Fishing Day, every angler must have the appropriate report card if they are fishing for abalone, steelhead, sturgeon or salmon in the Klamath-Trinity river system.

Free Junior Deer Hunt drawing

The California Deer Association (CDA) is offering 25 free junior deer hunts to be given away in an October drawing, making this the largest privately-sponsored junior deer hunting opportunity in the state.

These are no ordinary deer hunts.

The lucky juniors who are drawn will have one-on-one guided antlerless deer hunts on the famous 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch in Southern California.

First-class lodging on the ranch is included.

Each junior hunter will receive Federal Premium ammunition loaded with non-lead Barnes copper bullets from Federal Cartridge Company, a pair of high-quality binoculars from Alpen Optics, plus hunting and shooting equipment from Hunter’s Specialties and Birchwood Casey.

This is the fifth year in which CDA and the Tejon Ranch have held these “Sharing the Tradition” hunts.

To date, 65 junior hunters have participated in these hunts and 64 have taken home a deer to share with their family.

For over 90 percent of these juniors, this was their first deer.

In addition, while hunting deer, these juniors and their accompanying adults will have an opportunity to see elk, wild hogs, bears, turkeys, bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, quail, squirrels, hawks and condors as well as learn about the largest private ranch in California.

The deadline to apply for this year’s drawing is

Oct. 15, 2008.

Hunts will take place during the second half of December.

Entry forms can be found on the CDA Web site at www.caldeer.org or requested by e-mailing the hunt coordinator, Jerry Springer, at Jerry@WesternHunter.com.

The California Deer Association was founded in 1996 with its principal goal to improve California deer herds and other wildlife through direct financial support for habitat improvement and research projects.

Since 1996, CDA has raised more than $2,000,000 to fund over 250 projects in California.

CDA currently has 19 chapters with over 5,000 members.

For more information on the California Deer Association, telephone toll free (888) 499-DEER or visit the Web site at www.caldeer.org.

Guy Carl is a CPA and partner with BDCo Accountants and Advisors in St. Helena (www.bdco

cpa.com). Contact Guy at GC.outdoors@sbcglobal.

net.