Oct 17, 2015 3 min read

Coming to the state of California could be background checks to purchase ammunition.

And you thought the only problem was the availability and skyrocketing prices.

California’s Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a 2016 ballot intiative that would make that state the only one to require background checks when purchasing ammunition.

New York passed a similar bill in 2013 with the backing of Gov. Anndrew Cuomo, but Cuomo suspended the plan this past summer before the law took effect.

California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, but Newsom’s proposal is a knee-jerk reaction to mass shootings that have taken place across the country.

It will be interesting to see if this passes. Unlike the defunct New York law, which was passed by a Democratic-controlled legislature, Newsom’s proposal must pass the muster of the voting public.

First, Newsom’s proposal will require 366,000 signatures to put it on the ballot, something it will likely get in a state of 320 million.

The proposal also would eliminate already banned magazines that hold 11 or more rounds, requiring owners to sell them to a licensed firearms dealer, take them out of state or turn them over to law enforcement to be destroyed.

Seems a bit over the top to me.

• While pheasant season isn’t what it used to be – and might never be again – it does begin statewide Oct. 24.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission will stock more than 200,000 birds this year. Hunters will find 5,500 of the birds have bands on their legs. The commission would like any hunter who successfully bags a banded bird to report the serial number on the band to the toll-free number stamped on it.

The commission will use that information to track the bird’s movements or mortality rates following release.

A similar study was conducted in 1998. It concluded that about 50 percent of the birds stocked by the commission are harvested by hunters.

Since that time, the commission implemented a number of new strategies in pheasant stocking it feels will increase the hunter harvest rate.

• According to reports from Erie, steelhead are beginning to group at the mouth of the tributaries but have not yet begun their upstreak spawning runs.

Something that might complicate those runs this year is the fact all of the tributaries are running low for this time of year.

• If you waited to attempt to purchase a doe tag for Wildlide Management Unit 2-A, which includes all of Greene and most of Washington counties, you’re too late. They’re sold out this early for the first time in recent memory thanks to a decrease in the number of permits.

You’re not completely out of luck, however. There are still approximately 16,000 remaining in WMU 2-B, which includes the northeast corner of Washington County.

All other units across the state also are sold out.

Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.