07/11/2026
Pretty good summary of the Catalina Island deer elimination plan.
California's planned eradication of Catalina's mule deer population is a case study in how not to manage wildlife.
In late January, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved the Catalina Island Conservancy’s Restoration Management Permit, clearing the way for a multi-year plan to remove the island’s mule deer population as part of a broader habitat restoration effort. CDFW also concurred that the project qualifies for a CEQA statutory restoration exemption.
The Conservancy’s argument is that mule deer are not native to Catalina, that they browse native plants, contribute to erosion, affect water resources, and allow invasive grasses to spread in ways that can increase wildfire risk. That’s the ecological case being made, and it’s worth acknowledging. Wildlife populations can damage habitat when they’re left unmanaged, especially on islands.
But that’s also exactly why management matters.
The problem here is that California is allowing a plan aimed at eliminating the herd instead of seriously building a better long-term hunting-based management model. Reports have put the island’s mule deer population around 1,800 to 2,000 animals. The Conservancy says recreational hunting has not reduced the population enough, but that doesn’t mean the answer should automatically become eradication by hired professionals.
It means the hunting program should have been treated like a real tool.
Expand access. Adjust seasons. Issue more tags. Bring in qualified hunters. Create targeted removal hunts. Make the meat usable. Set clear population goals. Use regulated hunting as the first serious management option before turning a huntable wildlife population into a contractor removal project.
And a lot of people are pushing back. Safari Club International reported that more than 30,000 petition signatures were delivered opposing the eradication plan. A coalition that includes SCI, Howl for Wildlife, California Bowmen Hunters/State Archery Association, California Deer Association, and others has also filed a lawsuit challenging the approval, arguing the state failed to properly review the project and failed to consider better alternatives like regulated hunting.
That’s the bigger issue. Hunters are constantly told we’re the problem, while the same people ignore the fact that hunting is often the most practical, ethical, publicly accountable wildlife management tool available. Hunters buy the tags. Hunters fund conservation. Hunters remove animals from the landscape in a regulated way and turn that animal into food instead of waste.
If Catalina has too many deer, manage them. But don’t pretend wiping out an entire herd is the same thing as conservation.
There’s a difference between habitat management and eradication. There’s a difference between using hunters as part of the solution and cutting them out so professionals can do what licensed hunters could have helped accomplish.
California had a chance to show what modern, science-based, hunting-supported wildlife management could look like on Catalina.
Instead, it approved a plan to remove the herd.
What do you think: should Catalina’s mule deer be managed through expanded regulated hunting, or should the state allow the herd to be eliminated completely?
