Campus police arrest 4 for hunting

BY BENJAMIN GOTTLIEB
DAILY SOUND CORRESPONDENT

Four men were arrested for hunting at the UC Santa Barbara Sedgwick Reserve this past weekend, as the university continues to enforce strict hunting bans on its property.
Marking the first day of deer-hunting season, two men were arrested this past Saturday near a gate along Figueroa Mountain Road, according to UCSB Police Sergeant Daniel Massey. According to the report, police apprehended the suspects after witnessing one man dragging a dead deer as he approached the reserve gate. The second suspect was arrested shortly afterwards, fleeing the scene in his vehicle.

Campus police arrested the duo from Los Angeles for hunter trespassing, lack of a hunting license and deer tags, illegal method of take (using a .22-caliber firearm) and the use of lead ammunition, which is banned in the condor-protected area of the Los Padres National Forest — a portion of the Sedgwick reserve is located in the condor-protected area.
“Interestingly, they parked in front of a gate that had three different signs on it saying ‘No Hunting’ and/or ‘No Firearms,’” Massey said. “They admitted to seeing and understanding the signs.”
Located in the Santa Ynez Valley, the 5,900-acre Sedgwick Reserve is used year-round by university researchers, students and schoolchildren. One of seven natural reserves managed by UCSB, Sedgwick Reserve is one of 35 reserves in California which are managed by the UC.
Working with California Fish and Game officers, UCPD arrested two more suspects on similar charges on this past Sunday on the reserve. A man from the Pauma Valley area was apprehended for hunter trespassing and shooting from a roadway; the second man, also hailing from Los Angeles, was booked for hunter trespassing, no hunting license, no deer tags, illegal method of take and use of lead ammunition.
All four suspects were cited and released after their guns were confiscated.
“We are very serious about enforcing this ban on hunting in Sedgwick Reserve,” Massey said. “And people need to know what not only are we enforcing it during hunting season, we’re there all year.”