UCSB's Sedgwick Reserve is Off-Limits to Deer Hunters

With deer season opening on Saturday, Aug. 14 in many parts of Santa Barbara County, hunters are reminded that the 5,900-acre Sedgwick Reserve in the Santa Ynez Valley is an off-limits no-hunting zone.

The reserve, one of seven run by the University of California, Santa Barbara, is an outdoor education center and is protected from hunting under the California Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995. Violators face felony prosecution.

Since university researchers, school children, and others frequently visit the reserve, the reserve's director, Michael Williams, said the presence of hunting would create the potential for a serious accident.

UCSB Police, the California Department of Fish and Game, the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department, and the U.S. Forest Service will cooperate to enforce the no-hunting regulations. In past years, arrests have been made and weapons confiscated in cases involving hunter trespassing, shooting across a roadway, shooting from a vehicle, public intoxication, and drunken driving.

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