Thursday, November 20, 2008
Hunters asked to look beyond the current season
Bill Cochran
Recent columns
Most sportsmen are concentration on the current hunting season, but the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is asking them also to look to next season and beyond. The department is in its periodic regulation review and amendment process.
What’s at stake? Just about every hunting and trapping regulation is on the table. Here are some of the major topics under scrutiny:
MUZZLELOADING: The muzzleloading season has become very popular, but there are still a few glitches that gall hunters. A major one is the lack of opportunities to kill more does in many counties west of the Blue Ridge. The western season was doubled to two weeks this year but the bag limit remained just one per season. Under current rules, an anterless deer can be killed only on the second Monday of the season.
The question often heard is why only one day to bag a doe when the DGIF is constantly harping on the need to increase the doe kill in order to keep the herd in check?
Wildlife biologists have stuck by this regulation, but I’d say there is a good chance for change. At the minimum hunters can expect the doe day to be switched from a Monday to a Saturday. Why not let hunters kill a doe any day of the season?
There also is increasing interest in a primitive muzzleloading season when only traditional guns and equipment can be used. (See last week’s Cochran column). The question is where to find a place on the calendar to put it? Some traditional advocates say, “Give us one week of the current early muzzleloading season.” That’s not likely to happen.
TURKEY: Virginia’s fall turkey kill has been seeing very little growth, at least nothing like was predicted by biologists when major changes were made to the season a decade ago. Biologists have blamed the flat line on an uncanny string of poor production years. But some sportsmen believe there is more to it that than. Most likely declining hunting pressure is a factor.
Wildlife officials seem to have come around to that conclusion and are asking hunters “what can we do to increase interest in fall turkey hunting?”
One thing being discussed is adding a fall tag on the big game license. Hunters currently get three turkey tags on their big game license and many save them for the spring season. A designated fall/winter tag would give them the opportunity to hunt turkeys in the fall without spending their spring tags.
Also being kicked around is the idea of separating the fall turkey season from the deer season, particularly the early muzzleloading season. That could mean starting the fall turkey season earlier or providing more dates in January.
Still another idea being discussed is to require hunters to check the spring gobblers they kill by phone or Internet only in an effort to save the DGIF time and money and get the season results out in reasonable time.
SMALL GAME: Time was when most of us launched our hunting career by going after rabbits and squirrels. That is because these animals are fun to hunt and there weren’t that many turkeys and deer to go after.
Now kids can start out on turkeys and deer. Some never experience the delight of stalking squirrels with a .22 or pursuing rabbits behind a pack of vocal beagles. That is their loss.
Just how to get youngsters into small game hunting is up for discussion, and there appear to be no easy answers. In the meanwhile, squirrels, especially, are one of the most underutilized game species in Virginia.
New regulations may not totally resolve this dilemma. It may require seasoned hunters to become small game mentors for a new generation of hunters.
ELK: Wildlife officials appear to be poised to give elk more protection so a herd can be established in far Southwest Virginia (See Nov. 6 Cochran column). This represents a major change in the DGIF philosophy of elk management and could mean good things for hunters and tourist in the future.
BEAR: Don’t look for major changes in bear hunting regulation, but some adjustments may be in order. There are hot spots in Virginia where the bear population could be trimmed a bit; however, in most instances, the object will be to expand hunting recreation while maintaining a stable bear population.
Some bear hunters want more hunting time during the current early muzzleloading season; others seek adjustments to the minimum size limit of 100-pounds live weight or 75-pounds dressed weight. Hunters appear to be divided over whether to raise or lower the weight or to eliminate it.
HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE: The DGIF is receiving on-line comments from the public on hunting and trapping issues through Jan. 5. They can be posted on the agency’s Web site: www.dgif.virginia.gov.
On Feb 26, the DGIF staff will present its recommendations to the DGIF board during a meeting in Richmond. Public comments also will be received at that time. This will be followed by a public comment period from March 10 to May 11. Final action by the board will be taken June 2. Regulations approved will become law next fall.
