Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Bill Cochran's Outdoors

Recent columns

• Drum fishing on Virginia’s Coast comes in two colors
• Elk advocate finally gets his day
• Turkeys are plentiful, so why are hunting regulations so tight fisted?
• Anglers say closure of the point of Cape Hatteras is for the birds
• Column archive

Bill's Mailbag

• Putting down a bear cub brings complaint
• Recommendations for Virginia’s Wild Turkey Management Plan
• Mail archive

Bill's Field Reports

• A. Willis Robertson great name for new DGIF headquarters
• Big striper smashes Optimist tournament record
• Field reports archive

Resources

• Trout stocking schedule

Few bills have been the butt of more jokes in the 2010 Virginia General Assembly than SB 289, the so called “infant hunting license bill.”

Big-time satirist Stephen Colbert has poked fun at it. So have the editorial writers at The Roanoke Times. The merrymakers would have you envision a kid in diapers toting a gun.

The bill was on the want list of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and the agency picked a high profile legislator to introduce it, Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, who lost the recent governor’s race in Virginia.

It is a good piece of legislation on at least two counts, and Virginia senators appear to have seen little humor in it. They passed it 39-0. It now is in the House.

SB 289 establishes a lifetime hunting license for an individual who is younger than age 2. It is valid until the individual reaches his or her 12th birthday then the license is transferred to a regular lifetime hunting license upon proof of the holder completing a hunter education course. There is no fee for the transfer.

The cost of the license is $125 for residents and $250 for nonresidents. The resident license remains valid even if the holder moves out of the state.

A similar license, at the same cost, is available for fishing.

DGIF already sells lifetime hunting and fishing license and a junior lifetime hunting license, but they cost more.

Forget the humor for a moment. No sane person is contemplating that kids in diapers will take up hunting. There's important symbolism here. A gift of a lifetime license to hunt and/or fish might come from a parent, grandparent, uncle or friend whose life has been enriched by outdoors sports and who wants to pass that joy to another. Later on, every time the recipient uses the gift it will be a reminder of the giver.

Add to that, it is a good deal. No telling how much a hunting or fishing license will cost 50 years from now.

It is a good deal for DGIF, as well, and that is the backbone of the idea. Here’s what Charlie Sledd, a DGIF officials said:

“In addition to the revenue the agency would receive from the license, we would also annually receive additional federal aid dollars for each license sold.”

The amount would be about $10.50 for fishing and just under $20 for hunting. The federal dollars would continue each year until the license holder is in his or her late 70s.

“The reduced price lifetime license fee should be a great incentive for family and friends to offer a lifetime gift of hunting and/or fishing and the additional federal dollars will offset the reduced price of the license itself,” said Sledd.

COMPETITION BETWEEN DEER AND BEAR?

Recently I was talking to a nationally known sportsman who lives in Southwest Virginia. I asked him how his deer season had gone. I knew he owns a large tract of land where emphasis is put on habitat improvement and big bucks.

He told me his gang had seen the fewest deer in a long while, but had seen lots of bears. Maybe as many bears as deer.

Then he began to put the two together and speculate that bears are having a significant impact on deer, mostly through predation of fawns.

I don’t think there has been a detailed studied on that issue in Virginia, nor is there much cause for concern since deer populations in many places have become higher than they should be. But more than one deer hunter has told me predation from bears is a concern to them.

I know I spotted fewer fawns last year than I can remember in a long time. Because bears are a big target, it is easy to put the blame on them. Yet Virginia’s deer herd, with few exceptions, shows little indication of slowing down.

I heard about one research project in Pennsylvania that showed 46.2 percent of 218 fawns that had been tagged for study fell to predation, mostly from bears and coyotes. Remember, Pennsylvania has a lot of bears and a lot of deer.

I’m also hearing from hunters who believe bears are preying on the nests of turkeys, which, they say, accounts for the slow growth of the turkey population.

With the bear population booming, such claims are certain to increase and add to the already volatile bear hunters vs. other hunters debates. These arguments need to be based on science, not emotion.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

• Gov. Tim Kaine reached his goal of preserving 400,000 acres of important outdoor habitat during his term and Gov. Bob McDonnell has pledged to do the same. He started in a big way when he announced the largest conservation easement in Virginia history, 13,350 acres in the Dragon Run Swamp on Middle Peninsula.
• Dr. Jonathan Sleeman, who served a short time as the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ wildlife veterinarian, left to take employment with a wildlife lab in Wisconsin and his old position has not been filled. “We were fortunate to have Jonathan with us and his work on the CWD Response Plan certainly helped put us in a position to be prepared for CWD,” said Julia Dixon, DGIF publication relations director.
• Sportsmen groups are at odds with Australian maker of Yellow Tail Wine for pledging $100,000 to the Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest anti-hunting organization.
• Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack have announced the creation of the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council to promote and preserve America’s hunting heritage.
• An electric boat motor comparable to a 3-hp outboard in speed with a 12-nautical miles range? That what the new Torqeedo Travel Model 1003 offers. It operates on integrated lithium batteries. The price is $1,899.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Mid-Atlantic Sports and Boat Show, Feb. 12-14, Virginia Beach Convention Center.

Grouse season closes Feb. 13.

Bass master Classic, Feb. 19-21, Lay Lake, Birmingham, Ala.

The Greater Virginia Sporting and Big Game Show, Rockingham County Fairgrounds, Feb. 19-21. Includes Hunters for the Hungry turkey calling contest. Feb. 20 1 p.m. vasportsshow.com.

Custom Building Fishing Rod Exposition, Feb. 20 and 21, High Point, N.C.

Western Virginia Sporting Show, Augusta Expoland, Fishersville, Feb. 26-28

Rabbit season closes, Feb. 27

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, 9 a.m. March 2 at the agency’s headquarters, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond

Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, March 5, 7 p.m., Moneta Community Center, swap meet.

Appalachian Highlands Chapter Ruffed Grouse Society Sportsmen’s Banquet, March 13, 5 p.m., Holiday Inn, 101 W. Springbrook Drive, Johnson City, Tenn.; information from Spencer Young.

Smith River Trout Unlimited meeting, March 18, 6:30 p.m., Rania’s Restaurant, Martinsville, update on Smith River fishery by Scott Smith, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist, information from Shane Pinkston.

Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, April 2, 7 p.m. Moneta Community Center.

Youth spring turkey hunt day, April 3, 2010.

Trout Heritage Day, April 3

Spring gobbler season, April 10-May 15, 2010.

BASS Elite Blue Ridge Brawl, April 15-18, Smith Mountain Lake.

Virginia Fly Fishing Festival, Aprils 17-18, Waynesboro.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, 9 a.m. April 20 at the agency’s headquarters, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond

Botetourt Longbeards National Wild Turkey Federation banquet, May 1, Lord Botetourt High School, Daleville.

NRA annual meeting, May 14-16, Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, N.C.

North Carolina State University Sport Fishing School, May 30-June 3, 2010, Hatteras, N.C.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, 9 a.m. June 8 at the agency’s headquarters, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, 9 a.m. July 13 at the agency’s headquarters, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, 9 a.m. August 17 at the agency’s headquarters, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond

Hunters for the Hungry banquet, Sept.25, Moose Lodge on Virginia 311 at foot of Catawba Mountain in Roanoke County.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, 9 a.m. October 5 at the agency’s headquarters, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond

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