Thursday, October 25, 2007
Be on your honor, not just the Internet
Bill Cochran
Recent mail
BILL: I believe in killing does. I shot one with a crossbow Saturday. I hear what the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is saying about earn a buck. But, considering that the check-in system is an honor system at best when the phone or Internet is used, how does DGIF expect to actually enforce shooting does?
They do not have the law enforcement officers they need; this has been known for years. I fear what you will have is either non-checking of some game entirely or, even worse, lying about what was killed. Once you take a deer to a processor they aren’t likely to know if it was checked.
All this is well intended, but I can’t see it being forced.
BOB HOLDEN
BILL: I was wondering whether the new unplugged shotgun regulations apply to all non-migratory game, i.e. large game like deer, or just non-migratory birds like turkey?
A.T.
A.T. It applies to all non-migratory game, including deer, bear, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, grouse, quail, bobcat, coyote, fox, raccoon opossum, groundhog and skunk, not just non-migratory birds.
Shotguns still must be plugged to a three-shell capacity when hunting migratory game, such as doves, ducks, all geese, including resident birds, tundra swans, rail, snipe, woodcock, gallinules and moorhens. And -- get this -- also crows.
BILL
BILL: I just wanted to tell all hound hunters of Virginia that we must work together in order to preserve and protect our hunting traditions here in the commonwealth.
Whether we like it or not, the hound hunting study led by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Virginia Tech is moving forward and I personally think that we should consider ourselves fortunate to have the opportunity to participate throughout the entire process. To me, it’s a lot like voting. We all have the opportunity and right to vote, but many people don’t make the effort to go to the polls on Election Day.
If we don’t make the effort to work side-by-side with DGIF in a respectful manner on this study we are sure to lose. It’s our job to start working now to educate those at DGIF, landowners and other hunters that may not completely understand hound hunting.
I also have this to say to the people out there that are refusing to go along with this study and personally attacking the credibility and integrity of other hunters, the DGIF staff and board members: If you will put the same effort and time into working with this study in a positive way, all houndsmen will be better off.
Bill, we all owe you many thanks for staying on top of this issue and giving the hunters a public voice through your column and reporting.
TIMOTHY PERRY
Commonwealth Hunting Dog Heritage Group
BILL: I am seeing an awful lot of small deer for this time of the year. Does that have to do with the drought or what?
W.C.
W.C.: I am seeing much the same thing. I asked Matt Knox, deer biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, for his take on the situation.
It could be the drought, but there appears to be ample food in the form of white oak mast available wildlife, Knox said.
Knox did a deer survey at the Radford Arsenal a couple weeks ago and noted some very small fawns. He also noted a very large number of fawns.
“I put more emphasis on the number per doe than the size,” he said. “Lots of fawns mean a healthy deer herd.”
Small deer also can occur when fawns have fawns, said Knox.
“In a healthy deer herd, fawns are capable of breeding when they are about 7 to 9 months old. They typically are bred a month or more after the normal rut, so this results in the fawns being dropped in July or August instead of early June. Fawn breeding could account for very small fawns. Statewide, our estimate of fawn breeding runs from about zero to 30 percent, averaging just under 20 percent.”
BILL
