Thursday, January 19, 2006
Bill Cochran's Mailbag: Get rid of the daily bag limit
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
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BILL: We need to do away with the daily bag limit on deer. During a two-week gun season (in Western Virginia) we might get four days of really good weather when the deer are up and running.
On private land where we’re trying to effect some management of our deer numbers it kills our efforts to only be able to take one deer per day. The western part of our state is being punished. If it’s two-per-day in the east, why not here?
There is no biological reason for having a daily bag limit on deer. If there is, then why can you take two antlerless deer on DMAP tags if you participate in that program?
A two week gun season west of the Blue Ridge is too short.
The Game Department has catered to the modern muzzeloading industry with the early season. Now instead of 10,000 muzzleloaders, which was the number of hunters the last year before scopes were allowed, we have 100,000, and over a quarter of the deer kill comes from that week.
My suggestion is the month of October should be archery/primitive muzzleloader (caplock or flintlock, no scopes), then have a three-week gun season, followed by a late muzzleloading/archery season where scopes can be used. And the late season should be either sex the same length in those counties that have either sex gun hunting.
The Game Department should unilaterally designate Sunday hunting legal. It is simply ridiculous that it is not. If you don’t want to hunt on Sunday, don’t hunt. We know the economics and recreation reasons for it. Just to add a day for school kids to hunt would be worth the PR backlash, if any.
Grayson County
BILL: A neighbor just called to my attention that Virginia firearms regulations are once more the subject of a magazine articled entitled “Firearms Restrictions Make No Sense—Safety Concerns are Often Unfounded or Outdated,” by David Hart, Peterson’s Hunting, February/March 2006, www.huntingmag.com.
The article opens by saying, “Virginia’s firearms restrictions for hunting border or the schizophrenic. In Southampton County, rifles larger than .22 caliber are legal only between March 1 and Aug. 31, and they can be used only for groundhogs, nor are muzzloading rifles or muzzleloading shotguns (legal) with slugs or sabots.”
The article quotes Bog Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries as saying, “I am constantly hearing from our hunters about how confusing and restrictive these ordinances are. We’ve tried to come up with more streamlined ideas that remove some of the barriers, and we’ve asked the various counties to work with us, but in many cases, they just weren’t willing to change.”
A Southampton County ordinance prohibits the only firearm legal for hunting during the early, special muzzleloading deer season.
Duncan is quoted as saying: “There are no state laws that require individual counties to be consistent, which is exactly why the rules differ from country to county. Various ordinances arise not out of science but often out of irrational emotion or political pressure from single-minded special-interest groups.
“In Southampton County, the muzzleloader ban was born out of pressure from organized groups of hunters who used shotguns and hounds for all of their deer hunting. They were likely concerned by the additional pressure from the special muzzleloading season that precedes the general gun season.
“In a lot of cases the rules are governed by which group shows up to offer their input,” said Duncan. “If no one opposes a proposed county ordinance, then it will generally be adopted.”
What Duncan has not said about Southampton’s ordinance is that it is the only ordinance of its kind in the state, the only one adopted after the General Assembly added muzzleloading rifles and muzzleloading shotguns to the list of legal firearms for hunting under Section 29. 1-519 effective Jan. 1, 2003. It is the only county to permit the muzzleloading rifle beginning in April of 1980 and then prohibit it after the General Assembly added this weapon for statewide use.
I hope you find the article enlightening.
Ivor
BILL: I would love to see you write an article or, even better, a series on .22 center fire rifles for deer hunting in Virginia. I personally think the time has come to allow .22’s, particularly with advancement in bullet technology and the introduction of newer calibers, such as the 223 WSSM.
While I know the Game Commission’s mind is made up and many would be opposed, I think it would be an interesting read and I’m sure you would get a lot of response regardless.
JOHN: I ran the idea by Matt Knox, deer biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. His reply:
“We get a lot of questions and comments on our .23 caliber deer hunting regulation. Let it suffice to say that we are well aware that deer can be killed with a .22 caliber bullet. In fact, we do a lot of it ourselves (in damage and disease control). A .22 magnum head shot at standing deer at less than 30 yards does great.
“But no matter what they say, a .22, .222 or .223 caliber is not a good deer hunting caliber for the real deer hunting world.”
Knox and others I spoke with were concerned that while an experienced marksman may do well with a .22 center fire, poor bullet placement by the less experienced could cause problems.
“I believe that most, if not all, of the prominent gun writers would submit that there are far more suitable calibers for deer-antelope size animals, said Mark Bara, a South Carolina wildlife biologist and ballistics expert. Bara said he sees no compelling need to change current regulations to allow .22 center fires for deer hunting.
Rifles with low recoil that would do a better job, according to Bara, include the .243 Winchester, 6 mm Remington, .250 Savage and .257 Roberts.
“Although not having any personal experience with the relatively new .260 Remington, I suppose it could be added to the list,” he said.
