Thursday, February 26, 2009
Bill Cochran's Outdoors: Big game results: bear and deer boom, turkey plummet
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
Bill Cochran's Outdoors
Recent columns
- Less freedom at Hatteras for surf casters
- Here’s the scoop on hunting shed antlers
- Want more grouse? Get used to hearing chainsaws
- Sunday hunting bills aplenty, but some hunters hold out
- Column archive
Bill's Mailbag
Bill's Field Reports
Resources
Hunters in Virginia established record deer and bear kills during the recent 2008-09 season, but some of the joy was taken out of that when the fall turkey kill plunged to the lowest figure in years. Something major has happened to the fall turkey season or to the turkeys themselves. It is time for a major investigation.
According to figures released this week by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the reported fall turkey kill was 3,505 birds. That was 26 percent below the previous year, and you have to go back more than 20 years to find a lower figure. The kill isn’t even one-quarter of the 16,861 record set in 1990. Bedford was the top county, with just 134 turkeys reported killed.
It can appear that Virginia is approaching the point when the bear kill is going to be higher than the fall turkey kill. Hunters reported killing 2,204 bear the past season, which was 35 percent higher than the previous record set during the 2006-07 season.
You haven’t seen anything yet. The bear population is booming. I am having sportsmen tell me that during the recent hunting season they saw more bears than bucks. The animals are reaching higher than desirable numbers in some sections of the state, according to bear biologist Jaime Sajecki. This has prompted bold, new regulation proposals that wildlife officials are scheduled to present to the DGIF board Friday in Richmond.
The 253,678 record deer kill exceeded the previous record set last season by 4 percent. It was 16 percent above the 10-year average.
Record deer kills don’t necessarily mean that the deer herd is in good shape. In fact, they can indicate it is easing beyond its bounds and heading toward an excess of crop damage, vehicle collusions and poorly developed animals.
Wildlife officials, however, can take comfort in the fact that the 119,524 doe kill (47.3 percent of the total) was significant, and accounted for much of the increase -- nearly 9 percent -- continuing the record pace of the past six seasons.
The new Earn-A-Buck regulation did its job big time in Bedford, Franklin, Patrick and Roanoke counties, where biologists said it resulted in a 51 percent higher doe kill than what might be expected without it. This regulation compels a hunter to kill a doe before taking a second or third buck. It did not work as well in several northern counties.
On Friday, wildlife officials will be proposing a number of regulations that are designed to keep the doe kill high and provide additional recreation for sportsmen. The proposals can be viewed on digf.virginia.gov.
Back to turkeys: a DGIF news release this week blamed the pitiful take on a multitude of factors:
No changes are being proposed for next fall’s turkey season.
While the DGIF news released said “good mast conditions” impacted the turkey kill, it also said that “spotty acorn production” concentrated bears around available food sources, possibly making them more vulnerable to hunters.
Hound hunters took 34 percent of the bear while 39 percent went to non-hound hunters taking part in the firearm’s season. Some 23 percent was taken during the bow season. Muzzleloaders accounted for 95 bears, or 4 percent.
It will be fascinating to see how high the bear kill soars the next several years. It has been increasing at the rate of 9.5 percent annually and could outpace that next season considering the liberalization of regulations being proposed by wildlife officials. One would establish the first-ever, six-day general firearm’s season during the final week of September in all or portions of Alleghany, Augusta, Bath, Botetourt, Highland, Shenandoah, Rockbridge, Rockingham and Roanoke counties.
Also proposed is the addition of 35 counties to the six-week general firearm’s season and still another proposal would add two weeks to the bear archery season by making it concurrent with the early deer season. Yet another proposal would add four additional days to the muzzleloading bear season in counties around the Shenandoah National Park.
In time, regulations such as these should reach their goal of checking the growth of the bear population which is exceeding desired levels, but not for awhile. If killing a bear has been your dream, the next four years or so is your time.
