Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Time is now to heal wounds of bear license debate
Bill Cochran
Recent columns
Members of the Virginia Bear Hunters Association used a good cop-bad cop routine Tuesday on the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries in an effort to get the agency to establish a special $25 bear hunting license and reduce the number of days that bears can be killed.
Carrie Crawford, the club secretary from New Castle, told the DGIF board that members had flooded a series of public meetings on wildlife regulation proposals yet the agency didn’t embrace a single suggestion from the club.
“We tried to do it your way, but we don’t see that it has worked,” she said. “My question: what was the point of allowing public input? Did anybody hear us?”
Warren Radford, past VBHA president, took a more soothing and spiritual approach.
“All we wanted was more chase season which would allow us more time with our dogs in the mountains; more time to enjoy God’s awesome creation while we are yet in this world.”
Then he asked board members: “Did I mention that God loves you and I love you?
In the end, the DGIF board rejected the special license and approved a series of new regulations that will give bow, muzzleloading and modern firearm hunters additional opportunities to hunt bears with the idea of reducing the expanding population by as much as 60 percent in some areas of the state.
Estes Fisher, legislative representative of the VBHA from Rockingham County estimated that the license had potential to net the DGIF $300,000 to $400,000. Most states that allow bear hunting have a separate bear license, he said.
The idea of separating the bear tag from the current $18 deer, bear and turkey big game license was unpopular with many hunters who voiced opposition to it on the DGIF public input Web site which received hundreds of hits on the issue.
Bob Ellis, chief of the DGIF wildlife division said it would be difficult to determine how many bear licenses would be sold. There could be buyer resistance from casual bear hunters who currently purchase the big game license. While the DGIF has authority from the General Assembly to establish a bear license it lacks the go-ahead to alter the remaining deer and turkey tags.
The debate over the license divided hunters and created hard feelings from the moment it was proposed in February. Some opponents saw it as an elitist move by bear hound hunters to hog the resource for themselves, a charge the hound hunters denied. Others said if the bear tag is removed from the big game license then the price of the big game license should be reduced.
On Tuesday there was an effort to heal the wounds.
“We need to look at how we can work together to make things better for all of us instead of just opening the door for the Humane Society and PETA,” said Sherry Crumley, board member from Botetourt County.
The door was left open to revisit the license issue.
“We aren’t saying we are opposed to the concept,” said Bob Duncan, executive director of the DGIF. “We are asking for just a little time so it can be done in a timely fashion.”
Duncan said the agency is in the process of looking at all of its revenue streams and it would be premature to concentrate on a single license at this point. This doesn’t mean he opposes a bear license.
“If you would have asked me 10 years ago it I would favor a separate bear license I would have opposed it,” he said. “I have changed my thinking on that.”
Following a record bear kill of 2,204 animals last season, wildlife officials have expressed concern that the bear population is getting out of hand in some sections of the state, especially the northwest mountains area.
With that in mind, the board passed staff proposals that sharply liberalize bear hunting regulations. The population in some areas needs to be reduced by 60 percent, because it has grown by at least 37 percent since 2001, said Ellis.
Hound hunters aren’t so sure.
“We all understand the need for population control, but we also know the risk for human error,” said Warren. “Time is the best teacher. Therefore I ask that we take just a little more time to assure that we need an additional kill season so that we don’t make a mistake that we can’t reverse.”
