Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Apprentice hunting gains momentum
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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Virginia appears poised to join the swelling ranks of states easing a potential barrier to hunter recruitment.
Separate Senate and House bills that would create an apprentice hunting license continue to fly through the General Assembly with bipartisan support.
Assuming that the law change is signed by Gov. Tim Kaine, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries would still need to approve a regulation creating the license. However, it seems likely the agency would be able to get through that process in time for the rule to take effect by July 1, when other changes to game laws are set to go into effect.
Both the Senate and House apprentice hunting license bills would create a two-year license that would give new hunters the one-time opportunity to take what amounts to a long-term test drive before they would be required to complete hunter education requirements.
Hunter education certification is required in Virginia for all new hunters over 16 and youth hunters 12 to 15. The hunter education course takes about 10 to 12 hours.
While some veteran hunters don't have a problem sitting in a deer stand for 10 hours, that kind of time commitment can be intimidating to an aspiring hunter who isn't sure he'll even like the sport.
Hunter education is important, and mandatory requirements have been proven to help reduce accidents. Statistics also prove that new hunters, even those who haven't undergone formal safety training, tend to be highly safety conscious when under direct supervision of experienced mentors.
A major initiative of the Families Afield effort by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, The National Wild Turkey Federation, and the U.S. Sportsman's Alliance, new hunter programs have been approved in recent years in more than a dozen states, including Illinois, Kansas and Michigan.
Apprentice license advocates are banking on the test drives paying off, believing that many of the newcomers will be eager to keep hunting and be willing to complete hunter education requirements.
But just because that approach works in the car business, does that mean it can work for something like hunting?
Apparently so, according to figures showing that states have sold thousands of apprentice licenses after launching programs.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, for example, reported this past fall that more than 8,000 new hunters have taken advantage of that state's apprentice hunting license.
Virginia's program would require apprentice hunters to be accompanied by and directly supervised by a properly licensed mentor who is at least 18.
The one-time license would be $10 for residents; $20 for non-residents, and would take the place of a regular hunting license. Apprentice hunters would be required to purchase other applicable licenses, such as big game licenses and licenses for special seasons, such as archery and muzzleloader seasons.
An apprentice hunter program won't instantly solve the challenges to recruiting hunters in Virginia. But it will be an important positive step and I would be surprised if Virginia didn't sell at least 5,000 of the licenses in the program's first season.
Here's the latest on a couple of other interesting outdoors-related bills:
House Bill 1250: This year's version of the youth lifejacket legislation we see just about every session, this bill would require children 12 and under to wear an approved personal flotation device while riding in a recreational craft under 26 feet in length.
The bill is still alive, but is moving through the House at a snail's pace with only half-hearted support. My bet is it will eventually sink.
Senate Bill 263: This bill from Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Hot Springs, would impose harsh penalties for those convicted of violating the rule that requires hunters to be unarmed when retrieving hunting dogs from private property.
Not only would the violator have to forfeit his hunting license for that season and the next, but he could be required to forfeit the gun or bow he carried onto the private land.
This bill passed the senate nearly unanimously last week, with Ralph Smith, R-Botetourt County, casting the lone dissenting vote.
Senate Bill 765: This bill would put control of the water safety patrol schedule at Smith Mountain Lake back into the hands of the DGIF's conservation police force.
Currently, officers are required to be on patrol during daylight hours from Memorial Day through Labor Day. That sometimes meant officers had to be at the lake even during times of little to no activity.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously and should face little opposition in the House.
You can track the status of freshwater fishing-, wildlife- and boating-related bills at www.dgif.virginia.gov/legislation/.
