Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Separate bear license up for vote
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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The package of proposed changes to Virginia hunting regulations is a real bear, coming in at 83 pages.
Maybe it's fitting, then, that a proposal about bears has gotten much of the attention since the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries released the possible changes in February.
The proposal is to pull the bear tag off of the state's big game hunting license and establish a separate bear license, at a cost of $25 for residents and $150 for non-residents.
The community of bear hunters who use hounds, many of whom are members of the Virginia Bear Hunters Association, supported the idea. In fact, they asked for it.
But many other hunters have howled, saying the license is intended to allow houndsmen to hoard bears for their season -- during which many actually kill few bears they tree -- by shutting out deer hunters who sometimes chance into a bear.
After three months of debate, the issue will go in front of the DGIF's board of directors for a vote.
First, it will hear the agency's staff report that it does not recommend adoption of the separate bear license, a position outlined in a small paragraph in that 83-page package.
In making the pitch for the bear license, houndsmen have at times taken a philosophical approach. As in, bears should not just be a bonus for a deer hunter who just happens to luck into one.
But they have also focused on the potential for raising money for the game department, predicting that the license could bring in as much as $300,000 a year.
In their recommendations, the DGIF staff doesn't touch the philosophical issue, instead focusing on the money.
The exact words: "The agency is currently considering various license fee structure formats as it develops options for new revenue streams. The separation of the bear tag from the deer, bear, turkey license would be premature at this time as the department lacks the authority to alter the remaining deer and turkey tags or create other license options that could benefit other hunters."
One could read that and think, "Hmmm. We may be in for another round of license increases."
But I think it also means: "Some critics of the proposal said that if we were going to take away the bear tag, it was only fair to reduce the fee for the deer and turkey tags. But we're not able to do that right now."
While the brief staff input doesn't mention biology, that topic will likely come up in today's meeting.
Biologists believe the state's black bear population is growing, citing as evidence, among other things, a steady upward trend in the annual hunter kill and increases in citizen complaints regarding nuisance bears.
Because of that, several other proposed regulations are intended to increase the bear kill in some parts of the state.
Would the agency be able to meet its ambitious objectives of increasing the kill if it loses a high number of bear kills made by non-houndsmen, who may have an exceedingly low success rate but still account for about two-thirds of the annual bear kill?
In addition to the board considering staff input, citizens will also get one more chance to comment.
They've said plenty the past few months, flooding Internet message boards and the agency's online comment forum with input on the bear license issue.
Most of the feedback has come from those opposed to the license, though supporters of the license have been better at showing up in person to meetings.
There is no better group than the Virginia Bear Hunters Association at rallying its members, so today's meeting could feature plenty of speakers making a final plea for the license.
While the bear license issue has drawn lots of emotional input, deer-related regulations dominate the proposal package.
Many proposed changes will liberalize hunting regulations on private lands as biologists work to stabilize or even reduce deer populations in some areas.
With deer herds dwindling on many sections of public land, the agency will seek to limit either-sex days in some cases.
Other proposals to be considered at today's meeting include:
n Establishing a youth firearms deer hunting day on the final Saturday in September.
Public comments led to this proposal. Public support was high and the agency's staff will recommend adopting the rule.
n Extending the first segment of the early fall turkey season an additional day.
This was another proposal rooted in public suggestions from turkey hunters seeking additional opportunities in the fall.
The agency's staff will not support the proposal, saying the day will overlap with a muzzleloading deer hunting day and that will increase pressure on turkey populations.
If that pressure were coming from hunters specifically targeting turkeys, that might be one thing. But agency surveys have found that on days when the muzzleloader deer and turkey firearms seasons overlap, three-quarters of the turkeys killed are shot by deer hunters.
n Requiring all spring gobblers to be checked electronically.
This proposal is intended to save the agency money and expedite the compilation of turkey season hunting data. The idea, which didn't draw much in the way of public comment, is being recommended by the agency staff.
Fish records get OK
The two newest Virginia record freshwater fish are official.
The DGIF's record fish committee has approved applications from Tim Wilson and Robby Rakes for their record blue catfish and hybrid striped bass, respectively.
Rakes caught his 13-pound hybrid while fishing on the New River on May 13.
Wilson, with help from buddy Danny Ayers, pulled the 102-pound blue catfish from the tidal James River on May 20.
