Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Shooting for a 2nd week
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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RICHMOND -- Muzzleloading deer hunters in Western Virginia have for years been calling for a second week of hunting in early November to equal season dates in the eastern half of the state.
They might get their wish.
The board of directors of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries voted Tuesday to propose the addition of that second week.
The suggestion came on a marathon day that saw the board propose a long list of changes to fishing and hunting regulations.
The proposals must meet final board approval in October after time for public comments, and they won't take effect until 2008.
Other suggested hunting changes seek to increase deer numbers and improve hunting on public lands while decreasing deer populations in many other areas.
The board also is considering a change in Eastern Virginia that would start the four-week late segment of fall turkey season a week earlier, but it decided not to pursue that change in Western Virginia.
Only a few fishing recommendations were forwarded, including one that would clarify that anglers may use a series of single-hook artificial lures or flies in specially designated trout waters.
Expansion of the early muzzleloader deer season wasn't among the staff's initial hunting proposals; it came up after several citizens called for the change during a public comment period.
"With only one week, with the weather and work, it makes it hard to kill a mature buck," said Eddie Sayers, a Pulaski County hunter who said that extra week would help his pursuit of big whitetails.
The season in Western Virginia originally mirrored the Eastern season, but was cut in half in the mid-1990s amid concerns from some hunters and biologists.
Some firearms season hunters complained that the two-week early muzzleloader season gave those hunters an unfair advantage over gun hunters whose season followed.
Bob Duncan, chief of the DGIF's Wildlife Division, said biologists were also concerned at the time about the high number of turkeys killed by muzzleloader hunters during that week. There was also some concern, Duncan said, about the potential impact on deer populations because of the explosive growth in the popularity of muzzleloading at the time.
Nelson Lafon, Virginia's assistant deer project manager, said the proposal to add a second early week of muzzleloader season would have minimal biological impact since the season would still limit hunters to a single antlered deer and would include only one day on which hunters were allowed to kill an antlerless deer.
Some Western Virginia bowhunters will likely oppose allowing muzzleloaders in the woods during that week.
Lafon said he expected some resistance from firearms hunters who haven't yet started muzzleloader hunting.
"There is an allocation issue," Lafon said. "Who gets the buck? Who gets it first?"
Lafon pointed out that the proposal, at least from a public perception standpoint, could also appear to conflict with a move to reduce either-sex hunting days during general firearms season on public land.
That change is needed, biologists say, to help bolster deer populations that are waning on public land across much of Western Virginia.
The number of so-called "doe days" ranges from three to seven across public land in most of Western Virginia. Biologists want to limit hunters to two days in all of the affected counties.
The variance in the herd is a management challenge, Duncan said.
"On private land we can't kill enough; on public land we have to slow it down," he said.
One deer population control proposal would require hunters in some deer-rich counties -- including Bedford, Franklin and Roanoke -- to kill an antlerless deer before they may use a second buck tag. A second doe would be required before a third buck in eastern counties with a three-buck seasonal bag limit.
So-called "earn a buck" programs have been successful at increasing the doe kill and reducing deer populations in other states.
"Maryland has had pretty phenomenal success," Duncan said. "The antlerless deer harvest has been over 60 percent in some areas."
Biologists say female deer must account for at least half of the kill to have a significant impact on reducing the population.
Public input also prompted the board to tweak a proposal to shift the second segment of the fall turkey season.
The proposal was prompted by concern about the high number of mature hens killed by deer hunters in Eastern Virginia during the season's final week, ending on the first Saturday in January.
John Byrne of Bedford County said the change wasn't needed in Western Virginia, where figures show no major uptick in the adult hen kill during that week.
"If it's going to impact the resource, then do what you've got to do," Byrne said after the board compromised by suggesting shifting the season only in the eastern half of the state. "With the way they're going to do it now, everybody wins.
"Common sense prevailed."
Young hunters will benefit from two other proposed turkey hunting changes. One would establish a youth-only turkey hunting day in October; the other would allow all-day hunting during the youth spring gobbler hunt.
In non-regulatory action, the board also gave the staff the go-ahead to form a task force of biologists and citizens to examine regulations and laws regarding hunting with dogs.
Virginia Tech professors will facilitate the project.
An estimated 300 citizens showed up at the meeting out of concern that proposed restrictions were forthcoming on dog hunting regulations.
A dog hunting group in Eastern Virginia had even mailed postcards to hunters warning that the meeting was "an anti-Hunting effort!"
Even after Duncan laid out the stakeholder task force plan and assured attendees that no changes were planned for dog hunting regulations, more than two dozen hunters, most members of deer hunting clubs in Central and Eastern Virginia, addressed the board to voice opposition to changing dog hunting rules.
