LITTLE ROCK — Deer hunters participating in the controlled hunts at Camp Robinson will pay a substantially higher access fee this year, $25 compared to $10.
Maj. Christopher Heathscott, public relations officer for the Arkansas National Guard at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, said the access fee increase will fund a full-time employee to assist members of the public who want to use the facility for hunting, fishing and other forms of recreation.
The Arkansas National Guard employs one person who was previously limited to 1,000 hours a year to assist hunters and other users on the facility, with a salary of about $19,000 per year, Heathscott said. Because of the time limitation, that employee is often not on duty to serve hunters and other users who invested considerable expense and time to use the facility. This generated much discontent.
“I am told we receive no less than five complaints each week from individuals who come in from all four corners of the state only to find the office is only filled by a single, 1,000-hour employee who is not working at the time,” Heathscott said.
The fees finance the Camp Robinson recreation program, Heathscott said. In addition to paying the recreation manager, they also pay for stocking the fishing pond, signage and maintaining hiking/biking trails. The increase will change the recreation manager to a full-time position with an annual salary of $32,000, Heathscott added.
“The primary function here at Camp Robinson is training the military, but we obviously want to be good neighbors by offering this program,” Heathscott said. “The money to support that program, however, has to be funded solely through nonappropriated [money], hence the increase in fees.”
The $15 increase is essentially equal to upgrading a $10.50 conservation hunting license to a $25 sportsman’s hunting license.
BUCK FALLS SHORT
We recently discussed here the saga of the so-called “King Buck,” a giant Wisconsin whitetail whose rack was believed to surpass the Milo Hansen Buck as the biggest typical rack ever taken by a hunter.
It came up well short after being scored by an independent panel, according to the Boone & Crockett Club. After deductions, the Johnny King Buck netted a typical score of 180 and a nontypical score of 217 5/8. The Hansen Buck, which Milo Hansen killed in Saskatchewan, netted a typical score of 213 5/8.
After being accused of mishandling Johnny King’s application, the Boone and Crockett Club called a special judges panel to make a final determination. The panel consisted of 2 two-man teams of senior official measurers who had not seen or scored the rack previously. The teams independently scored the buck using the Boone and Crockett scoring manual, plus updated directives and processes outlined in other club literature. Each team completed a score chart. The teams then resolved any differences and finalized a score.
The panel determined the third tine on the right antler arises from the inside edge of the top of the main beam, and arises partially from the base of an adjoining point, thus establishing it as an abnormal point. With this confirmation, two of the rack’s tines must be classified as abnormal points, resulting in an entry score well below the current world record.
Wisconsin is the No. 1 state for Boone and Crockett trophy whitetails. Wisconsin is also experiencing a statewide deer management controversy as it moves away from a strategy of maximum annual kill to a more quality-oriented strategy. Deer hunting is so important in Wisconsin that Gov. Scott Walker made deer management a central campaign issue. He appointed James Kroll the state’s deer management “czar,” usurping deer management authority from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources biologists. Nothing like it has ever occurred in any other state.
Kroll’s new position in Wisconsin follows the infamous tenure of Gary Alt at the Pennsylvania Game Commission, who enacted similar practices in the Keystone State before public outcry drove him out of the state.
Alt’s practices remain in effect, however. Last week, I had long conversations with two avid Pennsylvania deer hunters. They said they see a lot fewer deer these days, but buck quality is better than ever.
Arkansas started down this road more than a decade ago when it implemented its statewide three-point rule, and more recently by adjusting annual bag limits to allow hunters to kill up to six does. Kroll advised the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 2008 when the AGFC increased antler size requirements to four points in certain areas.
Sports, Pages 30 on 09/30/2012