ARKANSAS SPORTSMAN

Debate tepid on proposed hunting regulations

— Nine people attended the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s public meeting in Little Rock on Tuesday to hear proposals for 2013-2014 hunting regulations.

Commissioner Steve Cook also attended as Dick Baxter, assistant chief of the AGFC’s wildlife management division, presented 11 modest proposals for the upcoming hunting seasons. Nobody commented on any of the proposals, but Mark Giese of Mayflower requested that the AGFC create a year-round season for hunting coyotes.

“Thirty-five states have a year-round coyote season,” Giese said. “That would do a couple of things. There is a push to get bobwhite quail populations back up, and it would also help out wild turkey populations. I think that would help out both of those species.”

Another member of the public did not address the crowd, but asked Cook to consider reopening fall turkey season.

One proposal would change the amount of time a hunter has to check a deer, bear or turkey from 24 hours to 12 hours. Baxter said that smart phones make it possible for hunters to check game almost immediately in most parts of the state.

Another proposal would require that all cervid carcasses entering the state must comply with chronic wasting disease importation restrictions. That means that meat must be de-boned, and that skull plates must be cleaned.

Currently, this regulation only applies to deer, elk and other cervids killed in states that have had a documented case of chronic wasting disease. Troy Landry, star of the Swamp People television show, was recently cited in southwest Arkansas for violating the current version of this regulation by transporting deer carcasses through Arkansas that he and his son killed in Nebraska. The new regulation would apply to any deer, elk or other cervid killed anywhere outside of Arkansas.

Regarding squirrel hunting, a proposed regulation would prohibit hunting squirrels with dogs for the first nine days of the modern gun deer season in the Ozark National Forest, the Piney Creeks Wildlife Management Area and White Rock WMA.

“The forest service got requests from deer hunters who wanted to have some still hunting opportunity,” Baxter said.

This proposal probably isn’t important to hunters in central Arkansas, but is probably the reason 40 members of the public attended the meeting in Fayetteville.

Another a proposal would prohibit mentors from carrying firearms for hunting during any youth hunting season. The commission has long suspected that adult mentors take advantage of the youth seasons to do some hunting of their own. This proposal would further constrict that possibility.

“Last year, people age 65 and older were able to hunt during the youth hunt,” Baxter said. “The public voted overwhelmingly to end that. This will prohibit anyone besides youths from hunting.”

Bear season will get a look as well. A proposal will move opening day of bear season from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1. Baxter said this would reduce the number of female bears being killed. He said female bears comprise nearly 50 percent of the annual kill, and that number is unsustainable. A related proposal will reinstate a bear quota for bear management Zone 2, the Ouachita Mountains. The quota will be 150 per year, including 125 for October and 25 for November.

Several proposals would affect deer hunting. One would allow hunters to kill one doe in deer management Zone 11 for the entire muzzle loader and modern gun seasons.

Another would modify the boundary between deer zones 11 and 13, and a third proposal would change the drawing process for deer hunting permits on WMAs. Instead of two separate drawings, there will be just one. A hunter who doesn’t draw his first choice can still get drawn for his second choice at that time.

The AGFC also proposed modified antler requirements for some of the “Sweet 16” WMAs. One proposal will define a legal buck as one having an inside spread of 12 inches or at least one 18-inch main beam at Bois d’Arc, Hope Upland, Madison County, Shirey Bay Rainey Brake and Gulf Mountain WMAs.

Another proposal will define a legal buck as one having an inside spread of 15 inches and at least one 18-inch main beam at Black River WMA.

Proposed dates for spring turkey season are April 19 through May 4 statewide, and April 19-27 in turkey management zones 4, 4A, 5A and 9A.

Sports, Pages 24 on 02/03/2013

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