2009.06.01
Controversial bear license comes up for vote tomorrow
After several months of debate, the proposal to pull the bear tag from Virginia's big game license and establish a separate license will come tomorrow, June 2, at a meeting of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board of directors.
I'll be there and will report on the issue as soon as possible.
This has been as heated of topic as any I remember in my nearly 11 years of covering the DGIF.
Based on phone calls, conversations, comments on this blog, Internet message boards and the DGIF's Internet-based public comment forum, the proposal has far more critics than supporters.
Additionally, the agency's staff will recommend not approving the proposal at tomorrow's meeting.
But the board's 11 members have the final call.
Is there a possibility a majority will OK the bear license against the wishes of the DGIF staff and seemingly a large percentage of the state's big game hunters?
I just don't see it happening. If it does, I think the backlash will make what we got after the Jackson River trout regs debacle look like child's play.
