DGIF announces proposed hunting regs changes
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has released its list of staff-recommended changes to its hunting and trapping regulations.
The staff will present the changes at a board meeting on March 21. Those proposals approved by the board — and this could include proposals made by board — will then go out for public comment. The board will take a final vote later this spring.
The list of proposals is long. Really long. All told, the new regulations language and the rationale for the suggestions take 81 pages. You can find the document HERE.
So, I’m not going to be able to cover all of them here. Just a few highlights.
Remember that post I wrote with the headline “Is it time to pull back the deer throttle?” Well, guess what? The DGIF staff thinks it is.
The proposals call for a reduction in firearms season doe-hunting days in 19 counties, while increasing the doe days in only one county.
The Earn-a-Buck requirement is also being dropped from several counties, including Franklin and Patrick.
Roanoke County still keeps its Earn-a-Buck designation. Importantly, the county is being added to those with a two-deer-per-day limit. Hallelujah! I can now kill the first doe I see during a rut hut, and I don’t have to quit for the day!
On the Earn-a-Buck program, the DGIF staff is revamping the rules to try to eliminate some of the confusion. The rules will now apply on a county-specific basis. For example, if I kill a buck in Roanoke County, I have to have killed a buck in Roanoke County before I can kill a second buck in Roanoke County. That Roanoke County buck won’t count against me when I go hunting in Bedford County. At the same time, killing a doe in Roanoke County doesn’t fulfill my Bedford County EAB requirement.
Make sense?
Another proposal would allow holders of an apprentice license to hunt on designated youth deer and turkey hunting days.
Take a look at the proposals and let us know what you think.
March 12, 2013 - 11:54 AM
They’re still clinging to the ridiculous daily bag limit on deer. Glad you got it changed in Roanoke Co, but for the rest of us, “too bad”.
I had a feeling you might have something to say about that, Walt! You know, there’s a way around it. DMAP. Curious why you guys are doing that.
Ours was the second DMAP program in the state (I think Indiantown Hunt Club was first, could be wrong) and I believe one of only two in Grayson Co. We;ve been taking data for thirty years. Before you say that data is valuable, remember that the Game Dept stopped using mandatory check stations and having Dept personnel take data at check stations on the first and last day of the season many years ago. When all we need at this point is sex ratio control (which is an every-year thing) there is no need to age and weigh every deer. The easiest way around the law is to use DCAP, but that’s the point, isn’t it, if it is OK to shoot more than one deer a day on an “sanctioned” program, why is it not OK to do it anyway? Plus the recreation factor, as we’ve discussed many times. The daily bag limit is an unnecessary regulation. If your county allows 6 deer to be taken in a season, why can’t you take them in one day if you have the chance?
Once again the N.F hunters with very limited days for does may see their chances of taking a deer remain just as it always has. Currently a doe can be taken every day on Roanoke county and Im ok with that as I used to have that privelage years ok. The problem I have is thst a doe thats on private land no more than 300 yards away can be taken by a land owner,but should it pass by me I have to watch it walk and the reverse is true letting one walk and then get taken after leaves the N.F. Now it’s proposed to let the land owners take two per day while we are lucky enough to get one or two per season. It’s not rocket science as to why I easily choose to shoot a young buck rather than let it walk as it may be one of if the only chsnce I get to put meat in the freezer. I would far prefer to take a doe if the regulations it. This is where I still maintain that there should be a doe tag that can be used on any given day for a N.F hunter should they get the oppritunity. Once that “leisure” tag is used then one has to obide by the scheduled doe days.
I meant a doe every day on “private land” in my second sentence above
When I went to work for the Dept in 1978 , before the advent of Quality Deer Management, the field-dressed weight of yearling bucks in Grayson County was 105 lbs. In those days roughly 90% of the buck kill was yearling bucks. Now that people are passing young bucks instead of shooting the first bone-head they see, the yearlings that are killed are either mistakes (short spike mistaken for a doe) or the “best of the class”, and the data is skewed that way. So, the basis of measurement of the health of the herd, the yearling buck data, is not painting a true picture of what is happening in the herd. As an example, out of 30 to 50 deer killed each year, our bunch haven’t killed 5 yearling bucks in the last 10 years. Not exactly a statistically significant sample. Where we are in what we’re trying to accomplish with the deer herd we hunt requires yearly population control and sex ratio management. Collection of age, weight and antler beam diameter data is unnecessary. So, if you have the weather and hunters available on a certain day, and the deer are moving, why not be able to accomplish your management goals (pop control and sex ratio management by shooting does) by allowing hunters to take multiple deer if they have the opportunity? The daily bag limit is an arbitrary regulation they cling to because someone in the Game Dept thinks “one deer a day is enough”. Not exactly science, and unfair to hunters trying to manage the deer population where they hunt.
Recreation: we’ve been here before, but here it is. My wife is a teacher, she loves to deer hunt, but only gets Saturdays. If she shoots a deer first thing in the morning, her hunting is over for the day. Hardly worth the price of the license, with it’s six tags. With the daily bag limit removed, she could continue to enjoy the hunt.
Kevin, look at it this way. Most private lands hunters will not harvest a tremendous amount of does. If you hunt adjacent to private land, you may find that if it truly is a doe you seek, post within 200 yards on a National Forest doe day. If the landowner is putting alot of pressure on the does, they will surely arrive at your location, problem solved. You may further increase your chances by extending your seasons with a bow in hand, this is when i traditionally get my “meat for the freezer”. I understand alot of hunters do not have the time to invest into hunting, and have to take the first little buck that comes along, but in truth, if we want to help the deer population, and increase “quality bucks” for harvest, we are going to have to let the little ones walk. I believe that most of the 1 1/2 -2 1/2 bucks are harvested before peak breeding, and studies show that that age group completes most of the breeding. We all like to belive a “big ol’ buck” is in the area doing all the breeding, but it simply isn’t true.
Walt’s point is a good one. Why the one per day limit is taking so long to be eliminated is difficult for me to understand. As he said, as long as you are implementing the plan, why micromanage the design? Yeah, I’m sure some slob bubba’s going to abuse it if given the chance, but he’d probably abuse whatever limit anyway. Perhaps there are some good reasons for not allowing 6 per day, but the one per day is tough to defend. Right now there are too many deer in many areas and until the deer population plummets, which is not likely, erring on the side of the recreational hunters whose time afield is limited, seems like a win-win result.
I don’t disagree with Walt, either.
First, there is no doubt that regulations tend to be much more liberal on private land than public land in terms of doe days. So, it seems like a two-per-day limit might just simplify things, at least on private land.
If the doe days remain as tight (or tighter, as proposed) on public land in these areas, you’d be essentially letting someone shoot two bucks in a day. If they want to fill all their buck tags in a season in one day, oh well. We are told that killing bucks is not the deer population throttle.
That said, there’s a proposal that would afford some additional protection to bucks in some counties dealing with declining populations. It would add several counties to the antler restriction rule in place in Shenandoah and Rockingham counties. That means a second buck would have to have at least four points on one side. The potential new counties are Alleghany, Augusta, Bath, Highland and Rockbridge. At the same time, there is another proposal that would reduce from six to one the number of doe days on private land in Alleghany, Bath and Highland counties during the late muzzleloader season.
The deer population is regulated with the season limit, not the daily bag limit. In open counties (counties with full-length either sex season), on private land if you buy bonus tags, the only real limit is the one-per-day. Conceivably, you could shoot a deer every day of the season, if you have the tags. That’s something like 80 deer. Makes one-per-day kinda silly. In counties that have restricted doe harvest, say that up front: one doe (or none) per year. If the daily limit was dropped, and you only get one day to hunt, and the buck limit is two, and you have the opportunity to shoot two bucks, what’s the problem?
On National Forest, we’ve been had boys. With the death of the cooperative agreement, so died forest management for game species. Honestly, I’m surprised we can even deer hunt on NF land anymore.
Mark, those couties you mentioned being added desperately need something to happen. I was born in Bath, grew up in Alleghany, and the family has a farm in Highland. Throughout the 70′s, 80′s and early 90′s, Bath and highland were premier places to hunt whitetails. Bear were plentiful, and the Turkeys? forget about it, alleghany county at one time had a primium population of turkeys. Something has happened to these once spectacular counties, and there has to be an answer of how to bring them back. There is a tremendous amount of land in all three, with alot of Clear cutting to help provide cover and food for all ranges of animals. I have been baffled by the decline in those areas. I moved to Botetourt county 4-5 years ago and have been overrun with game in Botetourt/Bedfor/Franklin. Guess the game just migrated south???
Mark, as you know, if you want to control the deer population through hunting, you shoot the does. If you want to manage a herd for big antlers, you shoot the does. If you just want meat, you should still be shooting the does, but small bucks taste great and afford a bit more meat for the age. I have always thought a yearling buck is the best eating, meat wise, because he is still very tender, but has grown faster than his sister and has more meat, without the rigors of a long life. But to me the biggest problem of managing a deer population has always been the macho look at me attitude of too many hunters that values a spike buck and belittles the mature doe. Teach your children well, hunters, and change the culture!
I think Kevin has a point here, it really depends where in the national forest you are hunting. If it is remote wilderness, then there is a reason for no doe days. But when you are hunting properties that border private, you could easily be hunting a robust deer herd where you cannot shoot a doe and you could be seeing plenty. I hunt both types of areas, some you are lucky to see a doe and the others you could actually see a dozen in a hunt! The best solution would be some sort of micromanagement, but not likely.
I like Kevin’s idea of a one doe tag for public ground, but then you would get into the problem of shooting too many does in areas where there are not many. No easy solution, I guess just shoot a small buck if you need/want the meat. Maybe they department could put up a certain number of these doe tags on public for $15 each, so those who really want to shoot a doe on public for the meat could.
Ninio
Bingo!!!!
Still no hunting on Sunday? thanks for keeping us up to date on the regs. Until this rule is changed. I’ll just remain a bystander.
I am skeptical of the effectiveness of season bag limits because of the use of internet licensing. Someone who wants to take a limitless number of deer need only print out two licenses, notch an either sex deer tag on one, and keep both of them in his wallet. If a game warden actually appears (I have seen just one in fifteen years of hunting), the hunter just pulls out the appropriate license – the unnotched license if he does not have a deer and the notched license if he has a deer. If no game warden appears, just take the deer home and process it. I doubt many hunters do this, but I suspect that a limited number of hunters use similar strategies to take far more than 3 bucks a year. There is little reason to do this strategy for does as extra doe tags are so cheap.
GOODIE GOODIE! I cant wait for the season to start with a new 2 deer limit in Roanoke County. Just 2 years ago I had to shoot a doe for my earn a buck regulation. As I am starting out of my tree, a NICE 10 pointer comes up the trail the doe just did. He went up to her laying on the ground and messed around her for a good 5 minutes. I could do nothing but watch. Less than 10 minutes after he disappeared…BOOM! The neighbor gets him and I still hear about it.
I would like to say I don’t know we’re every one in Roanoke co is seen the deer that suppose to be out there because for the past 3 to 4 years I have hunted on privet land and national forest in Catawba and in Montgomery and I see fewer fewer deer every year I think that between the doe kill every year and coyotes in next few years we will be lucky to see a deer there are places were I use to see deer every day and know lucky to see deer at all I think they really need to reconsider the number of does that need to be killed I don’t think there’s as many as they think