Song Dog
Active Member
Saw this posted on another Maryland hunting forum so thought best share here so you guys/gals are in the loop too and any potential comments.
........."the stakeholder meeting in February where the WHS proposes some regulation concepts. I have listed them below for feedback. Please post your comments here so that I can represent fellow hunters at the meeting.
2014-16 Regulation Concepts January 20, 2014
The Concepts below cover the regulation changes the Wildlife and Heritage Service (WHS) is considering for the 2014-16 hunting seasons. These Concepts are very flexible and several changed as we discussed their pros and cons within DNR. It is possible some of these will change again before our meeting, but the Concepts noted below show where we are today:
Wanton Waste
Considered Action: Establish a regulation to prohibit the wanton waste of white-tailed and sika deer.
Rationale/Goal: To require hunters to make every reasonable and legal attempt to take possession of white-tailed and sika deer.
Comments: The intent of the considered regulation would be to make it illegal to knowingly kill or wound a deer while hunting and not make a reasonable and legal attempt to take it into possession. The regulation would require a person to make a reasonable effort to take possession of deer but would not supersede laws or regulations requiring written permission to enter private land and certain public properties. Deer that have successfully been checked-in may be butchered in the field to allow the hunter to take possession of only the edible parts.
Mourning Dove
Considered Action: Add 20 days to the mourning dove season.
Rationale/Goal: The new harvest strategy for doves in the Eastern Management Unit (EMU) may allow states to have a 90-day season beginning in 2014-15. Our dove population has been stable over the short (10 years) and long-term (47 years). Dove harvest is heavily front-loaded. Adding days after the first month of the season adds little to the total harvest but provides additional opportunity.
Season Dates for 2013-14: Conceptual Dates for 2014-15:
Sept 2-Oct 5 Sept 1-Oct 11
Nov 6-29 Oct 25-Nov 28
Dec 21- Jan 1 Dec 20 –Jan 2
Wild Turkey
Considered Action: Create a seven day, either-sex, winter wild turkey season statewide. The season would begin on the third Saturday in January and rifles would be prohibited in all counties. This season would share the current fall bag limit of one either-sex turkey.
Rationale/Goal: Provide a new hunting opportunity for hunters statewide and help retain fall turkey hunters in the western region without negatively affecting the statewide turkey population. The January timing of the season will reduce conflicts resulting from the widespread use of legal bait for deer on private land before and during the deer firearm season.
Comments: Requests to expand fall turkey hunting opportunities statewide have increased in recent years. However, several potential issues have kept WHS from implementing a statewide fall season. A winter turkey season minimizes these concerns:
• The use of bait for deer hunting is less common after the deer firearm season and landowners/hunters can more easily comply with the baiting prohibition for turkey hunting.
• Conflicts with other types of hunting would be reduced.
• Turkey populations have grown substantially in recent years in areas where densities were once very low. For example, the wild turkey population in Maryland’s Central Region has nearly doubled since 2007.
• Less than three percent of the estimated fall turkey population is harvested each year during the current seven day fall season in western Maryland. Harvest in a January season is expected to be similar or lower due to seasonal differences in turkey behavior and hunter participation. Harvest levels under 10% are considered to have minimal impact on overall turkey populations.
• Rifles will be prohibited statewide during this January season to reduce regulation complexity, address safety concerns in counties with limited topography, and avoid the possibility of overharvest in areas with highly visible winter flocks.
• Virginia recently established a January turkey season. The Virginia season has been well received by participants and the harvest has been sufficiently low to remain sustainable.
Wild Turkey
Considered Action: Shift the fall turkey season one week later in the western counties (begin the first Saturday in November).
Rationale/Goal: The fall turkey season currently starts on the last day of the early muzzleloader season in Region B. It is also possible for the bear season to end the same day as turkey season opens. This change would eliminate the overlap between turkey season and deer/bear seasons, reducing safety concerns and possibly increasing fall turkey hunting participation.
Comments: Avoiding an overlap of the fall turkey season with the muzzleloader deer season and bear season will minimize safety concerns related to the fact turkey hunters are not required to wear fluorescent orange.
Furbearers
Considered Action: Change the trap checking requirement for traps set in water or tidal marsh to once per two calendar days. The current trap check requirement for these traps is 36 hours.
Rationale/Goal: This would allow increased efficiency for trappers and greater flexibility in dealing with tidal systems. The impacted sets are typically kill sets so live animals in the sets are not a concern.
Furbearers
Considered Action: End fox trapping season concurrently with fox hunting seasons.
Rationale/Goal: To allow more trapping opportunity during a time when fox pelts retain their quality and impacts on the population will be minimal.
Comments: Two years ago the fox hunting season was extended by two weeks but trapping season remained the same. This would also impact other terrestrial trapping activities (e.g. coyote, fisher) since the Department strives to maintain synchrony amongst terrestrial species seasons. There are no known biological concerns with the impact on terrestrial furbearers.
Furbearers
Considered Action: Extend skunk season to close on the same date as opossum and raccoon season.
Rationale/Goal: Skunks are commonly caught in raccoon traps and this change will avoid requiring trappers to release them alive on site.
Comments: Skunk season runs concurrently with weasel season so weasel season will have to be shifted to run concurrently with other terrestrial trapping seasons (e.g. fox, coyote, etc.).
Furbearers
Considered Action: Open beaver and otter trapping seasons approximately two weeks earlier in Allegany and Garrett counties, around December 1. Move the closing date earlier by an equal number of days.
Rational/Goal: Weather conditions often include ice during the current seasons in these two counties. Moving the season earlier will allow trappers and landowners better opportunity to manage beaver problems.
Comments: Otter would need to be opened at the same time to address the likelihood of otters being caught in beaver sets. Opening two weeks earlier will overlap deer firearm season, possibly reducing trapping opportunities if trappers can’t or won’t trap during this season. Under the current season strategy, deer firearm season ends as early as December 8 and as late as December 14.
Black Bear
Considered Action: Eliminate the current quota hunt approach and open the bear season for a pre-determined number of days. Note: this concept does not require a regulatory change but is significant enough to be vetted through our regulatory process.
Rationale/Goal: A pre-determined number of days approach will allow WHS to eliminate the quota hunt approach. This change will allow hunters to plan their hunt more effectively and will eliminate the need for hunters to call a hotline each night to determine the status of the hunt.
Comments: Past harvest rates will be used to determine how many days to select if we make this change. The lottery system will still be used to award bear hunting permits. WHS will be able to increase/decrease harvest by changing the number of permits awarded each year as well as changing the length of the season.
Black Bear
Considered Action: Eliminate the requirement that bear hunting permittees and subpermittees maintain visual contact while bear hunting.
Rationale/Goal: To allow hunters more flexibility in choosing hunting strategies by removing the requirement to maintain visual contact.
Comments: There will still be a limit of one bear per hunting team so the burden is on the hunting team to ensure that they do not exceed that.
Black Bear
Considered Action: Change the structure of the Permittee/Subpermittee hunting teams by eliminating the ‘Landowner Subpermittee’ and allowing each Permittee to assign two ‘Subpermittees’ instead of one ‘Subpermittee’ and one ‘Landowner Subpermittee’.
Rationale/Goal: To allow bear hunting Permittees flexibility in who may participate in the hunt with them and increase hunting participation accordingly.
Comments: We believe this change will help to maintain/increase hunting pressure throughout the duration of the hunt. If this change is made, a landowner could still be a subpermittee and could participate on tracts other than just that landowner’s.
White-tailed Deer
Considered Action: Review the pros and cons of requiring mandatory antler restrictions for Region A. WHS will give the recent QDM Survey results careful consideration and plans to meet jointly with key western Maryland stakeholders prior to the February 12th meeting. Survey results available here.
Comments: Imposing mandatory antler restrictions tends to reduce the number of yearling (i.e. 1 ½ years old) bucks harvested. However, these restrictions also tend to increase the harvest of antlerless deer, including button bucks. This may or may not be an outcome compatible with our deer management strategy or acceptable to our constituents.
Sika Deer
Considered Action: Increase the sika deer bag limit to three per weapon with no more than one antlered.
Rationale: The sika deer population is increasing and expanding its range. Crop damage complaints related to sika deer continue to increase. The considered action would increase the harvest of antlerless sika deer and help with population management.
Sika Deer
Considered Action: Increase the sika deer antlerless bag limit to allow two antlerless deer (or three, pending the considered bag limit change) to be harvested during any portion of the early or late muzzleloader season.
Rationale: The sika deer population is increasing and expanding its range. Crop damage complaints related to sika deer continue to increase. The considered action would increase the harvest of antlerless sika deer and help with population management. There are requests from hunters to make this change. Hunters that travel to the Eastern Shore to hunt could maximize their opportunity. "
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........."the stakeholder meeting in February where the WHS proposes some regulation concepts. I have listed them below for feedback. Please post your comments here so that I can represent fellow hunters at the meeting.
2014-16 Regulation Concepts January 20, 2014
The Concepts below cover the regulation changes the Wildlife and Heritage Service (WHS) is considering for the 2014-16 hunting seasons. These Concepts are very flexible and several changed as we discussed their pros and cons within DNR. It is possible some of these will change again before our meeting, but the Concepts noted below show where we are today:
Wanton Waste
Considered Action: Establish a regulation to prohibit the wanton waste of white-tailed and sika deer.
Rationale/Goal: To require hunters to make every reasonable and legal attempt to take possession of white-tailed and sika deer.
Comments: The intent of the considered regulation would be to make it illegal to knowingly kill or wound a deer while hunting and not make a reasonable and legal attempt to take it into possession. The regulation would require a person to make a reasonable effort to take possession of deer but would not supersede laws or regulations requiring written permission to enter private land and certain public properties. Deer that have successfully been checked-in may be butchered in the field to allow the hunter to take possession of only the edible parts.
Mourning Dove
Considered Action: Add 20 days to the mourning dove season.
Rationale/Goal: The new harvest strategy for doves in the Eastern Management Unit (EMU) may allow states to have a 90-day season beginning in 2014-15. Our dove population has been stable over the short (10 years) and long-term (47 years). Dove harvest is heavily front-loaded. Adding days after the first month of the season adds little to the total harvest but provides additional opportunity.
Season Dates for 2013-14: Conceptual Dates for 2014-15:
Sept 2-Oct 5 Sept 1-Oct 11
Nov 6-29 Oct 25-Nov 28
Dec 21- Jan 1 Dec 20 –Jan 2
Wild Turkey
Considered Action: Create a seven day, either-sex, winter wild turkey season statewide. The season would begin on the third Saturday in January and rifles would be prohibited in all counties. This season would share the current fall bag limit of one either-sex turkey.
Rationale/Goal: Provide a new hunting opportunity for hunters statewide and help retain fall turkey hunters in the western region without negatively affecting the statewide turkey population. The January timing of the season will reduce conflicts resulting from the widespread use of legal bait for deer on private land before and during the deer firearm season.
Comments: Requests to expand fall turkey hunting opportunities statewide have increased in recent years. However, several potential issues have kept WHS from implementing a statewide fall season. A winter turkey season minimizes these concerns:
• The use of bait for deer hunting is less common after the deer firearm season and landowners/hunters can more easily comply with the baiting prohibition for turkey hunting.
• Conflicts with other types of hunting would be reduced.
• Turkey populations have grown substantially in recent years in areas where densities were once very low. For example, the wild turkey population in Maryland’s Central Region has nearly doubled since 2007.
• Less than three percent of the estimated fall turkey population is harvested each year during the current seven day fall season in western Maryland. Harvest in a January season is expected to be similar or lower due to seasonal differences in turkey behavior and hunter participation. Harvest levels under 10% are considered to have minimal impact on overall turkey populations.
• Rifles will be prohibited statewide during this January season to reduce regulation complexity, address safety concerns in counties with limited topography, and avoid the possibility of overharvest in areas with highly visible winter flocks.
• Virginia recently established a January turkey season. The Virginia season has been well received by participants and the harvest has been sufficiently low to remain sustainable.
Wild Turkey
Considered Action: Shift the fall turkey season one week later in the western counties (begin the first Saturday in November).
Rationale/Goal: The fall turkey season currently starts on the last day of the early muzzleloader season in Region B. It is also possible for the bear season to end the same day as turkey season opens. This change would eliminate the overlap between turkey season and deer/bear seasons, reducing safety concerns and possibly increasing fall turkey hunting participation.
Comments: Avoiding an overlap of the fall turkey season with the muzzleloader deer season and bear season will minimize safety concerns related to the fact turkey hunters are not required to wear fluorescent orange.
Furbearers
Considered Action: Change the trap checking requirement for traps set in water or tidal marsh to once per two calendar days. The current trap check requirement for these traps is 36 hours.
Rationale/Goal: This would allow increased efficiency for trappers and greater flexibility in dealing with tidal systems. The impacted sets are typically kill sets so live animals in the sets are not a concern.
Furbearers
Considered Action: End fox trapping season concurrently with fox hunting seasons.
Rationale/Goal: To allow more trapping opportunity during a time when fox pelts retain their quality and impacts on the population will be minimal.
Comments: Two years ago the fox hunting season was extended by two weeks but trapping season remained the same. This would also impact other terrestrial trapping activities (e.g. coyote, fisher) since the Department strives to maintain synchrony amongst terrestrial species seasons. There are no known biological concerns with the impact on terrestrial furbearers.
Furbearers
Considered Action: Extend skunk season to close on the same date as opossum and raccoon season.
Rationale/Goal: Skunks are commonly caught in raccoon traps and this change will avoid requiring trappers to release them alive on site.
Comments: Skunk season runs concurrently with weasel season so weasel season will have to be shifted to run concurrently with other terrestrial trapping seasons (e.g. fox, coyote, etc.).
Furbearers
Considered Action: Open beaver and otter trapping seasons approximately two weeks earlier in Allegany and Garrett counties, around December 1. Move the closing date earlier by an equal number of days.
Rational/Goal: Weather conditions often include ice during the current seasons in these two counties. Moving the season earlier will allow trappers and landowners better opportunity to manage beaver problems.
Comments: Otter would need to be opened at the same time to address the likelihood of otters being caught in beaver sets. Opening two weeks earlier will overlap deer firearm season, possibly reducing trapping opportunities if trappers can’t or won’t trap during this season. Under the current season strategy, deer firearm season ends as early as December 8 and as late as December 14.
Black Bear
Considered Action: Eliminate the current quota hunt approach and open the bear season for a pre-determined number of days. Note: this concept does not require a regulatory change but is significant enough to be vetted through our regulatory process.
Rationale/Goal: A pre-determined number of days approach will allow WHS to eliminate the quota hunt approach. This change will allow hunters to plan their hunt more effectively and will eliminate the need for hunters to call a hotline each night to determine the status of the hunt.
Comments: Past harvest rates will be used to determine how many days to select if we make this change. The lottery system will still be used to award bear hunting permits. WHS will be able to increase/decrease harvest by changing the number of permits awarded each year as well as changing the length of the season.
Black Bear
Considered Action: Eliminate the requirement that bear hunting permittees and subpermittees maintain visual contact while bear hunting.
Rationale/Goal: To allow hunters more flexibility in choosing hunting strategies by removing the requirement to maintain visual contact.
Comments: There will still be a limit of one bear per hunting team so the burden is on the hunting team to ensure that they do not exceed that.
Black Bear
Considered Action: Change the structure of the Permittee/Subpermittee hunting teams by eliminating the ‘Landowner Subpermittee’ and allowing each Permittee to assign two ‘Subpermittees’ instead of one ‘Subpermittee’ and one ‘Landowner Subpermittee’.
Rationale/Goal: To allow bear hunting Permittees flexibility in who may participate in the hunt with them and increase hunting participation accordingly.
Comments: We believe this change will help to maintain/increase hunting pressure throughout the duration of the hunt. If this change is made, a landowner could still be a subpermittee and could participate on tracts other than just that landowner’s.
White-tailed Deer
Considered Action: Review the pros and cons of requiring mandatory antler restrictions for Region A. WHS will give the recent QDM Survey results careful consideration and plans to meet jointly with key western Maryland stakeholders prior to the February 12th meeting. Survey results available here.
Comments: Imposing mandatory antler restrictions tends to reduce the number of yearling (i.e. 1 ½ years old) bucks harvested. However, these restrictions also tend to increase the harvest of antlerless deer, including button bucks. This may or may not be an outcome compatible with our deer management strategy or acceptable to our constituents.
Sika Deer
Considered Action: Increase the sika deer bag limit to three per weapon with no more than one antlered.
Rationale: The sika deer population is increasing and expanding its range. Crop damage complaints related to sika deer continue to increase. The considered action would increase the harvest of antlerless sika deer and help with population management.
Sika Deer
Considered Action: Increase the sika deer antlerless bag limit to allow two antlerless deer (or three, pending the considered bag limit change) to be harvested during any portion of the early or late muzzleloader season.
Rationale: The sika deer population is increasing and expanding its range. Crop damage complaints related to sika deer continue to increase. The considered action would increase the harvest of antlerless sika deer and help with population management. There are requests from hunters to make this change. Hunters that travel to the Eastern Shore to hunt could maximize their opportunity. "
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