Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 17, 1991 TAG: 9102180236
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: NETRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Getting serious attention is a basic five-per-season deer limit for gun hunters, even for some western counties that have had a limit of two in the past. When the limits that come with bow and muzzle-loading licenses are added, a hunter could kill 11 deer annually, not counting additional ones available through special permit programs.
Along with the more generous limits come discussions for providing significantly more days for taking antlerless deer - twice as many in some counties. Under consideration for counties like Bedford are nine days of antlerless hunting, three more than last year. Botetourt and Franklin are being eyed for six antlerless days, three of them during the first week of the two-week seasons.
"The only way to manage deer herds is to harvest the does," said James Bowman, a wildlife biologist manager for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Bowman said the antlerless deer kill must be 40 percent or more of the total to put the brakes on the expanding herd. In most counties it is around the mid-30s.
Last season hunters reported killing a record 160,411 deer, but game officials say it may take another 60,000 to 70,000 animals to keep the herd in balance with its habitat.
"Bigger and bigger deer kills don't necessarily mean success," Bowman told a gathering of about 200 sportsmen in Lynchburg last week. "In fact, it can mean that we aren't managing our deer herd successfully."
Other meetings of hunters and game biologists took place in Marion and Staunton and additional ones are scheduled in the east as wildlife officials seek the opinions of sportsmen. Game regulations will be proposed during a March 21 and 22 meeting in Richmond.
As biologists tossed out ideas last week, Bowman warned that they were "extremely preliminary," but added, "What we are basically looking at is liberalizing the deer season."
As an example, officials said they are considering six days of doe hunting for highly urbanized Roanoke County, where there were two last year, and a boost in the limit from two to three. Roanoke County's deer kill leaped by 71 percent the past season, reaching 609.
Last year, bow and muzzle-loading hunters accounted for 25 percent of the kill west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a figure that could go up with the more generous bag limits under discussion. They include a four-per-season bow limit and a two-per-season muzzle loading limit. For the first time, antlerless deer could be killed during the early week of muzzle loading.
"What am I going to do with 11 deer?" asked Ron Tucker, a Lynchburg hunter.
That question is haunting for game officials who are counting on multiple kills to boost the take.
"Less than 10 percent of the hunters use their second tag," said Bowman.
The regulations being discussed are aimed at forcing hunters to kill more does. There is a good chance that the General Assembly will permit the selling of additional deer tags, but some hunters said they opposed that.
"Deer aren't to be sold," one said.
Selling tags could cause hunters to concentrate on bucks rather than does, said Richard Thompson, a Botetourt County dairy farmer.
"If they are going to take the best, they need to help control the rest," he said.
Lack of control is beginning to cut into the quality of the herd, biologists said. In Pittsylvania County, the weights of yearling bucks have declined 10 pounds per animal the past three season and antler development is poorer.
Even so, hunters from the far Southwest part of the state expressed concern that liberal regulations may be harmful to their expanding herds.
Regulations for species in addition to deer also were discussed. Among them:
A dog-training season beginning Sept. 15 that would embrace rabbit hounds, bird dogs and coon dogs, maybe even bear dogs. Bear hunters say they favor it, but coon hunters see it as an effort to shorten their current chase season.
"We aren't going to sit back and let this chase season get away from us," said James Massie, a coon hunter from Madison Heights.
A general small game season that would open Oct. 15 rather than the first Monday of November. Officials say it would give grouse hunters extra days afield and a better crack at the woodcock migration.
Whether turkey hunting would be included in mid-October opening is less certain. Game officials earlier had said last fall's record turkey kill was the result of a good spring hatch, but following additional studies officials last week said that wasn't the case. The hatch generally was poor and the kill may have cut into the population.
A general squirrel season that would begin Oct. 1 rather than early November.
by CNB