Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 19, 1991 TAG: 9103190048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The question: Should a hunter buy a bigger freezer? Should he reserve additional days of vacation for the fall? Should he stock up on arrows and ammo?
At a board meeting of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries scheduled Thursday and Friday, state game biologists say they will recommend the following limits: Bow season, two deer. Muzzle-loading, one. Gun season, three.
If six deer aren't enough, a hunter will be given the option to buy two additional bonus tags that can be applied to the bow, muzzle-loading or regular deer season. The price is yet to be recommended, but it likely will be $10 or $12. The tags will be valid east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and in Botetourt, Clark, Frederick and Warren counties only.
For the first time, game biologists want to give hunters the option of killing two deer per day. And instead of having to take a big-game animal immediately to a check station, biologists say a hunter should have until 8 p.m.
Wildlife biologists want to boost the deer-kill significantly, especially the doe segment. Last year's record kill of 160,411 is about 65,000 animals short of what they want.
Here's how they hope to help a deer hunter increase his take.
You are in the woods in early morning and a doe approaches. Last year, you might have let her go by, not wanting to use your single tag for the day while there still was a chance for a buck.
This time, you can kill the doe, then stay in the woods and watch for a buck. Your limit is two per day. You don't even have to leave your stand to take the doe to a check station. Just dress it out and let it cool. You have until 8 p.m.
To make this work, biologists want to give hunters additional days of either-set hunting. So they are recommending that the first Saturday of the two-week western gun season be for bucks and does. In addition, counties like Botetourt, Floyd, Franklin, Henry and Pittsylvania would have doe hunting the entire final week of the season.
If you are under the age of 16, and the holder of a junior hunting license, the biologists want you to be able to kill one antlerless deer anytime you choose throughout the gun season. You don't have to wait for a doe day.
They want to give bow hunters two additional weeks of hunting by opening the season a week early and closing it a week later.
The 10-member board will make its proposals at the Howard Johnson Hotel, 3207 North Blvd., Richmond, after it considers the recommendations of biologists and the desires of hunters. The proposals will be finalized on May 10.
While the recommendations of biologists aren't quite as liberal as those discussed in mid-February during meetings in Marion, Lynchburg and Staunton, they still represent the most radical changes in recent memory. Board members aren't expected to back off from them. In fact, they could make them even more liberal in some instances.
A complete list of the recommendations of biologists is available for public examination at game and fish department offices in Vinton, Marion, Staunton and Lynchburg.
In addition to deer, biologists have recommendations for other species:
An Oct. 12 beginning for the grouse and rabbit seasons. This would open both seasons three weeks earlier than normal, with the first day on a Saturday rather than a Monday. The annual limits of 15 grouse and 75 rabbits would be dropped.
A Saturday, Sept. 7 opening for the general squirrel season, except in counties were legislative acts prohibit it.
No turkey hunting during the first week of the deer season in more than 30 Piedmont counties, including Albemarle, Appomattox, Buckingham, Charlotte and Nelson. This is out of concern for a leveling off and decline of populations.
A Sept. 15-March 31 dog training season.
A boost in the raccoon bag limit east of the Blue Ridge from three per hunting party to two per hunter.
The use of shotgun shot no larger than No. 4 during the spring gobbler season.
by CNB