THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220184
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: 72 lines
A proposal that would allow duck hunters to shoot until dusk on Currituck County's open waters is again on the move.
The Board of Commissioners decided Monday night to let a local request for extended hunting hours continue on its course through the General Assembly.
Commissioners did so by deleting a discussion from the agenda, thereby upholding an earlier decision to ask for legislative support to repeal the 4:20 p.m. cut-off for waterfowl hunting.
Even though supporters of the change could claim a small victory Monday, Commissioner Ernie Bowden warned that the bill, now in committee, may not make it through the General Assembly.
The state legislature generally does not favor controversial issues, said Bowden, who was among the board members that asked for another review of the legislative request.
The commissioners' decision to continue seeking state lawmakers' approval to change the 5-year-old law came after some citizens had sought to halt the proposal.
They claimed a public forum on the issue by the county's game board was not properly advertised; therefore, critics of the proposal were not at the game board meeting.
The people who did attend - about 40 - all favored extending the daily hunting deadline to sunset, and the board approved a recommendation to change the quitting time.
Bowden noted that his constituents on Knotts Island and the northern Outer Banks did not have access to the newspaper that advertised the meeting.
``If we made any mistakes, then we made them in advertising,'' said Billy Rose, the game board member representing the Crawford Township.
The law in question currently requires waterfowl hunters to quit by 4:20 p.m. It is based on a 1950s policy that ensured hunters and guides in slow-moving boats were out of the Currituck Sound before dark.
The policy became law in 1991 and applied to the sound and all navigable waters in Currituck County. Open fields and private ponds are exempt.
``If it's such a good law, why is Currituck County the only county in North Carolina to have this 4:20 law?'' asked Charles Dozier of Jarvisburg, one of more than a dozen people to speak in favor of the sunset rule.
Jerry Wright, a Jarvisburg farmer and hunt club owner who favors keeping the present cutoff, presented commissioners with a petition containing 87 signatures that were gathered within 24 hours.
Speaking on behalf of other concerned residents, Wright said extending the daily deadline would further endanger Currituck's waterfowl populations, which declined by 75 percent from 1978 to 1985.
Currituck County has been called ``Land of the Wild Goose'' because of its historic abundance of waterfowl.
Wright said during a break Monday night that Currituck hunters now have more opportunities to indulge in the sport.
Despite a two-year upswing in numbers, Wright said ducks and geese are still in jeopardy.
The hunting season has expanded from 30 to 50 days within the last three years, and the daily limit has been increased from three to five birds, he said.
But residents and out-of-town hunt club members argued at the meeting that the 4:20 law makes it difficult for some to hunt, particularly those who work until late afternoon.
``The 4:20 law doesn't allow us to take our kids - our sons - if it's a school day,'' said Charles Robinson of Elizabeth City, who has hunted in Currituck County for 38 years.
A few who spoke Monday were in favor of keeping the 4:20 law.
``It gives game a chance to get somewhere before it gets too dark to feed,'' said Nicholas Newbern of Jarvisburg.
Wright, who serves on the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission said: ``We've gone from 40 percent of the total bird count (population) in the state to 10 percent.''
``We're going to kill this goose that's laid the golden egg for this county.'' by CNB