Gun Season the Last 2 Weeks of Nov?
West Virginia
From the Gazette.........Asks how you feel about the last 2 weeks of Nov for gun season?
Saturday, February 28, 2015 Questions could spark lively debate at March’s DNR sportsmen’s meetings By John McCoy, Staff writer When sportsmen meet with state wildlife officials in mid-March, chances are good that hunters will have a lot to say.Why? Because members of the state Natural Resources Commission have added four rather provocative questions to the usual questionnaire about season dates and bag limits.“Normally the questionnaires just have our proposals on them, but members of the commission can ask to have questions put on there, and this year they have,” said Chris Ryan, the Division of Natural Resources’ supervisor of game management services.The four questions are:n Should West Virginia’s spring turkey-hunting season begin one week earlier?n Should West Virginia’s firearm season for buck deer be held over the last two full weeks in November?n Should the closing date of West Virginia’s squirrel-hunting season be extended from Jan. 31 to the last day of February?n Should bear hunters be required to provide a pre-molar tooth from each bear killed to DNR biologists for research purposes?The latter two questions had been placed on the questionnaires prior to the commission’s Feb. 22 meeting. Commissioners added the other two questions during the meeting.Commissioner Jeff Bowers of Sugar Grove asked for the question about opening the turkey season earlier. The question about moving the buck season came from Commissioner Tom Dotson of White Sulphur Springs. Both requests to have the questions added were seconded by fellow commission members and approved in separate voice votes.Ryan expects the questions to generate some lively conversation at the DNR’s annual “sectional meetings,” scheduled for March 16-17 at a dozen locations throughout the state.The meetings, held in what agency officials call an “open house” format, give sportsmen and landowners an opportunity to ask questions about game- and fish-related issues and to render opinions about potential changes on hunting and fishing regulations. DNR officials set the meetings up so that two are held in each of the agency’s six management districts. All the meetings will begin at 6 p.m. and end at 8 p.m.On March 16 meetings will be held at the commons area at East Fairmont High School in Fairmont; at Braxton County High School in Flatwoods; at North Bend State Park near Harrisville; at the Chuck Mathena Center in Princeton; at the cafeteria of the James Rumsey Technical Center in Martinsburg; and at the office building in West Virginia Pumpkin Park in Milton.The March 17 meetings will be held at the DNR Operations Center in Elkins; the Canyon Rim Visitor Center near Fayetteville; the John Marshall High School cafeteria in Glen Dale; the Chief Logan Conference Center near Logan; the Route 220 South Branch Inn in Moorefield and the City Hall lobby in Parkersburg.The usual topics of discussion at the meetings — the DNR’s proposed antlerless-deer and black-bear regulations for the coming fall — will likely take a back seat to the other questions, Ryan says.“The amount of discussion usually depends on how much the proposed regulations have changed from the previous year’s,” he explained. “This year the changes to the antlerless-deer regulations are relatively minor and should result in a more conservative antlerless harvest, so I don’t think they’ll generate as much discussion as usual.“The bear-hunting regulations should attract some attention, though. We’ve proposed moving the October firearm season to September and making it two days longer. There probably will be a fair number of comments on that.” - See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150228/GZ07/150229236/1118#sthash.9SljMqtf.dpuf
We reall need to nip this in the bud. That would be taking the best week of bowhunting away from us. I do agree on moving the spring turkey season 1 week earlier, it should be more but I can take a week earlier.
I guess the buck limit question is not on the questionnaire? Really dont think we need a change in firearm season dates,I dont see that is happening to much tradition,with Thanksgiving being the in first week.
Lowering the buck limit can, and should, be placed on the additional comments part of each person's questionaire.
I firmly believe that changing the gun season dates is a negative for everyone involved.
I would like to see a split season for turkeys. While Wayne County is in full foilage;Tucker County is three weeks behind. I would like to see I-79 and I-77 be the dividing line. West of them opens a week earlier. East of them stays as is. Can't have an easier dividing line than an interstate.
Open gobbler season all at the same time. For personal reasons I would like to see it open earlier, but will take what ever they give us. If it would be split it should be North and South not East and West.
Seems to me that the eastern mountains/allegheny plateau area is the dividing point on weather and birds.
Opening turkey season a week early than it is now may be good deal for some. But really doesnt matter to me i do my best second or third week.After most hunters have given up or taken there bird and gobblers are no so henned up.
Seems like they just want to keep whittling away our bow season--first it is the early antlerless hunt, now the week before Thanksgiving. We need to keep on top of this.
Why would last two weeks of November for gun season be asked? I dont understand the benefit except the decimation of the male population....more so than now. When Little Bear said there would be some questions that were different thinking i was hoping for something directed at buck limits. The Commissioners are not on same page.....same planet as what the hunting population wants.
But they are there to listen to us. We just need to be heard. The best way is to show up at the next meeting in Wheeling.
Last 10 years the best hunting here in Mercer County for Spring gobblers has been the last week. Nothing wrong with the seasons we have in my opinion.
No to buck season a week earlier unless they cut the buck limit. Than a yes. Just my opinion and it isn't based on spite.
No to the premolar prerequisite.
Yes to extending Squirrel season.
They will not lower the buck limit. I have been telling you all that
It's impossible to lower the buck limit Too much money to be lost.
Sundaynwv, Wish they would listen i know a lot of us signed a petition for better buck management.What ever became of that? We cant even get them (WV DNR) to add a question about a lower buck limit on a questionnaire,They may listen but they are not going to hear anything.Maybe because they hear what they want to hear.
We are gaining signatures and support with the petition. Its more of a marathon than a sprint. I can say that we have more input on our petition than was gathered in the last 3 years of regional meetings and questionaires. Just gonna keep on trying.
if the DNR would consider the suggestion I presented to the commissioners at the meeting I don't think they would loose much revenue from the extra buck tags the get now. I suggested a ONE buck limit on your sportsman license when you purchase them. Offer an additional "BONUS BUCK" tag that you could purchase at any time during the season, to be used during your season of choice, archery, rifle or Muzzle loader, for a season limit of TWO antlered bucks per year. If I shot a buck in archery season and wanted to hunt for another buck I would purchase a bonus buck tag and continue to archery hunt. If I didn't kill another buck with my bow, I'd have a buck tag to use for rifle or Muzzle loader seasons. Even put antler restrictions on the bonus buck tag of 3 pts on one side if you want to? How many archery hunters that killed a buck during archery season would buy a bonus buck tag for a second archery buck or maybe join the family during rifle season? How many hunters that just rifle hunt would buy a bonus buck tag for a chance to kill two bucks during rifle season? I'm sure the number would be close to the number of extra buck tags they sell during rifle season now, don't you think? Just stuff I lay awake at night and think about. As for the rifle season the last full weeks of November, that's just nuts! They already close schools the week of thanksgiving for deer season. Are they going to close school the first week of gun season and sent kids back to school for three days and then off two for Thanksgiving? I don't see that happening. Plus the week before Thanksgiving is one of the best for bow hunting. We need to nip this in the bud before it even gets off the ground. Turkey season leave it where it is, some of the best hunting is in the third and fourth week anyway. Besides Ohio season opens a week earlier and I hunt a week there before WV opens. Ohio's fall turkey season opens in early October and runs until their deer gun season the first week in December. I always buy a fall turkey tag, $24 in case one comes buy while deer hunting. I'd like to see WV offer a fall archery turkey tag that runs thru the fall turkey gun season up to the beginning of rifle season the week of Thanksgiving. They could make a little money selling archery fall turkey tags and I don't think archery hunters are going to hurt the turkey population any. Sorry for the long read, got carried away.
You have some good ideas UCMDEER. I would add one thing to it...raise the extra buck tag fee to something that would more than make up for any losses projected by lowering the buck limit.
Sundaywv, I plan on going to a sectional meeting, north bend or parkersburg. What meeting are you talking about in wheeling?
The next Commission meeting.
UCM DEER, You do have some good ideas. I really like the 2 buck limit with the "Bonus Buck" tag that could be used any season, plus add an antler restriction. All really good ideas. Make the price higher too. I would like to see the turkey season open one week earlier, but only if it was "archery only" for that earlier week!!!
