Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991 TAG: 9103250256
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
That won't happen this fall if a proposal by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is approved that would make it illegal to kill a turkey anywhere in the state during the first week of the deer season.
This is one of several proposals by the department's board last week that have potential for bringing significant change to the next two hunting seasons. They first must be approved during a final hearing May 10. Among the proposals:
An earlier, more uniform squirrel season that would opens on a Saturday.
A raccoon bag limit east of the Blue Ridge Mountains that would boost the daily take from three per hunting party to two per hunter.
A rabbit season that opens the second Saturday in October when biologists say rabbit numbers are at their peak.
A year-round dog-training period which would allow hunters to work their dogs on rabbits and non-migratory birds provided no gun other than a starter pistol is carried.
The elimination of season limits on grouse, rabbits and squirrels, such as the current 15-per-year limit on grouse.
The past two seasons it has been unlawful to kill a turkey during the opening week of the deer season in Alleghany, Bath, Rockbridge, Highland, Augusta, Rockingham, Page and Shenandoah counties. Game officials imposed this restriction in an effort to rebuild flocks there that have been increasing a scant 1-percent annually. In areas where both deer and turkeys are legal targets, 25 percent of the fall turkey kill traditionally is taken the first week of the deer season when the woods are full of hunters.
Last week, when state game biologists recommended adding nearly 35 Piedmont counties to the regulation, where the turkey flock growth rate is 3 percent, department board members decided to blanket the entire state with the restriction.
That really wasn't necessary, Bob Duncan, state game division chief, told the board. In the southwest section of the state, turkeys have been enjoying a 12-percent growth rate, and in the Piedmont that figure has been 17 percent, he said.
The board also was more restrictive than its biologists recommended in several other matters. It shot down a suggested Oct. 12 opening of the grouse season and said no to all-day turkey hunting during the spring gobbler season. When biologists recommended that no shot larger than No. 4 be used during the gobbler season, board members increased that to No. 2 shot.
The all-day spring gobbler hunting and No. 4 shot restriction was endorsed by the Virginia Wild Turkey Federation. The federation also wanted rifles prohibited during the spring season, but the board determined that was a matter for the General Assembly.
Board members and biologists did agree that hunters should be given more time to check a turkey. It was proposed that a turkey could be registered at a big game station anytime during the date of the kill.
A request by organized raccoon hunters to expand the chase season west of the Blue Ridge Mountains was denied by the 10-member board.
Under the proposed early squirrel seasons, counties that now have a season begining sometime in September would have a first Saturday in September opening day and counties with traditional October and November beginings would have a second Saturday in October opening.
While a longer grouse season was endorsed by organized grouse hunters from the Roanoke Valley and elsewhere, two Shenandoah Valley hunters appeared before the board to vigorously oppose it. Several bowhunters also expressed concern about having to share more of their season with small-game hunters.
by CNB