ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604160021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The telephone caller was worried. At a local gun and tackle shop he'd heard the state was planning to change muzzleloading hunting regulations. No longer would inline rifles and scopes be legal, he'd been told.
``I spent $700 on an inline rifle and scope, and now I won't be able to use it,'' he said.
It's only a rumor. There are no regulation changes planned for the early muzzleloading deer season, set for Nov.4-16. Virginia makes adjustments to its general hunting laws every other year, and that means changes won't be proposed until next spring. This year's regulations will be the same as last.
But this is fact: State game officials will be taking a critical look at the muzzleloading kill during the coming season. Last year, black-powder hunters helped boost the Virginia deer kill to a record 218,467 animals. Officials were surprised over a 11-percent increase in the antlered buck kill. Much of that was attributed to the success of muzzleloaders.
The muzzleloading season hits the peak of the rut, that magical period when does come into estrus and big bucks that have been wise and elusive all year suddenly become both predictable and unpredictable in their ardor to breed. They are vulnerable like no other time. Let's face it, were it not for the rut, few big bucks would be looking from den walls through glass eyes.
Now comes the question, are bucks too vulnerable, especially with hunters afield toting scoped, inline guns that offer little real handicap other than their single-shot capacity?
``There were a lot of people who went out there and got their first muzzleloading deer last season,'' said Bob Duncan, chief of the game division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. ``But one year does not a trend make. We want to see what happens this season. If [the buck kill] levels off, that is one thing. If it continues to go in quantum leaps, that is going to be another. Right now, I am not unduly concerned about it.''
If changes in muzzleloading regulations do come in the future, most likely they will be aimed at protecting the buck segment of the deer population. Current regulations often force hunters to shoot bucks, rather than taking advantage of does.
Duncan isn't advocating a shorter muzzleloading season or a retreat from inline guns and scopes.
``But this is new ground,'' he said. `` I put people on notice when we set the regulations that we certainly have the right to make adjustments. I didn't want anybody crying about it after the fact.
``By next Mach, I think we will have a perception of whether we need to cut back on muzzleloading regulations. I don't see us liberalizing them. It may be necessary to go back and look at that two week [early season] period and say we are going to limit you to a couple of bucks instead of two a day.''
So far, equity among hunters hasn't been a major issue. Only occasionally are modern firearms hunters heard complaining that all the big bucks are being killed by muzzleloaders before the regular gun season opens. That's neither a major issue, nor fact. Plenty of outstanding bucks are being taken by modern gun hunters following the two-week black-powder season.
Rather than feuding, many modern firearm hunters simply have added a muzzleloader to their gun case. Often the equipment has been as modern as the law allows.
This trend has stimulated interest among traditional black-powder hunters for a flintlock-only season. Look for that to be requested next spring.
``How we deal with that, I don't know,'' said Duncan.
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