An ODFW update for those who missed Sportsman's sideshow.Byline: Mike Stahlberg / The Register-Guard OREGON'S Fish and Wildlife commissioners tried to join the circus last week. They convened their monthly business meeting at the Portland Expo Center during the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen's Show. It should have been a great stage for the state's fish and wildlife rule-makers. Their agenda was a five-ring circus in its own right - Deer and elk elk, name applied to several large members of the deer family. It most properly designates the largest member of the family, Alces alces, found in the northern regions of Eurasia and North America. In North America this animal is called moose. management! Bottomfishing limits! Archery archery, sport of shooting with bow and arrow, an important military and hunting skill before the introduction of gunpowder. England's Charles II fostered archery as sport, establishing in 1673 the world's oldest continuous archery tournament, the Ancient Scorton hunting regulations! Wolves! The Sportsmen's Show draws 70,000 people - most of them hunters and/or fishers. Talk about making yourself available to your public! Alas, setting public policy couldn't compete with checking out the latest outdoor gear, hearing nationally known experts tell how they get the big ones, or taking the kids to the giant fish pond. Thousands of people did those things at the Sportsmen's Show. But few bothered to check out the commissioners' act. So, for all those who missed it, here's a summary: Archery - The commission ordered a thorough review of the state's bow hunting regulations and seasons, with an eye toward making changes in 2005. The review was prompted by hunters voicing concern over the issues of equitable seasons and bag limits, wounded animal losses, hunter crowding and competition from non-resident hunters. A timeline set for the review includes conducting a public opinion survey in November and having draft recommendations ready by June of 2004. Public meetings would be held that summer, and final decisions would be made in October. Any changes would be implemented for the 2005 hunting seasons. Pending completion of that review, the commission indicated it intends to turn the late-season portion of the black-tailed deer black-tailed deer see odocoileushemionus columbiana. bow season into a controlled hunt in 2004. Bottomfishing - The commission decided to drop the idea of a midyear reduction in the allowable harvest of "nearshore near·shore n. The region of land extending from the backshore to the beginning of the offshore zone. near groundfish." Instead, the sport bag limits and commercial harvest caps will remain as adopted in December. Biologists' concerns over declining populations of rockfish rockfish, member of the large family Scorpaenidae (rockfishes and scorpionfishes), carnivorous fish inhabiting all seas and especially abundant in the temperate waters of the Pacific. Rockfishes are found among rocks and reefs. , cabezon Cab`e`zon´ n. 1. (Zool.) A California fish (Hemilepidotus spinosus), allied to the sculpin. and greenling greenling, common name for any of several species of the genus Hexagrammos, carnivorous, spiny-finned fishes of the family Hexagrammidae, common in the Pacific Ocean, especially in the waters N of Monterey, Calif. had led to a proposed 20 percent reduction in the allowable catch. Deer and elk management - The commission adopted revised management plans for mule deer mule deer Large-eared deer (Odocoileus hemionus) of western North America that lives alone or in small groups at high altitudes in summer and lower altitudes in winter. Mule deer stand 3–3. and elk. The plans form a general framework that will shape future big game regulations. Both plans maintain the existing population management objectives, including bull and buck ratios - key factors in setting controlled hunt tag allocations and general seasons. The elk plan, however, calls for all bull-ratio management objectives to be reviewed in the next two years and to "improve the ratios where needed." Improving bull ratios implies a short-term reduction in hunting opportunity. The mule deer plan includes recommendations that more information about deer mortality be gathered. Among the proposals are "mandatory reporting mandatory reporting The obligatory reporting of a particular condition to local or state health authorities, as required for communicable disease and substance abuse Infectious disease State boards of health maintain records and collect data resulting from MR of of hunter success" and "determining predation predation Form of food getting in which one animal, the predator, eats an animal of another species, the prey, immediately after killing it or, in some cases, while it is still alive. Most predators are generalists; they eat a variety of prey species. and road kill losses in each wildlife management unit." Black-tailed deer are covered by an existing management plan. However, the commission approved several new "strategies" for black-tailed deer management, to be implemented in 2004. The strategies include a provision that "if the rifle season must be reduced for biological reasons, the archery season also will be reduced." The commission will also "minimize opportunities for a hunter to harvest more than one deer." Wolves - The commission asked for a report on the range of legal alternatives available for managing gray wolves in Oregon and for a proposal on how to address potential livestock depredation DEPREDATION, French law. The pillage which is made of the goods of a decedent. Ferr. Mod. h.t. by wolves. That information is to be presented at the commission's March 21 meeting in Newport - which promises to be a circus that actually draws a crowd. Outdoor writer Mike Stahlberg can be reached at 338-2332 or mstahlberg@guardnet.com |
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