The Alabama Conservation Advisory Board has a great deal to
ponder after the board’s first meeting of the year, held recently in
Montgomery.
Before the board convenes again on March 26 at a venue to be
determined, there will be several options to consider concerning the hunting
seasons and bag limits.
A presentation by Chuck Sykes, Director of the Alabama
Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division, provided the board with
recommendations on season dates and bag limits.
Sykes proposed changes to the squirrel, rabbit and dove
seasons as well as adding a no closed season provision for raccoons and
opossums. Squirrel and rabbit seasons would run from Sept. 15, 2016, to March
5, 2017. Dove season in the north zone would shift dates from the first season
split to the second split to take advantage of late-migrating birds. The North
Zone dates would be September 10 through October 30 and December 8 through
January 15, 2017. South Zone dates would be September 17-25, October 8-23 and
November 12 through January 15, 2017.
On the fishing side, Sykes proposed changes that would make
it illegal to possess any largemouth bass less than 15 inches in total length
on Pickwick Reservoir to be consistent with Tennessee and Mississippi
regulations. The length limit on sauger would be increased from 14 to 15
inches, and the requirement for 100 percent cotton line on trotlines would be
deleted.
Sykes also discussed with the Board options for the seasons
and bag limits for deer ranging from keeping the 2015-2016 season with only
date changes to a statewide deer gun season from Nov. 19 through Feb. 10, 2017.
In areas that allow dog deer hunting, the season would be Nov. 19 through Jan.
15, 2017.
Sykes also posed a question to the board and those in
attendance: “What percentage of Alabama residents buy a hunting license?”
Sykes asked. “Don’t think about this group. I hope everybody in this group
bought a hunting license.”
Sykes turned to the PowerPoint presentation on the screen.
“There are 4.8 million people in Alabama as of the 2014
census,” he continued. Sykes then pointed out the next bullet point, the
number of hunting licenses sold last year – 178,614.
“That’s 3.7 percent of Alabama residents who bought a
hunting license,” he said. “That’s pretty sad.
“Here’s how a loss of license sales impacts our budget.
Sixty-six percent of every license dollar goes to pay for law enforcement. We
cannot use any of our federal dollars (Pittman-Robertson Act and
Dingell-Johnson Act) for law enforcement. Therefore, when license sales go
down, the first thing that goes is law enforcement.”
Sykes said the WFF law enforcement staff is at a 30-year
low. There are 33 counties with only one Conservation Enforcement Officer (CEO)
and two counties without a CEO.
“We have got to do a better job of policing ourselves and
policing our neighbors and fellow hunting club members to make sure everybody
buys a license so we can afford to provide the services everybody is accustomed
to,” he said.
Sykes received a number of questions concerning turkey
issues. Sykes said there is a concern throughout the Southeast that the
wild turkey population is on the decline, which has prompted an increased
effort to obtain population data in Alabama as quickly as possible.
“We began an in-depth research project last year with Auburn
University to finally get some baseline turkey data,” Sykes said. “In the
proposed changes to the size lengths in fisheries, we have data to support
those changes. We don’t have data to support turkeys right now. We’re getting
it, but, historically, we do not have it.
“The Avid Turkey Hunter Survey, brood survey and gobble
count were conducted again, trying to add to that baseline data. We conducted
turkey-hunting listening sessions. It was monitored by Auburn researchers to
find out what hunters wanted.”
Sykes said Auburn developed models from the listening
sessions and provided those results to the Board.
However, Sykes informed the Board that there was
insufficient data to support any changes at the present time to turkey seasons
and bag limits.
For deer season, one proposal would reduce the number of
days for antlerless deer harvests in one area of north Alabama. Based on
landowner consultations and feedback from hunts and wildlife biologists, the
recommendation is a 20-day either-sex season in that area (orange on the map).
The rest of the state would keep the daily bag limit of one antlerless deer per
day. Sykes said landowners within that restricted harvest area with a need for
an increased antlerless harvest can contact WFF to enroll in the Deer
Management Assistance Program, which would develop a site-specific harvest
strategy.
In the continuing effort to keep Chronic Wasting Disease
(CWD) out of Alabama, WFF proposed an amended regulation that would prohibit
the importation of certain deer parts. Only deboned meat, hides and antlers attached
to a cleaned skull plate could be brought into the state.
“This is mirrored in many, many other states,” Sykes said.
“This complements our existing CWD Response Plan that was instituted in 2012.”
Waterfowl hunters may see changes in shooting hours on
WFF-controlled property as well as the establishment of resting areas with no
hunting allowed. Also, the area between Battleship Parkway (Causeway) and the
I-10 Bayway at the lower end of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta would become a
waterfowl refuge.
The board also heard a presentation from Alabama Marine
Resources Director Chris Blankenship about the success of the Red Snapper
Reporting System, also known as Snapper Check.
That Snapper Check data indicated the NOAA Fisheries
overestimated the harvest of red snapper off the Alabama coast by more than
double. Blankenship said Marine Resources had a productive meeting with NOAA
staff from Washington and hoped to have Snapper Check certified as the
appropriate program for measuring the red snapper catch for Alabama.
The Alabama Conservation Advisory Board unanimously passed a
resolution commending Marine Resources for the success of Snapper Check. The
resolution also gave the full support of the board to Marine Resources’ efforts
to assume control of the red snapper management in state and federal waters off
the Alabama coast.
WFF’s Sykes noted that compliance with the Snapper Check was
much higher than Game Check for hunters because Snapper Check is mandatory.
Sykes pointed out that the voluntary system wasn’t working, proven by a
participation rate of only about 3 percent.
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