Bill for Sunday hunting in Va. makes it out of committee | PilotOnline.com

By Lee Tolliver

The Virginian-Pilot

The movement to open Virginia to Sunday hunting gained momentum Thursday when the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee voted 11-4 to turn a bill over to the full Senate.

Similar bills in years past have failed to make it out of committee.

“This has been a long journey,” said Matt O’Brien, a Suffolk hunter who two years ago started a Facebook page – “Legalize Virginia Sunday Hunting for All.”

“It’s game on now,” he said. “The Virginia Sunday Hunting Coalition gave a marvelous presentation.

I was not expecting this, and didn’t want to get my hopes up. But this is a huge day for Sunday hunting.”

The movement has had the support of other sportsmen’s groups, outdoors retailers, environmentalists and some lawmakers.

Several bills were rolled into one for Thursday’s session. The Senate now will review and vote on SB464, which allows private property owners to give permission to hunt on Sundays. Public lands would still be closed.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

The original bill was introduced by Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk.

via Bill for Sunday hunting in Va. makes it out of committee | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com.

Elk management plan moving forward in Va. – BusinessWeek

By STEVE SZKOTAK

RICHMOND, Va.

An elk management plan for Virginia will offer wildlife regulators several options to manage its small population of the Rocky Mountain native that has wandered over from Kentucky.

The draft plan ranges from doing nothing to stocking elk for hunting and tourism in seven southwest counties. The plan is headed to a Game and Inland Fisheries committee on May 24 and to the full commission in June.

The director of the department's wildlife division said the plan is intended to offer several possibilities for commissioners to consider and the public to debate.

“We’re trying to make this whole thing more of a scoping document with options for restoration,” Bob Ellis said Friday of the report, which still needs some finishing touches. He said the final version could contain a preferred option.

Virginia’s native elk, a cousin of the bigger Rocky Mountain version, was hunted into extinction more than 150 years ago. A restoration plan involving the Rocky Mountain subspecies has been promoted by sportsmen’s groups and some officials in economically depressed southwest Virginia to encourage more tourism.

The farming community has spoken out against any additional elk in Virginia, which number 75-100. They fear crop damage and the spread of tuberculosis and brucellosis to domestic cattle.

In developing the management plan, Virginia wildlife biologists visited several states that have large numbers of elk, including Kentucky. More than 10,000 elk roam 16 counties in that state.

“Kentucky did it on the largest scale and they have seen some benefits after 12 years of having elk, not only for hunting but from viewing,” Ellis said.

The state, for instance, has developed viewing areas for visitors who want to look at the big, buff-colored deer. A lottery for a limited hunt attracts thousands of hunters. The lottery winners pay several hundred dollars each for a shot at an elk.

The management panel also looked at the experience of states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas, which have smaller numbers of elk. Pennsylvania has approximately 600 to 700 of the animals and has had success with tourism and viewing areas.

“If you intend to have elk, you have to plan for that sort of thing,” Ellis said, citing traffic as an example.

The management group also talked to farm groups in southwest Virginia and coal interests, which own large tracts of land in the state’s southwest corner.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services took a stand against any expansion of the state's existing numbers when the proposal surfaced last year.

Virginia’s beef cattle industry, the state's No. 2 agricultural commodity by cash receipts, ships most of its animals to out-of-state feed lots. Infected herds must be quarantined.

Virginia has previously rejected moves to re-establish elk, with disease transmission a key concern.

Ellis expects the commission to take final action on a management plan in August.

via Elk management plan moving forward in Va. – BusinessWeek.

Plan to modify hunt rules pleases few – News – inRich.com

By ANDY THOMPSON

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The Board of Game and Inland Fisheries yesterday received the results of a 15-month study designed to identify and reduce conflicts between landowners and Virginia hunters who hunt with dogs.

And in the overflow crowd of more than 100 people — from raccoon and deer hunters to landowners to representatives of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — almost no one seemed satisfied with what they saw.

The most contentious proposal would alter Virginia’s “right-to retrieve” law, which allows hunters to enter private land to retrieve their dogs without the property owner’s permission. Virginia and Minnesota are the only states with such a statute.

Almost 30 speakers from various interest groups addressed the board at Game and Inland Fisheries headquarters on West Broad Street in Richmond. The vast majority were hound hunters voicing their dissatisfaction with any modification of the law. Many saw it as the beginning of a “slippery slope” toward taking away what they consider a birthright and a way of life. Click link below for Full Story!

Plan to modify hunt rules pleases few – News – inRich.com.

Virginia game board accepts proposals on hunting dogs | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

By Lee Tolliver

The Virginian-Pilot

© October 23, 2008

RICHMOND

The state game department today accepted a list of 11 proposals designed to curtail conflicts between land owners and outdoorsmen who use dogs to hunt deer.

But many in the crowd of 145 said the proposals had more bark than bite.

“I think the goal was to find peace among the groups, but all of the groups seem deeply disappointed in the process and the proposal,” said Tom Evans, representing the Virginia Deer Hunter’s Association and two other pro-hound hunting groups. “This has produced no obvious gain and has done nothing more than sharpen the conflicts.”

None of the proposals — the result of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ 15-month-long “Hunting with Hounds in Virginia: A Way Forward” study — will become law immediately, nor will they become an immediate part of new hunting regulations.

Instead, C.T. Hill, the game department board chairman, ordered wildlife officials to put each proposal in a group for either administrative, regulatory or legislative concern. Each then will be studied and put out for public comment before any further action is taken.  Click link below for full story!

Virginia game board accepts proposals on hunting dogs | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com.

Virginia’s hunting-dog law finds itself in the cross hairs | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

By Lee Tolliver

The Virginian-Pilot

© October 21, 2008

John Morse eased his pickup down a lumpy fire road that squeezed deep into a thicket of rural Chesapeake woods.

In a holding box in the truck bed, five of his hounds were going nuts as he stopped briefly to talk to a couple of camo-clad friends.

On this unseasonably warm fall morning, Morse and several members of Jim’s Hunt Club were about to take part in a Southern tradition that has been passed on to them by generations of hunters – using dogs to flush out and chase deer and other game.

It’s a heritage that faces growing criticism from property owners who say a Virginia law – the only one of its type in the country – is allowing unwanted hunters and dogs to intrude onto their lands. Hunters worry that people are trying to do away with their sport.

At a highly anticipated meeting on Thursday in Richmond, the results of a yearlong study on the conflict will be presented to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ Board of Commissioners.

But Morse and his buddies didn’t have time to worry about any of that as they prepared for a morning hunt. Morse backed into a narrow cut in the tree line, got out of the cab and called on the radio. Full Story

Virginia’s hunting-dog law finds itself in the cross hairs | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com.