Post by yihunt on Jan 25, 2010 8:39:36 GMT -4
Youth-only cottontail season on agenda
Buzz up!By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, January 25, 2010
The would-be teachers are excited anyway.
Last year, Pennsylvania Game Commissioner Jay Delaney of Luzerne County suggested the agency create a special youth-only hunting season on cottontail rabbits. It looks as if that's going to become a reality.
Commissioners won't vote to give preliminary approval to season and bag limits for 2010-11 until Tuesday, but a youth rabbit season is on the agenda - it would run Oct. 9 to 16 - and commissioner Dave Putnam of Centre County suggested it's going to pass.
"I think small-game hunting is very important to the future of our sport. And I'm pretty sure all of the other commissioners feel the same way," Putnam said.
That's just what beaglers want to hear, it seems.
Several members of the Pennsylvania Beagle Gun Dog Association - a group representing 29 beagle clubs around the state, including several locally - testified before commissioners in Harrisburg on Sunday, on the first day of a three-day meeting of the board.
All said they're eager to show kids what their sport is all about.
"As you well know, it's hard to get groups from all over the state to agree on anything," said Association president Jim Katchko. "But on this issue there was not only agreement, but enthusiasm."
The season, as described previously by Delaney, will likely have two components. One is the extra week of hunting for kids 16 and younger. The second could be mentored hunts, where beaglers use their dogs to introduce kids to rabbit hunting, much like clubs run mentored pheasant hunts.
Association director John Gibble said clubs are excited by both possibilities because rabbit hunting is a "gateway to getting started in the sport."
"It's a tool our clubs will embrace to introduce youths and their parents and hunting," Gible said.
The rabbit hunters asked commissioners for one other thing. The late rabbit season is proposed to run from Dec. 27 to Feb. 5 next year.
Rabbit hunters would like to see the late season extended to the end of February, Gibble said.
It would not lead to an overharvest of rabbits, wouldn't hurt other wildlife and wouldn't cause problems for private landowners, so there's no reason to prohibit it, he said.
"Extending the season to the end of February gives us a chance to reinforce what we'd introduce in the youth season," he said.
Commissioners, who will meet again today, did not comment on that proposal.
Buzz up!By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, January 25, 2010
The would-be teachers are excited anyway.
Last year, Pennsylvania Game Commissioner Jay Delaney of Luzerne County suggested the agency create a special youth-only hunting season on cottontail rabbits. It looks as if that's going to become a reality.
Commissioners won't vote to give preliminary approval to season and bag limits for 2010-11 until Tuesday, but a youth rabbit season is on the agenda - it would run Oct. 9 to 16 - and commissioner Dave Putnam of Centre County suggested it's going to pass.
"I think small-game hunting is very important to the future of our sport. And I'm pretty sure all of the other commissioners feel the same way," Putnam said.
That's just what beaglers want to hear, it seems.
Several members of the Pennsylvania Beagle Gun Dog Association - a group representing 29 beagle clubs around the state, including several locally - testified before commissioners in Harrisburg on Sunday, on the first day of a three-day meeting of the board.
All said they're eager to show kids what their sport is all about.
"As you well know, it's hard to get groups from all over the state to agree on anything," said Association president Jim Katchko. "But on this issue there was not only agreement, but enthusiasm."
The season, as described previously by Delaney, will likely have two components. One is the extra week of hunting for kids 16 and younger. The second could be mentored hunts, where beaglers use their dogs to introduce kids to rabbit hunting, much like clubs run mentored pheasant hunts.
Association director John Gibble said clubs are excited by both possibilities because rabbit hunting is a "gateway to getting started in the sport."
"It's a tool our clubs will embrace to introduce youths and their parents and hunting," Gible said.
The rabbit hunters asked commissioners for one other thing. The late rabbit season is proposed to run from Dec. 27 to Feb. 5 next year.
Rabbit hunters would like to see the late season extended to the end of February, Gibble said.
It would not lead to an overharvest of rabbits, wouldn't hurt other wildlife and wouldn't cause problems for private landowners, so there's no reason to prohibit it, he said.
"Extending the season to the end of February gives us a chance to reinforce what we'd introduce in the youth season," he said.
Commissioners, who will meet again today, did not comment on that proposal.