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Old August 23, 2002, 01:14 PM   #1
Drizzt
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(CT) DEP proposes broader deer hunting, teens to get early start

The Associated Press State & Local Wire


August 22, 2002, Thursday, BC cycle

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 611 words

HEADLINE: DEP proposes broader deer hunting, teens to get early start

BYLINE: By STEPHEN SINGER, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: HARTFORD, Conn.

BODY:
New state rules would expand the bow hunting deer season in Fairfield County and some shoreline communities and give teen and pre-teen hunters an early start in deer, pheasant and turkey seasons.

The rules would extend by one month, to Jan. 31, bow hunting on private land in areas determined by the commissioner of Environmental Protection.

A split bow hunting season begins Sept. 15 and ends the second Tuesday before Thanksgiving; the season resumes on the fourth Wednesday after Thanksgiving and ends Dec. 31.

The rule change might not take effect until the 2004 hunting season, depending on when printed permits could be updated. Mark Clavette, a wildlife biologist at the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the longer deer-hunting season would be a "significant change" to thin out a growing herd in urban and suburban areas of Connecticut.

Michael Gregonis, another wildlife biologist, said the most recent deer population estimates were 76,344 at the end of 1999 and early 2000. The number is up by more than one-third since 1993.

"What we're looking at are trends rather than absolute numbers," Gregonis said. "The population is at a point now that it's growing at a rapid rate. In areas where there's good hunter access, the population is under control or is decreasing."

Julie Lewin, lobbyist for Animal Advocacy Connecticut, said she will urge state lawmakers next year to block the regulations. The rules must be approved by the General Assembly's Regulation Review Committee, but do not require approval by the full legislature.

"Bow hunting is the least efficient form of hunting," Lewin said. "They know and we know and sportsmen know that most bow hunters don't score. It's also the cruelest form of hunting. Even with a clean kill, the deer is hemorrhaging to death."

David Leff, deputy DEP commissioner, said bow hunting is no "less humane than firearm hunting."

"Bow hunters out there take their avocation very seriously," he said. "They make every effort to make a clean kill."

Robert T. Crook, lobbyist for the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, said hunters back the proposed regulations, but said lawmakers should permit Sunday hunting to curb the deer population.

"This is a stopgap measure," he said. "The real solution is to get more hunters in the field with Sunday hunting."

The rules also would allow hunters aged 12 to 15 to jump the gun with an early start in the deer, pheasant and turkey seasons. Youngsters with a junior hunting license accompanied by a licensed adult mentor - who would not be permitted to carry a weapon - could hunt on one day before the start of the three hunting seasons.

Connecticut has allowed youth hunting for years, but would now set aside particular days for teens.

"We'd like to give young hunters a chance to develop a better sense of what they encounter in the woods, an improved understanding of hunting safety," Leff said.

Lewin called the proposed regulations "an appalling use of state staff, other resources and money promoting violence and use of weapons among Connecticut's youth."

Crook said youth hunting is not very different from other sports.

"If they shouldn't be taught a violent sport then we shouldn't have rugby and football and a lot of other violent sports," he said. "This just happens to involve a gun."

One proposed policy change may give some comfort to animal rights activists. The DEP would eliminate a regulation requiring deer carcasses to be open to view on vehicles.

State officials acknowledge that dead deer slung on the roof of a vehicle "may be offensive to view by some members of the general public."
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