It's always wholly a pleasure to read Sunday's column in the Sports section by our pine thicket bureau chief, Bryan Hendricks. In this state, there's always something going on in the hunting and fishing department.
As the heat wave abates--unusual for this time of year--our thoughts turn to fall. And to getting outdoors again.
Bryan Hendricks reports that this week the Game and Fish Commission should vote on new rules concerning furbearers--those animals that, once upon a time, were shot and trapped for their pelts.
These days, not a whole lot of people are dressing up in furs. Furs have mostly gone the way of bell-bottoms. Folks either have decided not to kill foxes and minks for their skins, or decided not to wear them because some activist might yell at them in a restaurant. Either way, the business of trapping ain't what it used to be.
So the numbers of furbearers are on the rise.
That's good, if you'd like your woods to be full of skunks, raccoons and possums. That's bad if you'd like more turkey and quail.
Furbearers, like feral pigs, sure do enjoy a good nest of quail eggs. And a turkey chick would be an outstanding dinner.
The new regulations, if approved, would "liberalize" the "taking" of coyotes, raccoons, skunks, bobcats and other woodland critters. Yes, euphemism exists, even at deer camp. What we're talking about is killing more of certain species so they don't eat so many more preferable species.
And most hunters and landowners would be fine with that.
New regs would allowing for hunting coyotes year-round. Hunting dates will be expanded for other furbearers. No bag limits for skunks. (Why would there be a bag limit for skunks?) And some wanton waste regulations will be removed. After all, who wants to eat a possum?
From Sunday's column by Bryan Hendricks:
"For the Game and Fish Commission, it is a logical evolution to shift the management emphasis away from fur harvest to sport. Landowners invest a lot of time, effort and money to create turkey and quail habitat, but they have long complained about the over-abundance of predators. They believe that their efforts only create more turkey and quail for predators to eat. They don't see substantially more turkeys and quail, but they see substantially more predators."
We've heard that, too.
The Game and Fish Commission has taken the handcuffs off landowners as far as feral hogs are concerned, and that's a good thing. Although we doubt the number of pigs tearing up this state has decreased much, at least they aren't running through our kitchens. Yet.
If, one day in the future, the number of possums and raccoons becomes critical, the Game and Fish Commission can always reverse its decision. Right now, furbearers have become nuisances. In fact, we can't remember the last time we saw a killdeer.
Arkansans should have a marrow-deep trust in the Game and Fish Commission. Except for a little bump in 2010 when it tried some funny things with state's FOI law, when was the last time this particular agency took a misstep? The people there have managed the deer herd and turkey flock back to not just respectable numbers, but abundance. They can be trusted to make these kinds of decisions.
Now, about those feral hogs . . . .
Editorial on 07/23/2019