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OR: Hunting weapons change in effect
Josey1
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Hunting weapons change in effect
Published: August 29, 2003
By Keith Ridler
The Bulletin
It's will be a different world for Oregon hunters this season.
In a rule change signed Wednesday by Lindsay Ball, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, all firearm and ammunition possession restrictions in the 2003 big game regulations have been suspended.
That means bow hunters - who begin their season Saturday - can carry rifles, which could have led to a citation and fine before the rule change.
Also, individuals without any hunting tag or license at all can be out in prime elk and deer country carrying a rifle. Before the rule change, they could have been cited for illegal hunting if they didn't have the appropriate license or tag.
The change was made to bring ODFW regulations into line with what is permitted under state law.
Among hunters, the change sparked mixed emotions.
"I think it's going to open the door for illegal hunting ... I think Oregon Gun Owners should have left it the way it was," said Steve Mathers, president of Oregon Guides and Packers and a past president of the Bend Chapter of the Oregon Hunters Association.
Ed Lestes, who has hunted in Central Oregon for 60 years, doesn't mind the change.
"I don't like regulations but I know the law enforcement people have a heck of a problem," said Lestes, of Prineville. "The old rules didn't bother me and the new ones won't either. I'll still play by the book."
The change is the result of a legal review requested by Oregon Gun Owners and Safari Club International, said Jerod Broadfoot, a lobbyist with Pac/West Communications who represented the two groups.
Oregon Gun Owners is a gun advocacy group, and Safari Club International is a world-wide hunting organization.
The review focused on administrative rules made by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission that involved restrictions on the type of firearms and ammunition that could be carried during hunting seasons and how those rules conflicted with Oregon Revised Statute 166.170, adopted by the Legislature in 1995. That law gives the Legislative Assembly the sole authority to regulate firearms.
"It seemed pretty odd that an administrative rule conflicted with state law," said Broadfoot. "Our request was to review and repeal any administrative rules that regulated the possession of firearms."
In its legal review, the Commission agreed that a conflict existed and made the temporary rule change to bring the Oregon hunting regulations in line with state law. The 2004 big game regulations will reflect those changes.
"State law says you can do it and that's the bottom line," said Broadfoot. "It's really cut and dried.
"In general, this is a victory for hunters," he added. "It's a victory for gun owners, and I think everyone will have a better understanding of what they can do."
The change in the 2003 hunting regulations does not mean that it is legal for a person to kill a deer or elk with a rifle during bow hunting season. Nor can a person without a hunting tag or license take a game animal.
"We can still restrict or define the weapon that's legal for a given season," said Tom Thornton, game program manager with the ODFW.
However, the Commission can't restrict or define what type of weapons or ammunition can be carried.
As a practical matter, the rule changes will make it much more difficult for the Oregon State Police and wildlife biologists with the ODFW to catch someone hunting illegally, Thornton said.
Until now, a person walking through the woods with a rifle during the hunting season was considered to be hunting and could be checked for a tag and license, and cited and fined if he or she didn't have them.
Now, simply carrying a firearm during the hunting season in game habitat without a hunting license or tag is not against the rules.
Said Steven George, a wildlife biologist with the ODFW based in Bend: "We have to be able to show that an individual is in the act of hunting with a firearm."
And that's a much more difficult prospect.
Lestes summed it up: "You'd actually have to see him do it, and the odds of that are pretty slim."
Some archery hunters have carried guns illegally for protection against a bear or cougar attacks. Now, they can carry those weapons without fear of a citation.
"I've heard quite a bit of scuttlebutt and some of the guys told me they've carried (guns) in the past," said Dave Ferguson, owner of Del's Archery Den in Bend. "I think it's a little overrated. I don't think that here in Oregon we really have that big a necessity to pack a firearm."
He's also concerned about possible conflicts between hunters.
"That's all we need, people out in the woods arguing and everybody packing guns," he said.
Broadfoot, a bow hunter who also has a concealed weapons permit, said he personally feels more comfortable carrying a gun while bow hunting because of "the increase in our bear and cougar populations."
The administrative rules that prohibited carrying certain types of firearms and ammunition go back at least a decade and were made primarily in response to poachers taking game without a tag, or using a rifle during bow hunting season.
"Yes, they were put in place to counteract party hunting (a group of people trying to fill one person's tag), and poaching using a centerfire rifle during archery season," said Larry Cooper, deputy administrator of the Wildlife Division of the ODFW.
"That was a problem at one time. Whether this is going to revert back to something we saw in the past has yet to be seen. We've come a long way in educating people on what it means for fair chase and ethical hunting."
If the new rules make poachers more bold, that could mean less of a chance for honest hunters to fill a tag.
"It potentially could mean a reduction in opportunity," said Cooper.
Lestes believes that's exactly what will happen.
"I'd be willing to bet you'll see hunter success go way up because friends will be filling tags for people who have the tags," he said. "And that's a big problem."
But Broadfoot said he and the groups he represents do not believe the new rules will be detrimental to game populations.
"We do not see any increase in the amount of animals that are taken illegally," he said. "Those individuals (poachers and party hunters) are breaking the law now. Another restriction isn't going to stop them from doing that.
"The bad actors are going to continue to be bad actors and the people who follow the law are going to continue to do that."
Keith Ridler can be contacted at 383-0393 or kridler@bendbulletin.com.
http://www.bendbulletin.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=10581
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
Published: August 29, 2003
By Keith Ridler
The Bulletin
It's will be a different world for Oregon hunters this season.
In a rule change signed Wednesday by Lindsay Ball, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, all firearm and ammunition possession restrictions in the 2003 big game regulations have been suspended.
That means bow hunters - who begin their season Saturday - can carry rifles, which could have led to a citation and fine before the rule change.
Also, individuals without any hunting tag or license at all can be out in prime elk and deer country carrying a rifle. Before the rule change, they could have been cited for illegal hunting if they didn't have the appropriate license or tag.
The change was made to bring ODFW regulations into line with what is permitted under state law.
Among hunters, the change sparked mixed emotions.
"I think it's going to open the door for illegal hunting ... I think Oregon Gun Owners should have left it the way it was," said Steve Mathers, president of Oregon Guides and Packers and a past president of the Bend Chapter of the Oregon Hunters Association.
Ed Lestes, who has hunted in Central Oregon for 60 years, doesn't mind the change.
"I don't like regulations but I know the law enforcement people have a heck of a problem," said Lestes, of Prineville. "The old rules didn't bother me and the new ones won't either. I'll still play by the book."
The change is the result of a legal review requested by Oregon Gun Owners and Safari Club International, said Jerod Broadfoot, a lobbyist with Pac/West Communications who represented the two groups.
Oregon Gun Owners is a gun advocacy group, and Safari Club International is a world-wide hunting organization.
The review focused on administrative rules made by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission that involved restrictions on the type of firearms and ammunition that could be carried during hunting seasons and how those rules conflicted with Oregon Revised Statute 166.170, adopted by the Legislature in 1995. That law gives the Legislative Assembly the sole authority to regulate firearms.
"It seemed pretty odd that an administrative rule conflicted with state law," said Broadfoot. "Our request was to review and repeal any administrative rules that regulated the possession of firearms."
In its legal review, the Commission agreed that a conflict existed and made the temporary rule change to bring the Oregon hunting regulations in line with state law. The 2004 big game regulations will reflect those changes.
"State law says you can do it and that's the bottom line," said Broadfoot. "It's really cut and dried.
"In general, this is a victory for hunters," he added. "It's a victory for gun owners, and I think everyone will have a better understanding of what they can do."
The change in the 2003 hunting regulations does not mean that it is legal for a person to kill a deer or elk with a rifle during bow hunting season. Nor can a person without a hunting tag or license take a game animal.
"We can still restrict or define the weapon that's legal for a given season," said Tom Thornton, game program manager with the ODFW.
However, the Commission can't restrict or define what type of weapons or ammunition can be carried.
As a practical matter, the rule changes will make it much more difficult for the Oregon State Police and wildlife biologists with the ODFW to catch someone hunting illegally, Thornton said.
Until now, a person walking through the woods with a rifle during the hunting season was considered to be hunting and could be checked for a tag and license, and cited and fined if he or she didn't have them.
Now, simply carrying a firearm during the hunting season in game habitat without a hunting license or tag is not against the rules.
Said Steven George, a wildlife biologist with the ODFW based in Bend: "We have to be able to show that an individual is in the act of hunting with a firearm."
And that's a much more difficult prospect.
Lestes summed it up: "You'd actually have to see him do it, and the odds of that are pretty slim."
Some archery hunters have carried guns illegally for protection against a bear or cougar attacks. Now, they can carry those weapons without fear of a citation.
"I've heard quite a bit of scuttlebutt and some of the guys told me they've carried (guns) in the past," said Dave Ferguson, owner of Del's Archery Den in Bend. "I think it's a little overrated. I don't think that here in Oregon we really have that big a necessity to pack a firearm."
He's also concerned about possible conflicts between hunters.
"That's all we need, people out in the woods arguing and everybody packing guns," he said.
Broadfoot, a bow hunter who also has a concealed weapons permit, said he personally feels more comfortable carrying a gun while bow hunting because of "the increase in our bear and cougar populations."
The administrative rules that prohibited carrying certain types of firearms and ammunition go back at least a decade and were made primarily in response to poachers taking game without a tag, or using a rifle during bow hunting season.
"Yes, they were put in place to counteract party hunting (a group of people trying to fill one person's tag), and poaching using a centerfire rifle during archery season," said Larry Cooper, deputy administrator of the Wildlife Division of the ODFW.
"That was a problem at one time. Whether this is going to revert back to something we saw in the past has yet to be seen. We've come a long way in educating people on what it means for fair chase and ethical hunting."
If the new rules make poachers more bold, that could mean less of a chance for honest hunters to fill a tag.
"It potentially could mean a reduction in opportunity," said Cooper.
Lestes believes that's exactly what will happen.
"I'd be willing to bet you'll see hunter success go way up because friends will be filling tags for people who have the tags," he said. "And that's a big problem."
But Broadfoot said he and the groups he represents do not believe the new rules will be detrimental to game populations.
"We do not see any increase in the amount of animals that are taken illegally," he said. "Those individuals (poachers and party hunters) are breaking the law now. Another restriction isn't going to stop them from doing that.
"The bad actors are going to continue to be bad actors and the people who follow the law are going to continue to do that."
Keith Ridler can be contacted at 383-0393 or kridler@bendbulletin.com.
http://www.bendbulletin.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=10581
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>