Regulation Changes- 2008-09 Hunting and Trapping

[~ADC~]

Gene Purdy asked me to post the meeting locations and regulation change proposals, Please direct your questions to him. He's the man!

Wildlife Bureau Season Setting ICN Meeting
April 29, 2008, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

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AMES
Ames High School
20th AND Ridgewood
Phone: [phone]

Scott Peterson
515.432.2823

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BURLINGTON
Burlington High School
421 Terrace Drive
Phone: [phone]

Bill Ohde
319.523.8319

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CALMAR
South Winneshiek High School
203 W South Street
Room Number: 17
Phone: [phone]

Terry Haindfield
563.382.4895

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CEDAR FALLS
Area Education Agency 267
3712 Cedar Heights Drive
Black Hawk County
Phone: [phone]

Doug Chafa
563.425.4257

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CEDAR RAPIDS
John F Kennedy High School
4545 Wenig Rd NE
Room Number: 116
Phone: [phone]

Tim Thompson
319.354.8343

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CENTERVILLE
Centerville National Guard Armory
Dewey Road R.R.1,
Phone: [phone]
Sign posted on Hwy. 5

Jeff Telleen
641.774.4918

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CRESTON
Green Valley Area Ed. Agency 14
1405 N Lincoln
Room Location: Turner Room
Phone: [phone]

Chad Paup
641.464.2220

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DAVENPORT
North High School
626 W 53rd Street
Room Number: 576
Phone: [phone]

Mike Griffin
563.872.5700

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DUBUQUE
Archdiocesan Pastoral Center
1229 Mount Loretta
Room Location: B111
Phone: [phone]

Jim Jansen
563 927-3276

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FORT DODGE
Fort Dodge High School
819 N 25TH ST
Room Number: 12
Phone: [phone]

Josh Gansen
515.576.8518

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IOWA CITY
Iowa City National Guard Armory
925 S Dubuque Street
Phone: [phone]

Don Pfeiffer
319.694.2430

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JOHNSTON
Heartland Area Education Agency 11
6500 Corporate Drive
Phone: [phone]

Chuck Kakac
515.961.0716

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MARSHALLTOWN
Iowa Valley Community College
District - 13702 South Center Street
Room Number: 806
Room Location: Continuing Ed. Ctr.
Phone: [phone]

Rick Trine
641.752.5521

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MASON CITY
North Iowa Area Community College
- 1500 College Drive
Room Number: 106
Room Location: Activity Center
Phone: [phone]

Greg Hanson
319.324.2431

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OTTUMWA
Southern Prairie Area Ed. Agency 15 - 1
2814 N Court Street
Wapello County
Phone: [phone]

Chuck Steffen
641.682-3552

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RED OAK
Southwestern Community College
- 12300 North 4th Street
Room Number: 116
Room Location: Red Oak Ctr. Room
Phone: [phone]

Carl Priebe
712.374.3133

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SIOUX CITY
Central Campus Individual Learning Center
1121 Jackson Street
Room Number: 311
Phone: [phone]

Ed Weiner
712.423.2426

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SPENCER
Iowa Lakes Community College
1900 N. Grand Avenue
Rm Location: Spencer Attendance Ctr.
Fiber Optic Room #118
Phone: [phone]

Bryan Hellyer
712.362.2091

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Regulation Changes & Rationale- 2008-09 Hunting and Trapping Seasons

Chapter 52 – Waterfowl Refuges
Inclusive dates in 52.1(2) were changed from Sept. 10 - Dec. 31 to Sept. 1 – Jan. 31
Rationale: The change in dates from Sept. 10 - Dec. 31 to Sept. 1 – Jan. 31 will allow refuges to be closed to all trespass during early or late segments of waterfowl seasons. Some recent goose seasons have occurred before Sept. 10 and remained open after Dec. 31. This will not change how waterfowl refuges are managed for other uses. When waterfowl have abandoned a refuge, the area can be opened to hunting or public access by removing or covering the signs.
The Rathbun Area was redefined to apply to Appanoose, Lucas, and Wayne Counties; all the counties that include the reservoir.

Chapter 91 – Waterfowl and Coot Hunting Seasons
Duck and goose hunting dates were changed for the 2008-09 seasons.
Rationale: There are no indications at this time that the 2008 federal duck and goose hunting regulations (season length, bag limits, etc.) will be substantially different from 2007. Season dates were adjusted for changes in the calendar and to allow the seasons to open on weekends. Because of how the calendar dates fall in 2008, the season dates are the same in both the north and south duck and goose hunting zones. This does not mean we are abandoning the zones. The zones will be retained for future use when the calendar dates make it advantageous to have different season dates in each zone. Tentative dates are:

Ducks (north & south zones): September 20-24 & October 18 to December 11, 2008
Youth (north & south zones): October 4 & 5, 2008
Canada Geese & brant (north & south zones): September 27 to October 5 and October 18 to December 21 and December 27 to January 11, 2009.
White-fronted Geese (north & south zones): September 27 to December 7, 2008
Light Geese (north & south zones): September 27 to January 11, 2009
Light Goose Cons, Order: January 12, 2009 to April 15, 2009.

The statewide 2-day early September Canada goose season was eliminated for 2008.
Rationale: For the past 2 years, both the aerial Canada goose survey and the goose population estimates provided by wildlife unit staff suggest that the Canada goose population as a whole is stable or declining in Iowa. We recognize there are areas in the state, most of which are urban areas, where the goose population may be increasing. Statewide seasons will not correct overabundant goose issues in local urban areas. These situations need to be addressed using special seasons in zones, such as the Des Moines zone, as well as other goose population control practices (nest destruction, etc.). Goose problems in Iowa are more a distribution issue than an overabundance issue.

A September 1-15 Canada goose special season zone was created around Cedar Falls/Waterloo.
Rationale: A new zone was developed around Cedar Falls and Waterloo to allow a special September 1-15 Canada goose season to be implemented in and around these metro areas. This zone is designed to put additional harvest pressure on the geese nesting and reproducing in Cedar Falls and Waterloo and help reduce Canada goose numbers in those cities.

Criteria for determining who could hunt in Canada goose closed hunting areas was amended to include parents and grandparents of landowners and tenants.
Rationale: This amendment adds parents and grandparents to the list of persons qualified to hunter under a special permit landowners/tenants can obtain to hunt Canada geese on land they own or lease inside Canada goose closed hunting areas. This change was made at the request of a legislator.

Youth waterfowl hunts were limited to residents.
Rationale: Other youth hunts in Iowa (deer, pheasants) are limited to residents of Iowa. This amendment clarifies that young people participating in the youth waterfowl hunt in Iowa must be residents of Iowa.

Chapter 95 - Game Harvest Reporting and Landowner-Tenant Registration
The reporting deadlines for deer and turkey was changed to midnight of the day after the animal was tagged.
Rationale: The change was made so that if an animal is not recovered until the following day the hunter has the same amount of time to register. The 2 separate paragraphs for deer and turkey were combined into 1 paragraph that covers both.

The wording was changed to reflect that the deer tag has 2 physical parts: a transportation tag and a harvest report tag.
Rationale: The old transportation tag is now split into 2 parts. One is still the transportation tag and must be attached before the animal is moved. The other part of the tag is the harvest report tag. The harvest report tag has the registration number, directions for registering the animal and a place for to write the confirmation number. The hunter keeps this tag with them to help with the registration process and then places it on the animal after it is registered. Registration is not complete until the tag is placed on the animal.

Tenants may register for their free tenant license using the internet.
Rationale: An internet option was added so that landowners could register online. Previously they needed to register using an affidavit sent to the department.

Chapter 98 and 99 – Turkey season changes and rationale.
The definition of who qualifies for free licenses was changed.
Rationale: The language from the deer rule was used to replace the previous language so that the rules are all consistent. The change does not affect who is eligible for the free licenses.

Chapter 106 - Deer Hunting by Residents
Wording was added that makes it illegal to allow someone else to use another person’s deer tags.
Rationale: The change clarifies that it is illegal to carry, use or to allow someone else to use your deer tag. The change makes the deer and turkey rules the same.

The closing date for the late muzzleloader season was changed back to Jan 10th.
Rationale: The closing date for the late muzzleloader season was changed back to the traditional closing date of Jan 10th. The date was changed to Jan 13th to compensate for the shotgun season extension by emergency rule this past January.

The change defines how blaze orange must be displayed when hunting from a blind during the shotgun seasons.
Rationale: The requirement to display blaze orange when hunting from a blind was approved last year. The changes made this year were suggested by the law enforcement bureau to clean up the language in the rule and clarify how the blaze orange must be displayed. The blaze oragen must be on ar above the blind. The change does not alter the intent of last year’s rule.

A very minor change in the rule was made to clarify when youth hunters who were unsuccessful can hunt in later seasons.
Rationale: According to Iowa code unsuccessful youth hunters can continue to hunt in subsequent any-sex firearms seasons until their tag is filled. The wording change clarifies this.

The rules that explain how the depredation program operates were changed to reflect the recommendations from the Kaizen event in January.
Rationale: The changes recommended include issuing authorization numbers to producers experiencing damage when the producer’s farm is visited by the depredation biologist. The producer may give the authorization numbers to hunters who have permission to hunt on the producer’s land. The hunter can take the authorization code to an ELSI vendor and obtain a license directly from the vendor. This allows the ELSI system to be used to register the harvest so that record keeping is simplified. Other changes allow successful hunters to get additional tags if they harvest an animal and clarifies that deer killed on depredation licenses and shooting permits must be recovered and processed for consumption except that the antlers from deer taken on out-of-season shooting permits must be turned in to the department for disposal. The rule also removes the restriction that required airports to erect deer proof fences to be eligible for shooting permits.

The 3-day shotgun season extension was eliminated.
Rationale: The shotgun season was extended by 3-days this past December because severe weather impacted the harvest during the shotgun deer seasons.

Chapter 108 Mink, Muskrat, Raccoon, Badger, Opossum, Weasel, Striped Skunk, Fox (Red and Gray), Beaver, Coyote, River Otter, Bobcat, Gray (Timber) Wolf and Spotted Skunk Seasons.
Harrison, Monona, Pottawattamie, & Woodbury counties in western Iowa were added to the open zone for bobcats and the quota was increased from 150 to 200.
Rationale: The first season was held this past fall and the quota filled in less than 3 weeks. Only 3 of the 56 collared bobcats were captured which is a harvest rate of 6%. This is well below the allowable harvest rate of 13% estimated from the study. Another 76 bobcats were incidentally taken in the open area. Increasing the quota will allow more trappers to keep bobcats that are already being killed rather than have them turn them over to the DNR. The number of roadkills and incidentally captured bobcats appears to have increased to a sufficient level that harvest will not impact population growth in the four counties that were added.

The quota for river otter was increased from 400 to 500.
Rationale: For the second year in a row the quota for otters was reached in just over a couple of weeks. With 2 successful seasons it appears that the harvest quota has been very conservative. The increase will allow more trappers to keep more animals that are already being taken rather than having to turn them over to the DNR. Because of the data collected to date the US Fish and Wildlife Service no longer requires an annual approval of the season.

The restriction on trapping beavers in Linn county is removed.
Rationale: Restrictions to beaver trapping that had been placed on some areas in Linn county where otters were released to enhance survival rates are no longer needed now that otter populations have expanded.

A paragraph was added to clarify that all animals trapped must be immediately reduced to possession.
Rationale: Some trappers were keeping animals alive to use for training dogs. The proposed change would not allow wild furbearers to be kept in captivity. The rule still allows for nuisance animals to be captured and released unharmed. Dog trainers can still obtain animals from registered game breeders.

~ADC~

[minnow]

ADC "Very Good Post " Thanks for posting.

[Brett H.]

Thanks very intersting

[Griz]

Thanks.

[BigT]

I sure wish they would not open the bobcat season till December 1st. But anyway here kitty kitty!!

[x-demoman]

Here is your chance to be heard. If you attend one of the ICN sessions and speak, please be polite, to the point and discuss the facts. We may not always get what we want but at least you can be involved with some input.

Gene

[k9]

They sure are determined to keep me from caging a coyote for urine collection each fall. I know this affects very few trappers but the ones that it does effect are the serious coyote trappers who are picky about thier urine. While it only effects a few coyote trappers, they are the coyote trappers who are taking 50 to 100 out of that area, which I feel is noteworthy and helps other sportsmen also. Typically I cage an early one, let it prime as I collect urine, and it is the last one killed of the season.

Will try to make the Marshalltown one but my schedule has been pretty extreme lately.

[k9]

ttt