Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 2020)
MyEagleNews.com // Grant County Hunting Journal 2020 // 29 Bow hunters State considering requiring hunters to draw for archery tags Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission expected to vote on proposal affecting Eastern Oregon deer Sept. 11 HOW TO COMMENT Hunters can submit comments to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission at odfw.commission@state.or.us. More information is available at myodfw. com/articles/big-game-review. By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle A s the deer population in East- ern Oregon has dwindled by roughly 50% in the past 40 years, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Eastern District is proposing requiring archery hunt- ers to draw for tags like rifle hunters. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commis- sion is expected to vote on the proposal to make the change for deer Sept. 11. The com- mission was going to vote on making the change for elk this year as well but decided to wait until next year to consider it. John Day ODFW Biologist Ryan Tor- land said archery season has had an unlim- ited tag structure where hunters who did not draw a rifle tag could purchase a tag, but rifle tag numbers have been cut over time. Tor- land said ODFW has also restricted tags for the Landowner Preference Program, where ODFW issues landowners and their family members hunting tags based on the acreage of their property. “Archery hunters were the last group that had not been restricted,” he said. “We cut tags everywhere else. They’re continuing to get the opportunity to hunt, and the others are not, and it’s kind of an equitability thing and the declining populations.” Torland said the hunting season structure is 40 years old, and back then deer and elk populations were doing well with minimal hunter participation. In 1979, when the archery plan was adopted, there were roughly 200 archers in each hunting unit and a total of 2,000 in the state, he said. Since then, he said, the total number has increased to 30,000. Torland said ODFW is concerned with the decreasing deer population, but elk, on the other hand, are facing a complicated situation. Torland said, while elk are at healthy pop- ulation levels, in some units archery hunters, not rifle hunters, are harvesting more bulls, especially branch-antler bulls. Eagle file photo Andy Day, longtime Grant County resident and bow hunter, shows off a bow at his shop, Andy’s Plumbing and Sports. Day said he is a proponent of a proposal that would require hunters to draw archery tags but that nonresidents should only be allotted 5% of the tags. “Archers are taking more of the elk social behavior. pie,” he said. “We only have “They have very good so many bulls out there that learned behaviors,” he said. you can shoot. They’re “They start getting pres- sured on the forest, and getting a bigger and big- ger piece of the pie, they figure out through and there’s no restric- time that Joe Blow tion put on them.” Landowner’s place Torland said elk down below in the have migrated onto valley is somewhere private land due to the where they won’t be pressure. He said this chased and shot at.” is causing landowners Torland said ODFW damage to their property is basing the policy pro- posal in part on a hunter and keeps hunters from survey where roughly harvesting them on public 70-75% of hunters pre- land. Contributed photo ferred to hunt by rifle, Torland said the data is mostly anecdotal and Jolynn Radinovich, longtime Grant compared with 20-25% comes from the impres- County resident, shows off her buck in percent who preferred sion they get, but also 2019. Radinovich, both a rifle and bow to hunt with a bow. He on hunter success rates. hunter, said the Oregon Department said a small percentage “During the rifle of Fish and Wildlife should limit the chose a muzzleloader to seasons later in the number of nonresident tags before make up the difference. year, some of that restricting resident bow hunters’ tags. “This is where more hunt success has gone of the equitability down dramatically,” he said. comes from,” he said. He said the behavior is consistent with Andy Day, a longtime bow hunter who owns Andy’s Plumbing and Sports, said he agrees with the proposal but would like to see limits put on nonresidents instead of locals. “If we did it like most all other states, limit the number of nonresidents (who receive tags) to the 5% created by the legis- lature,” he said, suggesting only 5% of tags be allotted to people who do not live in Ore- gon. “I’m not trying to be biased or racist or anything, but we call this little California because of how many people show up in this community during hunting season.” He said, however, with the number of nonresidents in his sports shop during archery season, he would feel an economic impact if the state limited the number of tags for nonresidents. Day said he is also concerned about losing his preference points, points accrued when a hunter does not draw a tag that increase the likelihood of drawing a tag in the future. He said some hunters will save points for decades to put in for a tag in a specific unit for a trophy animal. Currently, hunters who do not draw a rifle tag can collect their point and then purchase an archery tag. Torland said that is one of the drawbacks of the proposal, but he said there may be possibilities for people to put in for a sec- ond-choice hunt that could allow the accrual of points. “We’re not sure how that will shake out, so I can understand their concern,” he said. However, Torland said rifle hunters have been dealing with this dilemma for 40 years. “Archery hunters are getting in the same boat as rifle hunters,” he said. “This is not something that’s unique.” Jolynne Radinovich, a local rifle and bow hunter, said the proposal could harm local families who rely on hunting. “For a lot of people around here, hunt- ing is how we feed our families,” she said. “Hunting is also what brings these families together.”
