Several Items On Agenda For TWRC Meeting

[Tim Nunan]

<The Greeneville Sun - News Story>

April 17, 2010

Several Items On Agenda For TWRC Meeting

Published: 1:16 AM, 04/17/2010

Source: The Greeneville Sun

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission (TWRC) will hold its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday and Thursday at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Region II Ray Bell Building in Nashville. The TWRC meeting begins at 1 p.m. on April 21 and 9 a.m. on April 22. The public is invited to attend.

Among the items on the April agenda will be the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's recommendations for the 2010-11 hunting and trapping seasons.

Among the major recommendations for 2010-11:

* Clarify "hog" nomenclature to match T.C.A. 70-1-101. The TWRA will make a recommendation that all feral hogs and wild boar be referred to as wild hogs. The TWRA is recommending the change to comply with an agreement that the Agency made with the Department of Agriculture to only refer to "wild hogs" in TWRA's nomenclature, to enable Agriculture to better enforce its regulations on importation and transport of swine. This change would affect several proclamations,

including Big Game, Manner and Means, and Wildlife Management Areas.

* Liberalize antlerless muzzleloader opportunities in six Unit B counties.

* Eliminate all special season deer and turkey quota hunts and establish comparablenon-quota hunt opportunities. This change will eliminate the need for sportsmen to obtain quota permits for deer and/or fall turkey hunts in the counties, and allow them to participate in non-quota hunts, with a Type 94 Non-quota permit, or Sportsman License as appropriate.

* Establish a new wild hog hunt (with dogs) in Monroe and Polk counties (Dec. 31-Jan.3).

* Establish a bear dog training season in Monroe and Polk counties, including the South Cherokee WMA (Sept. 9-14).

* Eliminate internet check-in of bears. TWRA is recommending this change to allow for better biological data collection and weight verification, and to improve the agency's enforcement capabilities.

* Require hunters to check in big game animals on the calendar day that they are harvested. With the availability of internet check-in, the primary reason for establishing the 36-hour check-in period is obsolete. Requiring that big game animals be checked on the same calendar day as harvested will improve the agency's law enforcement of big game check compliance.

* The TWRA is recommending establishing quota hunt drawings for waterfowl hunts on Bogota WMA, Gooch WMA Unit E, and Thorny Cypress WMA. These quota drawings will provide quality waterfowl hunting opportunities for over 1,200 waterfowl hunters over the course of a 60-day duck season. The procedures for the quota drawings will be presented in a rule amendment.

In other items, the TWRC will vote on an amendment to the commercial use of wildlife. This amendment will affect live species that may be bought and sold in Tennessee, particularly crayfish and salamanders. The purpose of the amendment is to prevent the commercial sale of crayfish and salamanders obtained either by collection within the state or by those being purchased from outside the state. Sport anglers will still be allowed to collect and use crayfish and dusky salamanders for bait except from those areas identified in the Live Bait Proclamation.

The commission will hear a report on the Norris Lake Fisheries Advisory Committee. Results from the NLFA's April 13 meeting will be discussed.

Dr. Mark Fly, Professor and Human Dimensions Research Lab Director with the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, UT Knoxville, will discuss the "Every Child Outdoors-Tennessee Coalition, Tennessee Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights Resolution," recently signed by the Governor, and the upcoming Governor's Summit on "Every Child Outdoors." TWRA is a joint presenter of the summit.

At the January commission meeting, the agency presented several proposals for new license types. The TWRA initiated the rule making process and the TWRC will take formal action to approve the following new license types: a one-day non-resident fishing license; a one-day non-resident trout fishing license; a one-day resident trout fishing license; and a seven-day & annual junior nonresident big-game licenses.