Outdoor News Daily

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish will conduct four public meetings in northern New Mexico this month to discuss proposals and concerns about elk management in Game Management Units 6A and 6C in the Jemez Mountains.

The Department and the State Game Commission is considering requests for changes in unit boundaries and the way elk hunting authorizations are allocated to private landowners through the agency’s E-PLUS system. Proposals from a group of concerned landowners include:

* Combining units 6A and 6C into one unit.
* Managing the elk population so that quality bull hunting is maintained or improved and the total population is allowed to grow.
* Adjusting the Elk – Private Lands Use System (E-PLUS) formula to include agricultural crop use by elk as a factor in determining the allocation of private land elk hunting authorizations.
* Adjusting the E-PLUS process to allocate more private land hunting authorizations as a form of compensation for property damage caused by elk.
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Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff, with the help of more than a dozen students from across the state, tagged 50 new rockfish for prizes in the 2009 Maryland Fishing Challenge, The Search for Diamond Jim. The fifth annual Challenge – which also includes a citation component — kicked off June 1 and has already drawn hundreds of participants.

”Whether experienced anglers or first-timers, Marylanders of all walks of life can participate with their families in the Fishing Challenge,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “This is a great opportunity to introduce a new generation to one of Maryland’s greatest traditions, the sport of fishing.“
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The Michigan Department of Natural Resources reminds hunters that applications for fall turkey hunting licenses are on sale now through Aug. 1.

A total of 59,050 licenses are available through a lottery for the units open to hunting — 12,350 general licenses that may be used on public or private land and 46,700 licenses for private land only. Twelve wild turkey management units totaling 34,976 square miles are open to fall turkey hunting during the Oct. 5 – Nov. 14 season, including most of southern Michigan, five counties in the northern Lower Peninsula and the entire wild turkey management area in the Upper Peninsula.
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The harvest of blue crabs from traps will not be allowed from July 10 through July 19 in Broward through Pasco counties’ waters. This closure will give authorized groups the opportunity to identify and retrieve lost and abandoned blue crab traps from the coastal and inland waters in this area.

All commercial and recreational blue crab traps within three nautical miles of shore and in the inland waters of Broward County south and around the tip of Florida and north up the Gulf coast through Pasco County must be removed during the 10-day closure period.

The harvest of blue crabs by other gear, such as dip nets and fold-up traps, will still be permitted during the 10-day closure. The closure also applies to recreational harvesters who use standard blue crab traps unless the traps are attached to private property.
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CONCORD, N.H. — Hunters who want the chance to take an additional antlerless deer in Wildlife Management Unit M in southeastern New Hampshire during the fall hunting seasons can buy a special permit from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department starting July 1.

Interested hunters can purchase a permit online at www.huntnh.com/Hunting/Special_Unit_M_permits.htm; buy a permit from Fish and Game headquarters in Concord; print a mail-in application from the Fish and Game website; or call 603-271-3422 to request a permit application by mail.
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