Outdoor News Daily

A Kalamazoo County seventh grader was among three winners of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s first Pure Michigan Hunt drawing.

Luke Haynes, a 14-year-old who attends Vicksburg Middle School, said he was “so excited I can’t even explain it,” when he heard he was chosen from among the 12,693 applicants. An already accomplished deer and turkey hunter, Haynes said he was especially looking forward to hunting for elk in Michigan this season.

So are the other two winners, 63-year-old Mario Chiesa, a lawyer from Dearborn and 59-year-old Joseph Serafinski of Macomb. Both men have hunted elk in the past in the West, they said, but both said they were excited to have the opportunity to hunt elk in Michigan.
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The New Jersey Fish and Game Council (FGC) is putting the finishing touches on a new bear management policy that would include black bear hunting.

The new management plan is to be heard at the February 9 meeting of the FGC being held at the Central Region Office in the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area in Robbinsville. According to one of its main authors, Council Member Len Wolgast, the plan would allow for a bear hunt to take place this fall.

If passed, the plan must then go to the acting Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for final approval.
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Applications for what are arguably Wyoming’s most coveted licenses, moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat, will be accepted until 5 p.m. March 1, 2010.

The March 1 application deadline applies to both residents and nonresidents and is a departure from the standard Feb. 28 deadline since Feb. 28 falls on a weekend this year.

Drawing odds vary depending on species and hunt area. Preference points have been available for both moose and bighorn sheep for 15 years and 75 percent of the quotas for each species are issued in the preference point drawing. The remaining 25 percent is issued in a random drawing without regard for preference point totals. Preference points are not available for mountain goat licenses, but goat licenses are limited to one in a lifetime.
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Wisconsin wildlife biologists have upped the number of available black bear harvest permits by 22 percent over 2009. A population research study cooperative effort between the University, the DNR and the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association indicated that the state’s bear population was higher than previously thought. Accordingly, wildlife officials increased permit levels last year based on the increased population estimate and have done so again for the 2010 bear hunting season.

With a new population estimate of about 22,000 bears, and a current state bear population goal of 13,000 bears, biologists at the Department of Natural Resources have established a 2010 harvest quota of 5,235 bears and will issue 8,910 permits.
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