Outdoor News Daily

CHEYENNE - Setting hunting seasons and quotas for mountain lions and wolves are on the agenda for the July 30-Aug. 1 Wyoming Game and Fish Commission meeting in Dubois. Furbearing animal trapping seasons as well as regulations governing taxidermists and hunter safety will also be established.

The commission will also hear presentations regarding the elk reduction hunt on the National Elk Refuge and Teton National Park and the Governor’s Sage Grouse Implementation Team. Details on Wyoming’s new Hunter Mentor Program and a review of the Game and Fish Department’s financial condition will also be presented.
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OLYMPIA - The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission took public comment on proposed changes to cougar hunting regulations at a meeting Friday (July 18) conducted via videoconference in Olympia and Spokane.

The commission, which sets policy for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), is scheduled to take action on the amendments to the cougar hunting regulations during its August 8-9 meeting in Lynnwood.

During Friday’s meeting, WDFW staff outlined the proposed amendments, which are consistent with a bill approved earlier this year by the Legislature. That bill, ESHB 2438, extends a pilot project authorizing cougar hunting with the aid of dogs for another three years in Chelan, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties and allows other counties to request inclusion in the project.
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OLYMPIA - The public will have an opportunity to comment on proposed changes to cougar hunting regulations during a Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, conducted via videoconference, scheduled for 6 p.m. July 18.

The public can listen to the commission’s discussion and provide comment in room 172 on the 1st floor of the Natural Resources Building in Olympia, 1111 Washington St. S.E., and at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Region 1 office in Spokane, 2315 North Discovery Place.

Earlier that day, the commission also will discuss items of general interest during a conference call scheduled for 8:30 a.m. No public input will be taken during the morning meeting, but the public can listen via speakerphone in the commission office on the 5th floor of the Natural Resources Building.
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Gathering antlers that drop off the heads of deer, elk and moose can be a fun and rewarding outdoor activity.

Because it’s so fun and rewarding, more people are starting to gather shed antlers in Utah. And that’s causing problems for the state’s big game animals and the places they live.

Members of a committee assembled by the Division of Wildlife Resources have an idea that they believe will lessen the problem. DWR officers and biologists want to know what you think about the committee’s idea.
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Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today announced the agency will award 1,435 permits for the 2008-09 bobcat hunting/furtaking seasons at a public drawing in its Harrisburg headquarters on Friday, Sept. 12. As part of the public drawing for the allocated permits, those applicants with six preference points (five previous points and one for this year’s application) will automatically receive a bobcat permit.

“As Pennsylvania’s bobcat population continues to increase in abundance and continued geographic expansion, we are able to again take steps to enable more hunters and trappers to participate in the bobcat season and to expand the harvest area,” said Dr. Matthew Lovallo, Game Commission furbearer biologist and author of the agency’s bobcat management plan. “Consistent with our conservative approach to increasing the bobcat harvest opportunities, we have increased the statewide harvest objective to 530 bobcats and adjusted the permit allocation accordingly to offer more bobcat permits for the upcoming season. We also have opened WMU 4D to the list of areas in which permits may be used.”
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