Game Official Gives Hope For Simpler Rules

Muzzleloader and archery hunters are passionate about their sports. I applaud this, even though some among them are nearly as nasty and self-righteous as the zealots who give religion a bad name.

Not all the mail and phone calls have been friendly since last week, when I suggested the expansion of muzzleloader and archery hunting seasons in the past 15 years has been at the expense of modern firearms hunters.

This was considered divisive by several readers, including one archer who went on to accuse all modern rifle hunters of being drunken, trigger-happy slobs.

I’ll call on him next time I need a lesson on fracturing the bond among hunters.

In my column last week, I found merit to Washington Fish and Wildlife Department proposals that would simplify Washington’s hunting regulations. The rules have steadily become more confusing since 1984, when archers, muzzleloaders and modern firearms hunters were given separate big-game seasons to reduce crowding.

I noted the simplification proposals were not perfect; that they were still evolving, and that the best possible package would emerge only if all hunting groups - archers, muzzleloaders and modern firearms hunters - participated in the debate.

I pointed out that everyone could gain something by revising the hunting regulations.

For this I have been called nasty names. My mother, too.

So this is what it’s like to be a Washington Fish and Game Department employee.

But among the accusations and insults, some hunters stood above it all with genuine thought and insight.

This is what I was looking for.

Ditto for Bruce Smith, the department official charged with making hunting regulations easier to understand.

Last month, hunters vented anger at the proposals during public meetings. For example, 45 days of deer hunting wasn’t enough for some archers who have become accustomed to more in some areas.

On the other hand, if Smith is to manage in a manner that pleases the most people, the choice is clear. He can gain up to 154,000 man-days of recreation by adding one day to the modern firearms season. He would gain a maximum of 11,000 man-days of recreation for adding a day of archery hunting.

Smith has been sniffing through the hot air, and has found rational and unselfish suggestions.

Tuesday night, he gave a state-of-the-proposals presentation to 150 hunters in Spokane at the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council meeting.

Even though the Wildlife Commission has postponed simplifying the regulations until at least the 1999 seasons, Smith is keeping the ball rolling.

Possible revisions to the original proposals include:

Giving muzzleloaders more than a four-day statewide elk season. Additional days, however, would come at the expense of being able to hunt virtually anywhere in the state.

Offering more late-season hunts for muzzleloaders.

Dropping the idea of putting archers, muzzleloaders and modern firearms hunters in the same pool for special permit hunts.

Eliminating proposed restrictions on technological advances in primitive weapons, such as over-draw bows and muzzleloaders with in-line ignition systems.

Smith plans to meet with state wildlife biologists Friday to see how more days of hunting opportunity might be added without threatening the health of big-game herds.

He hopes to present the revisions to hunters in another round of meetings before giving them to the Fish and Wildlife Commission for consideration in September.

The key, he said, is to increase opportunity while using easily recognized unit boundaries, such as county borders, major rivers and highways.

Micro-managing with small game management units has become too confusing.

Some hunters contend that if you can’t read the hunting regulations pamphlet you shouldn’t be hunting.

Smith says the complicated pamphlet may be one of several factors causing some hunters to drop the sport.

One thing is clear. In the week before big-game permit applications are due, Fish and Wildlife Department offices are flooded with calls from confused hunters.

Even before the public meetings, the masses had spoken. Some sort of simplification is being demanded. I give Smith credit for continuing to try.

I also give credit to the archers, muzzleloaders and modern firearms hunters who have chosen to be constructive rather than nasty.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review