Legislative Briefs – End of April

Turkey Lottery Losers Will Hunt This Year

            Those who applied for turkey permits this year, but did not win a permit in the lottery, will be able to obtain a permit anyway, thanks to emergency legislation proposed by SAM’s lobbyist Ed Pineau.

            Senator Bruce Bryant sponsored this emergency bill and championed it through the legislature, where it quickly won the unanimous endorsement of the Fish and Wildlife Committee, without a public hearing, and was enacted by the House and Senate and signed into law by the Governor.

            The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife endorsed the proposal and also worked to get it enacted.

            Pineau came up with the idea one day while commiserating with a turkey hunter who did not win a permit in this year’s lottery.   He wondered:  considering that the new state budget eliminates the turkey lottery in 2006 and allows anyone to purchase a permit, why not let more people hunt turkeys this spring?

            DIF&W responded to the idea by saying they were not prepared to open the season to all hunters this year, but they could easily absorb the 3,200 hunters who did not win permits in the 2005 turkey lottery.  With that encouragement, Pineau went to work with Bryant on the legislation.

            DIF&W was planning to contact all lottery losers by mail, to alert them to this change and make arrangements for them to obtain lottery permits.

            Enjoy your spring hunt!

Permits May Be Transferred

            In 2006, turkey hunters may be able to swap seasons, thanks to SAM’s legislation that recently won the unanimous endorsement of the Fish and Wildlife Committee.

            Two years ago the legislature enacted SAM’s legislation that authorized the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to establish a system for swapping moose hunting zones and permits.  Our bill attempted to also authorize season swaps, but the department asked the legislature to move slowly on this project, and allow them to experience the moose zone swap and report back.

            Their report this year indicated that the moose zone swap worked very well, and boosted SAM’s new legislation to open up swaps for other species and seasons.

            A simple change in the law, adding the word “seasons” to the statute that authorized the swapping of zones, was it took.  The Fish and Wildlife Committee unanimously endorsed SAM’s bill, as amended.

            Sponsoring this legislation for SAM was Representative Mark Bryant of Windham.  Cosponsors were Senators Bruce Bryant of Oxford County, Joe Perry of Penobscot County, and Bill Diamond of Cumberland County, and Representatives George Bishop of Boothbay, Troy Jackson of Fort Kent, Gary Plummer of Windham, David Richardson of Carmel, Dave Trahan of Waldoboro, and Walt Wheeler of Kittery.

            Although the law change will allow DIF&W to establish swap seasons for any species, seasons, zones, and permits, they have indicated that they will continue to move slowly in this program.  First up will be the 2006 turkey hunt, where the department hopes to have a swapping system for seasons established.

            Later, perhaps, they will move to establish a swapping system for any-deer permits.

            To help SAM members and other sportsmen find partners for a swap of permits, SAM plans to establish a matching system on its website.  That system will be ready by the end of the year.

Bills Being Killed

            Most legislative bills are killed each session.  Out of more than 2000 pieces of legislation, rarely do more than 300 survive to be enacted into law.

            Fish and wildlife bills are no exception.  The following bills have already received negative votes from the Fish and Wildlife Committee, making them very unlikely to be enacted by the full House and Senate.

            A bill that would have given young hunters who shoot a deer on Youth Day the chance to take another deer during the regular hunting season.

            A bill to allow muzzleloaders the opportunity to take a second deer.

            A bill to allow hunters 18 years or younger to take an antler-less deer without a permit.

            A bill to eliminate slot limits for fish in the northern most region of Maine.

            A bill to require DIF&W to issue a new written policy clarifying public access requirements for ponds to qualify for fish stocking (DIF&W testified that it is working on a new policy).

            A bill to suspend or revoke DIF&W licenses and permits for those convicted of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

            A bill to require the turkey season to include the last two weeks of April (opposed by the Turkey Federation’s Maine chapter).

            A bill that would have redefined snowmobiles so that ATVs with tracks would not have been able to operate on snowmobile trails.

            A bill to employ an additional game warden for the Sebago Lake Region.

            A bill to establish a special moose lottery for applicants with 7 or more bonus points.

            A bill to eliminate the requirements that DIF&W’s Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner have experience with hunting, fishing and trapping.

            A bill to remove the requirement that first time violators of some hunting and fishing laws take an ethics course.

            A bill to require the moose hunting season to be two consecutive weeks, following the bear baiting season.