Bowing to at least some measure of
political pressure, the Ohio Division of Wildlife is removing the
flint from the state's muzzle-loading deer hunters.
Without even offering an opportunity
for public vetting of the proposal, the Wildlife Division is on the
fast track to add two days of firearms hunting immediately prior to
the three-day statewide muzzle-loading season.
The latter will run Friday, Jan. 3 and
Saturday, Jan. 4, while Sunday, Jan. 5 through Tuesday, Jan. 7 will
be reserved exclusively for those hunters who use primitive weapons
such as muzzle-loading rifles.
The net result is a major mid-course
correction to the state's deer-hunting regulations, but taken without
the usual series of open houses and public hearings designed to
solicit the opinions and thoughts of hunters of all stripes.
Thus, and in effect, the Wildlife
Division is saying that what the state's deer hunters think is of
less importance than what the politicians say.
Calling the proposed – and
all-but-certain – change a “blended gun/muzzle-loading season,”
the Wildlife Division chief admitted during the teleconference there
was “a little bit of political” pressure to stitch the previous
two-day mid-December weekend firearms deer-hunting season to the
inseam of the early January muzzle-loading season.
A little? Try a lot.
Among those politicians tightening the
screws was state Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield.
Widener is a member of the state
Senate's extremely powerful Ways and Means Committee, you know, the
one that controls the government's purse strings.
And Widener even went so far as to send
a letter to Zody, opining on the-then proposed deer-hunting
regulation changes. Among Widener's protestations was the elimination
of the two-day mid-December firearms deer-hunting season.
Somewhere along the enlightened path
Zody saw the light. He then followed up by instructing his staff to
reexamine the proposed (later approved) refined deer-hunting
regulations to see if there is anything we want to adjust.”
And, low and behold, by golly, the
staff found some. Among them were even a salient point or two brought
forth by none other than state Sen. Chris Widener.
Did I mention Sen. Widener sits on the
state Senate's Ways and Means Committee. I did? Just checking.
Even so, Zody insists he is not “giving
first dibs” on the deer to gun hunters during his so-called
“blended gun/muzzle-loading season.”
Zody also said – correctly though not
very realistically or practically – that nothing precludes hunters
from using their muzzle-loaders during the two days that shotgun and
pistol deer hunters can be afield.
Which cuts against the grain of
why the muzzle-loading season exists in the first place. That being,
offering hunters who enjoy using single-shot, front-end-loading,
smoke-belching equipment an opportunity to be afield on their own
terms.
And – just as importantly – have a
reasonable expectation of pursuing deer that have cooled down several
weeks after being shot at by hunters carrying firearms that spew out
up to three rounds as fast as they can operate a slide-action or
squeeze a trigger.
Zody even went so far as to hint how
the agency may take a look down the road of vaporizing the
muzzle-loading-only January hunt altogether, allowing for the use of
any legal firearms tender.
Among his concluding remarks Zody said
this tempest in a powder horn may itself come under review next year
when folks may say “the chief was an idiot” because his blended
gun/muzzle-loading season was indeed a squib round.
I am afraid, Chief, more than a few
people have already bestowed that honor upon you.
Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
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