Wildlife codes need overhaul

While the Wildlife Code of Missouri makes for a good read, there are several flaws in the fine print.

One way to decide if a regulation needs to be skewered is to see if otherwise law-abiding outdoorsmen ignore it.

For example, Missouri’s bevy of regulations ban all forms of party fishing or hunting.

In states where party limits are legal (Iowa is one), all properly licensed members of a group of fishermen or hunters who are working in concert may continue to catch fish or shoot game until the entire group has reached its combined daily limit.

Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Apparently not to the Missouri Department of Conservation, because in the Show-Me State, each angler or hunter may not exceed his or her own daily limit regardless of how the rest of the group are faring.

His or her fish and game must be kept “separate or readily identifiable” from fish or game taken by any other member of the group.

If that doesn’t sound like an example of what a former Wyoming game warden  called “a regulation solely intended to enhance citation revenue,” I don’t know what does.

Sharing fish and game with your compatriots at the end of the day is legal.

However, “Any wildlife given to another ... shall be labeled with the full name, address and permit number of the taker, species and the date when taken.”

The regulation offers no advice on how to write all this information on a crappie’s side or a quail’s feathers.

Don’t think you’re off the labeling hook if you keep the wildlife you legally harvested.

“All stored wildlife except deer and turkeys ... shall be labeled with the owner’s full name, address and permit number, species and date placed in storage.”

Deer and turkeys have to be labeled with the owner’s full name and address, the date taken, and the Telecheck confirmation number of the deer or turkey.”

I can’t decide if those requirements are more asinine or redundant.

I know that an angler or hunter’s conservation ID number is sufficient to allow a conservation agent access to all of the other required information except date of storage, and the Telecheck confirmation number supplies the same information about deer and turkeys.

In at least one instance, a regulation discriminates against resident recreational anglers in favor of for-profit corporate entities, most of which are based outside of Missouri.

I’m referring to the common practice known as culling or upgrading. The regulations specifically prohibit any such nefarious activity by Joe Citizen.

However, participants in a “bonafide” fishing tournament may upgrade their catch throughout the day so long as there are never more than one day’s legal limit of fish in the angler’s live well at any one time.

I can’t say any more about that one, or I start spitting nails.

Then there’s the MDC’s newest sacred cow, the Antler Point Restriction (APR.)

Under APR, a regulation which began as an experiment in 29 counties several years ago and has since spread east and south across the state like slime mold, a buck must have at least four 1-inch points on at least one side of its rack to be legal.

APR has the immediate effect of increasing doe harvest by hunters who can’t find a legal buck and the long-term effect of increasing the number of older, presumably heavier-racked bucks.

In fairness, according to the MDC, APR is favored by a majority of the state’s deer hunters. A significant number of people, including yours truly, have serious doubts about APR.

For one thing, the program favors those bucks who take the longest to grow legal racks and hastens the departure from the breeding pool of those bucks who develop legal racks when they’re 18 months old.

Unfortunately, the effects of this potential problem won’t show up for a decade or more, by which time several decades would be required to reverse it.

More important, everyone connected in any way with hunting agrees that we have to do everything possible to attract new hunters and to keep current hunters in the fold.

To many of these people, any antlered buck is a trophy. I don’t believe protecting small-racked bucks at the expense of hunters is a sensible way to manage deer hunting.

I’m a bowhunter. My fellow bowhunters and I killed a statistically negligible number of antlered bucks prior to APR. Since I was never part of the alleged overharvest of bucks in the first place, I resent being forced to become part of a theoretical solution.

The good news is the MDC does listen to what the state’s citizens say.

Let them know your opinion on these and other current or proposed regulations by writing to Regulations, MDC, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City MO 65102-0180.