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A New Wind Is Blowing In 2003
Maryland Governor Signs Sunday Hunting Bill
IBO Donates to FHFH
MBS Annual Banquet A Huge Success
Crossbow Bill Pulled And Use Restricted
"A New Wind Is Blowing In 2003"
This last quarter of 2002 has proved to a very interesting one for Maryland, and for hunter/bowhunters in particular. For the first time in many years, Maryland elected a Republican to sit in the State House in Annapolis as our Governor. Now, I am not saying who you should have voted for, but I do want to say Thank You to everyone who did get out and vote. Outdoorsmen had the opportunity to make a decisive impact on this election and as a result we now have someone as Governor who will listen to our concerns and will let the DNR do their job of managing the wildlife in or state.
Speaking of the DNR, the Black Bear Task Force (BBTF) and the black bear problem are well represented in this issue of Rubs & Scrapes. You will find an article by Mike Lasher that represents the opinions and concerns of many of the people who live in the western part of our state, you can also read the official summary of the results of the BBTF and information on how to access the whole report. The animal rights groups that were also on the task force tried to keep the recommendation for a hunt out of the final report, and when that failed they threatened to publish their own report and try to force the state to listen to them.
Fortunately for us, we have new leadership in Annapolis. Unfortunately, this is just another example of how the ARA organizations will use any and all methods to accomplish their goals. We must all be vigilant to what seems like a simple thing but really can have a significant impact. See the article about euthanasia for animals in the article on New from the U.S. Sportsman's Alliance.
On a brighter note, we have our annual Banquet and some officers elections coming up. We have a great guest speaker lined up and now all we need are some great donations to go with it for our raffles. If you know of anyone who would be a good MBS President or Vice-President, or if you are interested yourself, contact Lou Compton or anyone else on the Executive Council to nominate them for the office.
"Maryland Governor Signs Sunday Hunting Bill"
Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich has signed a bill to permit Sunday hunting on private land.
House Bill 679, sponsored by Delegate Charles Boutin (R-Harford) will permit Sunday deer hunting, including bowhunting, on private property with written permission from the landowner. The bill, which also increases penalties for trespassing, was signed into law on April 22.
The Maryland bill passed the House by a vote of 87 to 41 and the Senate by a vote of 33 to 11.
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance worked with the Maryland Sportsmen's Association and other conservation groups to urge thousands of sportsmen statewide to contact their state legislators in support of the measure.
House Bill 679 will provide an additional day in the field for Maryland sportsmen. Currently, 35 states permit Sunday hunting without restriction and the bill makes Maryland the ninth state to allow it with restrictions.
IBO Donates to FHFH
Deer Creek Archery recently held a FHFH benefit shoot and IBO World Qualifier. On behalf if the IBO and it's national membership, a $2,500.00 check was presented to the FHFH to be used by the FHFH here in Maryland. The IBO contribution to FHFH goes a long way toward portraying a positive image of bowhunting to the general public and preserving and expanding our bowhunting opportunities.
MBS Annual Banquet A Huge Success
Snyders once again was the host for our annual banquet. As usual, the food was excellent and so was the fellowship during the evening. The guest speaker, Steve Stoltz from Drury Outdoors, kept everyone entertained with stories and tips on bowhunting trophy bucks and the making of bowhunting videos. The various auctions (both live and silent) coupled with the raffle tickets sold brought MBS a net profit of over $4000. The silent auctions and the high ticket hunts seemed to go over well. This will go towards our efforts to represent and protect the interests of Maryland bowhunters in Annapolis and around the state, and to rebuilding the organization.
Crossbow Bill Pulled And Use Restricted
As a result of the lobbying efforts of your MBS and other sportsmans organizations in the state, a bill that would have allowed crossbow use during the whole deer season (September through January) has been defeated and a much narrower use of crossbows has been introduced by the DNR. The bill was pulled by its sponsor on the condition that the DNR do something to increase crossbow use. To accomplish that the DNR held a stakeholders meeting which was attended by the MBS and other non-bowhunting organizations. The purpose of this meeting was to come up with a draft regulation on crossbow use during deer season. The question was not whether to allow crossbows or not, but how much access would crossbow hunters have. As a result of the presentation made by the MBS at the meeting, and its continued work with the DNR after the meeting several important things were accomplished. First, crossbow use during deer season was greatly restricted from the original all season proposal; second, the crossbow was classified as a separate type of weapon, not as a type of bow; and third, a separate crossbow season will likely be put in place next year, but during this year.
