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M/CLOUDY Temp: 50 °F Wind: N at 3 mph Wednesday, February 19, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend February 6, 2003 Archery hunting opportunities may shrink beneath weight of its popularity and success By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Squeezed out by the throngs of rifle hunters packed into Clatsop County’s forests during the fall elk seasons, Jim Bergeron put his bullets away for good in 1980 and began living the life of the archer. He discovered that in the archers’ longer seasons, more quality hunting dates, more liberal bag limits, and fewer competitors more than made up for the difficulty in killing a deer or elk with a bow and arrow. "I have hunted almost exclusively with a bow for more than 20 years," says Bergeron, a 62-year-old retired extension agent. "There are many, many days I hunt where I never see other hunters in Clatsop County. But, of course, you can’t see that far in Clatsop County because the brush is pretty thick." But peeking through the brush reveals that thousands of Oregonians have joined Bergeron amid a growth spurt so large that archery hunting opportunities may now shrink beneath the weight of the sport’s own popularity and success. Oregon is about to embark on an almost two-year review of the state’s bow-hunting seasons and restrictions in an effort to craft whether to change a series of hunts initially created to take pressure off rifle hunting. Bowhunters have increased by more than 75 percent in the past decade, during a time when Oregon’s overall hunting public has dropped by 25 percent. With more hunters taking more deer and elk with bows, there is a sense among hunters that the sport’s regulations need altering. "This is a review to take a look at what’s developed, where we are now and make some decisions on where we want to go in the future," says Tom Thornton, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s big-game program manager. Nothing will be sacred in the review. Topics will include whether seven weeks of deer or elk season in western Oregon should be trimmed, whether the archers should lose either their early- or late-season periods, whether Oregonians would get to hunt either the early or late season — but not both, whether doe and cow killing should be curbed and whether wounding losses and other factors are causing undue impact on deer and elk herds already suffering from habitat loss and predation. In deer and elk camps stretched across Oregon each fall, rifle hunters grumble that archers get unfair advantages by hunting early in the season before the deer and elk are spooked and later in the season when sex-crazed bucks and bulls are more susceptible. Also, archers have the opportunity to shoot any deer or elk they choose, while most rifle hunters are relegated to just bucks and bulls. Many of these topics are aired by archers as well as rifle hunters, who believe it may be time their bow-hunting brethren get their hunting opportunities reduced to match the cuts taken by those using bullets instead of arrows. "Folks have questioned the fairness and equity, but that’s just part of it," Thornton says. "You start talking about one of these, and it bleeds into other things." Some archers, like Bob Webber of Medford, believe rifle hunters have a fantasy idea that the deck is stacked in archers’ favor. While archery hunters have risen, success rates for most hunts are in line with the success rates of rifle hunters, who together kill far more deer and elk than archers. "Rifle hunters think all the elk are running around and big trophy (bulls) run right up to you, and I can tell you from experience that’s not the case," says Webber, a Medford attorney and exclusive bow hunter in Oregon who has yet to bag a bull in eight seasons. "But if you can show me that’s happening, then yeah, we need to do something about it." The probe into whether something should be done begins Friday when the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is expected formally to order the archery review. It would be similar to reviews done recently on muzzleloader hunting, archery weaponry and deer and elk rifle seasons. The ODFW then would form a public working group of hunters and others to hash out the issues and to develop potential strategies for grappling with these issues. The agency would follow that with a random poll of Oregon hunters to gather their input in early 2004 before holding a series of public meetings on the topics during the summer of 2004. After the meetings, the ODFW would draft a set of recommendations for the commission to consider that fall, with any changes going into effect during the 2005 big-game seasons. The 62-year-old Bergeron, who is a vice president in the Oregon Bow Hunters Association, says he hopes to represent his organization in the working group. He wants the review to ensure that any changes to archery seasons are based on biology rather than of jealousy. "I hope the people who are calm, have good sense and can look at this in depth are the ones who get heard — not just the fringe people on both sides," Bergeron says. He also fears the process could amount to a heated quarrel, pitting archers against rifle hunters and even generate in-fighting between traditional longbow archers and those who favor the more popular recurve bows. Bergeron sees this more as a disagreement among family members, and one he hopes stays within the family. "There should be no ill will between rifle hunters and archery hunters, or traditional archers verses those with compound bows," Bergeron says. "We shouldn’t have a break-up over this thing. After all, we’re doing the same thing — hunting." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search M Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S