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CLEAR Temp: 66 °F Wind: N at 4 mph Wednesday, October 9, 2002 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 September 26, 2002 Hunters split on decoy debate By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Oregon’s duck and goose hunters appear evenly split on whether to ban electronic and mechanical "roboduck" waterfowl decoys for all types of hunting. A random telephone poll conducted last week of 550 licensed Oregon hunters shows that no camp in the "roboduck" debate can claim a majority opinion on whether new motorized decoys should be banned for tipping the scales too heavily toward hunters. "Fifty percent of the people want them, and 50 percent of the people want to get rid of them," says Brad Bales, waterfowl program coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The poll comes as the agency is amassing public comment on three potential options for regulating the mechanized decoys for the 2003-04 hunting season and beyond. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will vote on the rules at its Oct. 11 meeting, and the department is collecting the public comments by Oct. 10 so commissioners can consider them in their deliberations. The commission meeting will be held in Sandy at the Mount Hood National Forest Headquarters. The roboducks first hit the market in the late 1990s and cost about $250, but they have since dropped to about $100 and are gaining in popularity. Pennsylvania already banned the robot decoys, and California has limited their use to the second half of the season. In axing them in Washington last year, the commissioners there said the decoys fly in the face of "good fair chase." A California study concludes that hunters using robotic duck decoys are six times more effective than when hunting with regular decoys in the early season and twice as effective in late season — regardless of the weather. In California, mechanical duck decoys are banned until Dec. 1 during waterfowl seasons. Last spring, ODFW Director Lindsay Ball decided to expand the mechanized decoy debate beyond waterfowl to get an across- the-board policy in place before new technology starts developing better and less-expensive decoys for all hunted species. ODFW leaders do not plan on recommending any specific direction for the commission to take, but agency biologists are testing the public pulse on the issue by offering three options for comment. Alternative A would keep the current rules, which allow any type of decoy for big-game and game-bird hunting. Alternative B would ban the use of all decoys with movements powered by mechanical means, batteries, wind or motors. Spinning-blade devices, those with pull strings to generate movement, and wind-powered decoy kits also would be banned under this proposal. Alternative C would make all battery-powered or motorized decoys illegal, but still allow human- and wind-powered decoys. Bales says the agency has received a healthy dose of public comment on the proposals, with most people voicing few qualms about the human-powered or wind-powered decoys. The issue seems split strictly on whether the motorized roboducks — as well as their robo-deer, robo-turkey, and robo-elk cousins — fit ethical hunting in Oregon, Bales says. No definitive statistics exist in Oregon, but ODFW biologists estimate the number of hunters using roboducks is more than 50 percent in some popular hunting areas. 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