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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 6, 2005 Commission mulling changes for next season By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune More available cougar tags and a week-long extension to the mandatory check-in of cougar carcasses are proposed changes up for consideration Friday for next year’s hunting seasons in Oregon. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission also will consider an increase in spring black bear tags and possible alterations to deer and elk hunts as part of a hunting season package for 2006. The commission is meeting at 8 a.m. in the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Headquarters, 3406 Cherry Ave. N.E., Salem. The commission each fall sets the hunts and their dates for the following calendar year, as well as set tag numbers for spring bear hunts. The remainder of the controlled-hunt tags are proposed in the spring by the ODFW. The commission sets those tag numbers each June. Advertisement For 2006, the ODFW proposes no change in the cougar season frameworks or lengths, which is year-long in southwest Oregon. But agency biologists have proposed to increase the 2006 sport-hunting quota to 668 cougars statewide, up from 580 cougars for this year. The Southwest Zone’s quota also is proposed to increase to 173 cougars, up from 150 in 2005. The quotas, which have been increased annually since 2000, remain far higher than the actual harvest. Last year, hunters killed 265 cougars statewide, and the statewide quota was 562. In the Southwest Zone, hunters killed 24 cougars. None of the individual zones reached their quotas. Through Sept. 29 of this year, Oregon hunters have shot 108 cougars, including 12 in the Southwest Zone. The 15 percent increase in cougar tags was proposed by agency biologists as a way to increase cougar-hunting opportunities while helping address damage complaints. The change comes as the ODFW is working on a draft cougar-management plan that calls for increased harvest in cougar-damage areas to lower damage and public-safety complaints. The agency also wants the commission to lengthen the grace period cougar-hunters have in the mandatory check-in of cougars carcasses to ODFW field biologists. The current check-in period is within 72 hours of the kill, and the proposal is to stretch it out to 10 days. The change, according to agency reports, is to address concerns from back-country hunters who have to make a special trip out of wilderness areas and other out-of-the-way places to meet the three-day requirement. ODFW biologists are also proposing the following changes for 2006 seasons: Lift the either-sex rules for general archery season and wait until spring to set the bag limit based on herd census and harvest data. A 5-percent increase in the spring bear tags statewide to 6,778 tags. The tags are proposed to be spread over 18 hunts, including three youth-only hunts. Eliminate 28 antlerless elk hunts for centerfire rifles and create 14 new ones as part of a strategy to match the shift in areas where elk damage to agricultural crops is occurring. Eliminate the Silver Lake and East Fork Rock antlerless deer hunts. Add the Ochoco Unit as a limited-entry archery area, making its regulations similar to the Sled Springs Unit. For Rocky Mountain goats, the ODFW proposes to add four days to the season and continue the special auction and raffle tags as a fund-raiser for goat management. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail Commission mulling changes for next season ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Computer Security Discount Hotel Reservations Casinos Canada dvd-r Generic Viagra Myspace Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Student Loans Sudoku Online Advertisement s