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TWRA previews multiple rule changes: baiting, trapping clarifications, drone recovery and WMA adjustments
Summary
The agency previewed manner-and-means clarifications (including trap-definition updates, cell-camera monitoring, and baiting language), a partner request at Big South Fork to restructure hog take, furbearer adjustments, and multiple wildlife-management-area quota and bag-limit updates.
TWRA staff presented a package of proposed regulatory and proclamation changes covering manner and means, national-park/partner requests, migratory game birds, furbearers, and a sizable list of WMA-specific rule adjustments.
Mark McBride summarized three manner-and-means changes: add statutory deer-baiting rules into the proclamation, clarify that drones and dogs may be used for recovery of legally taken deer (consistent with rules passed in January), and modernize trapping language and specifications. He said the agency will allow cell-camera monitoring to satisfy the 24-hour trap-check requirement so trappers can discover captures more quickly. "We will allow cell cameras to be used to monitor traps," McBride said, adding that the revisions also remove obsolete language and update trap specifications.
A partner request from Big South Fork National Recreation Area called for removing a federal permit requirement for hog take and making hogs incidental take during deer season by licensed deer hunters with legal weapons. Staff also recommended standardizing migratory bird proclamations with evergreen dates and keeping the duck season structure the same while noting regional bag-limit adjustments (northern pintails increased to three per day as changed last year). Proposed furbearer changes include year-round striped-skunk trapping alignment with hunting and removing the big-game license requirement for private-land bobcat seasons.
Region-specific WMA proposals ranged from clarifying allowed hunting outside subcompounds, adding and adjusting quota hunts and antler-point restrictions, to reducing turkey quota permits at Chuck Swan WMA where turkey success has fallen. Staff said they will publish the full list of WMA changes and open an online public comment tool prior to the April decision.
Next steps: The agency will accept public comment through its web portal, summarize responses, and return with a formal recommendation in April. Several commissioners asked staff to provide updated comparative data on neighboring states' opener dates and public-land pressure as part of the packet.
