Email from Joe on proposed changes

Hey Everyone,

www.in.gov/nrc/advisory-council/

The Advisory Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, at 10:00 a.m., ET (9:00 a.m., CT), at the Atterbury Fish & Wildlife Area, DNR Meeting Room, 7970 S. Rowe Street, Edinburgh, IN 46124. The agenda is now available.

I just wanted to make sure you had seen this announcement. Please share it widely in case anyone you known might be interested. There will also be several other opportunities for public input. This is just the first step in the process. With the new Permeant Rule (also known as Administrative Code) making process, there will be two (2) public comment sessions that will be a combination of on-line comments and in-person comments. If all goes well at the Advisory Council meeting, then these rules will go to the Natural Resources Commission soon after (possibly at the September meeting). The process is that they would be preliminary adopted by the NRC (or rejected), then it would be open for additional public input (the two sessions I mentioned), then based on that feedback they would be rejected or adopted into the Administrative Code). The goal is to have these in place by the 2024-2025 deer hunting season.

There will be a lot of deer rules discussed at the meeting. All of these are ones that we have been discussing over the past couple of years except for putting the Antlerless Bag Limits and Deer Reduction Zones into Permanent Rule. Those were added at the last minute because we lost our ability to set the antlerless harvest and deer reduction zones using emergency rule due to House Enrolled Act 1623 (a new state law that passed this past Legislative session), therefore all of these have to go into Administrative Code.

Just FYI – not being able to use Emergency Rules to set the antlerless harvest on an annual basis will mean that we are less responsive to what the data is telling us, both the population trend data and the social data (i.e., the annual deer management survey). It will take about 1.5 to 2 years for any future changes to county bag limits to go into effect (rather than the previous process that took 6 months). This was not the intent of the law, just an unintended consequence. However, we will still be able to use Emergency Rules if we have a large outbreak of EHD to make a last minute changes as we did preserve the ability to use Emergency Rules for wildlife diseases.

Here is the list of proposed rules. I have also attached the survey data and results of the Got Input process for each of these rule changes where we have data.

Establish a statewide bag limit of 6 antlerless deer. A hunter will not be able to take more than 6 antlerless deer unless they are hunting on military bases, state park hunts, deer reduction zones, or another special hunt.
Change the archery license to include bows and arrows and crossbows. There would no longer be a separate crossbow license required.
Change the term “bonus antlerless” to just a “multi-season” antlerless license with the county and statewide limit as to when they can be used. There will just be the ‘antlerless bag limit’ or the number of antlerless deer that a hunter can harvest in that county.
Allow the bundle license to be used to take only a buck and 2 does (i.e., 1 antlered deer and 2 antlerless deer).
On public lands managed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife as well as Salamonie Lake, Patoka Lake, and Mississinewa Lake, hunters will not be able to use a firearm to harvest a doe. This is currently done by emergency rule each year when the bonus antlerless county quotas are set.
If a deer is taken that is unfit for human consumption (infection due to old injury, etc.), new language would specify that designated DNR staff would be able to issue an authorization to take another antlerless deer in its place that will not count towards the statewide 6 bag limit or county limit
Allow muzzleloading long guns to be used that are .40 caliber or larger (instead of .44 caliber)
Change the language for handgun cartridges .25/20 and .32/30 (which are not allowed for hunting to .25-20 Winchester and .32-20 Winchester, which is the correct designation for these two cartridges,
Allow portable tree stands & ground blinds to be placed on the department properties between noon on Sept. 1 and February 8 since some properties have deer reduction zones in part of their properties (and a longer deer reduction zone season)
Add the language for the deer reduction zones that are currently in emergency rule, including those that are urban areas and those along major highways
Add the antlerless bag limits for each county

There are no changes to the deer reduction zones from previous years other than making the zone in Yellowwood slightly larger so that it conforms to the management units.

We are currently working on getting the county bag limit proposal completed internally. Once that is done, I will also forward that information to y’all as well.

Let me know if you have any questions.

joe

ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING

Atterbury Fish & Wildlife Area

DNR Meeting Room

7970 S. Rowe Street
Edinburgh, IN 46124

August 8, 2023

10:00 a.m., ET (9:00 a.m., CT)

A G E N D A

Call to Order
Reports of Deputy Directors
Approval of MINUTES of the meeting held on January 17, 2023
Proposed Invasive Carp Harvest Permit Rule
Proposed Catfish Rule Changes (RELATED MATERIAL)
Proposed Deer Hunting Rule Changes
Proposed River Otter Rule Changes
Proposed Rule Changes for Restrictions on Collection of Bait and Use of Nets
Adjournment


Joe N. Caudell, Ph.D.
State Deer Project Leader
Indiana DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife
Bloomington Field Office
5596 East State Road 46
Bloomington, IN 47401
JCaudell@dnr.IN.gov
Office: (812) 822-3300
dnr.IN.gov
Deer.dnr.IN.gov

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