Fish and Wildlife Commission adopts 2007 big game regulations

The Fish and Wildlife Commission recently adopted 2007 regulations governing the hunting of big game including deer, elk, cougar, bear, Rocky Mountain goat, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope and Western gray squirrel.

The new regulations will make the reporting of hunter harvest and effort mandatory beginning next year, coinciding with implementation of ODFW's new point-of-sale (POS) system in spring 2007. The system will replace telephone surveys by ODFW staff and enable hunters to report by phone through an interactive voice response or over the Internet. Hunters will need to provide the following information: days hunted, wildlife management unit hunted, sex of animal harvested and antler points of bucks and bulls. To introduce hunters to the new system, there will be no penalties or incentives related to participation in the survey for the first year. story continued