S'field managed hunts

[C Kerley]

Can someone give me the guidelines for those managed hunts in/around S'field. I know some of you are instructing that class (next one on Sep 11), but do you know the particulars aside from that?

[Rick Wakeman]

Here's the information about "Urban Bowhunting Specialist Springfield" posted in the "Events" forum.

The Missouri Department of Conservation is planning to conduct a managed urban archery deer hunt to reduce the doe population of specific properties owned by City Utilities in Springfield, MO ( District 7 ). This will be a MDC sanctioned and managed hunt, but they have asked the Missouri Bowhunting Council for assistance in training the selected individuals in urban-specific tactics and safety.

Tentative class dates are June 26, July 24, and September 11, 2010 at the MDC Southwest Regional Office located at 2630 N. Mayfair in Springfield. For more information contact the SW Regional Office at (417) 895-6880.

If you are interested in volunteering to help with the training classes, please contact Brian Peterson at (417) 794-3422 or Denny Ballard at (573) 808-3773 .

[C Kerley]

Thanks Rick, I had read that. What I wondered is, are there special permits outside of this class, is it open all season, where are the specific areas (is it just Fellows Lake), and I didn't know if someone on here might know that stuff.

[Dennis J Voss]

I'm going to confuse the information. I don't remember exactly how it came about, and I'm not even sure I have the right hunt, but I think the Urban Hunt is off or at the least, UBM, (Peterson, Ballard, etc.) are no longer supporting it. I think they were going to let crossbows in and it sounded like there were not going to be any guidelines or prerequisites on the bowhunters. More simply put, they were going to open it to anyone who wanted to hunt, meaning if Johnny gun hunter went to Bass (crossbow) Pro and bought a bow the day before the hunt, he would be permitted to use it without ever loosing an arrow before in his life. You get ther drift. Wounded critters all over the place screaming and hollering in an Urban area. Any which way, I'm going to e-mail Peterson right now to clear this up for you. If I'm way off on this, it should be a lesson to you to check out all information read on the internet.

[Mount'n Man]

I'll try to reconstruct my thoughts here--I was timed out earlier before I could successfully send my reply to this thread (grrrr). Twice now--I saved this reply and copied it in.

In response to Dennis' comments: Yes, the Managed Hunts in the Springfield area (Fellows Lake and Lake Springfield) have been CANCELLED. This goes for the Urban Bowhunting Specialist (UBS) training classes as well. There was little or no fanfare to the cancellation and when pressed for a response, it was stated that liability insurance was the crux of the issue. City Utilities (the landowners in both areas) had voiced concerns over this issue, and from earlier meetings and discussions, I surmise that they were hoping that we (Missouri Bowhunting Council) would provide this policy as we did in the St. Louis program (as I understand it, there is currently no liability insurance provided with the UBS program there due to funding issues). For the complete story on the Springfield hunts, refer to:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100721/NEWS01/7210430/Urban-deer-hunt-is-canceled-for-this-year

Our issue is that A: we are not insurance undewriters, and B: MDC wanted to alter the UBS program to a random drawing, allowing anyone who possessed a valid archery license and had passed the Bowhunter Ed course to participate regardless of experience or qualification. We took issue with this due to the volitile nature of the urban bowhunting setting--only the most experienced and qualified bowhunters should be out there (Dennis touched on this earlier).

Insofar as the cross bow issue is concerned: Yes, when we caught wind of the possible inclusion of cross bows in the urban portion of the archery season, Denny Ballard notified MDC that he would decline to continue teaching the UBS program. I expressed my solidarity with his position, but ammended my position to support the UBS program until it was officially and undeniably stated that cross bows were in the archery season. Denny has requested an audience with Director Ziehmer to discuss cross bows and I am still awaiting answers from MDC Supervisors to my inquiries about the crossbow dating back to June.

With todays political and finacial climate, the crossbow issue will undoubtedly surface again (and likely soon). Our only hope is that we can be included in the discussions with the powers that be rather than finding out about it reading the fall reg's.

Brian Peterson, President UBM

[Mount'n Man]

The complete link referred to is:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100721/NEWS01/7210430/Urban-deer-hunt-is-canceled-for-this-year

BP

[Rick Wakeman]

Thanks Rick, I had read that. What I wondered is, are there special permits outside of this class, is it open all season, where are the specific areas (is it just Fellows Lake), and I didn't know if someone on here might know that stuff.

Carlos...great to see that you found that info over on the "Events" forum, but wanted to be sure. Hope that Dennis and Brian had the info you were looking for.

Dennis and Brian...thanks for your input, great info. Keep us informed, and let us know what we need to do.

[Gray Buffalo]

Thanks Guy's for sticking to our beliefs as bow hunters

[C Kerley]

What a mess. I had hoped this would be the first step to having an urban bowhunt for the City itself, but I'm not seeing that happen now. Here's what we're missing, hit by a car last fall on the south side....

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x77/bo-huntr/ATT000011.jpg

[Tom Dickerson]

Hopefully we can get the insurance issue resolved? I felt like that is one reason they wanted MBC ( Missouri Bowhunting Council ) involved? Once the possibility of the crossbow was brought up it was a real deal breaker then. I know some MDC people have put a lot of work on this effort and really want to hold a hunt but MBC ( which UBM is a part of ) cannot risk or afford to provide insurance for randomly drawn hunters.

I saw some pictures of some nice bucks in Cape Girardeau city limits after Church this morning. Hoping to get a program there also?? Of course, UBS program and good management practices mean we NEED to try to take more does than the trophy bucks but one should have a chance to take a buck but we can NOT let them become trophy hunts!!

Tom