Published: February 23, 2008 08:31 pm         

West Virginia politicians eye intriguing bills

Special note to poachers: Check out House Bill 2923

What a difference a river makes.

On one side of the Potomac and its North Branch is Maryland. You can always count on a bill or four being introduced in that state’s General Assembly each year that are intended to stop or restrict hunting.

On the other side of the river is West Virginia. Hunting bills get introduced there as well, but none that would stop hunting. The bills in the Mountain State usually deal with promoting certain forms of hunting, such as extending the slingshot season for LGBs.

Sooooo..... here are some items currently in the political hopper in Charleston. My examination of them shows that none has had much action since being introduced.

Senate Bill 116

This bill would make it illegal for someone from another state to buy a nonresident West Virginia hunting license unless that person already had purchased a resident license from his or her home state.

Senate Bill 124

It would become illegal to conduct a timbering operation within 500 feet of any stream harboring a native brook trout population.

Senate Bill 255

This would absolve a landowner and his or her tenant or agent of any civil liability for injuries suffered by a person hunting, trapping or fishing on that land, with or without permission.

Senate Bill 656

Would create one resident hunting license good for hunting, fishing and trapping and would provide 1 percent of general revenue for use by the Division of Natural Resources.

House Bill 4338

This proposed law would make it legal for a person to discharge a firearm within 500 feet of any dwelling in a safe and accurate manner if the person had first obtained a permit to do so.

House Bill 2043

Exposing gutted game to the public would become illegal under this bill. As I read this bill, it would make everybody illegal who, on the day before Thanksgiving, had a gutted deer that could be seen by others in the back of a pickup truck driving north on Interstate 79 (or any other road). Since that is something I usually do on that day, I am concerned about the potential passage of this bill.

Perhaps the bill could be rewritten so that it becomes illegal to look in the direction of a gutted deer for anybody who would find such a vision repulsive. Just a thought.

House Bill 2143

This interesting piece of legislation would make it OK for you to go back to the woods on a Sunday to retrieve Old Sooner. Old Sooner, of course, is your dog, who got his name because he would sooner eat than hunt.

Anyway, HB 2143 says you won’t be breaking the no-hunting-on-Sunday law if your only purpose is to find and recover your canine.

These are important things to a segment of the outdoor community.

House Bill 2279

If approved, this bill would create season of at least five days for the hunting of deer with side-lock muzzleloaders. In other words, your in-line smokepole would not be appropriate. The season would begin about two weeks after the start of bow season and be in session everywhere, including Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming counties, where firearms deer seasons do not now exist.

House Bill 2570

This one would require Frank Jezioro, the director of the DNR, to divide the state into five sections and stock equal numbers of trout in each section.

House Bill 2923

Hoooo. Hoooo. This one gets serious about poachers. If you illegally kill or possess West Virginia wildlife you will spend at least 10 days in the clink and maybe up to 100. That’s a lot of eggs and hot balogna for breakfast paid for by the county You will be fined at least $500 or maybe up to $1,000. That helps pay for the breakfasts.

And that’s for a first offense.

Get caught a second time and you will have committed a felony and will be fined $1,000 to $5,000 and put in a state correctional facility for at least one year and up to five years. Two big illegal does can mean a stay at the big house.

House Bill 2960

If a hunter, either resident or nonresident, has an extra buck stamp, but doesn’t fill it during the regular season, this bill would allow that stamp to be used in place of buying a doe license for the antlerless season that follows.

House Bill 3001

This one has received a lot of media attention. It would require high schools to teach hunter education. Most recently, Gov. Joe Manchin said he would prefer to let individual counties make that determination rather than see it required via state law.

House Bill 4153

This bill would increase from 24 hours to 48 hours the time allowed for trappers to check their traps.

Oh. I’m sorry. I almost forgot. LGBs stands for little gray birds.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.