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HF 406, Methods of take during NR holiday season

Fishbonker

Fishbonker

Life Member
Link to the bill: HF 406

This bill would add shotguns and straight wall rifles to the NR holiday season. Currently the only allowed methods of take for this season are muzzleloaders, hand guns and bows. The non resident season runs from December 24th through January 2nd and only antlerless deer may be taken.

As with all legislation there is more here than meets the eye, it looks to me like somebody wants a late gun season for residents. Why in the world would the State allow NRs to use a method of take that a resident can't use during the same season?

Copy and paste of the proposed language: In addition to other methods of take that the commission authorizes for the season, the commission shall authorize a nonresident hunting deer with a license issued under this subsection to use a bow, muzzleloader, handgun, shotgun, or rifle firing straight wall ammunition.

The part about "other methods of take" is concerning to me as well. What other methods of take are left? Starts with a "C" and ends with a "rossbows".

I strongly doubt this is coming from NRs but time and lobbyist declarations will tell.
 
Who comes up with all these bills? Every year. Why? Just leave stuff alone. Who are these people introduces these bills? Are they doing to this to try and benefit themselves, is there some other big group lobbying them to put forth this bills on their behalf. So much of this stuff is ridiculous. Leave crap alone. This stuff makes me so mad every year seeing all this random stuff that keeps getting proposed.
 
This rule, 483A.8(6), has been in Iowa Code since 2005. In the Iowa Code of 2005 the section in question refers to the 2003-2004 seasons so I'm guessing the bill had been discussed in 2002. This is when Iowa was hitting its stride as a big buck state and residents wanted (and continue to want) a cheap way for their relatives to come back to Iowa to hunt. This was a compromise of sorts and we can point at this rule and say that there is a mechanism for for their relatives et. al. to come back for the holidays and hunt with family. I think if this rule goes away we will need to fight those battles all over again.

As to Hardwood's point, I have looked and I can't find how many NR tags were sold for the holiday season. I see there were plenty of NR antlerless tags left after the gun 1 and 2 seasons but I'm not sure if that included sales for late muzzle loader season. As far as harvest data all NR harvests are lumped together regardless of season. I have a request in for information and will share when I hear back.

Who comes up with these seasons? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? The bill was proposed by Rep Jeneary vice chair of the Natural Resources Committee. He may have a constituent who is bending his ear, or it could be a trial balloon or who knows.
 
Subcommittee appointed today.

Representative Thomas D. Gerhold, House District 75, Benton and parts of Iowa counties. Legislative web site: State Representative (iowa.gov) Email: Thomas.Gerhold@legis.iowa.gov

Representative Wes Breckenridge, House District 29, parts of Jasper County. Legislative web page: State Representative (iowa.gov) Email: Wes.Breckenridge@legis.iowa.gov

Representative Jon Thorup, House District 28, parts of Jasper, Marion and Lucas counties. Legislative web page: State Representative (iowa.gov) Email: Jon.Thorup@legis.iowa.gov

I will post date and time for the meeting when it is set.
 
Passed subcommittee. The vote hasn't been published yet but I heard it was 2-1.

Only three public comments were posted. My thanks to the other two that commented.
 
This bill is on the agenda for the Monday, 2/15/21 House Natural Resources Committee.

Link to public comments: Comment here

Be sure and put the bill number you are commenting on.
 
Passed full committee today 11-8. The sponsor of the bill was contacted by a non resident who comes back to hunt the holiday season. The nonresident wishes to use shotgun and/or straight wall rifles when they come back to hunt his grandmothers land near Fairfield. The audio quality was poor (too much background noise was picked up by the microphones downing out the speaker). One Representative asked if this bill would give nonresidents an advantage over resident hunters, the bill's sponsor didn't really answer the question but again, the sound was horrible so I couldn't catch it all. One Representative spoke out against the bill pointing out that this could lead to more NRs purchasing ground and other points that were hard to pick up. The bill's sponsor replied to one of his points by saying residents can already use shotguns in late ML season, at least that is what I think he said. It sounded to me like he meant Iowans could get buck tags for 2 gun seasons. We can only get a buck tag in shotgun or ML not both but we can get antlerless tags in shotgun and a buck tag in late muzzle loader and vice-versa.

And here I thought this was more than one NR contacting an Iowa Legislator. Bottom line, poor audio notwithstanding, this bill will move to the full House.

One part I did hear was the number of NRs using this last season was 122 last year.
 
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