Commission to Take Second Look at Muzzleloader Rules

Idaho Fish and Game commissioners Thursday, March 9, agreed to take another look at controversial definitions of muzzleloader weapons adopted in January. The new rules have raised a furor of complaints from some hunters whose modern inline weapons no longer are legal in muzzleloader-only hunts. The rules require muzzleloaders have a pivoting hammer, an exposed ignition with only flint or percussion caps, use only loose black powder or loose synthetic black powder, and bullets must be within .010 inch of the bore diameter. So-called modern inline weapons still are legal in short-range weapon and other hunts. Those complaints led commissioners Tony McDermott of the Panhandle Region and Alex Irby of the Clearwater Region to propose the commission examine in more detail the technology and data on which their January decision was made. The decision to reexamine the muzzleloader issue was not in response to complaints, McDermott said. But if that decision was based on inaccurate or incomplete information, perhaps it should be changed. But any changes would not take effect before the 2008 hunting seasons. In setting big game hunting seasons, McDermott and Irby proposed changing several muzzleloader hunts to short-range weapons hunts in their regions that would allow the use of inline weapons. Short-range weapons include many modern inline muzzleloaders, archery and shotguns. The commission adopted the big game seasons with the changes to short-range weapons hunts over the objections of commissioners Randall Budge of the Southeast Region and Wayne Wright of the Magic Valley Region. Budge and Wright resisted the change, saying it essentially sidestepped the new muzzleloader rules in two individual regions without any discussion of the issue. McDermott agreed it was a band-aid solution and suggested the commissioners reexamine the evidence on which they had based their January decision. He suggested the commissioners invite some technical experts to present data on the differences between more traditional muzzleloaders and modern in-line weapons. "We need to quantify the effectiveness," Wright said. Budge noted that the line between the weapons was not so clear after all. The commission needs to clearly define what short-range means and then set hunt opportunities. Other commissioners agree they need to examine how they have allocated the opportunities to hunt in this state. They agreed to take another look at the technology and to determine whether they made the right or wrong decision in January. No date was set for further discussion.