Side Arms Ok' d For Oregon Bowhunters...
08-18-2003, 10:43 AM
#1
Matriarch Doe!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Waterloo, Oregon
Posts: 16,449
Side Arms Ok' d For Oregon Bowhunters...
Side arms OK' d for Oregon bowhunters
Young hunter-lobbyist' s proposal prompts state to reverse
a hunting law that made pistols illegal to carry by archers
By Mark Freeman
Medford Mail Tribune — Aug. 15, 2003
Bowhunters: Are you armed if a big cat decides to attack?
MEDFORD, Ore. — For the past two years, bowhunter Jerod Broadfoot has placed protecting his own neck above conforming to state hunting laws.
The Salem, Ore.-area man routinely carries a 9 mm pistol while bowhunting deer and elk in eastern Oregon, in violation of hunting rules banning the carrying of side arms while archery hunting.
With the cougars and bears so plentiful, he says he needs — and deserves — the right to such firepower to survive any potential encounter with a bear or cougar.
" Without it, you' ve got just one shot with a stick," said Broadfoot, a 23-year-old political lobbyist.
" When you put yourself in that situation, you put yourself on the bottom of the food chain."
Broadfoot will remain atop the food chain this fall. But this time, he' ll do it legally.
At Broadfoot' s behest, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission recently suspended its rules that ban the carrying of weapons like pistols and rifles during specialized hunts, such as bow and muzzleloader hunts.
Though the change allows bowhunters to carry side arms, it remains illegal to use a pistol or rifle to kill an animal in a bow or muzzleloader hunt.
“ It' s really the cats that are the concern. With the numbers of them out there, we bowhunters are having a lot of close calls. ”
— Jerod Broadfoot
Those who use a pistol in what police agree is a self-defense situation do not face any charges.
The decision came after the Oregon Attorney General' s Office agreed with Broadfoot' s claims that a 1995 state law strips the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife' s previous authority to enact lesser " administrative rules" that restrict gun possession.
" State law trumps administrative rules," Broadfoot said.
The change also applies to adults who heretofore were banned from carrying weapons while assisting teens in special youth hunts, as well as furbearers during the pursuit season with dogs for bobcat and other species.
State DFW leaders will comb through all their hunting seasons in search of all similar rules and strike them, said Ron Anglin, the agency' s wildlife division administrator.
The side arms ban began in the mid-1980s over concerns that a small percentage of archery tag-holders used guns to kill their quarry. It since became commonplace in specialized big-game seasons as an extra tool to curb poaching.
Capt. Cynthia Kok of the Oregon State Police said it takes away one tool in troopers' enforcement arsenal, but it won' t inevitably lead to more illegal kills.
" Our feeling is that the bad actor is going to do something illegally anyway," Kok says. " Ethical hunters will be in possession of that weapon for ethical reasons — protection."
Bowhunting advocate Don Pritchett of Medford concurs.
Pritchett, who owns Dew Claw Archery Supplies, said bowhunters hiking stealthily through Oregon' s woods can encounter circumstances where an arrow can be too small to hide behind.
" You never know what you' re going to run into, like a pot field or a cougar," Pritchett says.
" But it' s really the cats that are the concern. With the numbers of them out there, we bowhunters are having a lot of close calls."
Broadfoot certainly agrees.
The product of a Hermiston, Ore., logging family, he' s hunted northeastern Oregon' s deer and elk with a bow since age 13.
Often, he hikes to treestands far before sunrise so he can climb into his stand and let his scent disperse before first light. When hiking out, he' s often seen bear or cougar prints following his path into the woods.
Two years ago, he started bringing his gun.
" Now, when I walk into a stand in the dark, it' s in my hand," Broadfoot says. " I got a bow and flashlight in one, and a pistol in the other.
" When you' re by yourself, it' s a big concern," he said.
Broadfoot found he wasn' t alone. A lobbyist for Pac/West Communications in Wilsonville, Ore., two of his clients — Safari Club International and Oregon Gun Owners — also took issue with the state DFW' s gun-possession bans.
Researching the issues, Broadfoot found the early prohibitions were legal. But the 1995 Oregon Legislature passed a state " pre-emption" law keeping it only the Legislature' s authority to regulate the sale, transfer, ownership, transportation … and possession of firearms.
" We didn' t feel (the ODFW) had the authority," he said.
Broadfoot wrote a three-page summary of the issues, and sent it to Anglin in June. Anglin asked for the attorney general' s opinion, which concurred. That led to the change, in which the commission adopted an emergency rule stripping those gun-possession rules from the books.
Anglin says the ODFW and the Oregon State Police will be looking at ways of monitoring any impacts of the change.
This decision could become the status-quo indefinitely, since the commission did not ask Anglin to seek a way to make the old prohibitions legal.
" Unless the commission tells us to do something, we wouldn' t take any action," Anglin said.
Broadfoot said he' s happy Oregon' s 600,000 big-game hunters will be able to decide for themselves whether a sidearm is necessary.
Broadfoot certainly will continue to carry his pistol, and he hopes never to need it.
" I' ve not come face-to-face with a bear or cougar, or there would be a dead one in front of me," he said.
Young hunter-lobbyist' s proposal prompts state to reverse
a hunting law that made pistols illegal to carry by archers
By Mark Freeman
Medford Mail Tribune — Aug. 15, 2003
Bowhunters: Are you armed if a big cat decides to attack?
MEDFORD, Ore. — For the past two years, bowhunter Jerod Broadfoot has placed protecting his own neck above conforming to state hunting laws.
The Salem, Ore.-area man routinely carries a 9 mm pistol while bowhunting deer and elk in eastern Oregon, in violation of hunting rules banning the carrying of side arms while archery hunting.
With the cougars and bears so plentiful, he says he needs — and deserves — the right to such firepower to survive any potential encounter with a bear or cougar.
" Without it, you' ve got just one shot with a stick," said Broadfoot, a 23-year-old political lobbyist.
" When you put yourself in that situation, you put yourself on the bottom of the food chain."
Broadfoot will remain atop the food chain this fall. But this time, he' ll do it legally.
At Broadfoot' s behest, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission recently suspended its rules that ban the carrying of weapons like pistols and rifles during specialized hunts, such as bow and muzzleloader hunts.
Though the change allows bowhunters to carry side arms, it remains illegal to use a pistol or rifle to kill an animal in a bow or muzzleloader hunt.
“ It' s really the cats that are the concern. With the numbers of them out there, we bowhunters are having a lot of close calls. ”
— Jerod Broadfoot
Those who use a pistol in what police agree is a self-defense situation do not face any charges.
The decision came after the Oregon Attorney General' s Office agreed with Broadfoot' s claims that a 1995 state law strips the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife' s previous authority to enact lesser " administrative rules" that restrict gun possession.
" State law trumps administrative rules," Broadfoot said.
The change also applies to adults who heretofore were banned from carrying weapons while assisting teens in special youth hunts, as well as furbearers during the pursuit season with dogs for bobcat and other species.
State DFW leaders will comb through all their hunting seasons in search of all similar rules and strike them, said Ron Anglin, the agency' s wildlife division administrator.
The side arms ban began in the mid-1980s over concerns that a small percentage of archery tag-holders used guns to kill their quarry. It since became commonplace in specialized big-game seasons as an extra tool to curb poaching.
Capt. Cynthia Kok of the Oregon State Police said it takes away one tool in troopers' enforcement arsenal, but it won' t inevitably lead to more illegal kills.
" Our feeling is that the bad actor is going to do something illegally anyway," Kok says. " Ethical hunters will be in possession of that weapon for ethical reasons — protection."
Bowhunting advocate Don Pritchett of Medford concurs.
Pritchett, who owns Dew Claw Archery Supplies, said bowhunters hiking stealthily through Oregon' s woods can encounter circumstances where an arrow can be too small to hide behind.
" You never know what you' re going to run into, like a pot field or a cougar," Pritchett says.
" But it' s really the cats that are the concern. With the numbers of them out there, we bowhunters are having a lot of close calls."
Broadfoot certainly agrees.
The product of a Hermiston, Ore., logging family, he' s hunted northeastern Oregon' s deer and elk with a bow since age 13.
Often, he hikes to treestands far before sunrise so he can climb into his stand and let his scent disperse before first light. When hiking out, he' s often seen bear or cougar prints following his path into the woods.
Two years ago, he started bringing his gun.
" Now, when I walk into a stand in the dark, it' s in my hand," Broadfoot says. " I got a bow and flashlight in one, and a pistol in the other.
" When you' re by yourself, it' s a big concern," he said.
Broadfoot found he wasn' t alone. A lobbyist for Pac/West Communications in Wilsonville, Ore., two of his clients — Safari Club International and Oregon Gun Owners — also took issue with the state DFW' s gun-possession bans.
Researching the issues, Broadfoot found the early prohibitions were legal. But the 1995 Oregon Legislature passed a state " pre-emption" law keeping it only the Legislature' s authority to regulate the sale, transfer, ownership, transportation … and possession of firearms.
" We didn' t feel (the ODFW) had the authority," he said.
Broadfoot wrote a three-page summary of the issues, and sent it to Anglin in June. Anglin asked for the attorney general' s opinion, which concurred. That led to the change, in which the commission adopted an emergency rule stripping those gun-possession rules from the books.
Anglin says the ODFW and the Oregon State Police will be looking at ways of monitoring any impacts of the change.
This decision could become the status-quo indefinitely, since the commission did not ask Anglin to seek a way to make the old prohibitions legal.
" Unless the commission tells us to do something, we wouldn' t take any action," Anglin said.
Broadfoot said he' s happy Oregon' s 600,000 big-game hunters will be able to decide for themselves whether a sidearm is necessary.
Broadfoot certainly will continue to carry his pistol, and he hopes never to need it.
" I' ve not come face-to-face with a bear or cougar, or there would be a dead one in front of me," he said.
08-18-2003, 10:28 PM
#2
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Nicholasville, KY
Posts: 655
RE: Side Arms Ok' d For Oregon Bowhunters...
I' m glad to see that at least Oregon has the common-sense legislation in place so that archers can protect themselves. It doesn' t take a rocket scientist to realize that a bow hunter in the dark is basicly defenseless against an attack unless he has fair warning to ready himself for a shot. It' s kinda hard to hold a flashlight and shoot a bow at the same time. I don' t feel handicapped in the least when I have my bow in my hand, as long as I have enough light to see. It' s when I can' t see in the shadows that I get nervous. We spend so much time trying to be scent free and silent, so it' s only a matter of time before you either surprise a bear or get stalked by a cat. Especially if you are using natural animal scents to attract or cover your scent. I' ve carried in past archery seasons for my pre-dawn and post-sunset hikes, and would again this year if I wasn' t muzzleloading. During the daylight it was always unloaded and put away in my pack, but when the sun wasn' t up it was on my hip. Those that object to carrying during archery season based on the increased threat of poaching are kidding themselves. It isn' t hard to tell the difference between a broadhead slice and a bullet hole. If my intention was to poach an animal, I wouldn' t use a bow. And you never know what kind of people or things you' ll run into on NF land. Way to go Oregon!
08-19-2003, 11:09 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: E. Washington State
Posts: 1,045
RE: Side Arms Ok' d For Oregon Bowhunters...
I agree. Even though I only rifle hunt I believe you should have a right to carry a pistol any where you go, including and especially bow hunters. They are at an extreme disadvantage in protecting themselves, even from poachers and the ilk. I think Washington should do that too. I did email the WDFW for info about packing my .40 while deer and elk hunting for the same reason and it is OK to do that. I can even use it to dispatch game I' ve shot with my rifle.
