Changes to archery equipment requirements approved
PRATT — At the Public Hearing portion of the April 22 meeting of the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission, regulation amendments concerning big game and turkey legal equipment, deer seasons, antelope season, and elk season were approved.

Commissioners voted to accept the recommendation to change the minimum width of broadheads used by archery hunters for big game and turkeys to three-quarters of an inch. The previous regulation required a broadhead width of at least thirteen-sixteenths of an inch, but was difficult to enforce. The new regulation will require a broadhead that will not pass through a ring three-quarters of an inch in diameter when fully expanded. In a related move, the commission approved an amendment that allows archery hunters hunting big game to possess non-broadhead-tipped arrows as long as they don’t take or attempt to take any big game animals with the arrows. Archery hunters had requested to the change to allow possession of field points for practice or blunt tips for small game hunting.

Commissioners approved recommended 2010-2011 deer season dates: Youth and Persons with Disabilities – Sept. 11-19, 2010; Archery – Sept. 20-Dec. 31, 2010; Muzzleloader – Sept. 20-Oct. 3, 2010; Firearm season for Urban Unit 19 – Oct. 9-17, 2010; Firearm – Dec. 1-12, 2010; and Extended whitetail antlerless only – Jan. 1-9, 2011. In another change, all deer management units will be open for the extended whitetail antlerless only season in January. The application deadline for resident firearm either species-either sex permits is July 9, 2010.

Pronghorn antelope season dates were approved: Archery – Sept. 18-26, 2010 and Oct. 9-31, 2010; Muzzleloader – Sept. 27-Oct. 4, 2010; and Firearm – Oct. 1-4, 2010. The application deadline for the resident-only firearm and muzzleloader permits is June 11, 2010. Resident and nonresident pronghorn antelope archery permits are unlimited and available over the counter through Oct. 30, 2010.

Elk season dates, both on Fort Riley and off the fort were set: Archery statewide (except Fort Riley and Morton County) -- Sept. 20-Dec. 31, 2010; Fort Riley (subunit 8a) – Sept. 1-Oct. 3, 2010. Firearm statewide (except Fort Riley and Morton County) – Dec. 1-12, 2010 and Jan. 1-March 15, 2011; Fort Riley (subunit 8a) -- first segment -- Oct. 1-31, 2010, second segment -- Nov. 1-30, 2010, third segment Dec. 1-31, 2010. Muzzleloader statewide (except Fort Riley and Morton County) – Sept. 1-Oct. 3, 2010; Fort Riley (subunit 8a) – Sept. 1-Oct. 3, 2010. As in past seasons, a limited quota of any elk and antlerless only elk permits that are valid on Fort Riley and statewide, except for Morton County, will be available to residents and Fort Riley military personnel only. The application deadline for limited-quota elk permits is July 9, 2010. Unlimited hunt-own-land antlerless-only elk permits are authorized statewide, except in Morton County, and will be available through March 14, 2011. New for this year will be sale of over-the-counter antlerless only and either sex elk permits. These permits are not valid on Fort Riley or in Clay, Geary, Morton, or Riley counties. These unlimited over-the-counter permits were established because of growing elk populations in several regions of western Kansas.
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