Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2015 15:10:25 GMT -5
Otter season
Pennsylvania looks poised to get its first otter trapping season in decades.
On Tuesday, Game Commissioners are expected to give preliminary approval to a season that would run from Feb. 21-23, 2016. It would be open to anyone with a furtaker license and a special otter tag, expected to cost $6.70.
Trappers will be allowed to take up to one otter each per year, but trapping will be limited to two wildlife management units, 3C and 3D. Both are located in the Poconos, the one spot in the commonwealth from which the animals never disappeared, said Tom Hardisky, the commission's aquatic furbearer biologist.
Creation of the season will bring Pennsylvania in line with other states.
Of those that have otters, only three – Pennsylvania, Indiana and New Jersey – don't have a season, he said.
The harvest will likely be relatively small, based on the experiences of other states, Hardisky said. He looked at otter seasons in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio. Many are open statewide; some offer seasons lasting a month.
The annual harvests range from 1,270 a year in New York to 283 in Maryland to 197 in West Virginia to 145 in Ohio to 46 in New Jersey to 44 in Delaware, he said.
Pennsylvania's season purposely represents a “conservative approach,” he said.
“All those states have maintained otter harvests every year. A regulated harvest in Pennsylvania is definitely feasible,” Hardisky said.
Pennsylvania looks poised to get its first otter trapping season in decades.
On Tuesday, Game Commissioners are expected to give preliminary approval to a season that would run from Feb. 21-23, 2016. It would be open to anyone with a furtaker license and a special otter tag, expected to cost $6.70.
Trappers will be allowed to take up to one otter each per year, but trapping will be limited to two wildlife management units, 3C and 3D. Both are located in the Poconos, the one spot in the commonwealth from which the animals never disappeared, said Tom Hardisky, the commission's aquatic furbearer biologist.
Creation of the season will bring Pennsylvania in line with other states.
Of those that have otters, only three – Pennsylvania, Indiana and New Jersey – don't have a season, he said.
The harvest will likely be relatively small, based on the experiences of other states, Hardisky said. He looked at otter seasons in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio. Many are open statewide; some offer seasons lasting a month.
The annual harvests range from 1,270 a year in New York to 283 in Maryland to 197 in West Virginia to 145 in Ohio to 46 in New Jersey to 44 in Delaware, he said.
Pennsylvania's season purposely represents a “conservative approach,” he said.
“All those states have maintained otter harvests every year. A regulated harvest in Pennsylvania is definitely feasible,” Hardisky said.
