SAM’s 2011 Pickering Commission

to Reduce and Clarify Maine’s Hunting Laws

Prepared by George A. Smith, November 21, 2011

The Process and Participants

SAM’s Pickering Commission to Reduce and Clarify Maine’s Hunting Laws was organized in 2011 with the help of a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund. I was hired to organize and lead the Commission.

A distinguished group of Commission members met twice and did a lot of work before, between, and after meetings. Included were three legislators who serve on the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, two members of DIF&W’s Advisory Council, DIF&W’s Deputy Commissioner, a Captain of the Warden Service, and a good cross section of sportsmen from state organizations and local fish and game clubs.

We were also pleased that former SAM President Edye Cronk, the sister of David Pickering for whom the Commission is named, was able to join us for the initial meeting, to maintain the Commission’s link to Dave.

We were saddened by the death of Steve Coleman, a Commission member who drowned just prior to our first meeting. Steve submitted many good suggestions before he died, which the Commission subsequently discussed in his memory and honor. He contributed significantly to our work and recommendations.

Those who attended at least one of the two meetings are listed at the end of this report. Others, including SAM members, were offered opportunities to submit ideas and react to proposed recommendations, through a variety of means, including stories in SAM News, The Maine Sportsman, and my two outdoor news blogs. We received a lot of input.

Commission members were given several months to study the hunting laws and submit recommendations for the consideration of the full commission, which met on September 23 and October 21.

At the September meeting, we went through the entire Title 12 statutes governing hunting and related issues (such as landowner relations). I compiled all of the recommendations that arose at the September meeting, and the commission reviewed and acted on all of those recommendations at the October 21 meeting.

Following that meeting, I completed a draft of the recommendations and gave Commission members time to review the draft for accuracy. The review period ended on November 18.

I also hosted a meeting on October 12 to create a proposal to simplify the system of hunting licenses, permits, and fees. Participating in that meeting were Bill Swan, DIF&W Licensing Director, Dave Trahan, SAM’s executive director, Neil Kiley (representing relatively new hunters), and Harry Vanderweide, editor of The Maine Sportsman.

The grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund totaled $8,000. SAM and I contributed $4,000 of in-kind services, bringing the total cost of the project to $12,000.

This report, a cover letter, and the recommendations will be submitted to SAM, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the members of the legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, with a request that they collaborate on the implementation of the recommendations, many of which will require legislative approval. It is my intent to follow and report on the progress of that collaboration and any efforts to implement the Commission’s recommendations.

History

SAM organized a Commission to Reduce and Clarify Maine’s Hunting, Fishing, and Trapping Laws and Rules in 1998 and selected Cape Elizabeth’s Chief of Police, David Pickering, to chair the commission.

Pickering set the tone for the commission’s first vigorous examination of the laws that govern sportsmen by noting, “Over the years, countless factions have lobbied (to enact) regulations, laws and rules for the intended purpose of promoting safety, conservation, quiet enjoyment, enhancement of fishing stocks and fur and game species. While laudable on their face, time and improved sporting equipment and techniques have managed to prove many of these laws and regulations as overly restrictive, confusing, unnecessarily intrusive and unproductive for their intended purpose.”

SAM President Edye Cronk expressed the hope of many when she announced formation of the first commission, stating, “We hope the end result will be laws and rules which better focus on protection of our resources, allow sportsmen to easily understand the laws and rules which govern their behavior, and help game wardens understand and enforce the laws.”

Chief Pickering created a mission statement and established ground rules and goals for the commission. In the mission statement, he wrote, “The goal of the Rules Commission is to study selected statutes and the published rule books, pamphlets and regulations summaries related to them for the purpose of simplifying the language, legibility and understandability of the laws and rules to further reduce unnecessary regulations that are seen to be unenforceable, misapplied or unnecessary for their originally intended purpose.”

This mission statement continues to guide the work of the Pickering Commission today.

Two working groups were organized that first year, one to review fishing laws and rules and the other to review hunting laws and rules. Many of the recommendations issued by the two groups were enacted over the subsequent two-year period.

For example, the group reviewing hunting laws recommended extending the hunting day, authorizing camo orange, clarifying the prohibition on hunting from a public way, simplifying the law governing transportation of game, authorizing tracking of wounded deer with dogs, and allowing deer driving by small groups. They even recommended a change in the definition of hunting. All of these proposals and many more were enacted.

The process was so successful that SAM’s members ratified a bylaws change in September of 2000 that made the commission a permanent committee in the organization’s bylaws and officially named the group the Pickering Rules Commission in honor of David Pickering, who died of cancer at the age of 47 in 2000.

Beginning in 2001 SAM established a process that alternates between reviews of hunting and trapping laws and reviews of fishing laws and rules. Each time a process begins, members are selected for the commission. The last time a commission reviewed hunting laws was in 2002.

That commission presented, as its central and most important recommendation, a proposal to make hunting laws and rules consistent for all game animals.

“Laws and rules should serve two purposes,” noted the 2002 commission, “protection of the resource and safety of the participants and public. We strongly believe that hunting laws and rules should be consistent across all game animals, as much as possible, recognizing that some, such as bag limits, are driven by biology and science and cannot be consistent for all animals.”

Again, many of the commission’s more than 100 recommendations were enacted.

2011 Pickering Commission members who attended at least meeting

Andrea Erskine, Deputy Commissioner, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

Captain Dan Scott, Maine Warden Service

Matt Dunlap, interim SAM executive director

Dave Trahan, State Senator and SAM executive director

Jane Eberle, State Representative

Ellie Espling, State Representative

Steve Philbrick, Fish and Wildlife Advisory Council

Dick Thurston, Fish and Wildlife Advisory Council

Fern Bosse, Norway

Steve Tobin, Norway

Neil Kiley, Falmouth

Gary Corson, New Sharon

Ken Scribner, Durham

Jerome Richard, Clinton

James Cote, Farmington

Tom Doak, Small Woodland Owners Association