MS - Rare Ploy Helps Kill Deer, Squirrel Bills - Mississippi Crossbow Federation

Rare Ploy Helps Kill Keer , Squirrel Bills

Bobby Cleveland, Outdoor Editor. Clarion-Ledger Newpaper, Jackson, MS
bcleveland@clarionledger.com - March 3, 2010

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Bills that would have restructured deer and squirrel hunting seasons were killed without a vote in a Senate committee Tuesday morning, when its meeting was abruptly adjourned by a rarely-used legislative ploy.

It appears the controversial deer season legislation, House Bill 1282, would have failed anyway.

Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee chairman Sen. Tommy Gollott, R-Biloxi, had just started the meeting and called up 1282 when Sen. Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, called for a "rise and report," a way of moving to adjourn without further discussion of pending legislation.

A majority vote followed and the meeting ended, catching Gollott by surprise and killing three hunting-related bills.

Tuesday was the deadline for committee action on legislation originating in the other side of the Capitol.

"It happened so fast, and it was over," said Gollott. "I had just called it (1282) up, and before we could discuss it, he (Tollison) called for a rise and report.

"You don't expect anything like that to happen."

Gollott called the meeting right after the Senate had adjourned its morning session, and not all committee members were immediately available. There was a quorum of six so the meeting started, and a seventh arrived.

Only two voted against Tollison's rise and report, Gollott said, calling it "a sign that the committee was going to kill the bill anyway."

Even without Tollison's move, 1282 was not going to pass Gollott's committee in House form.

"I was going to amend the bill, and put the archery dates back as they were, and all the season dates - I don't think we need to change," Gollott said.

Tollison's move did kill two other bills:

H.B. 1298, which would have established a May squirrel season and consolidated the fall/winter seasons into one zone.

H.B. 137, which would have authorized state wildlife officials to permit gun harvest of antlerless deer in October.

"The squirrel thing was my fault in a way," said Gollott. "When we first voted on House bills we had had no contact on that bill at all. I said that we could wait because we had time."

That time ran out Tuesday, a fact that wasn't lost on Rep. Bo Eaton, D-Taylorsville, chairman of the House Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee. He was not happy with Tuesday's Senate action, especially on 1282.

"I would have thought they (Senate committee) would have passed some form of it, and then we could have taken it to conference and worked on a final version that suited everyone," Eaton said. "What they did, eliminated that possibility.

"But this is our first attempt at this kind of bill, and next year we can take a different approach and eventually we will get there."

Longtime deer hunter Larry Thomas of Jackson was disappointed by 1282's demise.

"I can't believe they didn't pass that bill," he said. "Everybody I know was in favor. It helps so many hunters by giving us more time with our guns.

"I've read where people have been saying it wouldn't lead to more deer being harvested, but let me tell you, you give me more days to be out there and I'd kill more."

Archer Billy Simmons of Brandon was happy.

"Even though I do gun hunt, hunting with a bow is my favorite," Simmons said. "People need to understand that even though you can hunt with a bow during gun season, once you start putting people and guns in the woods, deer behavior changes dramatically. I'm glad they won't be taking that time away."