I can't believe TPWD officials thought this was a good idea. I'm really interested to see what the details of the contract were.
http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/outdoors/09/01/0901dovehunt.html
"Monday, September 01, 2008
BROWNWOOD — Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials have called a halt to a controversial no-limits, preseason dove hunt being conducted over the holiday weekend by department staffers in Brown County.
Parks and Wildlife staff members said Sunday that the hunt was the beginning of a scientific study of the effectiveness of steel shot for mourning doves, but the timing of the event has raised complaints.
For other Texas hunters, dove season officially opens today, but 22 volunteer shooters recruited by an outfitter who has a contract with the department for hunting access killed 320 doves Saturday, said Scott Boruff, deputy executive director for operations.
Boruff said the original plan under the contract with the outfitters had been for the shooters and observers to move to fields in Coleman County on Sunday to try to collect the remainder of the 500 doves needed for the study.
But outfitter David Davis of Brownwood, who has hunters scheduled to hunt a field adjacent to the early hunting location, complained Saturday that his hunters were being unfairly affected by the plan. He questioned why the department-sanctioned study needed to be conducted before dove season opened elsewhere.
"I didn't understand why they were out there hunting, next to the field where I'm going to have to carry hunters Monday, and doing it before the season opens," Davis said.
Boruff, responding to a call from the American-Statesman, contacted Parks and Wildlife staffers at the site and canceled Sunday's hunt. He said he didn't know whether the hunt would be allowed to go forward today.
"The outfitter won a contract to coordinate the hunt," Boruff said.
That outfitter, who is being paid an undisclosed amount by Parks and Wildlife, was responsible for contacting landowners around the hunting site to get their approval, as well as recruiting the shooters who were given free shells and allowed to kill as many doves as they could during the shoot.
Boruff said he believed the proposal and design were sound but said he couldn't explain why the department's Wildlife Division decided to conduct the hunt — done with permission and permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — prior to the opening of regular hunting seasons in Texas.
No details of the outfitter's contract were available Sunday, Boruff said.
The amount of money he was paid, whether he was allowed to charge the shooters who came from outside the Brownwood area and how the outfitter was recruited should be detailed in a copy of the contract to be released later this week, he said.
In addition, the amount of money spent by Parks and Wildlife personnel, as many as 60 by one account, to travel from around the state and spend multiple days in a Brownwood motel will have to be factored into the cost of the event.
In the meantime, Boruff is dealing with the public-relations fallout that Parks and Wildlife officials are facing as a result of their own employees moving into one of the state's prime dove hunting areas and killing hundreds of birds two days before the season opens. Why did it happen?
"I don't know," Boruff said. "I don't have a good answer for that. I don't want to kill the project if I can help it but I'm disappointed we didn't catch this before it got to this. I would have made a different decision (on hunting early) if it had floated up to me, but it didn't." "
http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/outdoors/09/01/0901dovehunt.html
"Monday, September 01, 2008
BROWNWOOD — Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials have called a halt to a controversial no-limits, preseason dove hunt being conducted over the holiday weekend by department staffers in Brown County.
Parks and Wildlife staff members said Sunday that the hunt was the beginning of a scientific study of the effectiveness of steel shot for mourning doves, but the timing of the event has raised complaints.
For other Texas hunters, dove season officially opens today, but 22 volunteer shooters recruited by an outfitter who has a contract with the department for hunting access killed 320 doves Saturday, said Scott Boruff, deputy executive director for operations.
Boruff said the original plan under the contract with the outfitters had been for the shooters and observers to move to fields in Coleman County on Sunday to try to collect the remainder of the 500 doves needed for the study.
But outfitter David Davis of Brownwood, who has hunters scheduled to hunt a field adjacent to the early hunting location, complained Saturday that his hunters were being unfairly affected by the plan. He questioned why the department-sanctioned study needed to be conducted before dove season opened elsewhere.
"I didn't understand why they were out there hunting, next to the field where I'm going to have to carry hunters Monday, and doing it before the season opens," Davis said.
Boruff, responding to a call from the American-Statesman, contacted Parks and Wildlife staffers at the site and canceled Sunday's hunt. He said he didn't know whether the hunt would be allowed to go forward today.
"The outfitter won a contract to coordinate the hunt," Boruff said.
That outfitter, who is being paid an undisclosed amount by Parks and Wildlife, was responsible for contacting landowners around the hunting site to get their approval, as well as recruiting the shooters who were given free shells and allowed to kill as many doves as they could during the shoot.
Boruff said he believed the proposal and design were sound but said he couldn't explain why the department's Wildlife Division decided to conduct the hunt — done with permission and permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — prior to the opening of regular hunting seasons in Texas.
No details of the outfitter's contract were available Sunday, Boruff said.
The amount of money he was paid, whether he was allowed to charge the shooters who came from outside the Brownwood area and how the outfitter was recruited should be detailed in a copy of the contract to be released later this week, he said.
In addition, the amount of money spent by Parks and Wildlife personnel, as many as 60 by one account, to travel from around the state and spend multiple days in a Brownwood motel will have to be factored into the cost of the event.
In the meantime, Boruff is dealing with the public-relations fallout that Parks and Wildlife officials are facing as a result of their own employees moving into one of the state's prime dove hunting areas and killing hundreds of birds two days before the season opens. Why did it happen?
"I don't know," Boruff said. "I don't have a good answer for that. I don't want to kill the project if I can help it but I'm disappointed we didn't catch this before it got to this. I would have made a different decision (on hunting early) if it had floated up to me, but it didn't." "