DuckSouth.com

Can someone please explain this to me.. I have been hearing for the past year that the Primitive Weapon season is going away.. But I just check the regulations and there are still 3 primitive weapons seasons.

Early Primitive Weapons - Nov. 10 - 21 - Anterless Deer Only
Primitive Weapon Dec. 2 - 15 - Antlerless Deer & Legal Bucks on private and open public land
Primitive Weapon Jan. 22 - 31 Antlerless Deer & Legal Bucks on private and open public land.

I called the DWFP and they said, only the last PW season was gun of choice, and that you must have a PW License???

"During any open season on deer with primitive weapons after November 30, a person may use any legal weapon of choice on private lands only, if the person is the title owner of the land, the lessee of the hunting rights on the land, a member of a hunting club leasing the hunting rights on the
land, or a guest of a person specified above. If the person is required to have a hunting license, the person must have a primitive weapon license, Sportsman’s
License, or a Lifetime Sportsman’s License."

So does that mean if you hunt on private or leased land there is only one PW season from Nov. 10 - 21????

Use can use a rifle, but have to have a PW "permit"($$), but only the last PW season??? Seems to be enough trickery in there to cause a man to get a ticket...or say to hail with the MDWFP

Will this even matter anymore after the constitutional amendment is passed? Or are they still going to regulate "HOW" you can hunt or fish even though
it's a new constitutional right?

sometimes it feels like our departments of "natural resources" would sacrifice every natural resource we got for $$$

The first primitive weapons season is still doe only in addition to "primitive weapon".

all I've hunted with for years is my .444, I've never heard of a PW license...

Sportsman's covers everything except WMA stamp, NWR permit, and duck stamps.

I've given up on trying to keep up with our deer season roulette wheel. I hunt with my .30-06 and take my chances.

The only thing that's changed is the December and January PW hunts allow weapon of choice on PRIVATE LANDS ONLY. Everything else remains the same. You still must purchase a PW license or have a Sportsman license to hunt during ANY PW season.

Of all the ridiculous things the MDWFP does, the PW permit has got to be at the top of the list. It is the most asinine, illogical thing I've ever heard of. The whole reason for the liberalization of the PW season, according to the MDWFP, was to increase participation. So what do they do in all their brilliance? Add another fee. It's the most contradictory line of thinking I've ever seen, and I work for the federal freaking government!

JaMake - the primitive weapon license has been around a very long time. It is nothing new, but you may just be hearing about it. If a person has a Sportsman license, they don't need a primitive weapon license.

BR549 pretty much summed up the new law.

The liberalization of the primitive weapon law was not to increase participation but that may have been a side product. In my opinion the liberalization of the primitive weapon began in the late 90s when scopes were made legal to use on muzzleloaders. Then a few years later what qualified as a primitive weapon changed to allow breach loading firearms using metallic cartridges built on a certain age patent. (I could tell you how this happened, I was at that commission meeting, but I don't want to bore you with the details. Then you had people like me saying that "there is nothing primitive about today's primitive weapons. What difference is it if a deer is shot with a .270 or .444? A dead deer is a dead deer" and the current law came into existence.

I miss the old primitive weapon season. No fluorescent orange required, limited range of the smokepole etc.

Just go ahead and move me off to the old folks home, 'cause those days are gone.

I'm quite sure fluorescent orange will be require to squirrel hunt or to even step into the woods with a gun, and you know it's coming. At first it will be youth only, then everyone on public lands, then everyone everywhere.