Let’s take a closer look at a few hunting issues

With general firearms season for deer in full swing across the state, it seems a good time for a hodgepodge of hunting-related news and notes.

Apprentice license: In an effort to slow the decline of hunting license sales in the state, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries earlier this year introduced an "apprentice hunting license" to try to entice more people to take up the sport.

It's still too early to say whether the program has been a success, but early returns are promising, according to Lee Walker, who works in the DGIF's information and education department. As of Sept. 15, they'd sold 1,040 apprentice licenses.

"We were pleased with the numbers," Walker said, adding that most hunting seasons hadn't started by that time. "We've been actively marketing the apprentice license since then, so we're hoping a lot more have been sold."

For $11, the two-year apprentice license allows someone who hasn't been through a hunter safety course to hunt with, and be "directly supervised" by, someone who has.

Walker said the aim is to attract "people who've thought about [hunting] but never really wanted to invest the time. . . . Now, they have an opportunity to go and try it out."

Chronic Wasting Disease: Last fall, a number of deer with Chronic Wasting Disease were discovered in West Virginia's Hampshire County, which borders Frederick County in Virginia. The DGIF immediately set up a testing regimen to monitor the local herd and make sure, if the disease spread, it would be contained.

CWD is a progressive neurological disease found in deer and elk that eventually leads to death. It has decimated populations in some Western states, so game departments in the East try to be as proactive as possible when a flare up occurs.

The good news, a year after the disease was found 2.5 miles from the Virginia border, is that there are no signs that it has spread.

Bob Ellis, the DGIF's wildlife division director, said they've set up four mandatory sampling days in Frederick County when hunters must bring harvested animals to check stations to be tested. After three of those days, the DGIF has received 150 samples, and test results will be available in four to six weeks.

Ellis said he doesn't anticipate any positive tests, but, since the disease can incubate in animals for five years, they won't be taking any chances for years to come.

"We're doing the surveillance proactively to search for this disease and make sure it doesn't get into Virginia."

Hunting and the economy: It may not seem as obvious as Wal-Mart doing well in a down economy, but Ellis said the recent downturn has led to more Virginia hunters in the field this fall.

After years of slowly declining license sales, the financial backbone of the game department, Ellis said preliminary results show a slight up tick this fall.

"I think some people decided to get a license this year, because they might be doing more hunting to put food on the table. We don't have any scientific data to support that, but they haven't gone down in these troubled times so that tells us that people are still hunting and maybe are doing it to supplement their grocery bills."