Apprentice hunting license available this week

Tennessee?s new Apprentice Hunting License will become available on December 14th, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA).

The new Apprentice License will exempt a hunter, age 10 or older who falls within the hunter education requirement, from having to complete the mandatory hunter Education Course for the current license year.

The Apprentice License (Type 12) may be purchased for $11 at any hunting and fishing license agent. The license is valid from the date of purchase through the last day of February. This license may only be purchased once in the lifetime of the hunter.

While hunting, the apprentice hunter must be accompanied by a licensed adult at least 21 years of age, who is hunter education certified or otherwise exempt from the law. In addition to the apprentice license, the hunter must have other applicable licenses and permits.

For more information about license, season dates or rules and regulations for hunting, visit the agency?s website at www.tnwildlife.org

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Be Careful When Hunting Out Of State

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources is continuing to prosecute hunters who violate the importation law that prohibits bringing cervid carcasses into Tennessee from states where local wildlife officials have concerns about chronic wasting disease.

A Maury County hunter who killed a mule deer in Nebraska, transported the carcass to Tennessee, and had the meat processed locally was charged in 2005 and others have been charged this year in different parts of the state.

The law passed in 2004 by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission?governing body of TWRA?prohibits the importation, transportation, or possession in Tennessee of a cervid carcass, or carcass part, from states where chronic wasting disease is known to have occurred.

However, there are exceptions to the law provided specific precautions are taken, according to the TWRA. Those exceptions are:

Meat that has had all bones removed.

Meat that has no portion of the spinal column or head attached.

Antlers attached to cleaned skull plates, or cleaned skulls (where no meat or tissues are attached to the skull.)

Cleaned teeth.

Finished taxidermy and antler products.

Hides and or tanned parts

?This regulation was passed to help protect Tennessee?s deer herd from the possibility of chronic wasting disease, which can be devastating to deer populations,? noted Steve Patrick, the manager of TWRA?s Region II office.

States listed on the chronic wasting disease list ? where cervid carcasses must be properly dressed/processed before they can be brought to Tennessee ? are: Colorado, Nebraska, Utah, Illinois, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Kansas, New York, Wyoming, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Montana, and South Dakota. Also, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

More information can be found about the law on page 6 of the 2006-2007 Tennessee Hunting & Trapping Guide, available from businesses where hunting and fishing licenses are sold or online at www.tnwildlife.org.