For Release: October 7, 1999

Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish and Wildlife has set the seasons and bag limits for the Rhode Island small game hunting season, which begins Saturday, October 16.

All users of state management areas, and all hunters statewide, must wear at least 200 square inches of solid daylight-fluorescent orange material from October 16 to February 29. The material has to be worn above the waist, and must be visible from all directions. Hunters during the shotgun deer season must wear a total of 500 square inches of this material.

The legal shooting hours for most small game, which includes ruffed grouse, pheasant, bobwhite, rabbits, hare, squirrel, and fox, are sunrise to sunset, except on October 16, when the hours are 7 a.m. to sunset. However, there are exceptions. The raccoon season began October 1; raccoons can be hunted at any hour. Hunting hours for coyotes, which have no closed season, are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.

Season end dates differ. For ruffed grouse and quail it is January 15; for pheasant, January 31; for rabbits, hare, squirrel, raccoon, and fox, February 29. As in past years, the small game hunting season is closed during the shotgun deer season, which runs from December 4 to December 12, except in Bristol and Newport counties, where the small game season will remain open. Daily bag limits for small game are consistent with previous years: pheasant (2), bobwhite (3), ruffed grouse (1), rabbits (3), hare (1), and gray squirrel (5). There is no bag limit for fox or raccoon.

According to Brian Tefft, principal wildlife biologist with DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife, DEM plans a pheasant-stocking program that will result in the release of about 3000 pheasants at major wildlife management areas between opening day and the end of November. Pheasant stocking will occur at several locations including Arcadia, Great Swamp, Carolina, Durfee Hill, Black Hut, Buck Hill, Sapowet, Simmons Mill Pond, Nicholas Farm, and Big River Management Areas.

A 10-bird season limit has been established for the season, in order to provide a more even distribution of hunting opportunity. In addition, management areas will be closed to small game hunting from 1 p.m. to sunset on Fridays from October 22- November 19, and on Wednesday, November 24, while birds are being stocked. The closure will allow the pheasants to find adequate cover to reduce predation from foxes, owl, and coyotes.

The state management areas, Tefft noted, are in good condition for the start of the hunting season as a result of extensive food plot plantings and other land management activities designed to benefit wildlife. "Significant habitat management projects involving brush removal and forest management have occurred that will add significant wildlife habitat diversity in the Arcadia and Great Swamp Management Areas," Tefft said.

Season and bag limits for Rhode Island migratory game birds are established following guidelines set by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The mourning dove season will reopen October 16 at 7 a.m. and run from sunrise to sunset until December 1. The daily bag limit for dove is 12 birds.

Woodcock hunting opens November 4 and closes on December 3, with a daily bag limit of three birds. The rail season, already open, runs to November 19. The snipe season, also open now, runs to December 3. Federal law requires migratory bird hunter to use a shotgun capable of holding no more than three shells.

Federal law also requires all hunters to carry a Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program (HIP) permit while hunting migratory game birds this season. HIP permits are available at all hunting license vendors in the state at no cost.

To assist DEM in gathering information on hunter effort and game harvested, all hunters using Arcadia, Great Swamp, Carolina and Durfee Hill Management areas on weekends between October 16 and November 7 must check in and out of check stations at those management areas and record their harvest.

No special permits are required to hunt small game, other than a valid 1999 hunting or combination license in most areas. However, a special permit is required to hunt in the Burlingame North Camp area. The special permit is available weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at DEM's Great Swamp Field Headquarters in West Kingston, or by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Great Swamp Field Headquarters, PO Box 218, West Kingston, Rhode Island, 02892. Hunting licenses, as well as the hunting and trapping season abstract which summarizes laws and regulations affecting wildlife and specifies seasons and bag limits by species, are available at various license vendors throughout the state and at DEM's Licensing Office at 235 Promenade Street, Providence. A resident hunting license is $9.50, with all money collected going into a special restricted account used specifically to fund the state's wildlife restoration program. Hunters are advised to check with local authorities before hunting in unfamiliar areas, as municipalities may impose additional restrictions on hunting within their boundaries.

Hunters may contact the main office of DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife in Wakefield at 789-3094 or 222-3075, or the Great Swamp field office in West Kingston at 789-0281 or 222-1267, for further information.