Contact: William Jones, Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, phone: (302) 684-8419
 

Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge Announces Changes to 2006-2007 Hunting Season

Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge has announced changes to the 2006-2007 hunting season at the refuge. Hunting, which is identified by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 as one of the six wildlife-dependent recreational uses on refuges, will continue to be an integral component of the public use program at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Refuge Manager Jonathan Schafler announced recently that there will be public hunting opportunities for deer, upland game, resident Canada geese, snow geese, and ducks on Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge during the 2006-2007 hunting season. Hunting information can be accessed at the Refuge website at http://primehook.fws.gov.

To allow deer hunters more time to complete and return their preseason hunting applications, the deadline for the October muzzleloader hunting season has been extended to Sept. 15, 2006 and the deadline for the rest of the firearms hunt seasons has been extended to Oct. 7, 2006. Applications can be found on the website or can be picked up at the refuge office.

To assist in maximizing the efficient use of refuge resources while continuing to optimize quality hunting opportunities and manage for wildlife populations, some administrative changes will occur during the 2006-2007 hunting season. The number of hunting opportunities for deer and waterfowl hunting seasons will not change from last year.

For deer hunting, the preseason drawing for deer stands will continue for all hunting seasons. Successful preselected hunters will obtain their permits by self-service on the morning of the hunt prior to 2 hours before legal shooting time. On low use firearms hunting days (Oct. 10; Nov. 17, Dec. 9 & 16; Jan. 20 & 27), the morning standby lottery drawings have been eliminated. On high use firearms hunting days (Oct. 7 & 12; Nov. 10, 11, & 18; Jan. 13), the morning standby lottery drawings will be conducted by refuge staff. Noon standby lottery drawings have been eliminated. Standby hunters can obtain permits on a first-come, self-serve basis at the check station no earlier than 2 hours before legal shooting time on low use days and between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. for all hunting days. Hunters may not be on refuge any earlier than 3 hours before shooting time. Archery hunts will remain entirely self-service.

For duck hunting, Refuge staff will administer the morning standby lottery drawings through Dec. 15. From this time until the end of the duck hunting season, hunters can obtain permits on a first-come, self-serve basis at the check station on the morning of the hunt.

For questions, please call the Refuge at (302) 684-8419. Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge is located off of Route 16 (Broadkill Beach Rd.) on Turkle Pond in Milton, Delaware.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 535 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
 

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