CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has posted some proposed rule changes for public comment. A couple of the changes address recent legislation which either necessitated additional regulation or called for obsolete state code to be deleted.
The agency said regulations regarding a pistol hunting license are no longer necessary since the Legislature has already done away with the requirement for an A-1 pistol hunting license. Therefore the rules which govern barrel size and minimum caliber also no longer apply. So they’re seeking to strip those measures from the state’s books.
The Legislature also recently created a wildlife rehabilitation program. But there need to be some parameters on what would qualify an individual to help wild animals be nursed back to health and returned to the wild. The proposed rule change outlines application, training and permit requirements, care and housing standards, and key definitions for wildlife rehabilitators.
However, the change which has caught the most significant attention calls for an elimination of the horsepower restriction on six of the state’s most popular fishing waters.
Under the measure horsepower restrictions, which have long be essentially 10 HP would be eliminated at O’Brein, Woodrum, and Elk Fork Lakes in Jackson County. The same would apply to the Upper Mud River Reservoir in Lincoln County, North Bend Lake in Ritchie County, and Stonecoal Lake in Lewis County.
The change would enable anglers to use any size boat on the waters regardless of engine size. Some fishermen already fish from large bass boats in those small impoundments, but cannot fire up the big outboard motor. Under the rule change, the entire lake would become a “no-wake” zone and the larger motor would be allowed to be used to idle around the lake.
The idea came from a 2021 proposal for a study to see if such an allowance could be made on on Upper Mud River Reservoir.
“We looked at it to see if there were any problems. The rules stated they could have their boat out there, but could only use their trolling motor to go from one end of the lake to the other. But if you’re out there all day, running on the trolling motor and pulling on your battery for those bigger boats was a little difficult,” said Lt. Colonel Dave Trader with the Natural Resources Police.
According to Trader, they didn’t see any downside as long as the large motors were operated at no wake speed.
“There really wasn’t any problem that we could see. When we were redoing the rule to change that portion of it, we decided there are other lakes that were the same thing and why not do it on all of them so it’s a consistent rule,” he added.
The rules would also codify a definition of an “electric motor.” DNR officials said that part of the proposed change reflected the growing and changing technology in e-powered equipment.