Peter T. Bromley

In 1995, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) established policy and rules for handling of nuisance wildlife by Wildlife Damage Control Agents (WDCA). The policy required a 1 -day long training session, culminating in an open book, certification examination. The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (NCCES) conducted the training and administered the examination. The certification-training program covered principles of wildlife damage management, wildlife laws and regulations, humane handling of animals and euthanasia, human health risks from exposure to wildlife,...

We tested the efficacy of an aluminum wick herbicide applicator, the Weed Sweep®, for control of hardwood and pine saplings, 1994-1996. We compared spring and fall applications in 1 trial and, in a second trial, tested 2 herbicide mixes: glyphosate mixed with either trichlopyr or imazapyr. Herbicides plots had 78% fewer sapling stems/ha than control plots (P < 0.006). May applications of glyphosate/imazapyr provided greater control of hardwoods but lower control of pines than September applications (P < 0.05). Also, glyphosate/imazapyr provided greater control of hardwoods than...

Over the course of 3 years, the hunter education program in Virginia was evaluated to determine its performance, strengths, and weaknesses and to develop recommendations for improvement. Students gained about 16% in knowledge of hunting and hunting safety from the 6-hour course. Observations of dove hunters with and without hunter education training suggested that the hunter education program had no significant impact on hunter behavior. A naturalistic inquiry evaluation of the program, involving analysis of interviews with 57 persons involved in hunter education, indicated program...

This study presents baseline information on the accessibility of private lands in the southern Piedmont of Virginia for hunting, fishing, and trapping. A questionnaire was mailed to 1,525 landowners in 4 rural counties. The typical respondent from the 973 analyzed questionnaires was a 55-year-old male who owned between 4.0 and 8.1ha. Land was posted by 53% of the landowners, yet only 10% totally prohibited hunting. Family members, friends, and local residents were more likely to be granted permission to hunt or fish than were outsiders. Trespassing and property abuse were reported by half...

Representing the land grant institutions, extension fisheries and wildlife specialists contribute to management of fish and wildlife resources through education. In a telephone survey, 17 state specialists ranked their audiences by time spent working with each and ranked 10 communication methods by frequency of use in reaching each audience. In order of priority, the audiences served were extension agents, commercial interests, private landowners, youth, general public, faculty and students, natural resource agencies, and conservation organizations. The most frequently used communication...

The need for effective hunter education is great and growing. Program effectiveness should be evaluated by agency administrators and external authorities. Administrators can perform a self-evaluation, based on a new model of the ideal program developed by the Hunter Education Committee of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the North American Association of Hunter Safety Coordinators. The model recognizes the role of external evaluation to penetrate the difficult questions of educational effectiveness of the program. Major concepts of educational evaluation,...

A system for program development and evaluation of fisheries and wildlife extension programs is presented. The system based on the character and needs of potential audiences. Landowners, commercial interests, general public, youth groups and conservation organizations are considered the important citizen audiences. Significant professional audiences include university colleagues, natural resource agency professionals, and university students. For each audience, a rationale for involvement and suggestions for the nature and extent of program development is provided.

RESPECT stands for Responsible Educated Sportsmen Promoting Ethical Conduct Together. Operation RESPECT is a cooperative program to combat unethical sportsman conduct in Virginia and offset the negative publicity generated by the antihunting advocates. It was founded in 1979 by joint agreement of the Virginia Division of the Izaak Walton League of America, the Virginia Wildlife Federation and the Virginia Commission ofGame and Inland Fisheries. General support for the program was achieved in September 1979 at a sportsmans leaders conference. Thirteen planning strategies employed to...

The human dimension of wildlife management will pose increasingly difficult and important challenges to wildlife management agencies and university wildlife departments in the 1980's. The current imbalance between services rendered to consumptive users as compared to services for appreciative users must be rectified. Reallignment of policies and programs to incorporate new information generated by social scientists will be necessary. The first task should be to identify the spectrum of wildlife users from generalists to various specialists. Data on what each subgroup does in the outdoors...

Using hunting accident report forms filled out by Virginia game wardens from July 1961 to June 1977, we analyzed the conditions related to 972 hunting casualties. Virginia statistics are compared with data for the United States for 1970. All data were reported on National Rifle Association (NRA) Uniform Hunter Casualty Report forms. Approximately half Of the accidents in Virginia were caused by judgment errors. About 20% involved lack of skill. Fifteen percent occurred when safety rules and state laws were violated. Approximately' 3% were due to defective firearms. National accident...