I just emailed mine

What kind of logic was she using? You can hunt in all three states with a shotgun and slugs but not a handgun because of density of development and the size of the state? The reasons against handgun hunting are simply an objection to handguns so there goes the BS about being a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
Being able to reply in double talk does show great political potential. She will probably be Governor one day.
So she supports the 2nd Amendment and the section of the Bill that reimbursed those who bought at the higher price but voted against the Bill because of the handgun hunting provision. So she was a NO vote. What a hypocrite. Someone in her district should let her know her cover was blown open.

Macattack: two reps who are consistently on the wrong side of sportsmens issues are Rep Urban and Rep Megna.

With that said, here's a note I received today from Bob Crook that lays out who the key legislative players were:

It’s a pleasure to be wrong! After passage of the 65% Sportsmen’s fee reduction in the Deficit Mitigation Bill H.B. No. 5545, many contacted me concerning a REBATE. I was very pessimistic about any such action and made my position known through membership e-mails. After a conversation with State Senator Tony Guglielmo, (R-Stafford) we decided a CREDIT might pass. He and all Republican Senators submitted an Amendment followed by an identical amendment by State Senator Eileen M. Daily (D-Westbrook) Co-Chairman of the Finance Committee and Co-Chairman of the Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus, which was key. The amendment passed the Senate 34-0. After moving to the House for debate, 4 amendments were proposed from animal rights oriented legislators which would have killed the bill. Negotiations in the House were primarily controlled by Representative Craig Miner (R-Litchfield), Treasurer of the Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus, and supported by Representative Linda Orange (D-Colchester, East Haddam ), Co-Chairman of the Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus, and other sportsmen oriented House members in both parties. Among our other efforts three amendments were proposed to be placed on their major bill S.B. No. 274 'AN ACT PROHIBITING THE UNREASONABLE CONFINEMENT AND TETHERING OF DOGS' which had been amended in the Senate, and through CCS negotiation, did not affect Sportsmen. Included in our threatened amendments was Sunday Hunting which at the late date/time constraints would have killed their bill. Our negotiators did an admirable job and agreement was reached with proponents on both sides and leadership that NO amendments would be called on either bill. Both bills PASSED.



S.B. No. 207 AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE HUNTING OF DEER BY PISTOL OR REVOLVER. PASSED



FEE CREDIT: The Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall reserve a credit for any person who purchased a license, permit or tag described in section 26-27b, 26-28, 26-37, 26-39, 26-40, 26-42, 26-45, 26-48, 26-48a, 26-51, 26-52, 26-58, 26-60, 26-86a or 26-86c of the general statutes, or subsection (b) of section 26-49 of the general statutes, between October 1, 2009, and April 14, 2010. Such credit shall be equal to the amount of the difference between the amount that such person paid for such license, permit or tag between October 1, 2009, and April 14, 2010, inclusive, and the amount of the fee for such license, permit or tag, charged to such person on or after October 1, 2010. Such credit shall be applied against the fee for any such license, permit or tag purchased by such person on or after October 1, 2010. "



The credit will affect fishermen, hunters, trappers, & others who purchased their licenses after October 1 last year or in the early months of this year prior to April 14. When they purchase new licenses/permits/tags they will receive the credit.



HANDGUN HUNTING: Many questions have been asked concerning Why we accepted such a basic HG Hunting provision. When the bill came out of Committee it was not as we would have preferred. Some Senate opposition to HG Hunting can be seen by the 25-9 vote v. the 34-0 credit amendment. When it was considered by the Senate it was determined that only removing “pistol”, a point of controversy, from the bill was all we could do rather than expanding it to what was preferred (below).

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) The commissioner shall issue, upon payment of a five-dollar fee, to the owner of ten or more acres of private land or a resident of this state, who has the consent of the owner of ten or more acres of private land, a private land [ pistol ]or revolver permit that allows the use of a [ pistol ] or revolver, as defined in section 29-27 of the general statutes, to hunt deer from November first to December thirty-first, inclusive, pursuant to the bag limit established for a private land deer permit under subsection (a) of section 26-86a of the general statutes. Any person authorized to hunt deer by [ pistol ] or revolver pursuant to this section shall use a cartridge of .357 caliber or larger for such purpose.

No person may use a handgun for the pursuit, taking or attempted taking of deer on privately owned lands pursuant to Sec. 26-86a, except under the following conditions: (1) the handgun shall be limited to revolvers and single shot pistols with a minimum barrel length of 5.75 inches and not exceeding 12 inches and chambered for and using straight-wall handgun ammunition in .357 to .50 caliber. (2) Full metal jacket bullets may not be used to harvest deer (3) the handgun must be carried openly on a sling or in a holster and not concealed while hunting; (4) handguns shall be used exclusively during any rifle/shotgun season as applicable during which deer may be taken. Handgun use shall only apply to Connecticut residents holding a valid Connecticut permit to carry a pistol or revolver.



DEP will be working to implement this bill, probably with expanded criteria.

So now the Governor has to sign off on it?

Can we review the seasons again?
What I am reading is that there is a handgun season for deer on private land only of ten acres or more starting on November 1st and running until December 31st, exclusive unto itself in early November until the shotgun/rifle season start date and then inclusive with the separate seasons of shotgun/rifle, muzzleloader and archery. So in effect, there is a handgun season for the entire month of November and December and it changes the "lessor weapons" rule in the respect that you can now handgun hunt during the shotgun/rifle season on private land. Actually the lessor weapons rule may have been modified already for some of the archery season extensions.
I would think this will make it easier to handgun hunt in NY and Pa. too.

I really didn't think the handgun bill would pass. No reason not to but the anti-gun, anti-hunting sentiment, animal rights groups, in the state is very strong and they simply got rolled over on this. It would never have happened even two years ago. It happened now because we all came together as sportsmen and rolled back the fees. Add up all of the members of CTF, CCS, DU, TU, the Bass Federations, the Ct. Federations of sportsmens clubs, the saltwater fishing organizations, etc. and you have a coalition of maybe 50,000 sportsmen.
If you told any state rep or senator last fall, after they passed the 100% fees and license increases, that sportsmen would organize and get this rolled back they all would have laughed, and in fact, until the second meeting at Cabelas in November, most of them were still laughing. But a few of these reps and senators saw the light and that we would not be denied and took a leadership roll.
A by-product of our political actions is this new handgun hunting season that never would have been approved in the past. Sportsmen will forever be respected as a political action group and we will not be denied anymore. We are now more powerful than the "Antis" and as long as we stay active and attentive it will remain that way. Never become complacent. We have accomplished a paradigm shift that I don't think we have really grasped yet but for sure our politicians have. We need to keep up our activism and promote our agendas.