Outdoors news and notes: King of the Beach results, hunting seasons rolling around, youth licensing

Making news

Narrow gap between top king Mackerels

Jack Vasilaros and his Team Squidders won the $10,000 first-place prize at last weekend's Fall King of the Beach tournament with a 36.98-pound king mackerel. Lynn Zirkle and the Bob Evans/Bull Bay Rods team was second with a 36.54-pound king worth $3,000, followed by Chris Clark's Team Jupiter (35.70). Joel Brandenburg's Team Anna Banana won the Single Engine Division with a 35-pound kingfish. Brittany List of Reel Darlins/Delosa's took the Ladies Division with a 23.34-pounder. Kevin Long won the Junior Division with a 18.82-pounder. For more results, go to oldsaltfishing.org.

Regulations

Check hunt zones for seasons, limits

General gun season started last Saturday and runs through Jan. 20 in Zone C, which includes most of the public hunting lands north of the Tampa Bay area. Hunters hoping to stay closer to home can hit the woods Dec. 1 to Feb. 17 in Zone B.

Hunters can take bucks having at least one antler 5 inches or longer, but anyone hunting deer in Florida must have the $5 deer permit. On private lands, the daily bag limit for deer is two, but during some quota hunts in wildlife management areas, the bag limit is one, and in some cases, there may also be antler restrictions. Consult the WMA brochure for the area you plan to hunt.

On private lands, hunters can take wild hogs year-round with no bag or size limits. On most, but not all, WMAs there's also no bag or size limit on wild hogs. Again, consult the brochure for specific regulations.

For more information on upcoming seasons, go to myfwc.com.

Youth licenses fund conservation

Even though youngsters are not required to have a license to hunt and fish in Florida until they turn 16, you can buy them a special license that will help fund conservation efforts and remain valid until their 17th birthday, no matter how young they are when they buy it. All three types of licenses — freshwater fishing, saltwater fishing and hunting — cost just $17.

Another opportunity for youths is the $100 Gold Sportsman's license, which authorizes the holder to take game and freshwater or saltwater fish and provides the deer, management area, archery season, muzzleloading season, crossbow season, turkey, waterfowl, snook and spiny lobster (crawfish) permit privileges. More information is available at myfwc.com.

Send news Terry Tomalin at ttomalin@tampabay.com or call (727) 893-8808.

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11/16 7:20 1:10 7:55 1:40

11/17 8:25 2:15 9:00 2:45

11/18 9:20 3:15 10:05 3:45

11/19 10:20 4:10 10:55 4:40

11/20 11:25 5:15 11:50 5:35

11/21 0 5:50 12:00 6:15

11/22 12:30 6:35 12:45 6:55