Let’s face it. An increase, whether 25 or 100 percent, for fishing and hunting licenses is needed. More conservation officers are needed, but where will the money come from to pay for them and other state programs?
It will come from the same people who have always paid for it: the anglers and hunters. We help fund so many programs, and yet the Department of Natural Resources is always broke. Some sorely needed officers will probably be laid off or have the hours cut.
Some senseless business Where will this madness of state government end? It will end with fishermen and hunters funding more of the increases. And as we pay more for the privilege to fish and hunt, other user groups will skate and not pay anything. It’s always been so, and that ticks me off.
I well remember when anglers no longer were able to let their wife fish free on their license, and when Mama had to buy her own fishing license, and people griped. And then, when salmon were planted in the Great Lakes, it was determined that anglers had to have a special Salmon-Trout Stamp to fish for those species, and they griped but paid their way. That Salmon-Trout Stamp, which was a lovely thing to look at, eventually gave way to the All-Species designation that we have today. The loveliness is gone, but we can fish for those species.
Fishermen and hunters have paid their way, and carried other user groups on their shoulders for many years. That monkey on our back has turned into a two-ton mountain gorilla, and it’s time for other outdoor user groups to pony up some money.
We have nonresident fishing and hunting licenses, and those sportsmen from out of stamp must pay more to fish or hunt than a resident. That’s only fair.
Some hard questions and more difficult answers But, I ask you these questions: Why don’t we have a resident and nonresident forager’s permit to pick berries, leeks, mushrooms and nuts? Why not charge the backpacker, biker, canoer and hiker for the privilege they’ve taken for granted forever?
I am not anti-tourist but I am against those user groups that do not carry their weight. There are areas all through the northern counties where hordes of mushroom pickers flock from out-of-state. Some of them pick as many mushrooms as they can find but spend very little while enjoying our natural resources. They have a free ride.
They take but give nothing back. Why should foragers skate while anglers and hunters foot all the bills?
Is there any reason why bird watchers can participate in their passion without paying for the privilege. The backpacker, biker, canoer and hiker are putting nothing into the economy but are using the outdoors. Shouldn’t a canoer have a canoeing license?
Every user group should pay Should there be user fees for all outdoor activities? Granted, anglers catch fish and take them home to eat. The same is true for hunters who shoot bear, deer, elk, grouse, hares, pheasants, quail, rabbits and woodcock, so I’d appreciate the DNR telling me why berry, leek, nut and mushroom pickers can pick and eat, and why a foragers license isn’t required?
Where is the fairness here? Obviously, there isn’t any. But there should be a user fee for all outdoor activities. Everyone who uses the outdoors in one way or another should pay something for that privilege.
The backpacker, biker, canoer and hiker might gripe that theirs is a non-consumptive sport. OK, I can agree with that but one fact remains: why should they be granted special privileges? They too are part of an ever-increasing population on the water and in the field. They deserve to pay a fee to use the outdoors.
Hell, I can hear it now. Richey must have fallen out of his tree stand, landed on his noggin and is having a bad case of the stupids. Nah, it’s nothing so dramatic as that.
It’s just that this planet is crowded, and many user groups rely on anglers and hunters to foot all the bills to manage our resources. We’ve been doing it for years, and manufacturers who produce boating, fishing and hunting tackle pay big bucks in excise taxes. I can’t understand why they don’t gripe about why others never pay their fair share.
Is anyone out there listening? There’s no doubt in my mind that my rantings will fall on some deaf ears, and this everybody-pays philosophy will be as popular as a hobo crashing a family reunion. However, it’s time for all other outdoor user groups to begin paying for their outdoor pleasures.
Raise the fishing and hunting license fees a modest amount, and start making other groups pay to watch the state’s birds or pick mushrooms on state land. Each, in his own way, is using our environment without paying for that privilege.
Let the resident foragers pay a $5 user fee and the nonresident can get tapped for $10. Require a different type of higher fee for those who pick and sell mushrooms. Canoers pay a rental fee, but they pay no user fee to travel downstream backwards. The examples could go on and on, but any right-thinking person should realize that everyone should pay … instead of just anglers, boaters and hunters.
The DNR needs money. How about charging a user fee? Lansing, is anyone paying attention down there?
Granted, we’d need more conservation officers for enforcement but we already need them. It would generate more state income to pay for those officers, and increased revenue might lead to better relations between the sportsmen and the regulatory agencies that are being paid to wisely manage our resources.
Our resources are not being managed wisely unless all user groups pay their fair share. And that, my friends, is the end of that story.
Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors
