Sportsmen react to proposed license increase

Sportsmen react to proposed license increase
By Bill Cochran


Bill Cochran

Butch Ammon says he may give up hunting and fishing in Virginia if the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries gets its way with a proposal to increase hunting and fishing license fees by $5 per license.


Kirby Burch believes that the timing of the proposed license increase is bad. The DGIF is under a State Police criminal investigation and the agency’s board is “tone death to the calls to get their house in order and restore public confidence. Financial woes are not the biggest problem facing the DGIF,” he said.


Hank Hall said he will support the license increase, but DGIF officials need to look for ways to offer more value for the price of a license. For Hall, that means removing the ban on Sunday hunting.


Todd Barnes is in agreement that Sunday hunting would help soothe the sting of higher license fees.


“Why is the state contemplating raising the general license fees by $5 each and not arranging some sort of mitigation to the hunters, like more hunting days?” he said.


Walt Hampton, a former DGIF wildlife biologist, said his support of the license increase rides on changes being made in hunting regulations.


“Expanding rifle deer season west of the Blue Ridge, reinstatement of fall turkey hunting in the gun deer season and doing away with daily bag limits on deer and turkey would be a good start,” he said. “All of these proposals are biologically sound and none of them would cost the DGIF a penny.”


John Sherman said he had been a frequent angler on Virginia water since he became a resident of the state two years ago, and “I’ve never seen a single enforcement agent.” Maybe the extra license fee could be used to hire more game wardens, he said, but there is a chance that it also could sharply decrease the number of license buyers.


Sherman thinks raising licenses every 3 years, as the DGIF board has authority to do, is too frequent and fees should not be increased for nonresidents because that would cut into tourism.


These are some of the comments made by readers of this Web site.


The DGIF board proposed a $5 increase in nearly 60 licenses and permits during its April 25 board meeting. Public comments are being taken until June 1 via the agency’s Web site: www.dgif.virginia.gov. Final action on the proposal is scheduled June 20 by the board during a hearing in Richmond.


An unexpected high number of hunters are making the license increase a referendum on Sunday hunting. That means DGIF board members may have to revisit the issue, a fact some have admitted.


In the past, neither the board nor the General Assembly has been excited about Sunday hunting. Three bills that addressed the issue failed in the 2006 General Assembly. The idea has not received support from major sportsmen groups, including the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, which posts an annual survey results that shows the majority of its members oppose Sunday hunting.


Todd Barnes believes that this survey and others are flawed. He urges that hunters be given the opportunity to vote on the issue when they purchase their licenses.


Come July 1, license sales across the state will become totally electronic, which will give officials an opportunity to poll hunters on their opinions.


“You all have got to seriously consider allowing Sunday hunting if you want Virginia sportsmen to keep the tradition and sport of hunting and fishing alive,” Butch Ammon, told wildlife officials. “I feel like I am getting robbed.”