WMA permits

[gonefishin]

How many of you were aware that you now have to purchase a $15 permit to hunt or fish in a wildlife management area? I was already aware of this but seeing it the other day when I got ready to purchase a license just really ticked me off again. It already cost at $38 if you add saltwater fishing to get a sportsman's license. Now we have to pay to hunt or fish on PUBLIC land already paid for by tax money. Am I wrong to be so upset about this. If someone will explain to me that the money for management areas isn't from my taxes then I will be ok with the permit.

[Fish-Bait]

How many of you were aware that you now have to purchase a $15 permit to hunt or fish in a wildlife management area? I was already aware of this but seeing it the other day when I got ready to purchase a license just really ticked me off again. It already cost at $38 if you add saltwater fishing to get a sportsman's license. Now we have to pay to hunt or fish on PUBLIC land already paid for by tax money. Am I wrong to be so upset about this. If someone will explain to me that the money for management areas isn't from my taxes then I will be ok with the permit.

This (http://www.mdwfp.com/Level2/Wildlife/pdf/Final/2007/WMA%20Permits.pdf) may help you. What I want to know is who proposed the rule and under what circumstances prompted this. Prolly cuts in the budgets. From reading it, it is only WMA's that you have to do it. So I would say something like Desoto National Forest you would be exempt?

My license for this year was like 68 bucks with a state duck stamp.:smt022:smt022:smt022

[gonefishin]

This (http://www.mdwfp.com/Level2/Wildlife/pdf/Final/2007/WMA%20Permits.pdf) may help you. What I want to know is who proposed the rule and under what circumstances prompted this. Prolly cuts in the budgets. From reading it, it is only WMA's that you have to do it. So I would say something like Desoto National Forest you would be exempt?

My license for this year was like 68 bucks with a state duck stamp.:smt022:smt022:smt022

Yeah, I don't see anything on there about National Forest land. I would really like to know why they felt this was needed. License fees are getting ridiculous. Now their adding all these permits. They're always promoting the "great outdoors" yet they make you pay a fortune to use them. The frustrating part is trying to keep up with all this crap!

[Fish-Bait]

The frustrating part is trying to keep up with all this crap!


You hit the nail on the head. Bureaucratic red-tape. Someone saw a way to get extra funding and you get all this registering,tagging, yadayadayada.

I go huntin' and fishin' to relax. I can relax while I am fishin' because after 17 years buying a license I can sort of keep up with all the laws we are SUPPOSED to know because we can't use ignorance as an excuse???
It's from reading message boards and what not that I am able to do this.
And the fact that I have to re-read the 15 page pamphlet they put out every year. Then you go to the Coast and go fishin' and there are all these other rules you have to know. It's getting harder and harder to have a good time. I think another part of it is the gubment wants to know who is using OUR woods....This can be good or it can be bad. I don't know.

[fuzzis]

While I don't know anything about WMA, I do know, as a fan of other public lands (national parks, national recreation areas, etc), those fees are on the rise as well. The budget for keeping our public treasures intact and managed for future generations is relatively small. All things considered, I don't really mind.

[Fish-Bait]

I don't really mind.

You should mind though. You prolly don't use em' as much as we do. Now if I go fishin' and go up through the part of the Pascagoula River that's included in the WMA bill I think I have to have a permit, or do I ?
That's the kinda of crap I think about before I plan a trip. Then it takes my dumba$$ 3 hours and 15 phonecalls to try and find an answer. It's not just about the money to me. It's the big hassle of tryin' to know every little detail so as I won't get a nice hefty CITATION for someth some weirdo come up with so the state could make a buck along with all the taxes I pay.

[58ford]

What pisses me off is the private land issues. I have a few hundred acres in Walthal county. and it used to be that owners didn't have to get a hunting license. Now, only on person, not an entire family can be exempt from the license.

[fuzzis]

You should mind though. You prolly don't use em' as much as we do.

I don't hunt or fish, but I do use public lands (they're a prime consideration for any trip I make--day trip, vacation, or just the route home), many of them available without fee. So, I don't mind when I do have to pay and I don't mind that the fees are increasing, and I really don't think I should, considering that the money doesn't just pay for my use and enjoyment, it pays for the use and enjoyment of future generations. Dollar for dollar (including tax dollars), it's quite the bargain, and considering how much you do use them, if you did the math on a per use basis, I'm willing bet the fee itself isn't anything to get worked up over.

I'm sure it is a hassle to keep track of, but that would the the responsibility you assume. If it were something that I was very concerned about, I think I might figure out a way to make it easy. Spreadsheet, easily accessible list, special color-coded map that denotes what is what, something...

[58ford]

I just get pissed about having to pay to use my own land.

[fuzzis]

I just get pissed about having to pay to use my own land.

That I can understand. I think I'd be figuring out a way around that one.

[Fish-Bait]

I don't hunt or fish, but I do use public lands (they're a prime consideration for any trip I make--day trip, vacation, or just the route home), many of them available without fee.
Yeah. The ones that belong to the Federal Government. Which ones can you go to that don't require a fee or some sort of registration wether it be a form to put on your dash or hang from a rear view mirror? I don't have the luxury of planning an outing on Friday to only find out on Saturday that I didn't take the proper procedure and am ignorant to the 5 dollar fee that I didn't pay because I didn't do 3 hours of research and make 15 phone calls to find out I had to pay 5 dollars for something I pay TAX MONEY for. Then the very nice Park Ranger hands me a citation for $239.12 and says "Sir, just doin' my job."


So, I don't mind when I do have to pay and I don't mind that the fees are increasing, and I really don't think I should, considering that the money doesn't just pay for my use and enjoyment, it pays for the use and enjoyment of future generations.
Future Generations will pay more taxes than we do. Still, why all the FEES?

Dollar for dollar (including tax dollars), it's quite the bargain, and considering how much you do use them, if you did the math on a per use basis, I'm willing bet the fee itself isn't anything to get worked up over.

Sure it is. It's my money that I work hard for, I can b%tch and complain all I want too. I get worked up because I already pay taxes. Taxes are something we pay to keep the government running, but because it cost 1500 bucks to change a light bulb in the Whitehouse doesn't mean I should have to pay a FEE to go canoeing in a WMA.

I'm sure it is a hassle to keep track of, but that would the the responsibility you assume. If it were something that I was very concerned about, I think I might figure out a way to make it easy. Spreadsheet, easily accessible list, special color-coded map that denotes what is what, something...
I pay fees. Let the Gubment do that for me.:-D

[fuzzis]

Different priorities, I suppose. The fees are there because the slice of the government budget that places like the parks service, the BLM, the forest service, etc get is so small in comparison to all of the area they have to cover, coupled with increased operating costs and needed upgrades/renovations to facilities, there's not enough money to go around. Being able to enjoy the outdoors is important enough to me that I'm not going to begrudge a couple of dollars (or even $20) to do it.

[Fish-Bait]

Different priorities, I suppose. The fees are there because the slice of the government budget that places like the parks service, the BLM, the forest service, etc get is so small in comparison to all of the area they have to cover, coupled with increased operating costs and needed upgrades/renovations to facilities, there's not enough money to go around. Being able to enjoy the outdoors is important enough to me that I'm not going to begrudge a couple of dollars (or even $20) to do it.

I am going to begrudge it because if I don't then your 20 buck will be 80 bucks in 4 more years. For simplicity's sake let me put it to you another way.

I pay taxes to the government. That in itself should be enough. I think paying my measly little 8500 bucks last year and the wife payin' in about 6000 is enough to get me the privilege to go huntin' or fishin' the 4 or 5 times a year that I do get to go or even want to go on a WMA. Now that is 14,500. A pretty fair amount for a blue collar two year educated after high-school sportsman and sports-family. That being said....

It's no different than enrolling your 1st grader into school and finding out that even though you pay taxes you also have to buy kleen-ex, crayons, paper.......the list can go on if it needs to.

It would be different if the gubment wanted to add 6000 acres to a WMA.

Sincerely
Fish-Bait esq.

[TheCapitalist]

Well. As fees go up, they become prohibitive to some people. The gov. buys the land, tells you they are protecting it FOR you, and soon the price keeps going up, rules keep being added... Soon, you can't afford to go and if so, they prohibit activities THEY deem harmful. So much for gov. protection. Why don't they just stick to building levees in NO. Something they're good at.?????

[fuzzis]

My tax dollars go to support all sorts of things that I don't agree with (I think there was a thread about this already); I chose to give my money to things that I do agree with and are important to me. Like our public lands. The arts. Education.

As I said, different priorities.

[fuzzis]

As an aside, have you written to your representatives to let them know that you want more of your tax dollars to go to support the WMA and other public lands? That you have already paid to use these lands and you shouldn't have to pay yet again?

[Fish-Bait]

My tax dollars go to support all sorts of things that I don't agree with (I think there was a thread about this already); I chose to give my money to things that I do agree with and are important to me. Like our public lands. The arts. Education.

As I said, different priorities.
I give money too. Matter of fact I have a Conservation tag on my pick-up.
Every time I go to a marina and buy gas, there is an extra little tax added to it to protect the environment.

As an aside, have you written to your representatives to let them know that you want more of your tax dollars to go to support the WMA and other public lands? That you have already paid to use these lands and you shouldn't have to pay yet again?

They (gubment) should be smart enough to already know that that's what I pay taxes for, and as another aside.....Yes, I have let them know. :zelfmoord


The letter went something like this,

Dear Gubment People that I prolly didn't elect. I am sick and tired of finding out at the last minute that I owe you some more money because I want to bust a cap on a rabbit on a WMA. I pay you enough. Please reconsider the trials and tribulations you put on sportsman these days to protect our land that we pay taxes for. It shouldn't take a lawyer, 3 hours of research and 15 phone calls to find out if I am going to do sometheing legal or illegal. To much legislation is systematically making it harder for the good taxpaying citizenry of the state to have an enjoyable time in the outdoors. Please quit with the all the permits and fees and make the laws simpler to understand.

Sincerely
Taxpayer,Voter, and Outdoor enthusiast.

P.S. If you put an end to illegal immigration I will be happy. Please mine the border.

[gonefishin]

My tax dollars go to support all sorts of things that I don't agree with (I think there was a thread about this already); I chose to give my money to things that I do agree with and are important to me. Like our public lands. The arts. Education.

As I said, different priorities.


Nobody here is complaining about our tax dollars going to support public land. We're complaining because these fees are being added on top of our tax contributions. I with FB on this one. There is no need in requiring a permit to hunt on public land. Just one more thing that I have to worry about keeping up with and one more opportunity for me to get a citation. Increase the fines across the board for citations issued by Game and Fish officers. Make the lawbreakers pay for it. Not the ones who are doing their best to keep up with all this stuff and be legal. Don't make it a hassle for people to go out and enjoy these lands. I just think there are better ways to get the money, but then again that would require the state to use some common sense which is virtually non-existent these days.

[daisy]

I understand all that and find it dumb and prohibitive to a lot of people.

How about asking on The Eagle show with Paul Ott that comes on Sunday nights?

My boyfriend went to get a fishing license to go with a friend and I pulled it upon the web.

Very complicated to me.

I know when I worked in a National Park out in California there was a master plan being created to move a lot of the cars and the people out away from the park.

That master plan has been implemented. I worked for the concessionaire and dated the architect that was in charge of the plan. He was a nice guy and also dated and hung out with the rangers, ski patrol, etc;

Anyway, my point is the National Park Service and concessionaire sometimes or mainly NPS or some of the employees were kind of nature elitists. Preserving nature for a few chosen few.

I know this because I worked in a position managing an Art Activity Center involving all of them. The concessionaire, NPS, and Yosemite Natural History Association. I got along with all of them and answered and was paid by the concessionaire.

This isn't true of all people that worked for those agencies, just sometimes an attitude to keep a lot of people out by some.

[Fish-Bait]

It's all about the money.:smt023
Not the people.

[Fish-Bait]

This is weird...this will prolly double post I dunno...sumthin' happened. It says I posted but my post ain't here....anyway

It's all about the money
Not the people!