Proposal May End Free Hunting For Idaho Seniors State Could Raise $770,000 With Modest Fees
(From For the Record, February 15, 1998): Age rule wrong: An Associated Press story Saturday said erroneously that a bill would affect fishing and hunting license fees for Idaho residents 65 and older. The bill actually would affect fees for Idaho residents 70 and older.
The Idaho Wildlife Federation is betting that senior citizens will not mind paying a little more for the pleasure of hunting and fishing in Idaho.
Along with Republican state Sen. John Andreason of Boise, the federation is proposing that Idaho residents 65 and older pay $3 for a hunting license and $7 for a fishing license. They currently pay nothing.
For a combination hunting and fishing license, the charge would be $10, compared to $4 now. Senior citizens also pay nothing for deer, elk or bear tags. However, the Wildlife Federation proposal would charge them between $6 and $20, depending on the type of tag.
The fee increases could generate up to $770,000 for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game if the same number of elderly and disabled residents bought licenses. The department also would get about $500,000 more from the federal government because the state gets about $7 from federal sources for every license it sells but nothing for the licenses it gives away.
About 70,000 fishing or hunting licenses were issued free during the budget year that ended last July 1.
Wildlife Federation President Fred Christensen said free licenses account for about 25 percent of the total licenses issued. If population projections are correct, the number of senior citizens will double in Idaho by 2025, meaning up to 40 percent of the licenses issued would be free.
Christensen said he surveyed senior citizen groups about the fee proposal and found no opposition. The rate would still be half the adult hunting and fishing license fees.
“Even paying full price is still quite a bargain, in my opinion,” said Christensen, a former Idaho Fish and Game Commission member from Nampa.