Hey, Dart, do us a favor and go back a read a few posts. I' m not complaining about paying a higher price for licenses. I know it' s pretty cheap compared to others. What I don' t like is that it' s part of the governor' s tax plan. The ODNR is supposed to be runnin out of resources, and have been for a long time. However, I haven' t heard anything about it ' till Gov. Taft starts runnin his mouth about raisin taxes on everything in Ohio. It wasn' t until then that I heard about raisin the prices on hunting and fishin licenses and stamps. Do you really expect me to believe that under these circumstances that this money is really about the ONDR losin money? Furthermore, do you really expect me to trust these politicians with my money? If you do, God help ya. If this $4 increase is part of a tax plan, then we aren' t payin $4 more for the licenses and such, we' re paying $4 more in tax. A tax that goes to the state, and not the ODNR. If you' ve listened to what I' ve said before, I don' t have a problem with paying more for a license. I realize prices go up and $20 to fish all year is pretty reasonable. $20 to hunt all year, exluding special stamps, is reasonable too. That' s not where my beef is. My beef is suddenly there' s these deficits all over the nation, and the federal government is puttin the burden on the states to get it sorted out. So Gov. Taft is raisin the prices. Now I realize officialy it may appear that the ODNR is settin the prices, but c' mon, I wasn' t born yesterday. Whether that' s the way the system is supposed to work or not doesn' t mean that isn' t the way the system is workin. I wonder if the states are gettin all the money they' re supposed to. It wouldn' t suprise me a bit if some of the money is bein embezzled into other funds.
A lot of people in Ohio can only have one deer per season also. In some areas it' s three, in some it' s two, and in some it' s one. So you could get more deer, but you' re going to have to drive half way across the state to get to it, depending on where you live. I live in the Toledo area. Lucas country is an urban unit so that allows four does in addition to the special deer stamp. But in Fulton and Henry county, and most of Wood county, there' s only one deer. Most of Lucas county, almost 50%, is the city of Toledo. That makes half the urban deer unit unhuntable. Then there' s other towns like Oregon, and Northwood, Rossford, and Perrysburg where it could be hard to find places to hunt because of all the schools and such and residential areas. Sure if you live in Southern Ohio you' ve more options, but the folks up around where I live shouldn' t have to drive all the way across the state to justify a $4 tax on the licenses.
Around where I live, you only get one deer, excluding urban units, per season. That' s regardless of what weapon you use or the season it' s taken in. I can' t take a deer durin bow season, then take another durin the shotgun season. If I take a deer durin bow season, I' m done ' till next year. If I take it durin the shotgun season, I can' t take another one in the later part of the bow season. $35 is pretty cheap to hunt deer and a bunch of small game all year, that' s not the issue. The issue is that it' s pretty obvious that there' s other factors involved. If the ODNR has been runnin out of resources, why didn' t we hear about it before? Why did they wait ' till the govenor is raising taxes everywhere, and cutting resources on schools, libraries, and a slue of other public services to say anything about it? So please, quit yappin about having it better than others when it comes to the price. It' s not about the price! It' s about the Ohio sportmen feelin the government is taken advantage of our passion to fish and hunt to pay for the debts of the rest of the state. Others may not agree with this. If you don' t, fine, but that' s the way I' m seein it. I' m not sayin this as fact either, but the way this is comin about, don' t expect me to trust it. Especially if you know the history of the way Ohio works their taxes, why would you trust another increase in prices? If the ODNR really needs an extra four bucks then I' m cool with that. I just don' t want to pay four bucks for the governor to take and waste on some stupid I-280 entrance ramp then not even open it when they finish it.

Brandan