In Washington State and perhaps others, neither seniors nor veterans are given a break when it comes to fees for hunting licenses and tags.

I have submitted the thought to the WDFW and would like to know if anyone has looked into the subject?

I would like to know of states that recognize seniors and or veterans by allowing them reduced licensing fees and perhaps other reasonable season permit hunts.

Here in Washington, they have a few senior hunts but they are late in the season and many of our older bones do not react well to the extremes of late season hunts.

My question and reasons are definetly Self-Serving.

In NJ we have a reduced rate for seniors over 65.

We do NOT have a reduced rate for Veterans.

I believe they do have a reduced rate or free license for Veterans that were disabled while on active duty.

They also offer a reduced or free license for Members of the National Guard, and active duty military. Yet when my brother was active duty (Marine Reserve) they said he could NOT get the reduced license because he is Marine Reserves. Mind you, just because you are in the Reserves does NOT mean you cant be activated, like he was, and hes also a Veteran. To sum it up....NJ offers this stuff, but likes to make it hard to obtain. I think my brother has earned SOME sort of discount on his hunting licenses, if people who are simply in the National Guard get it...why cant a Marine Corps Veteran get it?

I think ALL Veterans, Juniors (under 16) and Seniors (over 65) should get a free or reduced license in EVERY state.

Oh, no special senior or veteran hunts here, but we have Youth days.

Good luck trying to bring about change!
---Matt

Michigan offers the same things as NJ

wyoming has them for seniors. nothing i konw of for vets. damn shame too.

brad

Ks falls in line w/ the above posts. We do have lifetime licenses which work out to bo pretty cheap if you start early. As a veteran myself I see no reason to reduce the rates just because we did our duty. Letting seniors have a break when they are on a fixed income is fine with me. Remember when someone gets a break others will have to step up and make up the difference. It takes a lot of money to manage DOW and I feel we as sportsman should pay the tap and get the legislature out of it. We are seeing more mandates all the time from the elected officials and it is doing NOTHING good for our fish & wildlife.

In Ohio seniors over 65 used to be free. Last year they changed it to 1/2 price. Juniors used to be full price they lowered it to 1/2 price. Seems to be pretty fair to me. Not sure about veterans.

Active duty and disabled vets have more than earned the break.

As a senior over 65 and a vet I do not believe that the vet status should qualify me for anything special. As an over 65 senior, I am not asking for a free ride . . . just a reasonable discounted rate. And since I am a bowhunter, I would like to see special hunts for seniors earlier in the season. The late season hunts we presently have here can be downright brutal and miserable and possibly dangerous.

As it is now, I have to save for three months just to buy my locense and tags.

We have a senior license for veterans in pa we have to be 100% disabled. I am disabled veteran so I dont have to worry about the doe lottery. Get what I want to hunt in any unit.

Well even if you guys dont think you've earned a cheaper license by serving your country in a war time. I DO.

I saw what my brother went through, and how it changed him after the war, and I think its the least we can do for all you guys. A cheaper license, believe me, YOU ALL deserve a lot more than that.

Thank you for protecting this Great Nation.


By the way, just curious but; Are these senior hunts held on days when no one else can go, to provide seniors more time to hunt?

I would think they would put them in the early season to provide the seniors with a better chance at a deer and also because the weather is usually "kinder".

See if they would switch the Senior hunt to the day before the regular season opens. Thats how we do our youth hunts here in NJ.

One thing you want to remember when trying to bring about changes is to be as friendly and polite as possible, make sure you can back up the reasoning for change with facts and the support of others. By the way, the minds you are trying to change are most likely the ones that came up with the current regs, so dont be surprised if they take offense to it. Its also better to push for one small change at a time. If you do this, submit separate proposals.

Like I said before, GOOD LUCK....its not always easy to make changes, but its always worth trying.

Have a good one---Matt