longrifle1000

DNR gave permits to politically connected hunters By JOHN O'CONNOR | Wednesday, April 11, 2007

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Politicians, judges and professional athletes were given Illinois hunting permits without having to take their chances in a lottery alongside other hunters, according to an audit released Tuesday.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources gave out "excessive" permits through an administrative process that is not advertised to the public, giving preferential treatment to those who know about it, Auditor General William Holland found.

His review of some of the 1,250 administrative permits issued from 2004 to 2006 showed they went to professional athletes, judges, politicians and donors to the state's not-for-profit Conservation Foundation.

Names of those who got the permits were not included in the audit and DNR spokesman Chris McCloud said he did not have information on recipients' names.

"DNR feels it is well within its rights to issue permits in this manner," McCloud said in an e-mailed statement.

Deer- and turkey-hunting permits typically are issued to people chosen in a random, computerized lottery.

Permits must be rationed to prevent over-hunting of some game. They should be distributed fairly, said Jeff Davis, national spokesman for Whitetails Unlimited, a hunters group based in Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

"If there are a limited number of permits, the average hunter ought to have just as good a shot at getting those as anyone else," Davis said.

DNR biologists develop game-harvest quotas for each part of the state, based on the number of animals they count and the number of hunters they expect in the field.

Holland said handing out too many additional permits could upset that balance. But McCloud countered that each additional permit helps the agency control the state's deer population. He said a majority of special permits went to people who missed the application deadline for the lottery.

The state issued 948,000 deer permits in 2004 and 2005 combined, and 143,000 spring turkey-hunt permits in 2005 and 2006, a Holland spokesman said. McCloud put the number at 1.3 million for both categories, noting that special permits amounted to less than one-tenth of 1 percent of that total.

The audit noted that state law allows the DNR director to grant special permits for free to out-of-state guests, foreign dignitaries, outdoors writers or other visitors.

Holland found the department had failed to compile adequate documentation on 92 percent of the special permits his office examined. He also found the requester's signature was missing from 43 percent of the permits _ typically because the agency filled it out for the hunter _ and that fees were not charged in one-fifth of cases reviewed.

The agency agreed documentation of the permits needs to be improved.

In other examples Holland cited, five representatives of an ammunition company were given three permits each and the general manager of a hunting lodge got 20 permits.

In another case, 27 youth permits were issued to hunters in Gallatin County at the request of a landowner who lets people hunt on his property for a fee, even though DNR had not approved the county for youth hunting and the public couldn't apply for them.

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On the Net

Office of the Auditor General: http://www.auditor.illinois.gov/

A service of the Associated Press(AP)
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Lanse couche couche

Well, deer hunting is now big money. and big money breeds corruption. And its not surprising at all when you consider that its happening in upstate Illinois.

jaysweet3

By no means am I excusing this when I say, it is nothing new. This state has been corrupt for so long nothing suprises me. Even if this is legal, it is cheap andunderhanded. It isn't about following the rules and hoping for the best, it is about who you bnow and how much you give them.

uncle matt

SHOCKING!







NOT!


The IDNR is under control of .............................. Gov.BLOWMEVICH.

What else would you, could you possibly expect. Next we'll learn that some of these permits were doled out to people who had done real estate deals thru his wife............... Unthinkable!

But what would be really, really bad would be if these permits in question were created and doled out after the established number of permits had been issues and distributed. Making them permits above and beyond the targeted harvest quota.

JohnnyLonghorns

Depending on how you read this, it really isn't as bad as it seems. For example, we run a outdoor charity event every year for children and we bring in a celebrity guest speaker.It is a huge fundraiser that brings in a lot of money for kids.We are yet to have a guest speaker chargeus for coming to the event, however some of the speakers have requested a turkey hunt in return.Since the speaker isn't officially signed untilsometime in April, it's impossible to get a tag (especially since they mostlyare out of staters). In the past, we have been fortunate enough to have the DNR give us a tag under these circumstances.

I agree it isn't as fair for the average hunter, but theaverage hunter isn't bringing in several thousandsof dollars for charityevents either. I'm sure not all of the tags given are for reasons like the one I just mentioned, but there is "some" good in giving out the tags.

lifesadrag

Illinois, the corruption capitol of the U.S. That's the way of life here,what else would one expect?.............By the way has George Ryan served any time yet due to his conviction.........not! Will he ever?........I doubt it!

peakrut

I dont have a problem with what you are doing but with that being said average HUNTERS are bringing millions into the states economy.

Don K

[blockquote]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.
— While most hunters in Illinois must enter lotteries and cross their fingers that they'll win a hunting permit, politically connected sportsmen are routinely allowed to circumvent that process — leading to excessive hunting and possibly endangering hunter safety, a new audit says.
A report released Tuesday by the Illinois auditor general's office says a state agency is abusing a regulatory loophole to allow favored hunters to forgo the usual deer and turkey hunting permit lottery systems.
Instead, those favored hunters are handed permits through "administrative approvals" at the whim of officials at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, even as other hunters are turned away.
"The department failed to make the administrative approval process open to the public, resulting in preferential treatment for certain hunters," states the report.
The special permit process was created for relatively rare circumstances, yet the agency has issued at least 1,250 of them between 2004 and 2006, states the audit. The recipients include "professional athletes, judges and politicians."
The audit doesn't identify those recipients. Officials at Natural Resources declined to furnish the names on Tuesday.
Although the agency has accepted the audit's recommendation to reform the permit process, spokeswoman Marcelyn Love on Tuesday defended that process. Love noted in an e-mail that the agency issued nearly 1.3 million regular deer and turkey hunting permits during the two-year period in question, and that the 1,250 special permits are a tiny sliver of that total.
"DNR feels it is well within its rights to issue permits in this manner. This has been a longstanding practice that has been used by previous directors," Love wrote. "A majority of the permits requested are for individuals who missed the application deadline for qualifying for a permit and every permit issued contributes to our ability to manage the deer population of the state."
The vast majority of people who hunt in Illinois must get their permits through a lottery system designed to limit the number of hunters at a given site — usually by county — in each hunting season. The lottery process favors in-state residents, but even they can often be out of luck at the more popular sites, leaving them to settle for another site or wait until the next lottery.
Hunter Larry Dale says he has only been able to hunt a few times over the years at the popular Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish & Wildlife Area near his Petersburg, Ill., home because there are always so many lottery competitors for the limited number of permits.
"I have kind of given up," he said.
Dale, a hunting safety instructor who operates a website called Illinoishunter.com, said he has heard of the state process that allows allocation of special hunting permits for specific reasons, and he doesn't have a problem with the concept, "as long as it isn't used excessively." He said most hunters likely would understand the need to bypass the usual lottery rules for, say, a charity hunting event.
But Dale was surprised at the audit's findings that 1,250 of the special permits were handed out from 2004 to 2006. "I would have expected that number to be under 100," he said. He said it would be especially galling to many Illinois hunters if it turns out the special permits are allowing out-of-state residents to hunt at the best sites while many Illinois residents are shut out.
"Certainly, there should be some special permits available for specific circumstances," said Dale. "But if it's just for athletes and politicians, I would have a problem with that."
According to the audit, the "administrative approval" permit system was set up to allow the state to grant hunting permits for unusual circumstances like visiting dignitaries from other countries, conservation officials from other states and guests of the governor. But instead of those limited purposes, the audit states, the special permits have routinely been bestowed by Natural Resources officials on favored hunters "in circumvention of the lottery process."
In addition, the audit states, many of the forms were incomplete, leaving out adequate explanation for the special permits and other required information.
Twenty of the permits went to the manager of a hunting lodge, with no documentation to show that person paid the required $600 in fees, the audit found. It also found that five representatives of an ammunition company were given three permits each, again without apparently paying the required fees.
In addition, the audit states, many of the special permits were granted to hunters who already had won permits through the regular lottery process, giving them additional hunting rights. Several special permits were issued before the regular lotteries, diminishing the number of available permits, while others were approved after the permits were gone, resulting in more hunting at some sites than there was supposed to be.

[/blockquote]

Frank in the Laurels

Don't hunt Ill. but if that's true the sportsmen should have a REVOLUTION..we all wait so patiently and these are the things that cause good people to become BAD !!

P DOG

The average hunter dont bring in thousands of dollars? I am a citizen of this state born and raised. I pay income tax ,sales tax , and property tax as does my wife. I donate my time and money to local charitys.I just spent around $80 on firearm tags the other day for myself, and my kids who both just passed their hunters safety course. Plus got my Sportsmans combo liscense with a habitat stamp federal and state waterfowl stamps and trapping permit and the total was $60.75.The question is do you really need a CELEBRITY to speak at your functions we as outdoorsman should be enough to raise the same kind of money. I had a refund last year on my Muzzleloader tag, and this year on a spring Turkey tag. So why does your celebrity deserve a tag over myself or over other citizens of this fine state? oh yeah by the way "YOUR AVERAGE HUNTERS CAN DO IT" www.mcleancountysportsmen.org the first year we had a banquet to raise money brought in $20,000 that was in 1991 now we have raised over 3/4 of a million dollars. for local charities. And we are all just local outdoorsmen and women in one county in this state!