Disapointed in the Iowa Fish and Game Dept.
 

I had a tag for the first gun hunt last week in Iowa. While packing up the truck to leave the next I suffered a heart attack. My friends were able to go but I Had to stay in the hospital and get a heart cath done. My outfitter/farmer worked out a deal to just hold all the funds for a hunt next yr. I was bummed but realized OK it happened and I'm alive. Monday I call the Iowa fish and game and I'm told I will get no refund for my $550.00 non res tag. The biggest problem I have is that they won't even give my a tag for next yr or pref pts. I think this is a bit much. I have all the medical records to document my case but that doesn't matter. I don't want any sympathy but would like to get it out that this needs to change in every state. If there is a medical emergency you should get some pref pts or a tag the next yr.

That is a very unfortunate thing to happen to you. However, I do not know of a state that would consider refunding your money for a license if you could not or did not use the license. In fact many if not all states have in their laws that hunting license fees are not refundable, I know my state does. They could not give a refund if they wanted to. It is not the state's fault that you did not use your license, they did not sell you the license under the understanding that if you did not use the license you could get a refund, the sale was final. I sincerely hope you make a full recovery, I really do, but it is unreasonable to expect a refund on your license fee, the license was not sold upon condition of use, nor should it be, we pay our money and take our chances. If you get a drivers license and before you use it you have an acident and are not going to be able to drive for that license year, the dept of transportation is not going to refund your money.

WHAT ABOUT PREF PTS? I never said I wanted my money back. just wanted a tag or pref pts for one next yr.

Yep ... generally WGF folks are not ion the business of mercy !

At 66, I am no spring chicken myself. So I take out trip insurance. $550 coverage would have pobably been under $50.

These are your words are they not? "I call the Iowa fish and game and I'm told I will get no refund for my $550.00 non res tag."

If you got no refund what would make you think you could get a free tag next year. No matter how you cut it, you want a free do over. The DOT wouldn't give you a new license the following year if you did not use the previous years license. There are some things the government cannot or will not do to solve personal problems, nor should they. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

Does your state give refunds on unused hunting licenses?

This is what really matters...........

+1

You're alive!

Sorry to hear that gonewest, it's a shame. Well make sure you heal up and get buying more tags and points, as the F & G Dept. needs every penny you can give them.

Iowa DNR did not cause you to have a heart attack. Read the rules before you buy; no where in the rules does it say you can get a refund if you don't go. If you buy tickets to a concert and don't show up they wouldn't give you a refund and this is no different.

Yes, heart attacks suck and when it prevents you from doing something you really enjoy that sucks too, but it is all part of life.

Hope you are feeling better soon.

The last I heard
 

retailers still consider a new gun taken out the door, as a old gun, not subject to return.

Hunters have been paying that price for years.