State Budget Committee Aims To Bolster Hunting, Fishing
Committee Approves Bill Offering Discounts To First-Time License Applicants
MADISON, Wis. -- A bill designed to boost participation in hunting and fishing in Wisconsin by offering steep discounts to first-time license applicants has passed the Legislature's budget committee.The Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to pass the measure. It now heads to the full Legislature for consideration.The bill also creates a new task force to come up with ways to improve the recruitment of hunters, anglers and trappers.Under the bill, license fees for first-time resident hunters would drop to $5. Depending on the type of license, those now cost between $7 and $24. Fees for non-resident hunters would also drop about 50 percent.The measure also establishes a half-credit for high school students who complete a Department of Natural Resources hunter safety program
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Sadly, also contained in the same bill is a requirement that every single purchase of an easement must be open to hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking and cross country skiing:
Section 3. 23.0917 (
(g) of the statutes is created to read:
123.0917
( (g) The department may not obligate moneys from the
2appropriation under s. 20.866 (2) (ta) to acquire land under sub. (3) unless hunting,
3fishing, trapping, hiking, and cross-country skiing will be allowed on the land
4acquired or unless every member of the natural resources board approves the land
5acquisition.
If this passes there will no longer be any easement purchases along trout streams because a 66 foot wide corridor is too narrow to accommodate hunting etc., and in any case landowners don't want to allow hunting in their fields. So, unless we can get the bill changed before final passage, this bill will end the DNR trout stream easement purchase program