The state’s 2008-2009 hunting and fishing licenses will go on sale Aug. 18, and when they do, 14- and 15-year-olds will be able to purchase a big-game license. The legislature amended the state’s Environmental Conservation Law this year - making the youngsters eligible to hunt deer and bear using a rifle or shotgun, when accompanied by an adult. DECALS (Department of Environmental Conservation Automated License System) has already been updated to reflect the change in the law.
When the 14- or 15-year-old comes in to buy their first big game license this year, they will need to have their Hunter Training Certificate with them and they’ll need to have their parent or guardian with them, with proper identification, to sign the application. The DEC has provided license agents with consent forms that the youngsters will need to carry while hunting. The form will have to be signed by a parent or guardian while in front of the agent. Along with the proper signatures, the form must identify the adult who will accompany the youngster if they are not a parent or guardian.
The battle to lower the age for youths to hunt in New York has been a long and trying one for those of us who understood that without youths entering the hunting and general conservation-theme activities, the state’s problems in attempting to properly manage wildlife would only accelerate as the present hunting population ages. It’s really also less about the average age of those who hunt and more about how we manage such potentially problematic game species as deer, bear and coyote in the future.
Despite all the rhetoric by anti hunting and anti gun supporters being piled on each time a bill was introduced to lower the minimum hunting age in the state, precious few ever had a valid answer as to what methods would replace hunting as a management tool. The sadly lame answers, such as the use of contraceptives, trap-and-transfer, and paid sharpshooters have been tried multiple times around the state, all failed miserably and were exorbitantly expensive. Plus, as revenue from hunting licenses and federal tax sharing dropped, the funds to run any of these “programs” would increasingly need to come from the all state taxpayers’ pockets, whose pockets are already being emptied at an accelerating rate due to soaring prices and taxes.
Wildlife biologists and managers have long agreed that the only feasible management approach is hunting, whereas the activity culls and maintains a healthy population of the species involved, while also generating the critical funds needed to sustain viable wildlife programs that benefit all wildlife, both game and non-game species. With the number of hunters shrinking every year, as well as the funding they provide via licenses and special equipment taxes, the program funding barrel of various conservation programs that benefits everyone has also been leaking. Hopefully, allowing youths to be introduced to the overall enjoyment of the outdoors while hunting at a younger age will help reverse this trend.
Another problem that has been nagging wildlife management, and has also contributed to the declining hunter numbers, is shrinking access to places to hunt. This is especially true of private lands as expanding residential and commercial development displaces natural habitat or creates a no-hunting situation. And changes in landownership attitudes have also resulted in fewer places to hunt where it was allowed before by previous landowners. This has been compounded by increased densities of hunters forced to use public land where game habitat is often poor, which results in less game inhabiting it.
Another benefit could be introducing youths to something beyond electronic games, TV and ipods, the impacts of which, along with lousy dietary habits, is resulting in a younger generation that is generally overweight, out of shape and at increased risk of diabetes at younger ages than has ever occurred before. Getting more youths into hunting and the vigorous outdoor activities that normally accompany it would certainly be a step in the right direction.
Oh, by the way, when purchasing your 2008-09 licenses this year, don’t forget to also purchase a habitat-access stamp. For a measly five bucks, that will go directly into a dedicated fund to improve both access and wildlife habitat in the state, it could easily result in opening more and higher quality lands and waters to hunters and anglers.
