Clock Ticking on License-Increase Bill
By DAVID RAINER
When it comes to lists, Alabamians have become conditioned to duck for cover. Almost inevitably, our great state is near the bottom of those lists. Unfortunately there’s another one, but it’s one we have a chance to change.
Right now, Alabama’s hunting and fishing license fees rank near the bottom. The annual resident hunting license, which includes deer and turkey hunting, is $16.
In a national survey done by DJ Case and Associates, the national average for a resident hunting license is $22.85, yet many of those licenses cover only a minimal amount of hunting. For instance, Michigan has a $15 deer hunting license and $15 muzzleloader license, as well as a turkey hunting fee. In Tennessee, a resident combination hunting and fishing license is $27, but there is a list of supplemental licenses required – $30 for waterfowl, $27 for big game gun, $27 for big game archery, $27 for big game muzzleloader – to do the same hunting you get for $16 in Alabama. The average license costs for similar hunting opportunities in other surrounding states average around $50.
When you consider what the Alabama hunting license covers, that fee ranks as the lowest in the nation. Alabama’s fishing license fee of $9.50 is also near the bottom. To say these fees are bargains is a gross understatement.
However, those fees are not sufficient to sustain the current stewardship provided by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.
Alabama’s last license increase came in 1989, when a gallon of gas cost about a buck.
Today, the state has enormous hunting and fishing opportunities with a deer herd estimated at more than 1.5 million animals and a turkey population of 450,000. That hasn’t always been the case. Early in the 20th century, there were very few deer and turkey in the state, limited mainly to southwest Alabama. However, through the diligence and hard work of wildlife officials – working with landowners and hunters – the state’s wild game populations rebounded to levels that allow for some of the most liberal seasons and bag limits in the nation.
To avert the looming financial crisis, there is legislation currently in the Alabama House of Representatives (H.B. 254) that would increase license fees by a modest amount.
“If Alabama is going to be able to sustain management and protection of our fish and wildlife resources, additional funding must be found,” said Corky Pugh, Director of the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division. “The landowners, hunters and anglers in our state expect and deserve the services and opportunities provided through the locally based employees of the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (W&FF) Division.
“We simply cannot continue to provide adequate law enforcement protection and biological services at 1989 funding levels.”
The list of supporters for the license increase is long and includes: Alabama Wildlife Federation, Alabama Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Bowhunters of Alabama, Alabama Dog Hunters Association, Alabama Quail Hunters, Inc., The Mobile Bay Audubon Society, Decatur-Morgan County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Ducks Unlimited, Alabama Chapter of the Wildlife Society, Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association, Alabama B.A.S.S. Federation Nation, Alabama BASS Federation, Inc., and the Alabama Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
“The strong support shown by Alabama’s outdoors community for these necessary license increases has been overwhelmingly positive,” Pugh said. “The members of Alabama’s Legislature seem to be generally supportive of this necessary funding measure. The clock is ticking on this session, and as the number of legislative days pass, we are growing more concerned.”
Currently the Enforcement Section at W&FF has 23 vacancies, and Pugh said none can be filled until the funding issue is resolved.
That leaves some counties with only one conservation enforcement officer. A minimum of two officers is required to provide adequate coverage when one of the officers is off duty. Some may not think that’s such a big problem until they realize how integrated those officers are into the communities they serve. In fact, Capt. Larry Hicks of that Enforcement Section remembers a specific example where it made the difference in a hunter surviving a tree-stand accident.
Last year, Rev. Roy Stewart (retired pastor from Forest Hills Baptist Church in Daleville, who now lives in Level Plains) went hunting the day after Thanksgiving and ran into trouble in his climbing stand. Fortunately, he was wearing a safety belt, but he was stuck in the tree, upside down. Rev. Stewart managed to retrieve his cell phone from his pocket to call his wife, but could do nothing to right himself and climb down.
“Tim Stewart called me and said his daddy was upside down in a tree stand,” said Hicks, who also rescued renowned NASCAR team owner Jack Roush after Roush’s plane crashed in Palos Verde Lake near Troy. “Tim told me he was near a creek in the woods next to green field No. 2. I took off and when I got there there was a deputy sheriff running up and down the road trying to find the place.
“I had a key to the gate and we went in until we couldn’t go any further in the truck. We ran to the field and I started calling for him but didn’t hear anything. Then I went toward the creek and I heard a faint ‘help.’ I looked up and he was upside down about 30 feet up a tree. There was blood at the bottom of the tree where the gun hit him in the head when he fell. He said, ‘I’m about to pass out, I can’t breathe.’”
Although Hicks had found him, the problem of getting Rev. Stewart down was indeed daunting. Fortunately, Hicks’ familiarity with the property again paid off. He remembered an extension ladder on the property and it was retrieved. Hicks went up the ladder, managed to turn the hunter upright and then both descended to the ground, where paramedics were waiting.
“Some ask for justification for two officers in each county,” Hicks said. “The thing is you spend time there, get to know people and properties. If you get called, you’ve got a general idea where to begin the search. Even wives don’t know where they’re at a lot of times.
“I know the Good Lord has a sense of humor. The first time was with Jack Roush. The second time, he gave me a preacher.”
Tim Stewart said he doesn’t believe his father would have survived if not for Hicks, who left his business card on the younger Stewart’s vehicle during his rounds one day.
“I remember dad saying he was going hunting at our place above Troy,” Tim said. “He said, ‘Remember the tree you put that stand on behind the green field? I’m going to go right there.’ So I knew where he was, as long as he stayed with the plan. Then he called my mother at 11 o’clock upside down in the tree. I was an hour away. I called Larry and said I needed his help. He said he was five minutes away and was going straight there.
“It was a miracle. My dad is a heart patient. He’s survived prostate cancer. Hanging upside down should have killed him. Larry being as close as he was, that was instrumental in saving his life.”
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