Thu, Nov 26 2009
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“The agency is paying very close attention to all the input that is received,” said Jim Low, spokesman for the Department of Conservation in Jefferson City. He said the state is welcoming public comment through Dec. 16.
“I really do think it is worth noting that wildlife do belong to the people at large,” Low said when told about Alger’s comment about the “king’s deer.” But the state also spends millions of dollars annually managing wildlife populations. “What they are paying for is the cost of management,” Low said. The recommended fee increase is not generating near the number of comments as the proposed acreage change, he noted. He said 70,000 landowners fall in the range between five and 80 acres. Under department rules, landowners in recent years have had to register with the agency, but they received no-cost hunting permits for deer. “Unfortunately, that procedure provided opportunities for unethical hunters to cheat the system,” the agency says in a question-and-answer format on its Web site. So, as part of the changes, the agency also is tightening up its landowner requirements. On July 1, landowners wanting to hunt for deer and turkey on their own property must first list their property with the agency’s Landowner Registry. The property owners must provide the legal description, the number of acres and the status of each person in the immediate household. According to the department, the number of smaller landowners in the state has resulted in a growing number of no-cost deer and turkey permits being issued, and with that, a loss in state permit fees and federal aid. The state can receive $17 in federal aid for each deer permit it sells. The money comes from the federal excise taxes collected on hunting equipment and ammunition to fund state wildlife programs. “It costs us twice when someone doesn’t buy a permit,” Low said. Greg Jones, permit services supervisor, said there is no way to know what the impact will be, but he said the exemptions for tracts of land between five and 80 acres could be costing the state as much as $1.4 million in direct permit purchases and federal aid. Losing revenue? Low also noted that the agency started offering landowner exemptions in 1944 to encourage landowners to provide habitat and to compensate them for the damage to their land from deer, but the landowner had to live on the land and derive a significant amount of income from it initially. The Algers acknowledge that they are “hobby” farmers who depend more on off-farm income than the money they derive from selling niche products such as “pastured” poultry and eggs. 
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Some landowners oppose state change in hunting rules w/ links to learn more about area hunting laws 
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