Fishing license year to stay same as calendar year

Fishing license year to stay same as calendar year

January 1, 2002

BY THE COLORADO DIVISION OF WILDLIFE

DENVER — This past July, the Colorado Division of Wildlife asked for opinions about a proposal to change the annual license year for those licenses sold on a calendar year basis (which included, but was not limited to, the small game hunting, small game hunting/fishing combination, and annual fishing licenses).The current fishing license year of caldendar year of Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 would have changed to April 1 through March 31.

The were reviewed by the Colorado Wildlife Commission prior to its deliberations on the topic at the Wildlife Commission meeting on Sept. 13-14. It was decided at the meeting to keep the current license year. The small game license year in Colorado will remain Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 following Wildlife Commission direction to end consideration of a change to a license year that would begin April 1 and run through March 31.

Four commissioners voted for the change and four voted against it at a meeting in Las Animas. A tie vote effectively means a motion is rejected since a majority is needed for approval. Most Western states, such as New Mexico, have an April 1-March 31 fishing license year.

The proposal, which aimed to keep small game and waterfowl hunters from having to purchase a new license in the middle of the hunting season and from having to register twice per season for the Harvest Information Program, had been under consideration since 1997.

The first small game hunting season begins Sept. 1 and the last usually runs through mid- or late March. Fishing licenses, which are valid year-round, and mountain lion licenses also would have been included in the change. Mountain lion season runs from Nov. 15 through Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 through March 31.

"There was a lot of debate on and interest in the change," said John Smeltzer, manager of the Division of Wildlife’s human dimensions section. "We looked around the country at the various ways other states do their licensing years, and the results were pretty mixed. The jury was spilt as to which one works best."

Smeltzer said the DOW hasn’t received many complaints about the license year and the proposal was primarily administrative.

"If the license year were changed, a few things would line up better, but on the other hand, several commissioners like the traditional calendar year approach and felt strongly about keeping it as is. There were probably few, if any, unsolicited actual requests from the public to change it."

The license year change proposal was suggested as part of the Total Licensing Project, which will modernize the licensing process in part by making licenses available through the Internet and electronically through point-of-sale agents.