It came up during a Wildlife Commission hearing in New Bern. One question related to allowing Sunday hunting on Game Lands. There are thousands of acres of them owned or leased by the Commission and are popular and productive areas for hunting and fishing.
They also are popular among hikers and horse-back riders and bird watchers.
An in-depth survey of Sunday hunting state-wide showed the vast majority of citizens were opposed - including more than half of the state's hunters.
Among the reasons was that Sunday provided a day in which hikers and horse-back riders and birders could enjoy their pastimes in safety.
But on Game Lands?
One fellow at the New Bern hearing rose to offer an observation and a question:
The hundreds of thousands of acres of Game Lands are provided by the license fees and special taxes paid by the men and women who hunt and fish in North Carolina.
Why, the fellow wanted to know, did not the hikers and birders and trail rides not share in paying the cost.
It was a good question. And it might apply far beyond the Game Lands.
The Wildlife Commission provides hundreds of boating access areas across the state. It offers boating safety courses and enforces laws that protect those who enjoy our waters.
Licensed boaters pay for this.
But also among those enjoying the boating access areas, launching ramps and parking facilities, are kayakers, row boaters and canoers. Their boats are not required to be licensed and they don't have to contribute to the cost of providing and maintaining the access areas they use.
When the Wildlife Commission a few years ago moved to require these craft to be licensed it was met by a chorus of protests from lobbyists for the kayakers and canoers.
Now these good folks are pushing to have the state Department of Transportation provide them access areas at bridges across streams around the state.
The citizen at the public hearing at New Bern raised a good point about those who use our Game Lands and who pays.
And he was greeted by applause.
The ripple effect covers far more than Game Lands...
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