FishExplorer.com Blogs

I'm not a big fan of government regulation and certainly not a fan at all of government imposed fees.  With this exception - fishing/hunting license fees.  Why this exception?

One hundred percent of the license fees goes to The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for on the ground conservation efforts.  The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issues nearly 2.1 million hunting and fishing licenses annually.  These fees are immediently returned to different resources, be it law enforcement, science and resource, or restocking.

I can not imagine how poor our fishing/hunting resources would be without the skilled management the state provides.  Given the general nature of society, if fishing/hunting were left unregulated, if the resources went unmanaged, if people did whatever they felt like doing whenever they felt like doing it....well I shudder at the thought of the probable result. 

Our population is growing rapidly.  When I was born the total US population was 160 million.  Today it's 315.5 million.  Almost double.  That is a huge increase of pressure on our natural resources.  And it will just keep getting worse as time rolls on.  Without scientific management our fish and wildlife would be in desperate trouble. 

The fees we pay when we buy licenses, and the fees on sporting equipment, are what maintain the resources that maintain our resources.  So when I buy a fishing license I smile, this is the one situation that I'm aware of that we are putting our money into an intelligent program that benefits me and you instead of some fat cat special interest group.