WAWARSING – You wouldn't think that the current economic downturn and state budget cuts would affect the town's hunters, whose primary interests lay in the woods and other undeveloped lands they frequent…but you'd be wrong.

Due to the statewide budget cuts, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced a hike in the fees collected for hunting licenses, as well as a raise in the minimum age to qualify for senior citizen discounts from 65 to 70.

"It's kind of a crime what they're doing to the seniors," says Deputy Town Clerk Roxanne Shamro. Of the hundreds of people who come into the town clerk's offices to apply and pay for hunting and fishing licenses, she estimates that about half are seniors, several of whom fall within the 65 to 69 age group that would be affected by the age requirement change. Furthermore, all seniors who buy licenses annually will feel the pinch because of the fee increases almost totally across the board.

Some of the fee increases seem small; for instance, a turkey hunting permit will double from $5 to $10, and a trapping license will go from $16 to $21. Most of the other increases, however, tack on between $10 and $20.

The real issue arises in terms of hunters who currently fall within the senior citizen category, and how the change will affect them once the new fee schedule is put into effect in the next few months. The resident sportsman's license, which allows for small and big game hunting, and fishing, will rise from $37 to $47, and the senior price for a sportsman's license is rising from $5 to $10. While this may not seem like much of a hike, if you're between the ages of 65 and 69, you have to pay the full $47.

"It kind of puts them in a bind with everything else in the economy. It's kind of hard for our seniors," says Shamro.

One way to get around these hikes is to purchase a lifetime license, though the fees for these are also undergoing similar rises. But seniors 65 and over who purchase a lifetime license at the current $50 price will be grandfathered in (pardon the pun), allowing them to avoid the new lifetime sportsman license price of $765, which rises from $600.

Shamro says that the town clerk's office will begin selling the licenses under the new fee schedule around mid-August, when the DEC will update their computer system with the new prices. For more information about the DEC's fee hike, and to get a complete list detailing all the different price rises, contact the Wawarsing Town Clerk's office at 647-6570.

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