I have a quick question for all of you who may have gone to a Montana legislator in the past with a concern about a rule or regulation. Some of you may not consider this to be a big deal, but I had an experience the other day while going with my girlfriend to purchase her fishing license that really bothered me. Here is the situation: We are both from out of state originally but are here attending pharmacy school at the University of Montana. I went through the process of becoming a resident after being here for 6 months, but my girlfriend chose instead to purchase the combination (deer,elk,fishing) license that is offered to nonresident full time students. We had plans to go ice fishing the other day, and since our licenses expired 2/29/12, we had to head to get our new ones. We headed to FWP headquarters in Missoula because students are required to purchase that license at FWP... no problem. However, we were told there that she would be unable to purchase that license until September, and that if she wanted to be fishing between now and then, that she would have to purchase the nonresident fishing and conservation licenses ($70) now, even though she would get those same licenses included when purchasing her student license in September. Then, when she gets her student license in September, it will read that it was valid 3/1/12 - 2/28/13, even though she was not even allowed to buy it until September. On top of this, when she purchases the student license in September, she will NOT be able to get a refund OR have the $70 she already spent applied towards her license purchase at that time. I found this to be absolutely RIDICULOUS! Why should she be required to purchase a $70 nonresident fishing license and then come september purchase a combination license that includes the fishing that she simply was not able to buy because the state says you can't buy it yet?
Don't get me wrong, I understand that the state has to have protections in place to prevent people from abusing the system. I understand how they may be concerned that come next September, she may no longer be a full time student and would therefore not be eligible for the license. That will not be the case, but I do understand they have to have a way to regulate that. However, I do NOT agree with the fact that they will not offer her a refund at that time (september 2012) or apply the $70 she already spent towards the $87 or whatever the total cost of the student combo license is. It is really not fair that she can't fish the entire Summer due to this technicality unless she wants to drop an extra $70. In addition, due to the wording of the law, she can't purchase the license until the 2nd Monday in September, which also prevents her from bow hunting the first week or two of the archery elk season. Also very silly in my opinion.
Anyway, the point is that this bothered me enough that I want to get in touch with a legislator or legislators who care about outdoorsman and their concerns. I want someone who will hear me out on this and it is my hope that I can bring about a change to the law that will prevent this from happening to people in the future. I think this really deters from getting people out into the outdoors to enjoy the resources we should all be able to enjoy. I am just getting her into fishing, and something like this can't leave her with the best impression, as it certainly did not leave me with a good one. I would love to hear suggestions from any of you on who I should contact and how I should go about this. Also, I would like to hear your opinions on the matter. Am I way off for feeling the way I feel about this? Personally, I don't understand why Montana doesn't simply give full time students resident status for the purposes of obtaining hunting/fishing licenses. I know for fact that my home state of Minnesota and most of its neighbors (Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota) allow nonresidents who are full time students to purchase resident licenses. It is so much easier than offering a single license type (Combo) and making them jump through hoops to get it. That would be my ultimate goal, but for now I would be happy with getting the ball rolling to at least change the wording on the current law to prevent silly things like this. Your thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!
Don't get me wrong, I understand that the state has to have protections in place to prevent people from abusing the system. I understand how they may be concerned that come next September, she may no longer be a full time student and would therefore not be eligible for the license. That will not be the case, but I do understand they have to have a way to regulate that. However, I do NOT agree with the fact that they will not offer her a refund at that time (september 2012) or apply the $70 she already spent towards the $87 or whatever the total cost of the student combo license is. It is really not fair that she can't fish the entire Summer due to this technicality unless she wants to drop an extra $70. In addition, due to the wording of the law, she can't purchase the license until the 2nd Monday in September, which also prevents her from bow hunting the first week or two of the archery elk season. Also very silly in my opinion.
Anyway, the point is that this bothered me enough that I want to get in touch with a legislator or legislators who care about outdoorsman and their concerns. I want someone who will hear me out on this and it is my hope that I can bring about a change to the law that will prevent this from happening to people in the future. I think this really deters from getting people out into the outdoors to enjoy the resources we should all be able to enjoy. I am just getting her into fishing, and something like this can't leave her with the best impression, as it certainly did not leave me with a good one. I would love to hear suggestions from any of you on who I should contact and how I should go about this. Also, I would like to hear your opinions on the matter. Am I way off for feeling the way I feel about this? Personally, I don't understand why Montana doesn't simply give full time students resident status for the purposes of obtaining hunting/fishing licenses. I know for fact that my home state of Minnesota and most of its neighbors (Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota) allow nonresidents who are full time students to purchase resident licenses. It is so much easier than offering a single license type (Combo) and making them jump through hoops to get it. That would be my ultimate goal, but for now I would be happy with getting the ball rolling to at least change the wording on the current law to prevent silly things like this. Your thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!