Licensed for Adventure: New Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Driver's License Options in NYS

Last week Governor Andrew M. Cuomo introduced the New York State Adventure License Series, providing New Yorkers and visitors the opportunity to purchase lifetime licenses to fish, hunt and visit New York State Parks, as part of his efforts to enhance sporting and recreational opportunities, support outdoor enthusiasts and boost tourism throughout the state. As part of this promotional effort, the Governor unveiled New York’s Outdoor Adventure License Plates, which features nine new plate designs – including the I [love] NY HUNTING, I [love] NY FISHING, and I [love] NY PARKS license plates – available for free exclusively to those buying new lifetime hunting, fishing, or parks licenses in 2014. Click here to view the new plates.

In addition, New York residents who secure lifetime licenses will have the opportunity to receive an Adventure License, which allows them the option of consolidating all their recreation licenses and benefits onto their New York State Driver’s License, an initiative first introduced by the Governor during his State of the State address last month. The Adventure License and plates are available on the state’s revamped online licensing portal: www.licensecenter.ny.gov. 

New York’s Lifetime Adventure License Series will provide many benefits including:

• Lifetime Hunting License: $535 for small/big game
  A lifetime hunting license allows holders to hunt across millions of acres of majestic wild lands in New York while saving on the costs of an annual license.
• Lifetime Fishing License: $460
  A lifetime fishing license provides a lifetime of fishing on more than 70,000 miles of rivers and streams and more than 7,000 lakes and ponds while saving on the cost of an annual license.
• Lifetime Empire Passport: $750 with special offer
  The Lifetime Empire Passport allows holders to enjoy the forests, the seashore, and the lakefronts in New York’s state parks for years and years to come while saving on the cost of an annual license. In addition, as a free one-time special bonus, purchasers will be able to select from any one of the following: a free week of camping, a free round of golf for four, or a $100 State Parks gift card.

Deer Harvest Reports: Data from the NYS DEC

Deer harvest reports are useful because deer hunters use them to identify the densest deer populations. Some states, like New York, even break down their reports by county, game type and hunter type, or show them over time so that you can identify trends. The people at Guided Deer Hunts have put together a compendium of these reports on their website.

Most deer harvest reports are funded in part by the purchase of hunting licenses and tags. A previous post on this blog showed the number, the types, and the revenue generated by various hunting and fishing licenses purchased in Herkimer and Oneida Counties during the 2010-2011 season. Funding that comes from other government resources that help to generate these harvest reports has been cut drastically or eliminated altogether in many states. As a result some states have not updated their deer harvest statistics for a couple of years due to a lack of funds.

Hunters provide an important service to the rest of the community by controlling the state's deer herd and by reporting information. Most states collect the information from ear tags on harvested deer. Other states may also require harvest report cards from hunters. Most hunters follow through with their responsibility to report deer they harvest, and they believe reporting is important. The harvest reports are reviewed by the state and used to access the impact of last years harvest. This helps them determine possible changes to next year's license allocation, bag limits, season lengths and policy changes.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has put out its Deer Harvest Summary and it contains some very interesting data. The information on harvests is available on a county basis, and in some cases by town.  Below are tow maps from the NYS Report, showing the total deer harvest and the "take versus take objectives" for 2011.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Hunting Down (and Fishing For) DEC License Data

Have you ever wondered why you need a license to do some of your favorite outdoor activities? Fishing and hunting, as well as other outdoor sports and recreation, require careful management to strike a balance between supply and demand. History proves that the uncontrolled taking of fish and animals can cause the demise of a species. Wildlife biologists, armed with statistical data and habitat studies, can advise the public on the best practice to carry out these activities. Licensing is an effective way of exerting studied control on these activities and, at the same time, helps fund continued data collecting and research efforts.

In New York State, the licensing responsibility is part of the Department of Environmental Conservation's function. A variety of licenses are issued by the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources and the Division of Forest Protection. In Herkimer and Oneida Counties, nearly 65,000 DEC licenses were issued during the 2010-2011 season (licenses typically run from October 1st to September 30th of the following year). These generated nearly $1.9 million dollars in revenues !

Below are the Top 10 types of licenses issued by the DEC for Herkimer and for Oneida Counties, along with the amount of revenue each generated. To see the full list of the licenses issued in any county in NYS over the past 10 years, visit this data site at the DEC.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

A Brief History of NYS Driver's Licenses

Did you know that among workers age 16 and over in the Utica-Rome MSA (think Herkimer and Oneida Counties) nearly 90% drive or carpool to work every day ? That's nearly 120,000 people on our roads heading to work !

New York first required paper licenses back in 1903, but only for chauffeurs. It wasn't until 1918 that regular drivers also had to have an actual paper drivers license to be legal on the roadway in New York!

The New York Times has an interesting short piece showing this history with pictures and samples of how drivers licenses have changed over the last 110 years. To see how our licenses have changed, visit their article on  Evolution of Licenses. And drive safe !