[Ira]

I received an email the day before yesterday from Florida's FWC.

Hog hunting is open for the next two months or so on certain WMAs, on certain specified weekends only, and you don't have to buy a permit for any of these WMAs. You just need a general hunting license.

Well...

The email quoted a statute stating that anyone born after June 1, 1975 has to take a hunter safety course in order to do any hunting at all in Florida. I couldn't believe this was correct, and maybe they cut and pasted text from when the statute was first written, God knows when.

Like, you have to be FORTY to hunt without taking the course? And here I am, 59, and I don't know what the **** I'm doing MYSELF! How can this be? You have to be FORTY to be exempt from the mandatory classes?

I replied to their email saying this has to be a mistake. That they have something wrong with their birth dates, that it surely can't apply to people so old.

And this is the reply I got:

Good morning Mr. Ratner,

Thank you for contacting Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) regarding the requirement for a hunting license. The wording is correct; June 1, 1975 is what is recorded in Florida Statute.

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

379.3581 Hunter safety course; requirements; penalty.-
(1) This section may be cited as the Senator Joe Carlucci Hunter Safety Act.
(2)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a person born on or after June 1, 1975, may not be issued a license to take wild animal life with the use of a firearm, gun, bow, or crossbow in this state without having first successfully completed a hunter safety course as provided in this section, and without having in his or her personal possession a hunter safety certification card, as provided in this section.
(b) A person born on or after June 1, 1975, who has not successfully completed a hunter safety course may apply to the commission for a special authorization to hunt under supervision. The special authorization for supervised hunting shall be designated on any license or permit required under this chapter for a person to take game or fur-bearing animals. A person issued a license with a special authorization to hunt under supervision must hunt under the supervision of, and in the presence of, a person 21 years of age or older who is licensed to hunt pursuant to s. 379.354 or who is exempt from licensing requirements or eligible for a free license pursuant to s. 379.353.
(3) The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shall institute and coordinate a statewide hunter safety course that must be offered in every county and consist of not more than 16 hours of instruction including, but not limited to, instruction in the competent and safe handling of firearms, conservation, and hunting ethics.

If you have any additional questions. Please contact FWC's South Region Office at 561-625-5122.

 

[Ulysses]

Ira,

Several decades ago, the only requirement to obtain a hunting license in many states (including Florida) was the few dollars for the cost of the license. There was no training requirement to purchase the license.

Then the states began requiring a training class to purchase a license, but it didn't apply to those above a certain age who may have already been hunting for many years without having a training class.

Although it is a slow process, by leaving the date fixed, then the older hunters could continue to hunt without the need for taking a training class, but the newer (younger) hunters would be required to have the training class. Eventually, everyone would have to have the training class because after enough time all the old people would have died off.

While this may not make much sense to you, it is a commonly used way of making gradual changes to a system that would have been politically impossible to make otherwise. I hope I've answered your questions.

 

[Ira]

You explained it well!

But damn, it still doesn't make much sense to me, as you indicated it wouldn't.

So old, feeble and decrepit guys like me get a pass...and young and able hunters don't.