Talk about barriers to youth participation!

[CombinationLicense]

The State of Washington has a pretty cool youth hunting weekend coming up this Saturday and Sunday. It’s a youth only weekend and they can hunt pheasants and/or ducks with only a small game license and free migratory bird validation. Sounds great right? Well, check this out:

Our boys got invited to participate in this opportunity so we decided to head up Eastern Washington this weekend. I headed over to Vancouver yesterday afternoon to purchase the appropriate licensing and that’s where things got sticky. I had the boy’s Oregon licenses in hand; their Hunter Education cards and all their other “vital statistics” but still came away from the license agent’s counter empty handed. Why? Because Washington requires the date of issue for the HE card and Oregon doesn’t put it on there! OK, I chalked up the snafu to the usual bureaucratic shuffle that occurs when dealing with interstate regulations and headed for the hour drive back home during rush hour.

This morning I called and got the information from a very helpful guy in the ODFW I&E department without any problem. Next I called WDFW to confirm that I had all the information that I needed before committing to another 2 hour round trip - Good thing too. It seems that verbally conveying the date of issue wasn’t good enough for the shrew on the other end of the line. I needed to obtain a letter from ODFW with the appropriate info on letterhead before I would be able to buy licenses for our boys. Ridiculous!

All this to let them participate in a hunt that’s designed to ENCOURAGE youth participation!

Undaunted, I call the ODFW I&E Department back and explain my dilemma to the clerk and he couldn’t believe it either. It seems this was news to ODFW since they had never heard of this requirement before. Evidently, nobody has ever asked for the documentation that was requested from me. Fortunately, he was able to fax me the info, on letterhead, and I am now armed to do battle with WDFW again - Thank You ODFW. I’m sure glad that I didn’t wait to buy their licenses on the way out of town this afternoon. With any luck I’ll be able to obtain the licenses by the time the kids get home from school. Otherwise I‘m pulling the plug and we’ll drive down to EE Wilson and hunt pheasants there.

I just wonder how many other parents don’t have the time and/or resources to negotiate through this bureaucratic nightmare? Somehow I doubt that I’m the only person to had to deal with it so do they just pull the plug? That’s my guess…

It seems ironic to make it this difficult for kids to participate in a hunt that’s designed to ENCOURAGE youth participation! Rant over

“CL”

[ehunter]

Wow that seems a little over the top do you think you might have got a shrew who didn't know what they were doing? If that was the case would not every out of state person applying for licenses have to go though the same thing and I would think that the state would have been pounded but Oregon residents asking for the same. Any way good luck with the kids hunt.

Originally Posted by CombinationLicense

The State of Washington has a pretty cool youth hunting weekend coming up this Saturday and Sunday. It’s a youth only weekend and they can hunt pheasants and/or ducks with only a small game license and free migratory bird validation. Sounds great right? Well, check this out:

Our boys got invited to participate in this opportunity so we decided to head up Eastern Washington this weekend. I headed over to Vancouver yesterday afternoon to purchase the appropriate licensing and that’s where things got sticky. I had the boy’s Oregon licenses in hand; their Hunter Education cards and all their other “vital statistics” but still came away from the license agent’s counter empty handed. Why? Because Washington requires the date of issue for the HE card and Oregon doesn’t put it on there! OK, I chalked up the snafu to the usual bureaucratic shuffle that occurs when dealing with interstate regulations and headed for the hour drive back home during rush hour.

This morning I called and got the information from a very helpful guy in the ODFW I&E department without any problem. Next I called WDFW to confirm that I had all the information that I needed before committing to another 2 hour round trip - Good thing too. It seems that verbally conveying the date of issue wasn’t good enough for the shrew on the other end of the line. I needed to obtain a letter from ODFW with the appropriate info on letterhead before I would be able to buy licenses for our boys. Ridiculous!

All this to let them participate in a hunt that’s designed to ENCOURAGE youth participation!

Undaunted, I call the ODFW I&E Department back and explain my dilemma to the clerk and he couldn’t believe it either. It seems this was news to ODFW since they had never heard of this requirement before. Evidently, nobody has ever asked for the documentation that was requested from me. Fortunately, he was able to fax me the info, on letterhead, and I am now armed to do battle with WDFW again - Thank You ODFW. I’m sure glad that I didn’t wait to buy their licenses on the way out of town this afternoon. With any luck I’ll be able to obtain the licenses by the time the kids get home from school. Otherwise I‘m pulling the plug and we’ll drive down to EE Wilson and hunt pheasants there.

I just wonder how many other parents don’t have the time and/or resources to negotiate through this bureaucratic nightmare? Somehow I doubt that I’m the only person to had to deal with it so do they just pull the plug? That’s my guess…

It seems ironic to make it this difficult for kids to participate in a hunt that’s designed to ENCOURAGE youth participation! Rant over

“CL”

[lor]

Wow that is ridiculous.
Can't a person just look at the child, thier identification and do the math.
Oh, I forgot that would require thinking.

[goosegunner]

Last year when we moved from oregon to Wa I went to get my tags and the agent at the store ask for proof of hunter ed card.I lost it somewhere over the years,so I went on odfw web site and ordered a new one and it doesn't have a issue date on it and no one said a word last year.Then again maybe its something to do with the youth status.Kinda ridicoulous if you ask me.

[Flying Roast Beef]

I have to weigh in on this. Oregon is much more ridiculous in my opinion. It's also on heck of a lot more expensive. I work in Oregon and get zero representation for the taxes I pay. If I even wanted to put if for a hunt I have to buy a big game licence first. In my opinion that's a crock. I don't want to make enemies so now I'll stop.

[CombinationLicense]

Update - Mission Accomplished! With the documentation from ODFW, I was able to purchase the licenses on Friday and the boys had a great weekend hunting. They were successful hunting both pheasants and ducks plus they did some bass fishing on the Yakima River on Saturday afternoon. I plan on writing a couple of letters to ODFW and WDFW about the bureaucratic hoops that I had to jump through to make this happen. With any luck somebody will take notice and streamline the red tape.

BTW - Flying Roast Beef, I feel your pain. After getting tired of Oregon's (mis)management system, I started applying for tags in other states a few years ago. It required some research into the other state's application processes and I found that the "buy before you apply" requirement exists in many states. There are a few that are easier to deal with though so you might want to do some homework...



"CL"

[thehunt]

Oregon has the exact same youth opportunity for ducks and geese here. Maybe next time you can just stay in Oregon and hunt. That's pretty lame what you had to deal with.

[CombinationLicense]

Originally Posted by thehunt

Oregon has the exact same youth opportunity for ducks and geese here. Maybe next time you can just stay in Oregon and hunt. That's pretty lame what you had to deal with.

Oregon's youth setup is a little different and we do participate in the program here. Last weekend they hunted over at the youth pheasant hunt in Tygh Valley on Saturday and another youth pheasant hunt at Sauvie Island on Sunday. :smile:

Sure, they could have hunted ducks here this weekend but Washington's program allows kids to hunt ducks AND all upland birds for this one weekend. Last year they spent about 30 days hunting turkeys, waterfowl and upland birds so this trip was mostly an opportunity for them to spend time in the field/marsh with friends we hadn't seen for a while. To me, them learning to share the camaraderie of the hunt with good friends ranks right up there with safe gun handling and good sportsmanship.

It just seemed like getting the licenses was much more difficult than it needed to be, but all is well that ends well I guess

"CL"

[QH's Paw]

Last year my son(he's 24) went to get Washington seaduck etc license and the retailer just asked for the numbers. He could've given any 6 digit number and got the license(the girl at the counter stated min 6 digit to card number). They never asked for a date. He contacted ODFW and the lady there supplied him with his number and he went back and told them the number verbally. They must've changed the system to ask for an issue date. Good news is, now your boys are in the system and you just have to buy license etc. from this point on.