AL DCNR Hard Stance - Opinions Sought

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

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My hunting partner, @Tom Ryan, of many years is an active-duty soldier stationed in GA. This fall he entered the draw for the Alabama Sandhill season and was selected. In order to hunt the season you must pass an ID test and purchase a tag. This is done after the draw is complete and you are selected/notified. Drawing entry deadline was Sept. 25 and if selected you had until Oct 2 to complete the ID test and purchase the permit. Tom was part of a Hurricane Helene emergency team (he's a flight EMT) and was on duty when the email with pertinent dates was sent to him. He got a second email from the state but was buried with emergency duties including oversight by a 4-star general. With the national emergency situation in full swing, it was not until Oct 3rd he read the email and immediately contacted the state which did not respond until today. Tom got a call back from Seth Maddox telling him he missed the deadline and therefore forfeited his sandhill permit.

So let me ask you folks. Does a soldier working in a national emergency deserve a few hours of leeway? Or should the state strictly adhere to their rules in all situations? I'm interested in what folks outside of this situation think.
 
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Of course he deserves an allowance. He should be on orders I'd think. By sending in a copy of the orders he should be allowed an exception to the cut off date.

My only other thought is if after his forfeiture the permit might have already been awarded to another hunter? If so there might be no back up plan.
 
This sounds like a no brainer. A little public shaming of the DCNR on TV should do the trick. Pass along the circumstances to your local TV reporter. That or a nastygram from a representative or senator in the devastated area where he's working. Sad to say they probably awarded the tag to the next hunter in line as Brad suggested. But a little punishment helps avert a similar screw up next year. Worst case if pressure is brought, perhaps he gets a tag next year.
 
Like noted, they may have already given the tag to someone else.
I know that they are limited by USFWS on how many tags they can can give out each year.
So their hands might be tied at this point.
 
One week between the draw notification and deadline to take the test and purchase the permit? That seems awfully short, regardless of your friend's circumstances. Is there any good reason to make the timeline so short?
 
Eric Patterson said:
My hunting partner, @Tom Ryan, of many years is an active-duty soldier stationed in GA. This fall he entered the draw for the Alabama Sandhill season and was selected. In order to hunt the season you must pass an ID test and purchase a tag. This is done after the draw is complete and you are selected/notified. Drawing entry deadline was Sept. 25 and if selected you had until Oct 2 to complete the ID test and purchase the permit. Tom was part of a Hurricane Helene emergency team (he's a flight EMT) and was on duty when the email with pertinent dates was sent to him. He got a second email from the state but was buried with emergency duties including oversight by a 4-star general. With the national emergency situation in full swing, it was not until Oct 3rd he read the email and immediately contacted the state which did not respond until today. Tom got a call back from Seth Maddox telling him he missed the deadline and therefore forfeited his sandhill permit.

So let me ask you folks. Does a soldier working in a national emergency deserve a few hours of leeway? Or should the state strictly adhere to their rules in all situations? I'm interested in what folks outside of this situation think.
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In short, yes they damn well do!
 
Do I think soldiers should be given leeway? Absolutely.

Practically speaking though, especially with everything computer run, that just makes it pretty much impossible. Well if the soldier gets leeway, why not the LEO or EMT that has been working 24/7 it seems for a week? Or someone who was on vacation for a week and had no service?

So while I think YES a soldier (or anyone deployed in a high stress situation) should be given leeway, I do not see it being feasible with the way todays technology works
 
Yup he sure does. No questions asked but this the same bs that wardens play ALL THE TIME. Truthfully, I have yet to find any warden anywhere in the country that gives a sh** honestly. There is an area in the state that makes us draw for crane. I did it a few times because they are give me hunts if you draw. And crane is ribeye in the sky. There are so many in this area but because the refuge has their "festival of the cranes" every year for the bird watchers, its a draw only hunt. In other parts of the state, allowed 4/day, but obviously not as many and not near as easy of hunts.

If drawn, you have to check all your birds in, no questions about it and you are only allowed 2/day and the hunt is only for 2 days if you draw. So only 4 birds, kind of a bummer but it is what it is. About 15 years ago, I get drawn with a buddy, we kill our birds and check them in both days. I get an email about a month after the hunts are over and it is stating I never checked my birds in. My buddy has no issues. I call, they say its probably an error, I even send pics in of when I took pics of the student biologists sexing my birds and taking blood samples and whatever else they are checking. 3 weeks goes by and I get an email saying I am banned for 5 years from that draw hunt because I failed to show proof I checked in my birds. I make a phone call pi**ed off at this point, get some high up guy with game and fish and he just tells me its unfortunate and to have a nice day. Never have put in for that draw again and never will. I will just keep traveling and hunting other areas for them.

They are kind of a boring bird to hunt. Lots of time you can do a diver call through a goose call and get them to decoy right in. Ive even called them in just using my mouth. They are super easy to shoot and kill, and best of all.... they eat REALLY GOOD! if they werent so boring to hunt, I probably would chase them more often.
 

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An update. Tom emailed the commissioner asking for leniency. The commissioner's secretary responded stating she had forwarded the request to the wildlife division. I believe this means his request went right back to the person who told him no exceptions at the outset. Regardless, Tom has heard nothing more.
 
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