DNR seeks to revive H.A.P.-Lower min age limit

[BOB@BBT]

MDNR seeks to revive H.A.P.-Lower min age limit

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/state...6730.xml&coll=1

DNR seeks to revive Hunter Access Program
Sunday, August 14, 2005
By Bob Gwizdz
The Department of Natural Resources wants to rehabilitate its moribund Hunter Access Program as part of a strategy to attract and retain hunters in Michigan.

The state's Hunting Recruitment and Retention Work Group has been meeting since January to come up with an action plan. The 19-person committee, made up a representatives from the DNR, universities, sportsmen's organizations and the educational and farming communities, was appointed by DNR director Becky Humphries and charged with reversing the downward trend in the number of hunters.

The Hunter Access Program, which is funded with license dollars, leases land from private landowners to allow public access to wildlife habitat in southern Michigan. Although the program enrolled as much as 180,000 acres in the 1970s, enrollment has fallen to less than 20,000 acres now.


Increased leasing by individuals has made the HAP less attractive to landowners, though similar viable programs exist in other, largely less densely populated states.

The DNR plans to rebuild the program by:


offering higher lease payments,


offering multi-year agreements,


providing better security and land-management assistance to landowners,


exploring potential tax incentives for landowners (similar to the incentives in the Commercial Forest Act), and


providing high-quality maps of the properties (similar to those produced by similar programs in Kansas and North Dakota).

In addition, the work group has recommended increasing access to hunter safety education and reducing the minimum age for hunters.

Currently, hunters must be at least 12 years old to use a firearm and 14 to hunt deer with a firearm in Michigan. The work group recommended reducing those ages to 10 and 12, respectively, but would require the youths to be under direct adult supervision.

Such new regulations would require action by the Legislature as minimum hunter ages are set by law.

The work group has also recommended that the DNR create and expand mentoring programs for youth. Having identified several stumbling blocks, including single-parent homes and a lack of access to hunting gear, the group asked the DNR to facilitate a program linking youths with involved adults. Such programs already exist to mentor youngsters into fishing.

The group targeted were youth organizations such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters and 4-H clubs and would like to get them involved in programs sponsored by sportsmen's clubs and recreational agencies.

[chinook87]

Hey, Bob thanks for posting that information I was wondering where they were on the proposal for the age change and the HAP. Back in high school we used to hunt land under the HAP program that was down the road from my mother's house. Rabbits, squirrels, and a deer or two were very plentiful and it was a shame to see the program end. Didn't we pay a dollar or something for a public access stamp back then? It would be great if we could do that again. I unfortunately have seen the hunting land I used to roam as a youth be taken over by leasing or new landowners that just plain don't like hunting or unwilling to give permission. On to the subject at hand. I have taught hunter safety classes in Michigan for the past ten years. We honestly do have a problem with not passing on the tradition of hunting. In the mid ninety's when I started teaching it was no problem to have 35-40 kids per class three times a summer with others on a waiting list. This was in Eaton county in a town of about 1300 people. Over the years I have seen these numbers dwindle down to about 15-20 twice a year. I stopped teaching in my hometown a couple years ago due to scheduling conflicts and I talked to my predecessor and he stated he taught one class this year to five kids and cancelled the other due to no interest. I taught a class this year to youth in the 4H shooting sports program and out of thirty or so that were signed up only about eighteen actually showed up for class. I started asking parents what they would like to see to make it easier for them to enroll their kids in hunter education classes and the results of my poll were varied. But the one thing I learned is that a majority of the parents do not look at hunting as a priority, but more of as a convenience. Most parents I talked to said that they "only hunt a couple of times a season" now and only for deer. I can relate because my days afield are much less now than when I was younger before marriage, kids, job demands and a home to maintain. Another comment that intrigued me was that the hunter safety class was too long and its hard to give up a weekend to devote solely to getting themselves or children to class. To help with this, I am now teaching an internet based program where kids can learn at their own pace and not feel pressured to learn all there is to know about firearms, archery equipment, wildlife management and such in a couple of days. The results of teaching this way were much better than expected and renewed my interest in educating people about safety and the outdoors. Well this is kinda long winded for this forum, I may post more if you all want to read it :confused: I'll leave you with the one peace of advice that I have read over and over and that is "HUNT WITH YOUR CHILDREN, NOT FOR THEM" get them outside away from the computer and video games and show them what the great state of Michigan has to offer. I would be willing to teach a class depending on my availability anywhere in the state and all I would need is a donation for gas and a warm place to sleep. Inquire at tbass04@ia4u.net, thanks again BBT for this forum