Back in 1998 I made a decision which turned out to be one of the best moves I ever made. I bit the bullet and bought a West Virginia Lifetime Hunting and Fishing License. The cost at the time was just over $300.
It certainly doesn’t sound like a lot of money now but it was hard to swallow in 1998. When I ordered my lifetime license I also ordered them for my two sons–with the financial assistance of my in-laws. One of my sons, Hank, was only days away from turning 2-years old. I got the letter postmarked before his birthday and Hank now has hunting and fishing privileges in West Virginia for the rest of his life for the handsome sum of $150. You’ll pay well over that amount to hunt non-resident for one season in some states. Later on in 2001 I bought another for my daughter Savannah.
At the time I bought my lifetime license, I was buying a Sportsman’s License every year–the two offer identical privileges. The cost at the time was $25 per year. It’s gone up since then, but using it as the base my Lifetime License paid for itself in 2010–at least from my pocketbook. The state’s wildlife and fisheries still get a benefit. Holding the lifetime license enables the DNR to count me as a hunter and an angler when reporting to the US Fish and Wildlife Service to draw down the federal dollars from the Pittman-Robertson and Wallop-Breaux funds. Those funds are always critical to managing state wildlife and fisheries.
The license does not include all of the various stamps we buy each year like the antlerless hunting, extra buck, or bear stamps. You still have to buy those–although you can buy a lifetime trout stamp. It adds another $150 the the cost and I didn’t opt for it, but it’s a great deal too.
I would recommend everybody under the age of 50 buy the lifetime license. I realize it’s a sting in the checkbook because it now costs just a shade north of $800. That’s not money you easily produce in a time when gas is over $3.00/gallon. However, if you can swing it, it’s worth the price if you like to hunt or fish. It’s never going to get any cheaper.
I would wholeheartedly recommend it for your children or grandchildren, especially if they are yet to turn two years old. An infant lifetime license costs just over $400. One of the sad realities in West Virginia is a lot of children grow up here, but wind up leaving the state to find a job as adults. Hopefully that won’t happen, but if it does and they hold a Lifetime Hunting and Fishing license, they will be able to come home and hunt and fish for the rest of their lives.
Consider this, you get to hunt and fish for the rest of your life in West Virginia. When you think of it in those terms, it’s priceless.