FISHING AND HUNTING LICENSES 



Tliore are a number of conditions under which fishermen and 

 hunters are not required to purchase licenses in many of the 

 States. Persons under 16 could fish in more than half of the States 

 and hunt in a fourth of them without a license in 1955. In many 

 States persons over 65 and disabled veterans could hunt and fish 

 without licenses. In some States, women and active servicemen 

 did not need licenses. In many States persons could hunt or fish 

 on their own property without a license. Salt-water fishing did 

 not require a license in most coastal States during 1955. 



The survey indicated that of the 20,813,000 persons who fished 

 during the calendar year 1955, 13,737,000 purchased fishing licenses 

 at a cost of $37,240,000, and of the 11,784,000 persons who hunted, 

 9,951,000 purchased hunting licenses at a cost of $39,935,000. 



For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1955, the States reported 

 sales of 19,625,387 fishing licenses yielding revenue of $39,501 ,838, 



and 16,241,931 hunting licenses yielding $42,790,687. 



In the past there has been a tendency to treat .State license 

 figures as though each sale represented an individual fisherman 

 or hunter, even though it was known that many people purchased 

 more than one license. Although the sales figures above are for 

 the year ending June 30, 1955, sales were probably of about the 

 same magnitude for the calendar year 1955. A comparison of the 

 license statistics from the survey with those from the State sales 

 reports would indicate that several million dollars worth of licenses 

 were sold to fishermen and hunters who did not use them during 

 1955. It would also indicate that a great many fishermen and 

 hunters purchased more than one license. Of course many of the 

 additional licenses would be of the nonresident type, or special 

 permits, stamps, or tags required for certain game species in some 

 States. 



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