Are wildlife regulation websites purposefully made to be as confusing as possible?

[Holesinthesky]

@Wareagle1011

Active Duty stationed in different state than Home of Record State.
DL - Florida
car tags-AZ
Insurance- Based in TX
Bought resident hunting license ( Missouri).

Killed a deer, checked in at Processor.
During a check of the processor. The GW checked my tagged deer, cross checked my License, then DL.
assumed I bought a resident tag as non resident.
before purchasing tag, I emailed DNR, explaining all the above… and asked specifically if I read in the handbook on page ??, correctly that it said US Service members and their family stationed in MO, are entitled to buy a resident license?

The answer was yes.
GW did not agree…. Said my license was from Fl. And that made me not eligible for a resident tag.

once I provided the printed email from DNR HQ, he just said… ok.

 

[hobbydog]

Always keep in mind that state organizations hire the most inept contractors because they are the low bidder for the job. (Nevermind the cost overruns and inefficiencies will make the job 3x as expensive.)
When you hire the low cost provider to do a website, things like User Experience and Data Visualization (and thoroughness, in general) go straight out the window. This is often because the "local" company that wins the cheap bid often offshores to (at best) Eastern Europe or (at worst) India. So the guys working on the sites don't even know that the stuff they're linking doesn't have any logical connection and the information that the user is coming for simply isn't there.
In short...state websites all suck.
DMV. Wildlife. Tax Collection. All of them. Trash.

The Minnesota one is actually pretty good. the printed regulations are published in a PDF format online. A big problem is people don’t read them. They will go on a FB hunting page and ask a specific question about the regs. Someone will go online and cut and paste out the specific reg…..often it is clearly stated. And some (maybe a lot) just have poor reading comprehension.

 

[hobbydog]

In Minnesota hunters lobbied to all handguns to be used in a shotgun only deer zone. It got approved but then came the confusion as to what exactly constitutes a handgun. Can it have a brace? Barrel length? Type of brace? Each CO had different interpretations. There was no right answer because it was never clearly defined in the law. Similar issues as what constitutes a muzzleloader.

 

[Bullet21XD]

And some (maybe a lot) just have poor reading comprehension.

This is what matters most.

I duck hunt and fish from border to border here in the midwest, as well as other places.

Regardless of state, it only takes a minute or two of reading regulations to know exactly how, where, and how many I can kill...and the licenses I need to do so.

It's not that difficult.

 

[Wareagle1011]

@Wareagle1011

Active Duty stationed in different state than Home of Record State.
DL - Florida
car tags-AZ
Insurance- Based in TX
Bought resident hunting license ( Missouri).

Killed a deer, checked in at Processor.
During a check of the processor. The GW checked my tagged deer, cross checked my License, then DL.
assumed I bought a resident tag as non resident.
before purchasing tag, I emailed DNR, explaining all the above… and asked specifically if I read in the handbook on page ??, correctly that it said US Service members and their family stationed in MO, are entitled to buy a resident license?

The answer was yes.
GW did not agree…. Said my license was from Fl. And that made me not eligible for a resident tag.

once I provided the printed email from DNR HQ, he just said… ok.

Once again proves my point that there are game wardens out there that dont know their own damn regulations.

 

[Wareagle1011]

In Minnesota hunters lobbied to all handguns to be used in a shotgun only deer zone. It got approved but then came the confusion as to what exactly constitutes a handgun. Can it have a brace? Barrel length? Type of brace? Each CO had different interpretations. There was no right answer because it was never clearly defined in the law. Similar issues as what constitutes a muzzleloader.

Oh wow yea thats a whole lot of mess right there

 

[Il. MudDuk]

John, for many years, enough of the IL. hunting and fishing regs were available on a card that would fit in your wallet. I usually carried the hunting one in the breast pocket of my hunting coat and the fishing one in my tacklebox. Of course, the print was somewhat small. Today, even the comic book size books have me grabbing for reading glasses. If they still had those little cards, I'd have to carry a magnifying glass just to read it!

You know what I do for a living.
The old digest book was, to me, simple. Now, particularly the deer regs (I don't deer hunt), have me turning every which way looking for answers.
Muzzle loader seasons, antler less only, 2 buck maximum, crossbow regs, blah, blah, blah.

What also gets me are the "who needs a license (or stamps) and who doesn't " regs.
( for different disabilities, veterans, etc) or the damn "senior " and "super senior " licenses, stamps and fees. If we're going to give a discount to someone whose "old", then let's just make it age 65+.

 

[Northhunter]

Man, I live on the walleye capital of the world and aint never heard of no slot limit like that in my life for anything. Wowsa.

My slot / limit has changed several times since 2000. Used to be 6 fish, any size. Then it was 4 fish, 15.75" max. Then 2. They may or may not have allowed you to keep one larger (I don't remember). Then it was 2 over 18.1" (they were proposing 1, but worried about public backlash). Currently it's 2 between 40-45cm (15.75-17.7").

They rely on FWIN data to gauge the population dynamics. The original slot was modeled to protect 80% of the breeding population, which they believed was stressed. But you could park your butt on the ice and catch 100 walleye in a weekend.
Our ministry didn't understand that you need big fish to make little fish. They had a public symposium some years back and someone asked "If there's essentially no breeding stock left, then where are all the juveniles coming from?" and the response was basically "We have no idea"

There's politics involved. It's ugly.

 

[Squaller]

In Minnesota hunters lobbied to all handguns to be used in a shotgun only deer zone. It got approved but then came the confusion as to what exactly constitutes a handgun. Can it have a brace? Barrel length? Type of brace? Each CO had different interpretations. There was no right answer because it was never clearly defined in the law. Similar issues as what constitutes a muzzleloader.

I could see a gun such as the Contender being in that grey area....

 

[Squaller]

1988 i went to trap as a non resident in southern California. I wanted a bobcat and swift fox.
Completed all the requirements in Sacramento, and paid the crazy at that time non resident fee$480.
Two months later I received a $480 check. As a Minnesota resident I couldn't trap CA.
Those testing me in CA, Trappers ed, didn't know As a Minnesotan I didn't qualify

Why can't a person from Minnesota trap in California? Easy fix today would be to cry "racism!"