License renewal

I'm not sure about you but I screwed up the timing of renewals for a few different licenses a few years ago. I went this year and bought a gold sportsmans even though some of my licenses were still good just to get them all on the same page.

i bough the sportsmans gold lifetime so ill never have to deal with that shart again hopefully

and NOW this:

Proposed Deer Harvest Reporting System for Florida
November 2010
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved a Strategic Plan for Deer Management in Florida: 2008-2018 in February 2008. An objective in the strategic plan is to develop and implement a method to reliably determine how many and where deer are harvested annually. This objective was identified as a top priority by both FWC staff and stakeholders. Currently, harvest estimates are developed from a survey of hunters after the season ends. However, this method is limited in its abilities to estimate deer harvest on a county or regional scale. Accurate harvest and hunter effort data are often used as indicators of abundance and are vital to developing a deer population model for Florida. Having accurate harvest information would also aid in developing harvest goals in the future.

The FWC is proposing to implement a deer harvest reporting system for Florida in an effort to collect accurate harvest data. The proposal would require hunters to document a harvested deer using a printed/Commission provided harvest tag or home-made tag and report the harvest using a telephone or computer within a certain amount of time of taking a deer. Once reported, a confirmation number would be provided and would need to be recorded on the harvest tag. The proposal would also require taxidermists and meat processors to maintain a record, including confirmation numbers, for all deer brought to the facility.

Another top priority outlined in the Strategic Plan for Deer Management in Florida is developing Deer Management Units (DMUs). DMUs are being developed to help manage Florida's deer populations on a finer scale than currently possible to increase our ability to meet the needs and desires of the public. DMUs would be smaller units within hunting zones and are based on habitats of similar productivity. Deer populations within DMUs should have similar characteristics (i.e. reproductive potential, body size, breeding chronology, antler potential, etc). DMUs would be used as a basis for specific population goals, antlerless deer harvest, potential antler restrictions, bag limits, and data collection. It is important to establish DMUs at the same time as a harvest reporting system since hunters would need to report deer harvests within DMUs and harvest levels will be important when developing management goals for individual DMUs.

Major components of the project

An accepted, user friendly, telephone and Internet system for reporting deer harvest.
Harvest tags that will facilitate compliance with a deer harvest reporting program.
An online data reporting system that will produce annual and seasonal harvest information to staff and the public.
DMUs that will be used for collecting deer harvest data and setting deer management goals.
Harvest reporting system details

Telephone and internet based reporting system available 24 hours a day.
All deer hunters would be required to use deer harvest tags. Harvest tags would be available in the hunter handbook, could be printed off the internet, may be available free of charge from some license vendors or could be self-produced.
Hunters would have to record their first and last name, customer number, telephone number, date the deer was harvested, county and the sex of the deer on the harvest tag prior to field dressing or moving the deer from the point of harvest. The harvest tag must be securely affixed to the harvested deer immediately upon arrival at a residence or camp and prior to loading the deer onto any conveyance (truck, ATV, boat, etc.) and shall remain on the deer until the deer is processed.
Reporting would be mandatory for all hunter harvested deer. A harvested deer would have to be reported by midnight the day after leaving the hunted area (e.g., WMA, public hunting area, lease, farm, etc). Hunters would be required to report their deer harvest prior to dropping it off at a taxidermist or meat processor. A confirmation number would be provided once a deer has been reported and this confirmation number would have to be recorded on the hunter's deer harvest tag.
Taxidermists and meat processors are currently required to maintain a record of deer that are dropped off. Proposed rules would require the hunter's customer number and the harvest confirmation number to be captured along with the taker's first and last name, date of harvest and address of the hunter.
Failure to report a deer would be a Level 1 civil infraction which entails a $50 fine or $100 fine if a second offense within 36 months.
Required information when reporting a harvest

Customer number (exempt hunters would be required to maintain a customer number free of charge)
Date of harvest
If harvested on private land, Deer Management Unit (DMU) and county where harvested. If harvested on public land, county and WMA where harvested.
Method of harvest (modern gun, muzzleloading gun, bow or crossbow)
Dog or still hunting
Type of deer (antlered buck, button buck or doe)
Total number of points for antlered bucks
Exempt hunters

As mentioned previously, under the proposed harvest reporting system, exempt hunters would need to obtain a free customer number through the Commission's licensing system. Many exempt hunters may already have a customer number if they apply for quota permits on areas that do not allow exemptions or may have one that needs to be "refreshed" by updating their information on file with the Commission's licensing system. Ideally, exempt hunters would obtain a free customer number prior to hunting. Customer numbers are important because they allow individuals to be easily identified in a telephone or internet based reporting system. All hunters that are not exempt and whom purchased a license will have a customer number.

Benefits of having exempt hunters maintain custom numbers:

Customer numbers are unique to an individual, are created when a customer obtains their first license and remains the individual's customer number throughout their life. Exempt hunters would need to obtain a customer number and renew it every five years. Customer numbers would be free of charge.
Would allow all exempt hunters to have a customer number and contact information on file with the Commission.
Having current contact information on file would allow the Commission to survey exempt hunters when developing deer management goals, estimating hunter effort or any other hunting related survey. Currently, exempt hunters are not included in survey efforts because they cannot be identified without a customer number. Commission staff believe that getting the opinions of Florida's exempt hunters are important to managing deer and other wildlife and that this segment of the hunting population is not being adequately represented.
Having exempt hunters on file would improve communication by allowing the Commission to contact individuals to inform them of proposed changes or opportunities.
Customer numbers would allow hunters to quickly check harvested deer without having to enter any personal information during the reporting process. All of the information would be on file.
With a customer number, law enforcement would be able to check with the reporting system to determine if an individual reported a deer. Without a customer number, it would be difficult to confirm if an exempt hunter reported a harvested deer unless they were required to provide additional personal information each time they reported a harvest.
Without a customer number, there could be a weak link in the reporting system where non-exempt hunters report a deer as an exempt or may claim to have reported a deer as an exempt which would be difficult for law enforcement to prove otherwise.
Being able to identify all hunters through a unique customer number would also improve enforcement of daily bag limits on private lands and season bag limits that are in place on many wildlife management areas.

Great. Sounds like we've got the beginning of the end of Florida hunting coming. I can see them trying to regulate WMAs like that, but private land? Get real. What's gonna end up happening is that there is going to be a high number of non-reported deer, which will skew the numbers that FWC will use to make their decisions.