MDC proposes 20-acre minimum for free permits

Missouri Department of Conservation logo
Missouri Department of Conservation logo

The Missouri Department of Conservation is considering upping the minimum acreage for a free landowner hunting permit to 20 acres.

That's one of three potential changes related to landowner permits about which MDC is currently seeking input. MDC is also suggesting the creation of a landowner registry to qualify for landowner permits, and discounting deer and turkey hunting permits to nonresident landowners with 75 or more contiguous acres.

Missourians may comment from July until early August at short.mdc.mo.gov/Z49

Since 1944, Missouri landowners who hold at least 5 acres of land have qualified for free deer and turkey hunting permits. They may also hunt small game, trap and fish for free. The rationale at the time was to incentivize landowners to invest in creating good wildlife habitats. In 2018, more than 180,000 landowners were issued free permits under those rules.

MDC first began discussing the potential change in March after discovering that one-third of people with no-cost landowner permits weren't actually qualified to receive them. Most had simply lied about possessing 5 or more acres of land, or were former members of a qualifying landowner's household but no longer qualified themselves.

"Many of the violations involve people fraudulently obtaining and using the free permits when they do not qualify for them, such as claiming to be a resident landowner when they are not or misrepresenting the number of acres they have," MDC Protection Division Chief Randy Doman said. "We also find folks who share their permits with others - which is illegal - and who use the permits on land other than the property for which the permits were issued, which is also not allowed."

The MDC has previously stated most fraudulent use of no-cost permits occurs at the lower end of the qualifying acreage.

An initial public commenting period gathered more than 14,000 comments. The MDC claims respondents most commonly supported increasing the minimum to 21 acres.

Joe Jerek, the Conservation Department's news services coordinator, said that, in 2017, the department issued a total of 186,561 landowner permits, and 35,513 of those went to people owning 19 or fewer acres.

However, he added, those 2017 numbers included people who leased land - and, as of March 1, only landowners can receive the free permits.

"So," Jerek said, "those number will drop. (But) we are not able to separate out how many were lessees - because that information was not tracked at the time of purchase."

This change will impact no-cost landowner deer and turkey hunting permits as well as permit requirements for small-game hunting, fishing and trapping on qualifying properties.

Other changes

MDC also proposes creating a landowner registry to help reduce misuse of free permits.

"While most hunters properly use their free landowner permits from MDC, we find several hundred cases each season where folks do not play by the rules - intentionally or by mistake," Doman said.

The registry would be hosted online and would contain records of qualifying landowners, their household members and proof of land ownership and property boundaries. Individuals would be required to provide their information online through a secure MDC webpage, or in paper form.

MDC is currently considering increasing the cost of hunting permits for nonresidents, but providing a discount for nonresidents who own 75 contiguous acres of land in Missouri. For example, a spring turkey permit currently costs $190 for a nonresident; if this change passes, a landowning nonresident would pay $165 but a non-landowning nonresident would pay $224.

According to MDC, many nonresident landowners provide wildlife habitat work on their properties and those efforts can provide significant benefits to state wildlife resources. A similar discount was available to nonresident landowners until 2009.

To comment on landowner acreage requirements, refer to "3 CSR 10-20.805 Definitions." To comment on the landowner registry, refer to "3 CSR 10-7.434 Deer: Landowner Privileges" or "3 CSR 10-7.455 Turkeys: Seasons, Methods, Limits."

The commission will consider input received and make a final decision to move forward, modify, or withdraw the changes during its Aug. 23 meeting. If approved, the anticipated effective date of the changes would be Feb. 29, 2020.