When my neighbor recently informed me that Kansas residents 75 years and older can hunt and fish for free without a license, I decided it was time to take up fishing.
At 78 years of age, it’s useful to find things to do, so I went to the website of the Kansas Department of Parks and Wildlife to make sure my neighbor knew what he was talking about.
Now, remember that as we get older, it gets harder and harder to remain relevant, to remain noticed and taken seriously. So I was a little disturbed to find no mention of the free licenses for seniors 75 years and older.
Every other age group was defined on the KDPW webpage, including the following: Kansas residents age 65-74 are required to have a hunting and/or fishing license.
OK, that’s good to know, but what about those of us OLDER than age 74. Not a word, not a mention.
So, having reached curmudgeon status, I can’t let this go, and I call the KDPW state headquarters in Pratt. A nice woman tells me she’s sure the free license for us super-seniors is published elsewhere in the department’s literature. We keep checking, and, nope, there is no mention anywhere in the various brochures.
Ok, maybe this isn’t a big deal to most folks, but, again, getting old shouldn’t mean getting forgotten. And, besides, this is a really good deal for oldsters like me, and senior discounts are a big deal to us on fixed incomes.
Pressing on, I tried to contact the head guy himself, Chris Kennedy, the secretary of KDPW, at his office in Topeka. I started with his press secretary, Laura Rose Clausen, chief of public affairs.
She was most sympathetic and cooperative, assuring me this problem could be solved with a simple change to the webpage. She also provided me with tons of information about the history of senior licenses, none of which addressed the issue I was raising.
The information included the documentation that the free licenses for those 75 and over had been enacted in 2013. Great, so why isn’t it mentioned and verified anywhere on the KDPW website?
Finally, after a weeks went by, I got some satisfaction. In a Jan. 20 email, Ms. Clausen explained:
“The law simply does not require a license after age 75, so there was no license to list for that age. When you reached out with your questions about that age group, we added a clarifying line to ensure the information was easily understood: ‘Kansas residents 75 years of age or older are not required to purchase a hunting and/or fishing license. All other permits, tags, stamps, and other fee requirements apply.’”
I’m satisfied with that solution, but the episode is still a reminder that senior citizens have to fight for recognition.
I understand how easy it is to dismiss old folks as irrelevant. I was an offender myself, as a Topeka Statehouse journalist for a couple of decades.
I remember when the Silver Haired Legislature would convene in the summer months after the regular legislature adjourned. They were so cute, acting like real legislators as they filled the Kansas House chamber and talked about issues important to the aging.
Now that I’m part of that demographic, I see things differently. It ain’t so cute, and I was pretty ticked off about this fishing license business.
How hard can it be to put it in writing that we are entitled to free fishing (and hunting) licenses? Maybe it’s because we weren’t kicking any money into the pot anymore, so we’re not worth mentioning.
The state should be proud of the fact that it’s providing this late life benefit to those of us lucky enough to get this far. Not only should it be mentioned on the webpage, but it should be highlighted in boldface enlarged type, screaming from the top of the page.
In the end, I’m grateful that Secretary Kennedy and his staffer, Clausen, did the right thing and corrected the problem.
It was bad enough that the fish were avoiding me. Now that KDPW has finally put it writing, maybe I’ll finally catch something.
Dale Goter is a media consultant, former journalist and former state Capitol lobbyist for the city of Wichita. He can be reahced at dgoter@cox.net.
