Alaska Disabled Veteran Hunting, Fishing and Trapping Card

AS 16.05.341 gives a free licence to hunt, sport fish and trap to a resident disabled veteran. The Department of Fish and Game issues it as a permanent identification card rather than an annual licence, so it is obtained once and never renewed. The gate is fifty percent. The person must meet the department's residency definition and be certified as fifty percent or more disabled from military service. Two things are included that a veteran would otherwise pay for separately. The card exempts the holder from buying a king salmon stamp, and from the Alaska state conservation stamp required for waterfowl hunting. Those are annual purchases for everyone else and they are not trivial. What the card does not do is lift the permit system. A holder who fishes a fishery with an annual harvest limit must still obtain and carry a free Sport Fishing Harvest Record Card and record the harvest on it. Draw permits, registration permits and big game tags work as they do for everyone. The residency condition is strict and it is written as a continuing one. The applicant must be physically present in Alaska to apply, and if the holder ceases to be an Alaska resident the card is immediately void. A veteran who winters outside the state is fine; a veteran who moves is not, and the card does not survive the move even though it says permanent. The eligibility provision contains an unusual cross-reference. Alongside the honorable discharge and the fifty percent certification, the statute conditions the free licence on the person being eligible for a loan under AS 18.56.101, which is the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation veterans mortgage eligibility section. A fish and game benefit is therefore defined partly by a housing finance statute, and a veteran reading the licence rules can be sent somewhere unexpected to answer the question. Confirm the current administration of that clause with the department rather than assuming it is dormant. Two neighbouring provisions in the same section are worth knowing. An active member of the Alaska National Guard, or of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard reserves, who meets the residency definition gets the same licence free. And a nonresident on active duty permanently stationed in Alaska buys at resident rates: under twelve months stationed, a special military licence at resident prices, but brown or grizzly bear, mountain goat and Dall sheep hunting still requires a registered guide or a second-degree relative; past twelve months, a resident licence with no guide requirement.