Commentary by William Noll

So, how many of you dialed patiently, and repeatedly, into the Game and Fish Greenway office this weekend to obtain your draw results? Well, as is usually the case, it took many tries, at odd times during the day and night, to finally get through. And after entering all your personal data, you were told that "all computer lines were busy.” Busy! The phone lines are busy, but the computer lines, too!? Might as well spend the five bucks and use the 1-900 number. That got you through. According to Game and Fish, that was the only way you could get through.

Seems as though the computer was having difficulty this weekend, and crashed. Interesting, though, how the 1-900 number had no difficulties. Isn’t it the same computer? In today’s Arizona Republic, Game and Fish director Jim Burton said the computer system was nine years old, and a new system would not be up until August. So, the free computer is down, the pay computer is up. I smell scam. Sure, we all love our friendly Ranger Ricks and Game Warden Bobs, but this continuous money squeeze from Game and Fish is getting old.

As a fiscal conservative at heart, I’m always looking at how our government is feeding from the public trough. There’s no doubt that we get benefits from things such as the Post Office, the Weather Service, and NASA, but what about our local state game agency? They raised permit fees this year – significantly, but did you see any significant increase in services? How about better hunting areas, or increased numbers of game? Didn’t think so.

According to Game and Fish online documents, they took in almost $50 Million in revenue in ‘97-’98. I’m sure it’s much higher this year. They get money from the federal government, fees from hunters, fisherman, boaters, and OHV users, lottery money, and other sources. But where does it go? I’m sure that their main expenditure is personnel and bureaucracy, certainly not major public hunting improvements and better public access to the draw results.

I know many of you hunters have no problem “funding wildlife”, or supporting those organizations that work hard towards pro-hunting legislation, or habitat improvement. But a government agency is still, a government agency – absorbing public dollars for its own benefit, and usually with little to show for it.

If you were “scammed” by the 1-900 number, I encourage you to contact Arizona Game and Fish, and force them to refund your money. It’s not right that their failure equates into your financial loss. Got any other comments, or think I’m wrong?

Let me here from you:

William Noll

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This commentary represents my opinions, and may not necessarily represent the views of OutdoorsmanAz.com