Reminder for the week: Purchase your 2016/2017 Delaware hunting license, waterfowl stamps now

DOVER – To achieve public compliance through education and enforcement actions that help conserve Delaware’s fish and wildlife resources and ensure safe boating and public safety, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officers between Sept. 12-18 made 1,349 contacts with anglers, hunters, boaters and the general public, including 78 vessel boardings for boating safety and fishing regulation compliance checks. Officers responded to 38 complaints and issued 20 citations. This week, with an expanded Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police presence continuing to be deployed as a deterrent, no citations were issued at the C&D Canal Conservation Area and associated recreational trail.

Incidents of note:

• On Sept. 18, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police arrested a commercial waterman on 15 counts of improper display of commercial crab pot markings in the Delaware Bay near Woodland Beach. The waterman was arraigned in Justice of the Peace Court 7 in Dover, where he pled guilty to seven counts and was fined $854, including court costs.
• On Sept. 14, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police located a Lincoln man reported overdue on a jet ski. Scott O’Neal, 44, was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant from Sussex County Family Court for failure to pay $65,000 bond. In lieu of bond, O’Neal was remanded to the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown.

Citations issued by category, with the number of charges in parentheses, included:

Wildlife Conservation: Failure to attach antlerless deer tag (1), and destruction of state property on a wildlife area (1).

Fisheries Conservation: Recreational: Possession of undersized blue crabs (1), and possession of summer flounder parts (1).
Commercial: Improper display of commercial crab pot markings (15), and failure to report commercial catch of striped bass (1).

Two press releases about a boating accident also were issued this week:

• DNREC Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police investigating fatal boating accident in Sussex County
• UPDATE: Victim identified from Saturday’s fatal boating accident in Sussex County

Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police News, Training and Outreach

• On Sept. 17, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officers spoke to the Potomac Irish Setter Club at the C&R Center near Felton about current and new hunting regulations.
• On Sept. 15, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officers joined other Delaware police, fire and emergency response agencies for 911 Awareness Day at the Sussex county Emergency Communications Center, attended by more than 100 children.
• On Sept. 14, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officers gave a presentation about their jobs and how to become a Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police officer to a group of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts in Harrington. The presentation assisted the scouts with earning their law merit badge.

Are you AWARE?
With fall hunting seasons underway, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police remind hunters to purchase their 2016/2017 Delaware hunting licenses and waterfowl stamps. A resident annual hunting license costs $25 for ages 16 through 64. A resident junior hunting license costs $5 for ages 13 through 15.

Residents younger than 13 or those 65 and older who have resided in Delaware for one year or longer are not required to purchase a Delaware hunting license; residents younger than 16 or those 65 and older are not required to purchase a Delaware waterfowl stamp. Higher license prices apply to non-resident hunters, and no exemptions are made for non-residents age 65 and older on purchasing a hunting license or waterfowl stamp.

To hunt waterfowl in Delaware, residents age 16 through 64 who have lived in the state for one year or longer are required to purchase a Delaware waterfowl stamp. For hunters age 16 and older, a federal migratory bird hunting stamp is required to hunt waterfowl. Federal duck stamps may be purchased at U.S. Post Offices, Bombay Hook and Prime Hook national wildlife refuges and online at www.fws.gov/duckstamps. For more information, call 800-STAMP24 (800-782-6724).

Hunters who are exempt from purchasing a license must obtain an annual, free License Exempt Number (LEN). Both exempt and non-exempt hunters of migratory gamebirds, including waterfowl, dove, woodcock and rail, also must obtain a free Federal Harvest Information Program (HIP) number. Both are available online or by calling 855-335-4868 toll-free.

If hunting waterfowl or deer on a state wildlife area from a blind or deer stand that was selected through a lottery, all hunters in the blind or stand are required to carry their $20 annual lottery permit. This permit is waived for hunters participating in Division of Fish & Wildlife-designated youth hunting days.

Delaware hunting licenses, lottery permits and waterfowl stamps are sold online, at the licensing office in DNREC’s Richardson & Robbins Building, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901, and by license agents statewide. To find a participating hunting license agent, to purchase a license or lottery permit or to obtain a HIP or LEN number online, click Delaware Licenses and Permits. For additional information on Delaware hunting licenses, call 302-739-9918.

For more information on hunting in Delaware, click 2016-2017 Delaware Hunting and Trapping Guide. The guide also is available in printed form at DNREC’s Dover licensing desk, and from license agents throughout the state.

DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife recognizes and thanks the majority of anglers, hunters and boaters who comply with and support Delaware’s fishing, hunting and boating laws and regulations. Citizens are encouraged to report fish, wildlife and boating violations to the Delaware Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police by calling 302-739-4580. Wildlife violations may also be reported anonymously to Operation Game Theft by calling 800-292-3030 or online at http://de.gov/ogt.

Media Contacts: Sgt. John McDerby, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police, 302-739-9913 or 302-354-1386, or Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 350

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