Just in case the link fails again, here is the artical.
Some hunters get an easy shot
By Kevin McDermott
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
04/11/2007
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — While most hunters in Illinois must enter lotteries and cross their fingers that they'll win a hunting permit, politically connected sportsmen are routinely allowed to circumvent that process — leading to excessive hunting and possibly endangering hunter safety, a new audit says.
A report released Tuesday by the Illinois auditor general's office says a state agency is abusing a regulatory loophole to allow favored hunters to forgo the usual deer and turkey hunting permit lottery systems.
Instead, those favored hunters are handed permits through "administrative approvals" at the whim of officials at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, even as other hunters are turned away.
"The department failed to make the administrative approval process open to the public, resulting in preferential treatment for certain hunters," states the report.
The special permit process was created for relatively rare circumstances, yet the agency has issued at least 1,250 of them between 2004 and 2006, states the audit. The recipients include "professional athletes, judges and politicians."
The audit doesn't identify those recipients. Officials at Natural Resources declined to furnish the names on Tuesday.
Although the agency has accepted the audit's recommendation to reform the permit process, spokeswoman Marcelyn Love on Tuesday defended that process. Love noted in an e-mail that the agency issued nearly 1.3 million regular deer and turkey hunting permits during the two-year period in question, and that the 1,250 special permits are a tiny sliver of that total.
"DNR feels it is well within its rights to issue permits in this manner. This has been a longstanding practice that has been used by previous directors," Love wrote. "A majority of the permits requested are for individuals who missed the application deadline for qualifying for a permit and every permit issued contributes to our ability to manage the deer population of the state."
The vast majority of people who hunt in Illinois must get their permits through a lottery system designed to limit the number of hunters at a given site — usually by county — in each hunting season. The lottery process favors in-state residents, but even they can often be out of luck at the more popular sites, leaving them to settle for another site or wait until the next lottery.
Hunter Larry Dale says he has only been able to hunt a few times over the years at the popular Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish & Wildlife Area near his Petersburg, Ill., home because there are always so many lottery competitors for the limited number of permits. MORE ONLINE
PDF of the audit
"I have kind of given up," he said.
Dale, a hunting safety instructor who operates a website called Illinoishunter.com, said he has heard of the state process that allows allocation of special hunting permits for specific reasons, and he doesn't have a problem with the concept, "as long as it isn't used excessively." He said most hunters likely would understand the need to bypass the usual lottery rules for, say, a charity hunting event.
But Dale was surprised at the audit's findings that 1,250 of the special permits were handed out from 2004 to 2006. "I would have expected that number to be under 100," he said. He said it would be especially galling to many Illinois hunters if it turns out the special permits are allowing out-of-state residents to hunt at the best sites while many Illinois residents are shut out.
"Certainly, there should be some special permits available for specific circumstances," said Dale. "But if it's just for athletes and politicians, I would have a problem with that."
According to the audit, the "administrative approval" permit system was set up to allow the state to grant hunting permits for unusual circumstances like visiting dignitaries from other countries, conservation officials from other states and guests of the governor. But instead of those limited purposes, the audit states, the special permits have routinely been bestowed by Natural Resources officials on favored hunters "in circumvention of the lottery process."
In addition, the audit states, many of the forms were incomplete, leaving out adequate explanation for the special permits and other required information.
Twenty of the permits went to the manager of a hunting lodge, with no documentation to show that person paid the required $600 in fees, the audit found. It also found that five representatives of an ammunition company were given three permits each, again without apparently paying the required fees.
In addition, the audit states, many of the special permits were granted to hunters who already had won permits through the regular lottery process, giving them additional hunting rights. Several special permits were issued before the regular lotteries, diminishing the number of available permits, while others were approved after the permits were gone, resulting in more hunting at some sites than there was supposed to be.
"Hunters in excess of quota targets could lead to hunter safety problems," states the report.
