Outdoor notes: Fishing licenses still hard to get; Bottoms manager retires

Getting that big bass or walleye to take the bait may not be an angler’s biggest challenge now in Kansas. It could be finding a way to purchase a fishing license.

A computer system upgrade that was supposed to take four days is entering it’s third week and still not completed.

“Things are better than they were,” said Mike Miller, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism information chief, “but we’re still a long ways from having all 600 license vendors up and running.”

Miller said anglers can purchase things like fishing licenses and trout permits online at ksoutdoors.com, at regional department and state park offices and from some vendors. He recommended calling ahead before traveling to a private license vendor. Most Walmart stores, probably the state’s largest license vendor, are having problems getting updated.

Another option is to call 800-918-2877, and the license can be e-mailed to the buyer.

Originally the department selected the Feb. 18-22 time slot as the few days they thought needed to improve the computer system that sells licenses and permits. Research showed that was time when few people wanted to buy licenses in the past. Not this year.

“The weather’s been so nice that this year we do have a lot of people wanting to buy fishing licenses and get permits for their boats,” said Miller. “We’re working at it. It’s a daily process. Everybody will eventually be up and running.”

He said the slower-than-expected process has “been a mix of things; wrong equipment sent out and then a mix of technological and some human errors. We’ve been working on it every day.”

He said the department has been getting bombarded with calls from frustrated license vendors and people wanting to purchase permits or licenses.

A regulation change also means hunters will no longer be able to buy a turkey, deer or elk permits online because of concerns poachers were making multiple copies of the tags that are attached to taken animals. Such permits can, eventually, be purchased from license vendors or over the phone, then mailed to the hunter.

Bottoms manager of 30 years retires

Thirty years as manager at Cheyenne Bottoms taught Karl Grover a lot of things. The main thing, was that he was not in charge.

“It got to where I never considered myself a wetlands manager. I was more of a weather reactor,” said Grover, who leaves his job with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism on March 10. “You could spend all the time you wanted coming up with management plans and with one storm it all goes out the window.”

Popularity of the 20,000-acre wetlands east of Great Bend grew through much of Grover’s tenure, especially over about the past 10 years when liberal waterfowl season and limits created more opportunity. Television shows and social media sites also drew thousands more to the area.

Many might be surprised that too much “wet” has made it harder to manage the wetlands.

“When you have dry spell, you can really get out there and get things done,” said Grover. “When you have those big rain events there’s nothing you can do, and the place gets all grown up.”

During years of drought, Grover and crew often made major progress battling problematic cattails. The years of rain following those droughts consistently produced some of the best hunting. That’s something Grover hopes to do more of in the future.

“We aren’t going very far,” he said. “I’ve got a house to finish remodeling, a telescope that needs to be used and grandkids that need to be visited. I’m really hoping to spend more time hunting at the bottoms. Since I won’t be working there, I’m thinking I can enjoy it out there a lot more.”

Wildlife and Parks has not begun the process of hiring Grover’s replacement.

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Outdoor notes: Fishing licenses still hard to get; Bottoms manager retires."