Good program could be disabled by abuse.

Byline: INSIDE THE OUTDOORS By Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

The road to hell, it is said, is paved with good intentions. Which may help explain why the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife finds itself in a heck of a mess concerning "disabled" hunters.

Oregon, you see, suddenly has even more disabled hunters than it has blue handicapped parking spaces sitting empty at any one time.

As of mid-May, 15,429 hunters held a Permanent Disabled Permit from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. That's up, oh, a mere 15,000 over five years ago.

Launched in 1988, Oregon's disabled hunter program was a well-intentioned step meant to allow people with serious physical disabilities to reclaim some of their hunting heritage.

During the first 10 years, only a handful of people took advantage of the permit, which was available only to people confined to wheelchairs.

They were allowed to hunt from a parked motor vehicle - a no-no for most hunters. Permit holders could also utilize an able-bodied assistant to dispatch and recover any animal they might wound.

Finally, PDP hunters were given their own bag limits. They could shoot antlerless animals in hunts otherwise restricted to buck deer or bull elk, making it much easier for them to fill their tag.

The program worked well at first. A hunting friend of mine who lost the use of one side of his body to a stroke was among those able to continue his enjoyment of a fall tradition.

There were only about 600 PDP hunters in 1999, when the Oregon Legislature expanded the definition of "disability" to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. No longer was a wheelchair the primarily criterion for a disabled hunting permit.

Suddenly, anyone whose doctor would attest that they met certain criteria for impaired mobility, reduced lung capacity, poor eyesight or a weak heart qualified for a Permanent Disabled Permit - as did anyone with a 65 percent disability from any branch of the Armed Forces. (A complete list of criteria - along with an application form to be signed by a doctor - is printed in the Oregon Big Games Regulations booklet.)

The program grew like wildfire. In January 2003, ODFW records showed 10,898 PDP holders. Now, barely 16 months later, there are 15,429 people entitled to hunt by the PDP rules. Holders of disability permits now account for just over 5 percent of the 272,000 licensed resident hunters in Oregon.

The program is creating a problem for state wildlife biologists because so many PDP deer and elk tags are filled with antlerless animals. Indeed, cow elk taken legally with a PDP permit account for more than 10 percent of the total harvest in some units where no antlerless hunting is supposedly allowed.

Clearly, that undermines the state's ability to manage its big game herds.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission can - and should - address the game management problem by tightening bag limits for disabled hunters. The either-sex harvest privilege should continue to be allowed only in hunt units where a significant antlerless harvest is part of the management plan.

Getting a handle on the antlerless harvest, however, is the least of the problems with the PDP program. The bigger task is how to deal with the social and law enforcement issues.

Social issues include complaints that some able-bodied hunters are manipulating the system by "recruiting" disabled family members with no hunting history into the PDP program solely to provide the able-bodied hunter with an easy opportunity to "assist" in killing a doe or cow for the family meat locker.

Oregon State Police game wardens now spend up to 20 percent of their time during big game seasons chasing down complaints of violations involving the permanent disability permit system, the director of the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division told commissioners at their may meeting.

Some of the complaints are well-intentioned misunderstandings - such as when a hunter in bull elk season reports someone shooting a cow elk. Officers can waste several hours chasing down a "poacher" who turns out to be a legal hunter with a disabled permit.

Then there are the seemingly endless complaints about people hunting with a disabled permit who do not appear to meet the "disabled" criteria - at least in the perception of those making the complaint.

"Some people don't appear to be as disabled as their license says they are," as one state game officer put it.

To be sure, not all disabilities are readily apparent. Still, one has to wonder sometimes.

Like when a guy parks in the handicapped spot, then jogs past you into the store. Or when a trooper stops a guy toting a quarter of a cow elk out of the woods, only to discover the guy has a permanent disability permit stating he can't walk without assistance.

You wonder about the intentions of cheaters who risk disabling a program for the handicapped for personal gain.

A "working group" has been appointed to review the PDP program and make recommendations on how to improve it. Those recommendations are to be presented to the commission in September, and voted on in October.

Mike Stahlberg can be reached at [e-mail].