Hunting and fishing license fees translate to conservation

Revenue generated by the sale of South Carolina hunting and fishing licenses helps pay for a variety of conservation efforts that protect the state’s woods and waters and wildlife.  Since 1937, hunters and anglers pay excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment that’s collected by the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service, then given back to the states for conservation based on how many licenses a state has sold.  Long-time South Carolina DNR official Greg Lucas says one of the benefits applies to an Oconee County institution, the Walhalla State Fish Hatchery off 107 in northern Oconee.  It’s the only hatchery in the state that raises cold-water fish-like trout.