Michigan Senate Proposes Onerous Licensing Rules for Hunting and Fishing Guides

Plenty of people enjoy hunting and fishing, but not everybody is a natural outdoorsman. To that end, a novice may want to hire a guide. A hunting guide can help aspiring sportsmen not only find the best places to hunt but also help pick the right equipment, obtain the necessary licenses, and even clean and process whatever they kill. Similarly, a fishing guide may know the best places to go depending on what fish you’re trying to catch; they may also have a boat you can charter to go out onto the water, where they’ll give you pointers on how to catch that prize-winning tarpon you have your eye on.

For any Michiganders hoping to get out and enjoy nature, that may soon become more difficult. Two bills currently before the Michigan Senate would impose new occupational licensing requirements on hunting or fishing guides.

If passed, guides working in either field would need to have both a driver’s license and a hunting or fishing license (costing $150 every three years, or $300 for non-residents of the state); be certified in both CPR and first aid, and carry a fully-stocked first aid kit at all times; and have been convicted of no felonies, or certain misdemeanors, in the previous three years.

Guides must also file extensive reports with the state wildlife department, detailing how many clients they took out, where, and for how long, and what specific species of game they killed, plus “any additional information the department requires” pertaining to the animals’ “biological characteristics.” Hunting guides would file these reports annually, while fishing guides would have to file monthly; even in months when fishing guides did not work, they would have to file a report stating that they hadn’t taken anybody out.

The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for legislation favorable to fishing and hunting, supports the bills, saying they would “create the regulatory framework needed to ensure the quality of commercial guiding in the state.”

But that’s not how occupational licensing tends to work in practice. In 2022, the Institute for Justice (I.J.) examined customer reviews for sev