Got this from Bill Foreman in Fisheries:

We’ve received several calls from older individuals confused about the age 65 and licenses, and several have reported that they have been told by a “game warden” (no further information) that their original (pink, I think) “lifetime” fishing license is no longer valid. The inland fishing licenses should remain valid (however, hunting needs annual renewal regardless of issue date, and the marine licenses were never “lifetime”). Below is the information that we’ve included in the Angler’s Guide (as per conversations with Donna Kinney to confirm that this is how they are handing these) concerning the age 65 and older licenses:

• The free resident “lifetime” inland fishing, hunting and trapping licenses for individuals age 65 and older became annual licenses effective October 1, 2009.
• All “age 65 and older” free inland fishing, hunting and trapping licenses obtained since October 1, 2009 must be renewed annually.
• Additionally, all “age 65 and older” free marine fishing licenses must be renewed annually.
• Holders of age 65 and older “lifetime” Connecticut inland fishing licenses obtained prior to October 1, 2009 are not required to reregister, however, should one misplace this “lifetime” license, they will need to obtain a free replacement by registering through the Automated Licensing System (from their home computer or at a participating vendor).
• All individuals with “lifetime” hunting or combination hunting and fishing licenses will need to register themselves in the Automated Licensing System to obtain the appropriate permits and tags along with their unique Conservation ID#.

The reasoning behind this was that there was nothing in the relevant pieces of legislation that revoked the previously issued “lifetime” versions.

Are you crazy Paul
Looking forward to being old, no thanks

The town halls that issue senior licenses would ask for the $4.00!

Mine was January 6 and I had to wait,Go figure

2 more years for me.

8 more for me....................

hey just a quick question:

would it be possible to enact a lifetime fishing/hunting license for purchase at an early age ( 3 or less) simelar to other states? i noticed neighboring states have an awesome situation where parents can purchase lifetime licenses for thier children at different prices up to 3 years old, with a newbord purchase far less than doing so at 3. seems like a great deal for both the state and for anglers of the future.

This year makes 7 yrs. with one.

Rich, there is no fee now but there is talk of imposing a small fee to cover administrative costs. There are other states that have a small fee for these senior "free" licenses so I guess they figure that maybe it would be good for Ct. too.
For you youngsters that are not there yet what is "free" is only the base license; tags like turkey, deer, etc. are regular price for seniors too. So Ct. is still an expensive place to fish and hunt even for oldtimers.

Hey, I've got an idea... instead of charging for having to administer the license every year, make them (the inland and marine licenses anyway) lifetime. That way, once they are in the system, they don't need to spend any money administering them.

the lifetime license would count as a permanant angler annually. only the government could find a way to screw up what we had and make more work for themselves.

to eliminate administrative costs, AND keep the insisted upon angler census that is evidently used for absolutely nothing in the marine district, the solution is as simple as an online/hotline registry. costs nothing through automation, which as im sure you all know, is done for everything now.

ya dial in, verify you are fishing for that year with your lifetime license, done.

the website update is paid for with money from our already inflated investment of fishing license fees from those without the lifetime bit. it might cost the state a grand to set that up online....

IT?!?! clearly no ray . if it doesnt make notes i dont have a clue.

some thoughts:

i think dead licensees wouldnt be a problem, because they wouldnt be re registering. people get a valid wildlife id number, and enter it in for renewal. the state has verification, the info can then be forwarded to the feds, and the quota met? yes?

sure people could falsify info, but i dont see the benifit of doing so on a lifetime bit. you get caught with a fake license, or someone elses, whats that gonna do for you? same as if you didnt register or buy one to begin with! they'd have to take the time to create false identities for what, a 200$ license thats fake? i dont see any criminal, especially the ones with the ability to do so doing that.

we BANK relatively safely on the internet. if a fishing license registry cannot be implemented, something is seriously wrong....