# Why are driver’s licenses valid across state lines but not hunting and fishing licenses?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-driver-s-licenses-valid-across-state-lines-but-not-hunting-and-fishing-licenses/963336>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 23, 2022, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-driver-s-licenses-valid-across-state-lines-but-not-hunting-and-fishing-licenses/963336 "2022-04-23T23:59:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-driver-s-licenses-valid-across-state-lines-but-not-hunting-and-fishing-licenses/963336/21 "2022-04-24T14:07:12Z")

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> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> Exactly. “Driving fees”are mostly collected at the gas pump in the state you are driving in, not necessarily the state you are licensed in.

I remember decades ago truckers complaining about Illinois. They would measure how much fuel was in their tanks when they stopped at a weigh station coming into the state then again on leaving. There’d better be at least the same amount or fines would be levied.

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**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-driver-s-licenses-valid-across-state-lines-but-not-hunting-and-fishing-licenses/963336/22 "2022-04-24T14:16:52Z")

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> [@Nars\_Glinley](#):
>
> My Oklahoma fishing license is useless

Maybe because it doesn’t cover Abalone

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-driver-s-licenses-valid-across-state-lines-but-not-hunting-and-fishing-licenses/963336/23 "2022-04-25T20:21:00Z")

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I have driven all over Europe (including UK) with just an IL license or QC licence. An Australian I knew spent a year in New Orleans. He went to the effort to get an International Driver’s Permit, which is supposedly recognized by treaties all over the world. When he got stopped in N. O., he presented the cop with the IDP. The cop looked at like it was a skunk. When the Aussie refused to recognize it, he explained that it was recognized by a treaty signed by the US government. The cop said he had heard of the US government, but it had no jurisdiction in Nawlins. Finally, he showed the cop his licence from New South Wales and the cop accepted that with alacrity and asked why he hadn’t shown him that in the first place.

Bottom line: no one gains if these are not widely recognized. Fishing and hinting licenses, by contrast, are fees for wildlife management. A friend of mine lives on a small lake 100 miles north of Montreal that he stocks himself every spring and fishes in all summer. Theoretically, he requires a licence, but doesn’t bother because he feels they are his fish he is catching.

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