Georgia's controversial plan to sell fishing and hunting licenses exclusively on the Internet and over the phone -- at a higher cost to sportsmen -- will be amended to give traditional vendors an opportunity to participate.

"People were upset they wouldn't be able to visit local stores to get licenses," said Wildlife Resources Division spokeswoman Melissa Cummings. "So we're amending the contract to work with those license agents if they want to be vendors."

Earlier this year, the state contracted with Central Bank of Jefferson City, Mo., to handle all license and boat registration sales and announced plans to eliminate traditional "license agents."

License and registration costs will remain unchanged, but there will be a transactions fee imposed by Central Bank of $2.75 for online sales and $4 for telephone sales. Boat registrations will have an additional fee of $8 for online sales and $10 for telephone sales.

Cummings said the amended contract will allow retailers to sell licenses through Central Bank, but they will have to provide an Internet connection and a printer. Such vendors will collect a fee of 50 cents.

"Essentially, they will be able to do the same service for you, acting as a middleman," she said.

Georgia has about 340,000 registered boats, 971,000 fishermen and 344,000 hunters who will be affected by the increase.

Licenses that are currently free, such as lifetime licenses or migratory bird "HIP" licenses, will not require a fee.

Georgia should still receive its usual revenues -- about $18 million -- from the license and registration program.

NWTF FIRES BACK: The National Wild Turkey Federation would rather fight than settle.

The group's board, whose firing of two executives led to the resignation of longtime CEO Rob Keck in March, plans to fight a pair of lawsuits by the ousted leaders who say they were wrongfully terminated.

In a 14-page response to lawsuits filed by former chief operating officer Carl Brown and former vice president Dick Rosenlieb, the federation denies the plaintiffs' allegations that the NWTF used "lies and defamation" to secure the firings.

According to Rosenlieb's complaint, board members falsely claimed he accepted a free or discounted African safari trip from an outfitter the federation does business with, in violation of NWTF's internal rules. NWTF denies those charges, its response said.

Brown's complaint contends the NWTF board used a private consultant, The Krizner Group, which claimed Brown fraudulently manipulated membership records.

NWTF's response acknowledges hiring the consultant "to perform a management audit of the Federation" but denied the other allegations.

Brown's and Rosenlieb's lawsuits ask for jury trials and unspecified actual and punitive damages.

NWTF has asked that the lawsuits be dismissed and that the federation be awarded attorney fees and court costs.

The response was filed in Common Pleas Court of Edgefield County. No trial date has been scheduled.

The federation, based in Edgefield, collected $61 million last year, mostly through donations from sportsmen. It employs 275 people.

STUDENT ANGLER: Congratulations are in order for a local angler whose two-person team won the Under Armour College Bass National Championship held earlier this month in Arkansas.

Jeremy Reese, of Edgefield, and partner Trent Gephardt, of Benton, Ark., are both students at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Their winning five-fish limit weighed 21.4 pounds, nearly 4 pounds over the second place team from Texas A&M, while third place went to Faulkner University in Alabama, according to a news release from UALR. The University of Alabama placed fourth, and Auburn University was fifth.

In all, the UALR team beat 50 collegiate teams across the country.