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Summary
- The Amish need fishing licenses wherever state law requires them; Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, home to almost 60 percent of the Amish, make no religious exemption.
- A license is required from age 16 in Pennsylvania and Ohio and from age 18 in Indiana.
- Landowner and farm exemptions apply to Amish families as to anyone, and Indiana’s farmland exemption also covers hunting and trapping.
- The Dordrecht Confession tells the Amish to obey the government, citing Titus 3:1 and Matthew 17:27, and fishing licenses are not among the Young Center’s list of Amish conflicts with the state.
- Licenses can be bought in person from licensing agents and retailers, so no computer is needed.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the King James Version (Titus 3:1; Matthew 17:27).
- “Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632),” article 13, Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Dordrecht_Confession_of_Faith_(Mennonite,_1632)
- Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, “Amish Population Profile, 2026.” https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/amish-population-profile-2026/
- Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, “Government.” https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/cultural-practices/government/
- Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, “Leisure.” https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/cultural-practices/leisure/
- Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, “Fishing Licenses & Regulations FAQs.” https://www.pa.gov/agencies/fishandboat/faqs/fishing-licenses-&-regulations-faqs
- Pennsylvania Game Commission, “Get Started Hunting.” https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pgc/huntingandtrapping/get-started-hunting
- Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, Ohio Fishing Regulations 2026–27. https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/ohiodnr.gov/documents/wildlife/laws-regs-licenses/OhioFishingRegs_English.pdf
- Indiana Department of Natural Resources, “Fishing Licenses & Fees” (2026), eRegulations. https://www.eregulations.com/indiana/fishing/fishing-licenses-fees
- David L. McConnell and Marilyn D. Loveless, Nature and the Environment in Amish Life (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018), chapter 8, “Fin, Fur, and Feather: Nature-Based Recreation.”
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