Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.

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When Stephen Colbert makes fun of you, you know you've made the big time.

On Tuesday night's Colbert Report, the satirist took aim at Virginia's Senate Bill 289, a proposal introduced by Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, that allows the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to establish a lifetime hunting and fishing license for infants.

"Giving lifetime licenses to infants is a fantastic idea," boomed Colbert in his typical hard-line conservative schtick. "I say the earlier the better."

Funny? Sure.

Accurate? Not really.

"It's not an attempt by us to get young folks hunting by 2," said Charlie Sledd, an assistant director with the DGIF.

The primary goal of the license would be to provide residual revenue for the department, which gets no money from Virginia's general fund and which relies on license sales for 65 percent of its revenue.

The license would cost $125 for residents; twice that for nonresidents.

When a relative or family friend buys the license for a child up to 2, the game department would immediately get the revenue from that sale.

But the real payoff could come over time.

That's because a state's share of federal Pittman-Robertson money -- funds based on sales taxes collected on sporting arms and ammunition -- is based on the number of license holders.

Though lifetime license holders aren't buying licenses annually, their numbers count toward federal funding, which currently equates to $20 a year per hunter and about $10 per angler in Virginia.

Generally speaking, lifetime license holders in Virginia are still responsible for specialty licenses, such as for archery or muzzleloader hunting.

Should the infant license bill fly and the license be put in place, license holders would be required to complete a hunter education course for the hunting license to be valid after 12.

Sledd said he expects many of the licenses would go to kids from families that are already part of the hunting and fishing community.

Still, there's no doubt some holders of the special lifetime license will not grow into hunters and anglers. Indeed, for the program to ultimately create positive revenue for the DGIF that would be a necessity.

Counting non-participants as hunters and anglers could help offset the financial hit Virginia takes every year due to exemptions -- for landowners and extended kin, for example -- that keep many hunters and fishermen off the rolls.

Sledd said several other states already have similar programs in place.

"It's not an original idea," Sledd said.

While the proposal, which has already passed unanimously in the Senate, has the DGIF's support, the agency is less enthusiastic about several other bills that seek to establish additional exemptions.

While noble in cause -- the exemptions being aimed at military members and disabled citizens -- they could further reduce DGIF revenue.

House Bill 544 would allow the DGIF to issue free hunting licenses to active duty military members stationed in Virginia.

Virginia has 126,000 active duty military, according to Sledd, who added that it's difficult to gauge just how many buy hunting licenses.

Active duty members stationed in the state are allowed to buy a resident license. Last year the DGIF sold more than 18,000 of those licenses.

Sledd said the agency has estimated that the potential hit in lost license revenue and federal funding could cost the DGIF at $700,000 annually.

House Bill 1181 would establish a lifetime license for permanently disabled hunters, and would include the big game license and all specialty privileges. The one-time cost would be $100.

That kind of license is available now, but only to veteran hunters with service-related total and permanent disability. The cost is $10.

Fully and permanently disabled hunters may currently buy a lifetime license for $10, but must still buy their specialty licenses annually.

The DGIF sells about 1,200 of those licenses annually, Sledd said.

Senate Bill 243 would exempt active duty military members on leave from having to buy a basic fishing license.

Under current regulations, a five-day license costs $10.50 for residents and $15.50 for non-residents.

Senate Bill 500 seeks to allow any active duty military, not just those stationed in Virginia, to purchase licenses at resident fees.