INDIANAPOLIS | Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter joined Gov. Mitch Daniels on Monday to announce plans to begin suspending the fishing and hunting licenses of child support deadbeats.

Prosecutors in eight of Indiana's most populous counties, including Lake, plan to send warning letters this week to more than 4,000 noncustodial parents who owe at least $25,000 and haven't made child-support payments for at least a year. License suspension proceedings will begin against those who don't respond within 60 days.

"We don't want to take anybody's license -- hunting, fishing or driving," Daniels said at a Statehouse news conference. "But if you won't do your duty, then certain privileges that the state confers ought not be yours until you start doing your duty."

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources helped make the effort possible by moving its records to an electronic system.

Carter said his office already has been suspending the driver's licenses of hundreds of child support deadbeats for "several years" now. He said adding fishing and hunting licenses provides another tool for addressing a serious problem.

"I've always viewed the failure to pay child support as child abuse," Carter said. "So we take it very seriously."

Daniels said Indiana improved its child support collection rate to 57 percent from 50 percent when he took office in 2001, but the state still is below the 61 percent national average. The license suspension eventually will be expanded to all 92 Indiana counties.