That's absolute nonsense. As others have pointed out, you can't buy a license if you don't have a paid up WIN number. Furthermore, you don't even need to have the card when you buy your license. The vendor can do a search to get your number, and if it's paid up, you can then purchase a license. In addition, it's possible that you buy your license on a given day and have your WIN card expire the next day. The license is still vailid, but you'll need to renew the WIN card before you can buy a license the next year. So what would the CO have done if you showed him an expired WIN card?
It's too bad these things happen, because the last thing we need is confusion about fishing regulations being generated by the very people who are charged with enforcing regulations. Terry