AZ tag & License Increase

[shedhunter2]

The commision stongly supports a at least a 40% increase in license and tags for Non Residents, as well as a rise in price for residents. At the commision meeting, the voted to send a bill to the legislature to get the increase as soon as possible. A few of the commisioners stated that AZ has the best elk, antelope, and mule deer hunting in the west, and the prices for these tags should be the highest of the western states. Right now we rank around 4th place for the price of our tags.

There reasoning for this increase is a budget shortfall predicted for next year.

 

[bubbas]

Its about freakin time!

 

[soazarcher1]

right on!

Both res. and NR could double.

 

[azhunter79]

was there anything else discussed or any other proposals put into place other than the increase. i dont think this will accomplish the goal of giving residents the edge in the draw again.
az79

 

[PinonPaul]

No Chit! This will accomplish nothing other than a little more revenue for the budget shortfall.

 

[wetmule]

To All,
I was not at the meeting, but just got the lowdown from a reliable source on what items are moving forward with regard to the resident & non-res. AZ issues.
1.Everyone must buy a license in order to apply for permits.
2.Substantial permit fee increases.
3.Bonus point pool will increase from 10% to 20% (Those that have max points will now get 20% of the permits instead of 10%)
4.Loyalty bonus points(permanent bonus point for applying for 5 consecutive years or more.)
5.Consevation bonus points. (Permanent bonus point earned for participating in conservation effort - habitat improvement & water projects etc.
6.Application fee increase from $5 to $10
7.Charging for all permit fees upfront.
8.Doing away with the online draw. They want to keep the online process and if they can legally charge upfront for permit fees, it will likely stay.
9.Create commercial & recreational permits.Commercial permits would be capped @ 10% and available to res. & non res. alike. The recreational permits would not be available to non-res. This deals with the selling of wildlife parts and I'm not real clear on how this one works, but it does legally allow for non res. to be capped with the creation of the commercial permits.
I may have missed a couple but these are the proposals that are going forward and are still on the table as I know them to be.
It is important to note that these are not final and could be subject to change and or removal from this list. Also there are alot of details that need to be worked out within these proposals.
That's what I know for now
Later, Wetmule

 

[standman]

To hunt the king's deer you must be royalty. The average joe with kids that hunt are going to pushed out of the hunting process all together before long. The way of the world now: money, money, money. I agree with everything except for substantial fee increases, especially if it happens to residents. What happened to protecting residents. The G&F won't do anything to protect residents all they see is $$$. People could see the end of hunting for the average person and now it has started. Call me a whiner if you want to but that is how I feel. And yes I'm from AZ.

 

[wetmule]

Standman,
First of all if you are an average joe with kids that want to hunt think about the problem AZ is in. As it is now you and your kids can't go hunting at least not for big game and not in AZ, maybe once every five to ten years if you're lucky, and in some areas for some hunts, chances are that you will NEVER draw. Look at the odds, Guess what? It is only going to get worse with the pop.of AZ expanding exponentially. As far as raising the fees, an amount hasn't been set yet so before you start crying why don't you wait to see what they reccomend. I agree that they should be reasonable for residents but AZGFD is way behind the times. A res deer tag if you ever get drawn is $17.50. That is the cost of two movie tickets. Give me a break. If res. deer tags went up to $50 -$100 would that put you out of the picture?, I doubt it. It would still be considered cheap. A price increase on permits is not the answer to fixing the non-res. cap issue. I think no matter how much they raise fees, we will still be in a for tough draw odds on everything. I do feel they need to raise the fees some for both residents and substantially for non res. Raising prices for non res. substantially may help a little on draw odds by taking the casual out of stater, who is applying simply because it is so cheap and easy, and making him think twice before he applies. The AZ Game & Fish is a business and like every business they need to make enough money to pay their employees and pay them enough to keep them around for a while especially the good ones. They need to make enough $$ to run all the fishing, hunting and other programs they do, they need to be able to put gas in their trucks and maintain them etc., etc., etc. As it stands now the G & F has lost alot of great WM's and bioligists etc. because they don't make enough money. They also are limited on the amount of time they can spend in the field because they can't pay to have them out in the field. Have you seen the cost of gas lately, it's not cheap. If we want Quality wildlife and hopefully more of it, we are going to have to pay for it somehow. If we want a game Department and a quality one (At least I do) it's going to cost us all a little more. If you don't want a Quality Game Dept. go see what's going on in California.

 

[standman]

I understand that price increases happen especially to keep up with the times. I can live with that as long as they are reasonable. A rise in prices won't hurt me that much. I look at people like my sister's family where they have 5 people who love to hunt and right now have to pinch and save to apply to hunt. With say a double in fees, they say that they will have to quite hunting cause they won't be able to afford it. I'm not trying to pick a fight. This is just a reality as I see it. I love hunting here in Arizona. I have had 10 elk tags in a row (cow and bull) that ended this year. I apologize if I sound like an idiot (maybe I am). And your right I should wait and see what is going to happen and not jump to conclusions. I apologize for that. So I guess I leave it till decisions are made and go from there. Good luck to everyone this fall.