>First one is: How does
>an out of State tag
>cost today, compare to what
>the tag cost thirty years
>ago. We know there
>has been huge inflation for
>a fuel, lodging, tires, vehicles,
>ammunition, meals, etc. How
>does the inflation of Res
>and Non-Res tag compare to
>other items.
I do not know the exact answer to this one. Growing up in MN my Dad and I did a fair amount of pheasant hunting. We started out going to a relative's farm in MN. Population went down so we headed to SD. It was great till SD, MN, ND and WI got into the NR price war. So we left SD and went to ND cause it was cheaper for a NR to hunt. Was hard for Dad to pay my way and his in SD.
Basically what I am saying is the NR price scam started in recent times I think.
>Second one is: I keep
>getting told that we are
>loosing more and more hunters,
>especially youth hunters, so we
>must recruit and promote hunting
>more aggressively than we have
>in the past, or there
>will be no one left
>to support the hunting life
>style in the political area,
>that controls access, regulation, and
>ultimately all recreational hunting.
>If that is true, why
>does the gap between issued
>tags and applied for but
>not issued tags keep getting
>wider and wider. If we
>are growing the gap of
>unsuccessful vs successful applicants, how
>is it that we are
>in such a panic that
>we are loosing the life
>style? And....
>if tag prices have been
>increasing faster than the inflation
>of other costs, what might
>those increases have to do
>with the growing number of
>unsuccessful applicants and our Fish
>and Game's constant change in
>regulations that increase demand.
>We don't need to name
>them but they are many
>and vary from State to
>State.
This one I feel is multiple reasons, 1. the % of Americans might be holding or declining but the population is growing so there is a larger number of people hunting.
2. People are way more active as they get older now then they were 20+ years ago. I seen a guy on this website shooting a great white tail this last fall. A mm's member dad if I remember right who is like 95 years old!! So you have hunters staying in the game longer creating a higher demand.
3. Many more people want quality animals vs quantity, so that forces state agencies to cut back on tags to increase the quality thus fewer tags.
4. With the advance technology in carrying capacity, states are able to keep populations in check and once a bad winter hits (like this year) tags are cut back. I would assume 35 years ago, they didn't really know and issued same amount of tags basically every year.
>Third one is: What is
>a reasonable percentage of each
>States tags being issued to
>Non-Residents? Western State citizens
>pay extra taxes to support
>and manage public land game
>and fish, so if the
>State issues 10% (on average)
>of it's tags to NR,
>should the NR be asked
>to pay ten times more
>than the Resident hunter?
>More? Less? Why?
>
This one is never going to be figured out. States vary so widely on this issue, CO has 35% I think for some hunt codes and then down to 10% for others depending on demand for hunt code. While the other extreme is NM where it is next to zero for NR's. Which is funny cause NM proves my point of not needing NR $$ to support state wildlife. So few NR's tags are issued in NM....
In regards to the pay you know my stance, I'd say maybe double of what a resident pays.
>Fourth one is: If, at
>some point in time, most
>of the Game is gone
>from public lands, and the
>only Game left is on
>private, like it is in
>most midWest and Eastern States,
>should the price of NR
>tags go back down?
>Is the NR price of
>the tag tied to anything
>other than, "whatever the market
>will pay"? Are there
>other issues beyond pure "market
>place economics? If it
>is pure market driven, what
>is a sheep, moose, mt.
>goat, bison tag worth, on
>the free market? If
>it's not market driven, what
>factors are driving the price
>of Res and Non-Res tags
>up? Is it sinister
>or explainable?
If game is no longer present on public lands in America then hunting will be extinct. Our system will have failed and all of the non hunters who support hunting will flee to the anti side in a heart beat.
>Fifth one is: If these
>tag prices are all politic/economic
>driven and controlled in the
>political and/or economical area, why
>are so many sportsmen so
>anger and opposed to sportsmen
>and sportsmen's organizations that inject
>themselves into the political/economic environment,
>recognizing that we are not
>all members of the same
>Party or even any Party,
>and we all have political
>ideology differences, why don't we
>want to try to control
>the politics that effects us,
>as a group, rather than
>act as unorganized individualists, when
>it comes to hunting and
>fishing issues, such as tag
>prices and many other issues?
>
Vast majority of people including hunters are in it for themselves and $$. If anyone can get an advantage over someone else they will in a heart beat. People talk a big game about equality till there is an advantage to be gained. Not going to get into details of that cause it will sidetrack this conversation into me getting banned
another aspect to consider is why are not fishing licenses priced 10x or more for NR vs Res?
>Just some of my thoughts, whenever
>this issue comes up, which
>it does every year or
>two.
>
>I try to hunt out of
>State, as often as I
>can afford to. I
>don't ski, I don't own
>a large boat, I don't
>visit European, or take a
>lot of Cruises, I save
>what limited money I have
>for hunting and fishing, so
>I'll pay whatever it costs,
>and if the cost gets
>too high I'll have to
>cut back.
>
>DC
I like to hunt new states, see new areas, try my knowledge against a new species/area. Its the challenge and excitement of the new experience for me. Yes I like hunting the same units in home state. there is a challenge to that too. Yes each year I get more meat than my girls and I can consume. I have a big bbq in summer where I supply the meat/drinks. I generally have about 40-50 people over. 99% are not hunters but they like elk, deer, moose etc... its the only time they get it. I give meat to friends/neighbors who are having a tough time financially to help them out too. However I eat a lot of game meat. I likely average around 8-10 meals/week that included deer, elk, moose, pronghorn etc...
With that said I don't think its right to rip people off simply because you can. If that is the case the gas prices for your car should be upwards of $10/gallon. How many people would be pissed then?
Mntman
"Hunting is where you prove yourself"