Hawkeye
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LAST EDITED ON Feb-22-12 AT 01:53PM (MST)[p]It looks like Idaho may be the next state to follow Utah's lead to allow premier big game tags to be sold to the guys with the deepest pockets. This trend is like a cancer spreading throughout the west. I hope you guys can stop these bills before it is too late. Once you open the door to these tags, and the F&G and politicians become addicted to the money they generate, there is no turning back.
Perhaps someone from Idaho can track down the language of the bills and post them for us.
Check this article in the idaho Statesman:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/02/19/2000855/idaho-considering-auctioning-big.html
Roger Phillips: Idaho considering auctioning big game tags
12:00am on Feb 19, 2012 2012-02-19T06:55:36Z
With most hunting seasons over, hunters may want to focus their attention on the Statehouse, because their sport as they know it is at risk.
There are three bills that would substantially change the way Idaho allocates its most coveted controlled hunt permits, which are typically the best big game hunts in the state.
The legislature is considering to allow big-game tags to be sold to the guy with the largest wallet, not to the average guy who puts in his application like everyone else and hopes for a lucky draw.
Legislators are also considering allowing landowners to sell tags on the open market.
Idaho hunters have a long history of advocating and practicing fair chase of game, and that has also been the guiding spirit in how it allocates big-game tags.
With few exceptions, every hunter gets an equal chance at them. It doesn't matter how much money you make, or where you're from. You put your name in a drawing and get a crack at the best bulls, bucks, billies and rams Idaho has to offer.
SB 1256 would allow some of the best tags in the state to go for auction. Most of the proceeds from those tags would stay with Fish and Game, but the department did not push for this bill.
SB 1282 would allow large landowners such as ranchers and farmers to sell big game tags in exchange for public hunting access to some private lands.
SB 1283 would also allow landowners to sell tags, but without any requirement of allowing public access.
Idaho Fish and Game would get nothing more from landowners than the face value tag, while the landowners could set whatever price they could get.
Big game tags are valuable, and there are deep pockets out there willing to shell out big bucks for the best bulls and bucks.
A big-game tag auction earlier this month hosted by the Mule Deer Foundation and Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife in Utah netted $2 million, including an Arizona mule deer tag that went for $220,000.
Idaho?s sole auction tag, a bighorn sheep permit, fetched $120,000 in 2009, and $180,000 in 2005. That tag typically sells to nonresidents.
Here?s how it would work. Fish and Game would authorize a third party, such as Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife or a similar group, to auction a limited number of tags for deer, elk, moose, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and mountain goats.
The groups have tags from numerous states, and they hold a convention or banquet where people bid millions to buy them.
To be competitive, states have to offer tags that allow access to the best hunting units and the best trophy animals.
Currently, for the $6 application fee for a controlled-hunt lottery, everyone has an equal chance to snag Idaho?s best tags.
You even have a shot at Idaho?s best bighorn sheep tag ? the same one that sold for up to $180,000. The special bighorn tag lottery tickets sold for $10 each last year.
If Idaho?s lone bighorn auction tag is any indicator, tags sold at auction would likely go to hunters from outside Idaho.
Landowners could fall right in line if they're allowed to sell tags. Landowners who currently own 640 acres in an area limited to controlled hunts have a separate lottery for big game tags. They typically have better odds at drawing one, because they're only competing with other large landowners.
If SB 1282 or 1283 becomes law, don't be surprised if landowner tags show up at an auction and sell for thousands of dollars and possibly tens of thousands of dollars, all of which would go into the landowner?s pocket, not Fish and Game?s coffers.
At least HB 1282 would provide ?reasonable access? to private lands for the average hunter, but here?s a twist. That provision used to exist in the Landowner Appreciation Program but was removed in 2002 at the request of landowners.
Now landowners are apparently willing to give access back ? but for a price.
Landowners can already get money for access. Fish and Game?s Access Yes program pays hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for landowners to allow the public to hunt and fish on their property.
All they have to do is offer it up and name their price. A panel decides if it's a good deal for sportsmen and accepts or denies the landowner?s offer.
These aren't the only bills in the Statehouse that could affect sportsmen. There are many others. You can see everything that's pending by jumping online and going to legislature.idaho.gov.
Click on ?Bill Center? to find more information about each bill. You can also use the site to get contact information for your representatives and senators.
Idaho hunting is at a crossroads, and it's up to hunters to let their elected officials know which direction it should go ? to the average hunter, or to the highest bidder.
Roger Phillips: 377-6215
Hawkeye
Browning A-Bolt 300 Win Mag
Winchester Apex .50 Cal
Mathews Drenalin LD
Perhaps someone from Idaho can track down the language of the bills and post them for us.
Check this article in the idaho Statesman:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/02/19/2000855/idaho-considering-auctioning-big.html
Roger Phillips: Idaho considering auctioning big game tags
12:00am on Feb 19, 2012 2012-02-19T06:55:36Z
With most hunting seasons over, hunters may want to focus their attention on the Statehouse, because their sport as they know it is at risk.
There are three bills that would substantially change the way Idaho allocates its most coveted controlled hunt permits, which are typically the best big game hunts in the state.
The legislature is considering to allow big-game tags to be sold to the guy with the largest wallet, not to the average guy who puts in his application like everyone else and hopes for a lucky draw.
Legislators are also considering allowing landowners to sell tags on the open market.
Idaho hunters have a long history of advocating and practicing fair chase of game, and that has also been the guiding spirit in how it allocates big-game tags.
With few exceptions, every hunter gets an equal chance at them. It doesn't matter how much money you make, or where you're from. You put your name in a drawing and get a crack at the best bulls, bucks, billies and rams Idaho has to offer.
SB 1256 would allow some of the best tags in the state to go for auction. Most of the proceeds from those tags would stay with Fish and Game, but the department did not push for this bill.
SB 1282 would allow large landowners such as ranchers and farmers to sell big game tags in exchange for public hunting access to some private lands.
SB 1283 would also allow landowners to sell tags, but without any requirement of allowing public access.
Idaho Fish and Game would get nothing more from landowners than the face value tag, while the landowners could set whatever price they could get.
Big game tags are valuable, and there are deep pockets out there willing to shell out big bucks for the best bulls and bucks.
A big-game tag auction earlier this month hosted by the Mule Deer Foundation and Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife in Utah netted $2 million, including an Arizona mule deer tag that went for $220,000.
Idaho?s sole auction tag, a bighorn sheep permit, fetched $120,000 in 2009, and $180,000 in 2005. That tag typically sells to nonresidents.
Here?s how it would work. Fish and Game would authorize a third party, such as Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife or a similar group, to auction a limited number of tags for deer, elk, moose, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and mountain goats.
The groups have tags from numerous states, and they hold a convention or banquet where people bid millions to buy them.
To be competitive, states have to offer tags that allow access to the best hunting units and the best trophy animals.
Currently, for the $6 application fee for a controlled-hunt lottery, everyone has an equal chance to snag Idaho?s best tags.
You even have a shot at Idaho?s best bighorn sheep tag ? the same one that sold for up to $180,000. The special bighorn tag lottery tickets sold for $10 each last year.
If Idaho?s lone bighorn auction tag is any indicator, tags sold at auction would likely go to hunters from outside Idaho.
Landowners could fall right in line if they're allowed to sell tags. Landowners who currently own 640 acres in an area limited to controlled hunts have a separate lottery for big game tags. They typically have better odds at drawing one, because they're only competing with other large landowners.
If SB 1282 or 1283 becomes law, don't be surprised if landowner tags show up at an auction and sell for thousands of dollars and possibly tens of thousands of dollars, all of which would go into the landowner?s pocket, not Fish and Game?s coffers.
At least HB 1282 would provide ?reasonable access? to private lands for the average hunter, but here?s a twist. That provision used to exist in the Landowner Appreciation Program but was removed in 2002 at the request of landowners.
Now landowners are apparently willing to give access back ? but for a price.
Landowners can already get money for access. Fish and Game?s Access Yes program pays hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for landowners to allow the public to hunt and fish on their property.
All they have to do is offer it up and name their price. A panel decides if it's a good deal for sportsmen and accepts or denies the landowner?s offer.
These aren't the only bills in the Statehouse that could affect sportsmen. There are many others. You can see everything that's pending by jumping online and going to legislature.idaho.gov.
Click on ?Bill Center? to find more information about each bill. You can also use the site to get contact information for your representatives and senators.
Idaho hunting is at a crossroads, and it's up to hunters to let their elected officials know which direction it should go ? to the average hunter, or to the highest bidder.
Roger Phillips: 377-6215
Hawkeye
Browning A-Bolt 300 Win Mag
Winchester Apex .50 Cal
Mathews Drenalin LD
