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Federal Duck Stamp Increase

Scott M
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Scott M Grand Master

Scott M

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Just read last week about some huge proposed cuts to USFWS as part of the "Cut, Cap, Balance" solutions being proposed in Washington. What I read talked about a bunch of USFWS layoffs and closing 1 in 5 federal refuges. Setting aside the argument over cutting funding to conservation and conservation services, the author talked about some of the folks in the Dept. of the Interior being in favor of a fee increase on the federal duck stamp, from $15 to $30 to fund more consevation and habitat work. Word has it that nationally, as it was in this latest legislative session in Minnesota with proposed hunting and fishing license fee increases, Republicans will not support any sort of tax or fee increase, so a federal duck stamp increase will be difficult to pass.

I'm curious what hunters think about a federal duck stamp fee increase, would you be for it or against it?

elwood, could you put a poll into this thread? Just curious how it would break down within the HSO waterfowl crowd.

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goblueM Grand Master

goblueM

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i'd pay it, particularly if it meant avoiding shutting down 20% of refuges

i'm willing to pay to play, and I believe in protecting the resources we enjoy as a massive privilege in this country

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Feathers Rainin Collaborator

Feathers Rainin

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they need to get more bird watchers buying duck stamps!!! the numbers of avid bird watchers is mind boggling, yet they don't do a lot to support the habitat imo.

I'm curious as to how you think they would go about enforcing it. It is pretty obvious when one is duck hunting. I would think it would be tough to classify who is a bird watcher and who is just enjoying the outdoors.

I would be fine with the increase. It's pretty cheap and if it means keeping some of our refuges it is well worth it. People complain a lot about license fees but if you stop and think how much a serious waterfowler spends a season licenses are a tiny fraction of the total costs.

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smnduck Proficient

smnduck

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I woould pay extra, but with the current rhetoric in washington about no new lands or fee increase's i doubt it will happen.Some of our current leaders want nothing more than an out right fire sale of all things public.

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Gordie Grand Master

Gordie

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I would have know problem paying just about any amount of money for a stamp to waterfowl hunt but I would really like to see excatly what I'm spending it on. not just some offical word that its getting well spent for waterfowl I would like to see first hand what our money is doing

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RiverRunner Enthusiast

RiverRunner

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They should spend a certain amount of that money to eliminate feral cats! That would help all the birds! 2c

People really think feral cats are that big of problem. Maybe around towns and old farmsteads. Your racoons and skunks are more of a wide spread problem than feral cats. Predator control would help, but don't count on it with fur prices where they are at. We need habitat preserved and grasslands first and formost.

No problem with an increase to $30. A $15 dollar hike is a pretty small price to pay. With the big cuts to CRP an Federal refuges projected I think its almost needed.

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nolte Rising Star

nolte

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I've got no problem with a fee increase but I'd like to see where the money is going. Make sure it's not just being thrown away. As much as I hate to say it a lot of the money we spend with outdoor associations never makes it to the wildlife. It gets sucked off to the administration of said association long before it can benefit a critter. We keep giving because we think we are helping out.

This is something I don't really understand. How much money does it take to run a refuge. Most signs are already up showing no hunting and most of the road structures are already in place. The land is already owned and they don't pay taxes. They might have to shut down an interpretive center or something but the vital part (the land) is still there. We might not have the ability to gain ground on preserving lands but we shouldn't be going backwards.

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B. Amish Veteran

B. Amish

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The gist i get from Amish's quote is that more bird watchers ought to be buying the stamp anyways because they are benefiting from its use. There doesn't need to be a law (as you said, it would be pretty tough to enforce) but maybe some more education/information needs to be made available just to show how many people (besides just hunters) benefit from the duck stamp.

bingo!

over the last 10 years, about 1.6 - 1.7 million stamps have been sold per year. i looked around on line, but couldn't find anything as to who is buying those duck stamps. is it all hunters? i would say the vast majority is.

98 cents out of every dollar for duck stamps sold goes directly to buying or protecting habitat.

the best data i could find on the number of birders in the usa is about 40 million adults ---> that's a lot of folks that could be buying a duck stamp.

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mulefarm Contributor

mulefarm

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Personally I'd have no problem with the increase. What an increase might do, is keep marginal and new hunters from taking up waterfowling. It is an expensive sport to start with, and adding possible state increases along with a federal stamp increase would probably decrease our numbers.

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koonie Mentor

koonie

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I really don't think it needs to jump from 15 to 30 dollars. The number of waterfowl hunters has been in decline for a while and this will cause the numbers to drop even further. With the price of everything(license, stamps, gas) going up I can see many people getting priced out of hunting. This is what worries me long term. I know the cost of conservation is going up as well, but at some point we may wind up losing enough hunters and not recruiting enough new hunters, due to the cost, that even with this increase(or the next one) there won't be enough money coming in for the system to continue.

Just a thought. Maybe the sky isn't falling but it seems to be closer than it used to be. :-)

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TylerS Mentor

TylerS

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I really don't think it needs to jump from 15 to 30 dollars. The number of waterfowl hunters has been in decline for a while and this will cause the numbers to drop even further.

I dunno...$15 isn't going to break the bank when you consider the hundreds if not thousands of dollars duck hunters invest in their equipment every year. If that's the last straw for somebody...I reckon they really weren't that interested in duck hunting in the first place.

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