Western tag $$$$ is crazy!!!

[Cooter]

Time to vent a bit again - doing a little elk hunting research and was floored with most(OK all) the license fees! WY now has pref pt system but its $50/year - I thought that was bad until I looked into Arizona!!! You need to buy a license just to apply for a tag OR just for a bonus point. The stinking license is $151.25 for non-resident and then $7.50 for a bonus point!!!! And you have to pay buy that license each year, sure you might get lucky and draw in one year but the gal on the phone said some people have 18 points and still haven't drawn a tag. If they're non-res thats $2,857.50 just in applying and the tag then will cost like $585 once drawn!!! I know there are some lawsuits challenging such outrageous non-resident fees and I'd like to see some changes. Apparently demand is high enough but for the ave Joe such as myself such costs are the best way to keep me out of their states.

Especially frustrating is close to 75% of tags are allocated for residents, some 10% for non-res hunting with outfitters and the remaining 10ish% for non-res. I guess that wouldn't be so bad if the fees weren't so much more for non-res. Its like that in many western states, non-residents pay the majority of license fees and recieve the smallest % of licenses. And if you figure a good portion of all the hunting is done on public land it stinks even more. OK, I'm done now,later.

[lawdog]

Yep non-resident licenses are very expensive in those states, but they'll stay high like that because we can't hunt like that here so we keep going... Meanwhile the residents (some of whom think you are the anti-christ if you are there hunting) get the benefit and pay almost nothing for their tags as we've funded their DNR. Its a great deal for them. I can't say they shouldn't do it to us though, why wouldn't they? I just think it stinks the few residents who want to be jerks to you if you are there hunting "their" game. They would also be the first to complain if we weren't coming and their tag costs all the sudden had to make up for the lost revenues from us not coming back!

[blue_healer_guy]

I remember buying a over the counter doe license in Montana for 50 bucks. I miss not going tho.

[tealitup]

What do you think about MN charging each non-resident the comparable price to their home states non-residents fees?

Colorado deer=$250 then MN deer=$250 and so on. This should be easy with a computer system.

[BLACKJACK]

I'd rather see MN jack up their non-resident fishing licenses. Other states are capitilizing on what non-residents want like elk and mule deer, we should do the same on fish. Do it like SoDak does for pheasants, $110 for two five day periods, then if you want to fish more, buy another license. Of course the resort industry would never allow this.

[moccasinboy]

I agree, the NR fees are getting to be huge rip-offs. I also agree that MN should do a quid pro quo & apply that state's NR to RES fee ratio to our fee structure, maybe when those state's residents went back home they register some complaints to their legislature. Worst of all, if you go west to hunt big game you're hunting on public land we all own. How about if they charge whatever they want to NR's to hunt private land but we all pay the same to hunt public (federal) land. Seems like grounds for a lawsuit somewhere there.

[Swamp Scooter]

It is just as bad now in WI. 160 for a nr deer tag! No break for land owners either. Kind of silly when they want deer killed but it is just unaffordable for a nine day season that you most likely will only get to hunt 3-4 days if you are lucky. Maybe there should be a program to turn in your unused tags for a refund. Then it is not so bad. Fill tags and pay for it. See nothing due to wolves and get some cash back.

[iffwalleyes]

Right the are expensive but why are you talking about it in the first place? Because you want to go there and do it. We don't have to rights in MN. I myself spend $250 on a non resident antelope tag for SD this year and the got my Resident ND tag for $20. So guess which got filled the cheap one. I applied for MT for ELK to the price of around $600. Fun is not cheap anymore. The bad thing is it is going to get worst not better I can promise you that. I wish there was some way to control it but there isn't. If you want to play you got to pay .

[harvey lee]

I agree with you iffwalleyes. My elk tag was 600 a year that I hunt as a NR in Montana. In North Dakota it costs me 550 for my deer tags. Thats 2 buck tags and 3 doe tags. I guess when I decide its not fun anymore then I will stay home. Some of these states will find the top end for the tags and then hopefully stop.

I know when I hunted elk in Montana and paid 600 and the residents were paying like 17. The part I didnt like was we were both hunting the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife refuge which is owned by the U.S. goverment. Now, with all our taxes paying for this land why should it cost more for one than the other?

I guess that is just the way it is. One does have a choice and that is not to go. That really isnt a fair choice.

One could have a program where each state charges what the other does and then it would get to be such a price war everyone would loose. Its to bad that these state goverment agencies have decided to steal from the sportsmen. I know it will be a cold day in you knowq where before I pay 600 or more again. They can have thier elk.

[Blackduck]

It's just like anything else these days. As long as the people keep climbing over each other to spend the money the price won't drop.

[iffwalleyes]

Quote:

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It's just like anything else these days. As long as the people keep climbing over each other to spend the money the price won't drop.

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Exactly you said it perfectly.

[harvey lee]

That might work in other states but in ND there are so few tags and the Game & Fish has no plans on increasing thier NR tags. SO, when they increase the price which they have in the past years it will just cost you more and that is the way it is. I have talked to many of the higher ups in the Game & Fish dept.and they say that it is going to stay that way as the legistlators are not interested in changing the laws.

Now, I would think there are probably other states that see just how much they can get simply by supply and demand.

[Stratosman]

We are looking into Montana deer and antelope for next fall and the prices are what they are...like you guys have said, it's economics 101. Guess I can't blame the states for charging that much, but I too would like to see a cap.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Its all about whats important to you. Not meaning to hurt anyones feelings, but I think what people pay for boats is retarded. You can hire a guide cheaper than you can purchase and maintain a $20,000 boat. But tag prices are nothing to me. Thats some of the best money I spend each year.

[Blackduck]

Well put Mr. Seaguar!

I am a duck hunter and walleye fisher. I do deer hunt, but I am a meat hunter, and have no desire what so ever to harvest big game out of state at those prices. I simply want a deer or two every year because we love the ven, and that's pretty easy to do right at home. It's interesting the hear other people's thoughts because I never looked at my boats that way. A guide would probably in fact be cheaper if you go once or twice a month. I guess if money were no object we would have our cake and eat it too. You got me thinking??

[superbee]

I go out west when ever I am lucky enough to draw a tag and don't have a problem with the current system. It would be nice if the tags were cheaper, but then think of what the odds of drawing a tag would be. Not very good if alot more people would be applying if the tag cost went down. I am willing to pay more and have better odds of getting my tag.

[kgpcr4]

I refuse to pay to hunt on those pheasant farms in SD and ND because all i am doing is pushing the price higher. To me paying 300 a day to shoot 3 birds is insane. I refuse to join that club. I will not be part of the problem and push the prices even higher

[Mr.Seaguar]

I wouldnt pay $300 to hunt a farm either, not when you can walk ditches for free and kill your limit no problem.

[iffwalleyes]

Quote:

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I refuse to pay to hunt on those pheasant farms in SD and ND because all i am doing is pushing the price higher. To me paying 300 a day to shoot 3 birds is insane. I refuse to join that club. I will not be part of the problem and push the prices even higher

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That is what I think too. I never pay someone for the right to hunt birds. I can pick up enough of them with the grill of my pickup . I really never have plans to pay for big game either it would have to be a pretty unique hunt for me to do that. There is so much public land in the west but the problem most people have with public land is they have to put in time to get the desired out come. The licenses themselves are high enough I am not going to make it worse by paying for land. That just me though maybe when ever in life money is no issue for me my opinion will change. But since that will probably never happen I guess I won't worry too much about it.

[Ufatz]

Couple points to ponder gentlemen. First, charging to hunt and increased tags and fees are directly the result of pressure on the resource and costs of maintaining your resource agencies. Charges to hunt a farmers or ranchers land are simply an individual excecising the right to make a buck. Most of us wouldn't mind $25 a day, but $250 a day to walk around on a farm is nonsense.

Secondly, there is going to be a growing debate in this country over the equity of a land owner charging the public to hunt what is a public resource, lets say a pheasant. It is not the land oweners bird...it is the publics (your)

bird. The next few years are going to see fewer of us hunting, for these reasons primarily, but others too.

Consider.

[harvey lee]

We have a rancher that charges 1000 per guy for a weekend and that does not include your license. On the ranch that I oversee, we let numerous people hunt from ND and also Minnesota. I would not charge anyone a dime to hunt as I would not want others to charge me. There are people out there that will let you hunt if you do enough looking. Every year I usually seem to drop one hunter and gain another. Next year good old Scoot from North Dakota will be our newest hunter.

I guess that I can understand a rancher charging a fee, but it will never happen where we hunt. NEVER.

[kgpcr4]

Quote:

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Couple points to ponder gentlemen. First, charging to hunt and increased tags and fees are directly the result of pressure on the resource and costs of maintaining your resource agencies. Charges to hunt a farmers or ranchers land are simply an individual excecising the right to make a buck. Most of us wouldn't mind $25 a day, but $250 a day to walk around on a farm is nonsense.

Secondly, there is going to be a growing debate in this country over the equity of a land owner charging the public to hunt what is a public resource, lets say a pheasant. It is not the land oweners bird...it is the publics (your)

bird. The next few years are going to see fewer of us hunting, for these reasons primarily, but others too.

Consider.

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I have no problem with the landowner charging huge fees. I have a problem with the fools paying the big dollars. If owned a chunk in south dakota and some goofballs wanted to pay me 300.00 each to hunt my land for a day i would take thier money and smile. It is after all his land. My problem is with all the idiots paying the 300.00 to shoot 3 birds.Also there were a ton of articles in the dakota papers where game farms were selling thousands of birds to the places that have so called wild hunts.

[Cooter]

Lots of good posts - indeed its Econ 101, ch.1, the law of supply and demand. Those states have a supply of elk that others do not have - you can go almost anywhere and hunt whitetails, not so with elk, moose, sheep, goats, etc.

I guess what really got me was how AZ wants about $160 just to ENTER the drawing. I could handle a small admin/handling fee and then $600 or so for a tag once drawn but not that much just to apply for a tag.

[Scoot]

Quote:

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Next year good old Scoot from North Dakota will be our newest hunter.

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Like I said before, HL, you da man! As is being pointed out in this thread, it just keeps getting tougher and tougher for the average Joe to be able to hunt. It's really a sad deal. However, guys like you generously offering to help a guy out are a wonderful thing.

Someday down the road a piece I hope to be able to buy some hunting land. I have no idea how that might happen right now, but it's definitely one of my long-term goals. If I don't, I fear my kids won't have many/any places to hunt. Hunting and fishing kept me very busy growing up- kept me out of trouble, served as motivation to do well in school (bad grades = no hunting or fishing), and provided good, clean fun. I desperately hope I can have the opportunity to get my kids as involved in the outdoors as I was/am. Hopefully I'll be a generous and sharing land owner some day, but for now, thank God for the ones who have been kind to me.

[CAJ]

I realize the price of tags are not cheep. I live in Montana because I like to hunt the way we do. If you guys lived here, you wouldn't be as happy to pay a high price for license. either. I buy at least 5 fishing license each year because I like to fish. They are the cheapest part of hunting and fishing anyway. Move to Montana and help pay our taxes. CAJ