CO License Fee Increase
- Thread starter Chuckle
- Start date
mtmander
Active member
we know residents will get the majority of the tags and NR will pay more because the legislators are worried about votes and only residents can vote for them
I think that is the reason rather than trying to manage the wild resources
I think that is the reason rather than trying to manage the wild resources
Yep. Very easy for a state's legislature to increase the price on a customer that cannot take any real action against them. But, as Randy mentioned, when it comes to public lands issues, those out priced non-residents can be a very big ally.
noharleyyet
Well-known member
You have to see the irony of complaints against landowner skewed allotments when NR prices drive king's deer mentality toward a demographic that can afford to go thru a window when a door shuts.
M
MN Public Hunter
Guest
I'm with you Dan on this whole dirty process of "well, if they want to come here and hunt they will have to pay !" mentality, but I realized there is no way for me to change it so I have sucked it up and I'm very picky when I go out west to hunt and I just started 2 years ago. Now I get it, people who live there pay taxes...etc.etc.etc and that is why they get a lower tag price. You and I just happen to live in states where tags are OTC and cheap.
What should happen is the people who sit here and say, oh well I will just eat out less with the family, drink less beer...etc.etc...should not only stop doing that and save the money, but stop paying these crazy NR fees and I KNOW the costs would either go up for resident or come down to get the tourist money back because not only is it the tag fee's it's all the extra money we bring to the state.
So in closing my rant, don't blame this all on the fish and game, when it's partly due to people who just take it in the back and keep supporting this mentality.
Then again, maybe NR is not that big of an issue and the loss would not even be noticed.
putm2sleep
New member
I'm sure - you probably spill your Sitka gear too. Keep your increases for/in MT
There is plenty of money from fees.period
Pay more to sit and play a points game. That's brilliant screw you
I guess I do not look at it as a NR "fee" but rather the cost for me to hunt a particular area. I chose Colorado mostly because of the number of elk in the state. It cost what it cost and I know that before applying. I do, in fact, have to make sacrifices to be able to hunt elk.
Every year when I return from the west I start putting money in an envelope labeled "Elk Fund" and try to do so every week. We cut back on a lot of things for me to be able to do this. If I end up not drawing or not going for whatever reason, I still add to the fund for the following year.
I decided to hunt elk a long time ago and the only real opportunity is in the western states. I suppose there is some threshold that would be too expensive for me to continue to hunt out west, but most likely I just wouldn't go as often. For that reason I do not support any increase, but as said before, it cost what it cost and I can either do it or not.
Every year when I return from the west I start putting money in an envelope labeled "Elk Fund" and try to do so every week. We cut back on a lot of things for me to be able to do this. If I end up not drawing or not going for whatever reason, I still add to the fund for the following year.
I decided to hunt elk a long time ago and the only real opportunity is in the western states. I suppose there is some threshold that would be too expensive for me to continue to hunt out west, but most likely I just wouldn't go as often. For that reason I do not support any increase, but as said before, it cost what it cost and I can either do it or not.
Let's not confuse this debate with someone saying they can't hunt because so and so state is going to raise x amount of dollars so I can't go on a hunt. I'm to the point in my life that I could go on multiple trips every year. It is a matter of reckoning. The thing is that 20 yrs ago this wasn't the case. I had to scrimp and save just to go out every other year. That used to mean 10 extra weeks of overtime and skipping out on ever going out with the wife. It was something she did for me because it was that important to me. Let's fast forward 20 years and more than triple the cost. There is no way I could have swung it even if it was every third or fourth year. There has to be a better way to spread the cost of everyone using these resources. I do believe NR should have to pay more, just not to the extent of what it has become.
Bad day today?
Fees have not kept up with inflation in hardly any state. Yet, over time state game agencies have been burdened with unprofitable Parks Departments (CO and MT come to mind) and also are now tasked with non-game species, endangered species, all of which get paid out of some place. So, we end up with fees not keeping pace with inflation, plus a lot of other responsibility added to the game agency's work load. Yet, a $5 increase is enough for people to go off the handle. I get it.
If you live in CO and you are "sitting" and playing a points game without hunting on OTC or other tags, then that seems to be a personal decision.
Carry on ........
sneakem
Well-known member
JMO...
Everyone point there fingers at each other, the door swings both ways. I for one support an increase of resident fee's as a resident of Colorado. It's been neglected too long and the burden has been carried by others.
On the other hand I hear NR's complain about not getting tags and its there right to hunt the public land and it cost too much. You right, it is your right to hunt the public land, not your right to the tags that go along with it.... I pay to hunt as a NR in many states. I don't complain that it takes me 20 years to draw a tag in AZ or WY or NM or NV. I don't complain about paying considerably more money than CO charges NR's for my tags in another state. Why ? Because hunting in someone else's state is not a right... it is a privilege. The public lands are there for you to enjoy, all the time not just hunting. I don't whine about hunting in Texas, because I have no place to hunt, there are no public lands for me, I don't have friends that I grew up with that have farms and ranches for me to hunt on. I expect to have to pay to play. Same goes for most of the states east of the Rockies with regards to public lands and hunting. If it was such an issue I would move there, make friends, maybe buy some land to hunt on. But its not.. that's why I live here. Want the same right? come pay taxes for our schools, our roads and infrastructure, for our communities, elect our crappy politicians, fight to preserve our hunting heritage against our corrupt Wildlife Commission seeking benefits for private interest....Not just because a few days you show up and pay for a tag and some sales tax. Then you can be afforded the right to the hunting privileges that come along with that. Colorado gives more tags to NR hunters than anywhere else... HANDS DOWN!!
We in the west, constantly fight to preserve the rights to public land so its not sold off, so its there and it doesn't have to become like the scenario like it is for us to hunt east of the rockies. "Oh I can't hunt elk in CO because there is no public land and I have no friends that own property and I don't own a ranch or the landowners lock thousands of acres of public land because there is no legal access. Sit there and whine about RES and NR costs and do nothing to join the fight become part of the problem and turn the public land out west into what is out east....good call....pay to protect what you have left...The other side is a well funded, well organized and fluid machine of greed. Takes $$$ to fight it... For that reason I have no problem paying more $$$ to keep those greedy creeps from outsourcing our tags and lands to private interest as the solutions to budget shortfalls... Non Residents want to fight about whats fair, but they don't realize they are riding the same sinking ship asking for more and not putting the effort into the battles that go along with preserving that right for everyone...
Everyone point there fingers at each other, the door swings both ways. I for one support an increase of resident fee's as a resident of Colorado. It's been neglected too long and the burden has been carried by others.
On the other hand I hear NR's complain about not getting tags and its there right to hunt the public land and it cost too much. You right, it is your right to hunt the public land, not your right to the tags that go along with it.... I pay to hunt as a NR in many states. I don't complain that it takes me 20 years to draw a tag in AZ or WY or NM or NV. I don't complain about paying considerably more money than CO charges NR's for my tags in another state. Why ? Because hunting in someone else's state is not a right... it is a privilege. The public lands are there for you to enjoy, all the time not just hunting. I don't whine about hunting in Texas, because I have no place to hunt, there are no public lands for me, I don't have friends that I grew up with that have farms and ranches for me to hunt on. I expect to have to pay to play. Same goes for most of the states east of the Rockies with regards to public lands and hunting. If it was such an issue I would move there, make friends, maybe buy some land to hunt on. But its not.. that's why I live here. Want the same right? come pay taxes for our schools, our roads and infrastructure, for our communities, elect our crappy politicians, fight to preserve our hunting heritage against our corrupt Wildlife Commission seeking benefits for private interest....Not just because a few days you show up and pay for a tag and some sales tax. Then you can be afforded the right to the hunting privileges that come along with that. Colorado gives more tags to NR hunters than anywhere else... HANDS DOWN!!
We in the west, constantly fight to preserve the rights to public land so its not sold off, so its there and it doesn't have to become like the scenario like it is for us to hunt east of the rockies. "Oh I can't hunt elk in CO because there is no public land and I have no friends that own property and I don't own a ranch or the landowners lock thousands of acres of public land because there is no legal access. Sit there and whine about RES and NR costs and do nothing to join the fight become part of the problem and turn the public land out west into what is out east....good call....pay to protect what you have left...The other side is a well funded, well organized and fluid machine of greed. Takes $$$ to fight it... For that reason I have no problem paying more $$$ to keep those greedy creeps from outsourcing our tags and lands to private interest as the solutions to budget shortfalls... Non Residents want to fight about whats fair, but they don't realize they are riding the same sinking ship asking for more and not putting the effort into the battles that go along with preserving that right for everyone...
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DRAFTSTUD
Well-known member
Damn Sneakem, Phoenix Online really works! Good Post. John
FWIW and apply as you wish.....
I have never had trouble getting paid by clients who don't have much. Even when they have to pay more for the same thing a few years later.
Its the ones with plenty of money that are the hardest to collect from. They are also usually the first to complain about things.
It certainly is a matter of reckoning.... and always will be. I reckon I will go elk hunting in October. Most likely will apply for a tag next April even if they raise the price $5 or even $50.
I have never had trouble getting paid by clients who don't have much. Even when they have to pay more for the same thing a few years later.
Its the ones with plenty of money that are the hardest to collect from. They are also usually the first to complain about things.
It certainly is a matter of reckoning.... and always will be. I reckon I will go elk hunting in October. Most likely will apply for a tag next April even if they raise the price $5 or even $50.
Flatland Crusoe
Member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2014
- Messages
- 572
I don't think there is a state in the U.S. where resident hunters pay their fair share yet somehow people complain about the costs of in state tags pretty much everywhere, then spend more at the gas pump filling up their truck than on the deer tag.
Where I currently reside in Illinois is not uncommon to spend $25 on a resident deer tag and a few thousand for an annual hunting lease. By that logic a western tag in a state that's 40% public land is worth a lot more than one with 4% in my book.
In most states there is a much high portion of resident hunters than non-residents so a moderate fee increase on residents goes a lot further than NR's. The problem is the residents elect the people making the decisions while more NR's don't necessarily have a stake in the matter,. A NR tag becomes a commodity competing against other states cost and opportunity.
Where I currently reside in Illinois is not uncommon to spend $25 on a resident deer tag and a few thousand for an annual hunting lease. By that logic a western tag in a state that's 40% public land is worth a lot more than one with 4% in my book.
In most states there is a much high portion of resident hunters than non-residents so a moderate fee increase on residents goes a lot further than NR's. The problem is the residents elect the people making the decisions while more NR's don't necessarily have a stake in the matter,. A NR tag becomes a commodity competing against other states cost and opportunity.
noharleyyet
Well-known member
Meh, I get all the home team rah rah stuff sneaks, but the market will dictate. When the gratification/experience quality to cost ratio gets too weird buyers will react....regardless of beer case priced elk tags for residents.
sheff
Member
The way I see it, states can charge what they darn well want. If I don't like it, I'm not gonna piss and moan about it. I'll just go hunt another state.
Sheff
Sheff
7mm08mo
Well-known member
I'm somewhat new to hunting in the west. I've. Been elk hunting once in Colorado on a general tag and bear hunting in Idaho, I'm going to Wyoming this year for antelope and Idaho next year for elk. I guess I always figured it was a pay to play. I don't mind the higher fees because I don't pay taxes I those states, that being said in my home state of Missouri I pay 19 dollars for a deer tag gun or bow doesn't matter non residents pay 225. I personally wouldn't mind an increase for residents, to help out the mdc with funding. Our conservation dept is science based and funded off of a conservation sales tax the legislature has no control of fees or when seasons are because of the way it was set up. Maybe the west could do something like that. The tax I mentioned is on outdoor related equipment lik camo guns ammo all the nessasary stuff and I guess I don't mind because I have paid it when I bought stuff all my life and it keeps politics out of it. Our nr fees are some of the cheapest in the 7 states surrounding us. Thanks have a good day.
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7mm08mo
Well-known member
Sorry meant gun or bow typing on iPhone
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LopeHunter
Well-known member
If we all only act on our own selfish interests then we would have collectively killed off elk several generations ago. The social compact that we have as hunters can be broken by some of us but not all of us or the elk are soon gone. We do not have to individually guard all elk from poachers but rather we each are vigilant and pay taxes, fees and donations to help fund a mechanism to protect and nurture the elk.
If we do not pay then the outcomes are predictable. If general funds are used then lots of non-hunters will get a say in how the money is spent on wildlife and that is not a good thing since elk do not carry protest signs for CNN cameras or hashtag on FaceBook. Budgets for F&G will suffer. If a higher percentage of the F&G budget is funded from NR application fees, licenses and tags then F&G is making a pact with the NR devil since weaning off $1000 tags to hand those tags to residents at $100 each creates a $900 budget hole every day and even puts pressure on F&G to be more aggressive on how many animals to allowed harvested from a herd.
I see a new, shiny truck driven by F&G with a heavy set warden at the wheel with a 20 year service pension and wonder about how much waste might be in the F&G budget though that is a government manifestation rather than something limited to only F&G. I fight a lot of battles and have over the years but I will not die on the battlefield of how much my resident fees, licenses and tags cost. Those resident fees in total are a cheap date for the value and recreation I experience.
As a group, hunters are an aging population. Hunting big game out-of-state costs so much more in real dollars today than in the 1960s. Of course, so does a new truck and paying for a baby to be born in a hospital. I sometimes wonder if we are not similar to the neighborhood where most homes no longer have school-age children and the residents vote down every property tax increase that would fund school renovations and operations. If so, we will reap what we sow as will our offspring.
If we do not pay then the outcomes are predictable. If general funds are used then lots of non-hunters will get a say in how the money is spent on wildlife and that is not a good thing since elk do not carry protest signs for CNN cameras or hashtag on FaceBook. Budgets for F&G will suffer. If a higher percentage of the F&G budget is funded from NR application fees, licenses and tags then F&G is making a pact with the NR devil since weaning off $1000 tags to hand those tags to residents at $100 each creates a $900 budget hole every day and even puts pressure on F&G to be more aggressive on how many animals to allowed harvested from a herd.
I see a new, shiny truck driven by F&G with a heavy set warden at the wheel with a 20 year service pension and wonder about how much waste might be in the F&G budget though that is a government manifestation rather than something limited to only F&G. I fight a lot of battles and have over the years but I will not die on the battlefield of how much my resident fees, licenses and tags cost. Those resident fees in total are a cheap date for the value and recreation I experience.
As a group, hunters are an aging population. Hunting big game out-of-state costs so much more in real dollars today than in the 1960s. Of course, so does a new truck and paying for a baby to be born in a hospital. I sometimes wonder if we are not similar to the neighborhood where most homes no longer have school-age children and the residents vote down every property tax increase that would fund school renovations and operations. If so, we will reap what we sow as will our offspring.
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