Ithaca 37
New member
"I would like to inform Idaho hunters of efforts to establish wealth tags for big-game hunting in Idaho. Wealth tags are big-game permits issued to the highest bidder and come with opportunity and privilege not available to general or draw-tag holders. This ill-conceived concept is how Utah runs its wildlife. A Utah-based group, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, has established an Idaho contingent and is quietly trying to establish wealth tags in our state.
Wealth tags are sometimes called "conservation" tags but "conserve" nothing and allow the finest game animals to be hunted by privileged individuals with armies of guides during times when these animals are most vulnerable. Utah has 5 percent of its big-game tags given to "sportsmen's" organizations to be auctioned off. These groups say they have improved Utah game herds with the money raised and therefore justify the financial discrimination. Utah has seen an increase in elk — so has every other state — but the deer and antelope herds on public lands have fared no better than anywhere else in the western United States. So what did the Utah hunter receive from selling off his hunting rights?
If the public in Utah was originally told that hundreds of public tags and animals would be set aside for the wealthiest nonresidents, do you think the public would have embraced Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife's wealth-tag concept? If Utah's "habitat improvement" is such a success, why are the hills of Idaho crawling with Utah license plates every fall? The public hunter in Utah has been "managed" out of his own state.
I invite readers to study a Utah hunting proclamation and see if it is a model we want for Idaho. Controlled tags for elk in Utah are $280 to $508; for deer, $138 — for a resident. Utah has embraced a concept that if you want a good hunt you have to pay for it. The irony is that Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife fought the modest fee increase in Idaho. One could speculate that this group seeks leverage to demand the formation and control of wealth tags in Idaho.
These tags sell for thousands of dollars. To garner the prices Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife is accustomed to in Utah and assure attendance at its banquets may require management changes in Idaho to produce the 200-point bucks and 400-point bulls needed to draw wealthy bidders. Productive units can produce this class of animals if the population is controlled with massive female harvests and extremely tight antlered harvests. So the improved "opportunity" Idaho hunters will enjoy is an extra cow tag and a shot at a bull tag every other decade or so. Take a look at a Utah proclamation, how few antlered tags Utah has available, and how poor the odds are of ever drawing a tag. Is the pride Idaho residents may feel to have the hunting magazines feature huge animals taken from our state worth giving up our hunting rights?
We can't say for sure what the goal of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife in Idaho is with its attempt to control Idaho's public game. We can look at what it has achieved down south and pray for underachievement in this state.
The Idahoans who have joined Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife likely care deeply about our precious Idaho resources. I seriously doubt the majority of them would sell our resources to the highest bidders to pay for lobbyists, consultants, and even bitterbrush. I hope these people can also reject the formation of wealth tags in Idaho and fight not only the wolves from up north but also the wolves in wealth-tag clothing coming from the south."
Mike Veile lives in Soda Springs.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050312/NEWS0503/503120303/1052/NEWS05
Wealth tags are sometimes called "conservation" tags but "conserve" nothing and allow the finest game animals to be hunted by privileged individuals with armies of guides during times when these animals are most vulnerable. Utah has 5 percent of its big-game tags given to "sportsmen's" organizations to be auctioned off. These groups say they have improved Utah game herds with the money raised and therefore justify the financial discrimination. Utah has seen an increase in elk — so has every other state — but the deer and antelope herds on public lands have fared no better than anywhere else in the western United States. So what did the Utah hunter receive from selling off his hunting rights?
If the public in Utah was originally told that hundreds of public tags and animals would be set aside for the wealthiest nonresidents, do you think the public would have embraced Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife's wealth-tag concept? If Utah's "habitat improvement" is such a success, why are the hills of Idaho crawling with Utah license plates every fall? The public hunter in Utah has been "managed" out of his own state.
I invite readers to study a Utah hunting proclamation and see if it is a model we want for Idaho. Controlled tags for elk in Utah are $280 to $508; for deer, $138 — for a resident. Utah has embraced a concept that if you want a good hunt you have to pay for it. The irony is that Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife fought the modest fee increase in Idaho. One could speculate that this group seeks leverage to demand the formation and control of wealth tags in Idaho.
These tags sell for thousands of dollars. To garner the prices Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife is accustomed to in Utah and assure attendance at its banquets may require management changes in Idaho to produce the 200-point bucks and 400-point bulls needed to draw wealthy bidders. Productive units can produce this class of animals if the population is controlled with massive female harvests and extremely tight antlered harvests. So the improved "opportunity" Idaho hunters will enjoy is an extra cow tag and a shot at a bull tag every other decade or so. Take a look at a Utah proclamation, how few antlered tags Utah has available, and how poor the odds are of ever drawing a tag. Is the pride Idaho residents may feel to have the hunting magazines feature huge animals taken from our state worth giving up our hunting rights?
We can't say for sure what the goal of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife in Idaho is with its attempt to control Idaho's public game. We can look at what it has achieved down south and pray for underachievement in this state.
The Idahoans who have joined Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife likely care deeply about our precious Idaho resources. I seriously doubt the majority of them would sell our resources to the highest bidders to pay for lobbyists, consultants, and even bitterbrush. I hope these people can also reject the formation of wealth tags in Idaho and fight not only the wolves from up north but also the wolves in wealth-tag clothing coming from the south."
Mike Veile lives in Soda Springs.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050312/NEWS0503/503120303/1052/NEWS05
