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"fraught with greed" Therein lies the problem with such private property tags. The system eventually morphs into lucrative financial deals having little or nothing to do with good wildlife management, sustaining valued hunting traditions, access for average hunters, or emphasis on ethical hunting.
Could you expound a bit? That comment doesn't fit my, albeit limited, understanding of Idaho's landowner tag system.Idahos landowner system is working out great. I mean why shouldn't rich people be able to hunt the best units every year.
In short my view of the lap system in idaho is it was designed with a giant loop hole that allows landowners to charge very large sums of money for a trespass fee and in exchange you get a tag for one of the best units in the state. Not only does this make sure there are tags in hands of the rich. But in the process it also locks a lot of hunters who draw a tag through the system off of private land. For this reason alone our l a p program is twice as bad as most others. I have dr a tag and had a landowner who I've known all my life tell me "I'm sorry I can't let you on my property this year" for the sole reason that in order to sell his landowner tags he had to charge trespassing fees of $10,000 per person and give the tag to the hunter to make it nice and legal. THAT IS NOT GOOD BUT I CAN'T BLAME HIM FOR TAKING THE MONEY.THey started this in ID in 1986 for landowners in controlled hunt units and called them Landowner Preference Permits (LPP). The original criteria to obtain a permit were: at least 640 acres in the unit, be considered a good steward of the controlled species, allow reasonable access to the general hunting public, the permit was non-transferable and to be used by the landowner or a member of his family.
Unfortunately over time it evolved into the Landowner Appreciation Permit system(LAP) that we have today. The access clause for the general sportsmen is gone. Also the stipulation that the permit be used by the landowner or his family, so now a game is played where access is charged for and a tag is given in exchange for money. This year several bills were sent to the legislator pertaining to the sale of these tags and a number of Governor's tags.
For the general sportsmen the LPP/LAP programs have been a negative thing leading to less private land available to hunt in Idaho. Every time LAP negotiations happen the concerns of diminished access by the general sportsmen appear to be ignored while more concession are given to the recipients of the LAP tags. The LAP tag has become a cash cow for landowners lucky enough to draw these limited tags. This in turn leads to diminished opportunity for the guy who can't afford to pay the high price for the LAP tag. The whole LAP program needs to revisited in its management of our public resource--the wild game animals in Idaho. As it stands the system is broken and fraught with greed.
Pat