FeartheTurtle
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Welcome from Utah. Wyoming is my favorite state to hunt, except for the rising tag cost. You are in for some great hunting.
New Wyoming hunter
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NoKidsAfter40
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Welcome! Love Cheyenne! It is a wonderful place.
NoKidsAfter40
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Yeah, I think WY has lost the plot on how they are trying to limit NR applicants and over valued tag fees. Great state and a must do for anyone seriously looking at western elk, deer, antelope, etc.....Colorado is not far behind.
BuzzH
Well-known member
Feel free to find more value in another State...hunting Wyoming isn't a requirement.
NoKidsAfter40
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I prefer hunting there but the costs to apply and tag fees are getting to prohibitive. My post was not meant to be a personal attack. Just pointing out that the goal and the result don't line up. I will be in Wyoming, that is a promise
. I find value in many states BuzzH.BuzzH
Well-known member
Probably cheaper than a MT governors moose permit.I prefer hunting there but the costs to apply and tag fees are getting to prohibitive. My post was not meant to be a personal attack. Just pointing out that the goal and the result don't line up. I will be in Wyoming, that is a promise
You're right, WY is not charging what they should per the records they shatter with application numbers year after year. Combined with the excellent quality in Wyoming, we should be charging a lot more.
Good thing license fees are not based on supply and demand for NR's in Wyoming...
WyoDoug
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I am a Wyoming resident but I would rather NR fees be lowered as in addition to the license fees, NRs spend millions in this state.
NoKidsAfter40
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That's right! Good Ole, Moose Tag coming back to haunt me.......Geeeesh! Relax! NR's get 10% or less of the tags and pay 10-15x what residents do. No matter what I say, you will puke on it, i get it, its what you do! I can picture you putting No Trespassing signs all around Laramie, WY. Stop drinking the NR hater-ade. Most are decent folks buddy.
Your perspective, is your perspective; when it comes to tag costs. I respect that. I don't like it, but have respect for your point. Wyoming is a producer hands down. That's why I will swipe my card every time!
Scraping money together to get points and buy tags gets expensive and Wyoming is right there, I don't care who you are. Years to draw tags adds up. Residents who can get tags annually and spend time afield in any western state are very blessed and should pay less (not saying anything is unfair) Just think its getting more and more disproportionate in WY regardless of quality. Sharing it with a handful of NR's who help subsidize conservation for a chance to access the natural resources of that state isn't a bad thing in my book if they are willing to pay. To your point, if trophy quality matched up with costs; everything would be a GOVERNORS TAG which sounds like where you would like to see it! Happy Trails........
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Wallydeuce
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Welcome from Nevada
BuzzH
Well-known member
Sure, I'd be all for that Doug.
Drop NR fees, go to 90-10 splits across the board, and raise Resident fees to the following:
$200 each for LQ elk/deer, $150 for general deer and general elk tags as well as pronghorn buck tags. $75 each for doe/fawn pronghorn and deer, $100 for cow/calf elk. Moose, sheep, goat, bison...$1k each.
Separate the wheat from the chaff...
BuzzH
Well-known member
When was the last fee increase in Wyoming? And the one before that?
Yeah, you have no idea, you just like to complain.
Like I said, find better value in another State...good luck with that.
Happy Trails.
CycleFishHunt
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Welcome!
NoKidsAfter40
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There were significant tag increases in 2016, and again in 2018. The price of NR tags about doubled, and now there is a new bill ready to pass that is going to give you what you want. See data below. I’ve been applying, hunting, and following Wyoming for decades. It’s clear that the goal for WY is to continue to make getting a tag as a NR more prohibitive versus the other states. Losing the plot. Not a complainer! Just stating facts from the chair I’m sitting in. As I’ve stated, my card will continue to be swiped and I’ll keep paying.
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Wy067
Active member
Not sure where you're getting these facts. SF0103 died in committee in April. While in the last 10 years, prices for NR have gone up slightly for full price tags and some reduced price tags have gone up exactly $1. By no means have they doubled. From the 2011 application booklet...
NoKidsAfter40
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That’s great news that tags are not going up. Wasn’t aware it got killed. Totally missed it. As for tag fees going up the great state of WY has increased fees. Compare your 2011 data to today. More often and more in general than other western states. I know the bison tag doubled as I was fortunate enough to get one. They keep upping tag costs due to budget cuts. The biggest was indeed in 2018. It took me a minute to find but here it is. If you subscribe to huntin fool WY is covered in December/January and you can read it there too.
OVERVIEW OF WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
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Wyoming Game and Fish Department will increase the cost of license fees, application fees and preference point fees in 2018. The increase in fees is a result of the Wyoming Legislature voting to reduce the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's budget by six million dollars in 2018 and to maintain funding for fish and wildlife at current levels.
The biggest changes for 2018 are for bison, moose, and increases in cost for elk, antelope and deer Special draw permits. Nonresident tags for mountain goat and bighorn sheep increased slightly, as did the Regular draw tags for elk, deer, and antelope. I'll briefly cover these changes below. Since application season is here, for a detailed breakdown of Wyoming elk, draw odds, and other statistics you can check out the recently published Application Strategy article here.
Nonresident bison increased from $2,522 to $4,417, while nonresident cow/calf tags went from $1,000 to $2,767. Wyoming’s price increase could be considered dramatic when compared with neighboring Montana’s $1,250 bison tag. On the other hand, South Dakota charges $6,006 to hunt trophy bison in Custer State Park, while Arizona gets $5,400 plus the hunting license fee, and Utah charges $2,615 to hunt bulls on Antelope Island, and $1,518 to hunt them in the rest of the state.
Nonresident Shiras moose tags increased from $1,430 to $1,997. Montana charges $1,250 and Idaho gets $2,101 plus a $154.75 nonresident hunting license.
The biggest change for this year for nonresidents interested in hunting elk is the increase in the special license from $1,085 to $1,335. The standard elk license also increased from $605 to $707. This change is enough that I think most nonresidents considering entering the Special draw will bank their points for another two or three years and apply for the Regular draw elk tag. Though this strategy may not pay off in the long run. The only state that has a more expensive elk tag is the Utah multi-season limited entry at $1,505.
Nonresident Special draw deer licenses increased by 17% from $580 to $677 in 2018. Regular draw deer licenses increased slightly from $340 to $389. Youth nonresident deer licenses did not have an increase.
Antelope nonresident Special draw licenses increased from $540 to $629. Regular draw antelope licenses increased from $300 to $341. Like nonresident youth deer, the nonresident youth antelope did not see an increase.
There will be other smaller increases in Wyoming. Bighorn sheep licenses went up to $2,335, an increase of $69. Nonresident annual fishing went up to $102. Nonresident black bear increased to $373. Gray Wolf permits went up by $7 to $187. Nonresident mountain goat tags increased to $2,177.
Resident licenses saw increases by $5 per species or license type.
The big surprises for these 2018 license fee increases are that bighorn sheep only had a small raise, while moose and bison had huge increases in price as well as a large spike in Special draw elk license price. Now that Wyoming’s bison prices are almost as high as Arizona and neighboring South Dakota, I think a lot of people will be priced out of the draw, and it may increase the odds of drawing a bison tag. The increase in the price of moose and Special draw elk will probably lead to more people just buying points.
Only time will tell if applications trends continue to climb or if hunters look elsewhere.
