3855WIN
Well-known member
Tag prices keep going up, yet game wardens are paid poorly and are stretched way too thin. hmm
Wyoming License increase for 2018
- Thread starter pointingdogsrule
- Start date
VikingsGuy
Well-known member
With an ever increasing population and static to shrinking amount of accessible land and licenses I doubt on-going license increases will result in fewer licenses being sold, it will just shift whom among the NR population can afford them. And that is something I hope the politicians are paying attention to -- it is not a good thing in my opinion to shift hunting from the working man/woman to the well-off "gentry" as has happened in Europe.
WapitiBob
Well-known member
ODFW budget breakdown is about 5% Lottery funds, 5% Gen funds, 36% Federal monies, and 54% License sales/ODFW business.
A screen shot from a 2016 audit report...
A screen shot from a 2016 audit report...
WapitiBob
Well-known member
From what I see out in the woods, the "working man" is doing pretty well. Maybe buy a 25' bumper pull trailer instead of the 35' 5th wheel and a 10 x 17 cargo hauler filled with $6,500 quads? It comes down to priorities; Ive been paid by the hour my whole life and manage to buy nr tags/licenses every year.
406LIFE
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2016
- Messages
- 3,128
I won't be doing the special draws, more on principle than cost. When you begin to walk down the road of "whoever has more money has more opportunity," I thumb my nose at that. I'll still be chasing goats there next fall and still buying my elk/deer points for when I'm ready to do something there.
.....being pulled by a $70,000 3/4 ton diesel. Most are up to their eyeballs in debt and not saving for things that matter like retirement and kids college funds.
Zach
Well-known member
Maybe the F&G should take this approach on budgets.
I can create a shortfall when I budget beyond my income as well.
ClearCreek
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2017
- Messages
- 430
Do any of you know WY increased the license fees? The legislature took away 5 or 6 million dollars of general fund monies that was going to G&F for programs like sage-grouse and grizzly bear management and funding some other things like maybe the forensics lab, etc. When the WY legislature took the money away they gave the G&F Dept. a one time opportunity to make up those lost general fund monies, hence the increases in license fees.
ClearCreek
ClearCreek
JM77
Well-known member
They(legislators) didn't give the G&F the opportunity, they took it upon themselves to do the fee increase to make up the difference. Why do you think NR were hit so hard? The legislators always pound the NR because they think residents will complain and WYOGA loves seeing NR license fees get more and more expensive.
dan.kirkpatrick
Well-known member
this clearly changes my,"bang for the buck" list on different states,, for elk for instance,it will drop Wyoming down closer to Montana {that is way down my list} and bring up Idaho and Utah gen elk,"$under 400 by the way"idaho $419 I believe.wyoming elk is done for me I think ,as well as spending a lot of money traveling,ect that goes along with it for Wyoming that runs over $500 per trip going into there economy.Just saying there are other places to go when you compare cost/quality/success rates/pressure,,thats what I do.at least for elk anyway,id still give it a pretty good rating for antelope though.
3855WIN
Well-known member
Man that stuff sounds nice. I’ve just got a tent. If people with nice campers need to pay up, then Wyoming needs to make a big fee to bring a camper into the state.
HighDesertSage
Well-known member
Regardless of who is right or wrong and how much we want to debate NR tag fees, Wyoming will continue to sell all of its limited entry and general NR elk tags every year. If you choose to let it price you out of applying, then that is your right. There will be a handful of guys (and gals) behind you to take your place.
HighDesertSage
Well-known member
Have you ever had the pleasure of hunting a Utah General Elk Tag? I would gladly pay the difference and hunt WY.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
I can't believe all the griping on these increases (other than the ridiculous Bison fee) when the last fee increase was ten years ago in 2008! Spread the increases out over that period of time and IMHO it's no big deal and I'll keep right on hunting in Wyoming like I have every year since 1999!
3855WIN
Well-known member
No garuntee of that. Montana went up a few years ago and didn’t sell out.
LopeHunter
Well-known member
Price increase in Montana did turn the combo into a virtual OTC for a few years. Most of us treated Montana as a Plan B during those years if did not draw anything anywhere in the other draws. Wyoming is a bit different when lots of NR have built up points so now must decide if it is to hold out for only a very good unit that may take years to draw even in the max pool or to drop down to a unit they think can draw and then abandon that species in WY in the future.
Also, wait for the next economic pullback like 2008-10. Lots of guys doing much better than when a few houses were being foreclosed on in most neighborhoods coast to coast. Sales tax and income tax receipts fall, as well, so F&G will feel the pain if get any general fund money and will feel the pain as application fees decline. The lost sheep bonus fees if 100 NR bail is now $15,000 lost that year and every year going forward that NR stays away.
BuzzH
Well-known member
I can understand the griping, not because of the fee increase...but rather why it happened.
The Legislature pulled a real crap move with this fee increase, the GF actually lost about 1 million in funding even with the fee increase. That's what gravels my ass, we all pay more for less funding to the GF. A fee increase should increase the funding to the Department so we have more money for additional wardens, biologists, projects, public access, etc. etc. The result of this Legislative brain-fart cost the Department revenue.
I tried like hell in the last hours of this Legislative session to kill this one. The funny thing was, Legislators like Anselmi-Dalton and Driskill sent me replies back that clearly showed they didn't know what they were even voting on. It was laughable that they didn't even understand their own bill.
If the bill would have been killed, the Legislature would not have pulled the general fund money (5-6 million) we would be paying the same for tags, and the GF would have another 1 million in funding.
All the Legislature was looking at was ways to cut expenditures of general fund money. If that meant gouging NR and R hunters for higher fees, the GF losing a million from their budget...eh, no biggie.
This is a classic example of how the clown car drivers we have representing us "help" sportsmen...and why more people need to get involved.
However, I do agree that a fee increase every 5-10 years, that results in a net gain in revenue to the GF, isn't unreasonable.
M
MN Public Hunter
Guest
Again another comment by a rich person...
Or of course cutting corners elsewhere to hunt in WY and I'm OK with you being able to cut corners, but the regular person who would love to hunt out west is now again being pushed out of the picture. People for some reason don't seem to get this from the original post. It's not the point of "it's been years" since an increase...it's the point of holy hell, it's an almost 50% increase at once. It's all good though, we get that hunting out west is slowly becoming a rich persons passtime
dan.kirkpatrick
Well-known member
open up the wilderness to non-res d I y ,no guide and I will think about it.
dan.kirkpatrick
Well-known member
I just got back from 12 days of gen elk hunting in several different units,,tag soup,,just gotta bitch cuzz now im 0-2 on Wyoming elk,,they are $1200+ richer and im not,,at least I didn't burn up any amo,,not a single shot fired.
