[cg]

With all the trouble getting people into hunting, why are non-resident hunting and fishing licenses so expensive? This just doesn't seem right to me. I mean it's set up so only the "well to do" can afford it. It's expensive enough getting into outdoor activities, why make it harder for people? Am I missing something? Shouldn't we be making it easily accessable for everyone? :idea: :?:

 

[hogfan81]

The way I understand it is, non-residents don't pay the sales taxes on hunting and fishing gear or in some states, the income tax, so they have to pay for the improvements provided by the sales tax some way. It may seem unfair, but I can see why game agencies have to do it. If you enjoy the natural resources of a state you're not a resident and tax-payer of, you should have to pay to maintain those resources. I could be wrong about the why, but that seems to be the reason from the people in the agencies I've talked to. Not all states support the wildlife agencies with income tax money. I believe Arkansas's Game and Fish Commission is entirely supported by donations and sales tax.

 

[Thomas Krupinski]

States do all kinds of things to attract people and businesses to move there in addition to tax breaks. Just think of lower resident fees as a form of economic development incentive to be a resident of a state that has good hunting. Kind of like other attractions for relocation such as ocean, climate, entertainment and sporting venues.

 

[cg]

I figured it might be something like that? Makes sense I guess. It just pissed me off that I'm going to have to pay $488 extra to hunt elk out in Co. :x I would think they would want to do something to encourage people to get out and about? Oh well the bright side is I'll be visiting my Dad while there so I'll save on the cost of hotel.

 

[Thomas Krupinski]

I would think they would want to do something to encourage people to get out and about?

That would be nice, but unfortunatly with increasing pressures upon big game many of the western states have been forced to ration the resource. Here in Arizona there is more then enough demand for all tags leaving resident waiting many years to be drawn even if non-residents were not figured into the drawing.

On the other hand some states will sell as many tags as they can and the hunting pressure increases, the success rates and quality of the hunts deminish. This has happened with many states where there hunting on public land is considered inferior due to the density and concentration of hunters.

Now for small game like quail, Arizona does have some attractive short term licensing for traveling non-resident hunters with some excellent, although hard country, hunting on public land.

 

[Chaco1]

How bout living in a state paying taxes doing plenty to improve habitat and then when hunting season rolls round there is an army of people from out of state who don't contribute anything thus the higher liscence fees. If you think that Colorado is high look at all the other states offering Elk liscences they are by far the cheapest. Hunting should be for in state people first then the out of state people. Most states don't even allow an over the counter Elk liscence for out of state residents. South Dakota has it right first part of Pheasant season is for Residents then the out of staters get their shot.

 

[eugene molloy]

Chaco ole fruit, eat your heart out! How about no taxes at all?

A UK Game Licence covers all game everywhere for around $10.

The corollary is that the State takes no part in game management...which suits me fine.

Kindest Regards
Eug

 

[Chaco1]

But Eugene do you have thousands of square miles of public access land to hunt?

 

[Scoupe]

But Eugene do you have thousands of square miles of public access land to hunt?

Per state, in many cases, I might add.

Not a dig towards you Eugene, but I find that most Euros I meet are as ignorant of the size of the US as most Americans are of Europe. LA to New York is almost twice the distance of London to Moscow. And, there's a LOT of open space in between.

 

[cg]

How bout living in a state paying taxes doing plenty to improve habitat and then when hunting season rolls round there is an army of people from out of state who don't contribute anything thus the higher liscence fees. If you think that Colorado is high look at all the other states offering Elk liscences they are by far the cheapest. Hunting should be for in state people first then the out of state people. Most states don't even allow an over the counter Elk liscence for out of state residents. South Dakota has it right first part of Pheasant season is for Residents then the out of staters get their shot.

I see the error in my question. I suppose I'm being selfish? I'll shut up and pay the fee. :wink:

 

[Raf]

Hey Cg,
Your question is not in error, the cost is still too high. You could have a some what higher cost for out of state lic. for non res., but why ask for such a high cost for tags. I think it has turned into such a big business out west, that that is why all the greedy govenments want their share of the money pie!

I live on the east coast and I have hunted and fished in many different states in my area. They don't charge us those outragious prices here, so why do it out west???

Just my thoughts on this one guys.

 

[Thomas Krupinski]

That may be a business in some states but I don't think so in Arizona. Costs went up for pretty much everything here. The cost of fuel, materials, equipment, water and all have gone up for everyone.

Here there are no state funds used to support Game & Fish, all done by license revenues some heritage fund money. Non-game watchable wildlife are also supported with these revenues. Maybe some of the eastern states have some general fund money directed their way.

I suspect that here as well as in many western states the costs are magnified due to the greater distances, remote locations, increased need for water containment projects and management studies. Without those we would not have the quantity and quality hunting that we do.

Now resident volunteers help about a bit on those projects and cleanups, but there is still the overhead for the volunteers when work is being done. Supporting a crew either employees or volunteers in remote locations for a few weeks can be expensive.

Land owners and lease holders also picking up some of the expense for projects done on ranches and private land that support wildlife as well as livestock, costs have gone up for everyone. We don't have landowner tags here like some other states do, they are all distributed pretty evenly. Our big game move around quite a bit and don't respect boundries.

 

[cg]

Raf, Thanks for your input. But I think Tom K is pretty accurate on this. I do know that water is a real problem out west. People in other parts of the world, take for granted all the abundant water we have. Myself included. (Hey we've got over 15,000 lakes in Wi.) But most people don't realize. Maybe you do, I don't know. They have constant fire warnings and water restrictions in a lot of areas out there. You can get fined big time for just watering your lawn (if you even have one :lolon the wrong days. While out dining, it's not un-common to be charged for a glass of water with your meal. Something I'd never heard of until I went out west. They do need to fund a never-ending, actually growing problem with conserving water. And yes the driving distances are much greater than most other places too. I guess I just didn't ever stop to think, how they pay for it? Can anyone from Co. enlighten us?

 

[MillerClemson]

With all the trouble getting people into hunting, why are non-resident hunting and fishing licenses so expensive? This just doesn't seem right to me. I mean it's set up so only the "well to do" can afford it. It's expensive enough getting into outdoor activities, why make it harder for people? Am I missing something? Shouldn't we be making it easily accessable for everyone? :idea: :?:

I understand why there are such high prices for an animal like an Elk out west. I would expect to spend a good chunk of money for what would probably be a once in a lifetime or one of a handful of hunts in a lifetime. I do not understand the high fees charged in Midwest, Northeastern, and Southeastern states for out of state hunters, for deer or turkey's. Many of these states are desperate for more deer hunters to decrease populations yet still charge $200+ for a 3 day liscense. The populations are exploding and not enough is being done to make opportunities for hunters and increas harvest numbers. I would rather be able to pay an "in-state" level of fee to hunt in the state I am in as well as 2 or 3 surrounding states and pay the big money to go on more exotic hunts.

 

[Chaco1]

Raf,
I find it funny that you complain about high fees out west when the hunting is a real rich mans sport in the south east. Friends from SC recently told me that Duck hunting is either join an expensive club or be lucky and draw to get to hunt the blinds for the public. An average day here was amazing to them and in their opinions worth the money it cost them. I can't imagine having to draw to go duck hunting. Maybe the quality of the hunting is why they can charge more, seems to me there is no shortage of out of staters willing to pay those fees.

 

[McKie]

Raf,
I find it funny that you complain about high fees out west when the hunting is a real rich mans sport in the south east. Friends from SC recently told me that Duck hunting is either join an expensive club or be lucky and draw to get to hunt the blinds for the public. An average day here was amazing to them and in their opinions worth the money it cost them. I can't imagine having to draw to go duck hunting. Maybe the quality of the hunting is why they can charge more, seems to me there is no shortage of out of staters willing to pay those fees.

"rich man's sport" is sure enough right. I thought I'd go quail hunting in Texas last year, called a quail hunting ranch and found out they wanted $3500.00 for 2 days hunting. That's one way to weed out the hoi polloi, it sure weeded me out. :shock:

 

[Chaco1]

Along the same lines I am lucky to live 15 miles from Kansas and have been buying the dreaded out of state hunting liscence. Sure dosen't bother me to spend the extra money to get to hunt one of the top three Quail producing states and the best walk in hunting program I have had the pleasure of using. They also allow one more Pheasant and two more Quail than Nebraska per day. It's all relative and what are you willing to spend for a true quality hunt.

 

[TMats]

Tom K was pretty much right on with his analysis of the use of the revenues generated by license sales, i.e. agency budget, non-game species and habitat projects and the Habitat Partnership Program that CO and AZ have in common (I'm an ex-pat Arizonan and UofA grad).

Colorado's non-resident fees for deer and elk took a jump in 2001, causing severe economic impact to communities in Western Colorado that depend on non-resident hunters for a substantial portion of annual revenue. The double whammy of rising cost and the impact of 9/11. Maybe a should say used to depend now that we're experiencing a natural gas extraction boom that is filling motels, restaurants and stores. At any rate, responding to requests from area CoC's, CDOW has lowered the cost of non-resident cow tags to (I think) $250 while bull tags remain in the $450 dollar range.

Ultimately, I guess it comes down to pure supply-and- demand economics. If the Division can meet its goals for license sales--why sell for less?

 

[Caerlonie]

There has been some talk of introducing non-resident fees down here for fishing licenses,till now they have been the same for either resident anglers,or foreign anglers.I think you pay around $75 for a season fishing license,its been a while since I have done any fishing.About the same for a waterfowl license,except the season is a lot shorter (about 2 and a half months).No license fee is charged for other hunting (rabbits,hares,deer,pigs etc) just go out and hunt them all year round,if you hunt on public land (yes,we have millions of acres of public land to hunt on) however you will have to apply for a permit,no charge though and simple to obtain.Unfortunately,the govt will not allow hunters to take rimfire rifles or shotguns on public land,you are pretty much restricted to using centerfire rifles there.