Arizona does away with auction tags

[Amos Keeto]

Honestly? "No."
All I know is what I read. Rich guy claimed he wanted a sheep (?) tag. None available so he "bought" a governor's tag. That was his article.

Tell me how they are supposed to work.

 

[MattB]

Honestly? "No."
All I know is what I read. Rich guy claimed he wanted a sheep (?) tag. None available so he "bought" a governor's tag. That was his article.

Tell me how they are supposed to work.

Please tell us where you get your news so we can avoid that source. The genesis of auction and raffle tags was based on using the value of wildlife to help fund state wildlife departments.

 

[MuleyFever]

Honestly? "No."
All I know is what I read. Rich guy claimed he wanted a sheep (?) tag. None available so he "bought" a governor's tag. That was his article.

Tell me how they are supposed to work.

He bought it through an auction. Not from the Governor.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Please tell us where you get your news so we can avoid that source. The genesis of auction and raffle tags was based on using the value of wildlife to help fund state wildlife departments.

Hold on. I wasn't trying to start a war. Just kinda asking a question.

I had no idea "what" a governor's tag was. Read an article in OL or F&S (I think?) several years ago.
Guy claimed he was searching for a hard to get tag, but was able to get a "governor's tag".
Wasn't aware there was any such thing, but the way the article read, the guy "bought" the tag! Thought then that it was a "cheesy" way to get a tag.

 

[Amos Keeto]

He bought it through an auction. Not from the Governor.

Gotcha!

But it also makes sense that somebody with deep pockets can snap up tags "Joe Ordinary" can only dream of.

 

[wapitibob]

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[diamond10x]

I can see the argument to both sides of why its better for it to go away and better for it to be around. One thing that bother's me, and this just may be my personal perception, is that auction tags have seemed to turn sheep into a status symbol taking away the special experience that is hunting wild sheep.

Does anyone know if the money from the auction tags go strictly to that specific species in that state or does it just go to that states general fund?

 

[Steve O]

I can see the argument to both sides of why its better for it to go away and better for it to be around. One thing that bother's me, and this just may be my personal perception, is that auction tags have seemed to turn sheep into a status symbol taking away the special experience that is hunting wild sheep.

Does anyone know if the money from the auction tags go strictly to that specific species in that state or does it just go to that states general fund?

 

[wapitibob]

All auction tag money is dispersed by the dept's Habitat Partnership Committee.

 

[Steve O]

Tell that to the "common man" that draws the tag.

You are correct though, its not much. But maybe that one tag allows a unit to now offer a NR tag. My opinion is not only directed at AZ though. Many tags are taken from the pool and auctioned off across the west. And like I said, charging a little more for a license can raise the same funds and leave all those tags for everyone and not just the rich. The main argument I see here is what about the money. They could raise the same funds easily from license and tag sales if they see the need. Charge $10 more for a license and AZ has another $3.5M for habitat.

2024 AZ Auction Sheeo tag $420,000

150 “common man” sheep tags approximately given out annually would be an extra $2800 per tag.

Probably be better to divide it up to the 10 or so non resident tags

Arizona does a lot of things right. They are not Utah. They blew it on this one.

All this from a common man with no chance at all to ever buy an auction tag but one who is incredibly grateful for all the work done by those auction tag monies to protect, provide, and grow those animals in my lifetime that allowed one of those very very few sheep tags to end up in my dirty non resident hands.

 

[HuntHarder]

Your example makes 0 sense..... You are forgetting about all the APP fees. A better comparison would be amount of raffle sheep $$$ vs. Auction sheep $$$.
Seems as tho AZGFD has conceded that they will indeed lose a little bit of money in the first few years, but anticipate possibly closing that gap by allowing out of staters to purchase raffle tickets while out of state.

 

[Gobbler36]

I see you have no clue how Governors tags work.

I think this is part of the problem it’s not transparent enough to actually know how it works and where the money actually goes.

like others have said increase tag fees a little and quit pandering to the ultra rich guys

 

[diamond10x]

View attachment 690701

Thanks. Similar to a lot of states or the ones that I’ve looked into. Seems sort of sillly not to ear mark all that money to go back to sheep instead of using it for whatever they please.

 

[BBob]

I think this is part of the problem it’s not transparent enough to actually know how it works and where the money actually goes.

What are you talking about? The Dept allocates tags to the non-profits to auction or raffle them. The money’s are turned over to the HPC which then allocates said money's for conservation projects. It’s all been shown in this thread many times over. It’s all there if you care to look. The Dept website is full of info if you care to look. No one wants to educate themselves but would rather call out the Dept absconding with the funds or something ridiculous like that.

 

[realunlucky]

What are you talking about? The Dept allocates tags to the non-profits to auction or raffle them. The money’s are turned over to the HPC which then allocates said money's for conservation projects. It’s all been shown in this thread many times over. It’s all there if you care to look. The Dept website is full of info if you care to look. No one wants to educate themselves but would rather call out the Dept absconding with the funds or something ridiculous like that.

Quick question why does the department donate the tag to a non-profit rather than keep the entire process in house?



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[MattB]

Your example makes 0 sense..... You are forgetting about all the APP fees. A better comparison would be amount of raffle sheep $$$ vs. Auction sheep $$$.
Seems as tho AZGFD has conceded that they will indeed lose a little bit of money in the first few years, but anticipate possibly closing that gap by allowing out of staters to purchase raffle tickets while out of state.

How many times have you travelled to another state for something akin to buying raffle tickets?

If you traveled to AZ for a vacation, how far out of your way would you go in order to buy hunt raffle tickets?

Consider my questions rhetorical, but from my perspective it is highly dubious that the AZ hunt raffles will get material financial support from non-residents traveling there to buy tickets.

 

[BBob]

Quick question why does the department donate the tag to a non-profit rather than keep the entire process in house?

Probably for conflict of interest reasons. This thread is a good example as to why they might do it for that reason. The Dept also wouldn’t have to spend resources to conduct the auctions or raffles. It’s probably a win for the non-profits too as the auctions bring lots of people in to the banquets. DU, RMEF, NWTF, etc… have used this model forever.

 

[HuntHarder]

How many times have you travelled to another state for something akin to buying raffle tickets?

If you traveled to AZ for a vacation, how far out of your way would you go in order to buy hunt raffle tickets?

Consider my questions rhetorical, but from my perspective it is highly dubious that the AZ hunt raffles will get material financial support from non-residents traveling there to buy tickets.

No disputing that. Re-read my post.. Azgfd is looking to possibly, hopefully allow non-residents to purchase raffle tickets while out of AZ.

 

[JjamesIII]

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So the commission voted to end all Arizona auction tags by 2026.

Curious what everyone thinks about it.

Regardless if you supported or opposed this measure, it's going to massively impact available project money. Anyone know how/if they propose to replace those funds?

It’s a good for equity of tags but obviously may have less money towards the support of wildlife. I’m not sad that a few rich guys can’t cut in line. The whole draw for any species and any state needs to be a pure lottery. Two pools- resident and non residents. That doesn’t mean outfitters getting to buy up tags, buying points, landowners selling tags. Just throw your name in that hat and buy your license like the next guy. Monetary greed has ruined it for most average guys trying to get into the game.

 

[Steve O]

How many times have you travelled to another state for something akin to buying raffle tickets?

If you traveled to AZ for a vacation, how far out of your way would you go in order to buy hunt raffle tickets?

Consider my questions rhetorical, but from my perspective it is highly dubious that the AZ hunt raffles will get material financial support from non-residents traveling there to buy tickets.

I did this last year…unfortunately they broke the tags into three different periods so I could only buy tickets for 3 species.