Just when you thought it couldn't get worse

[Beendare]

NM Landowner tags.....

My buddy tells me a certain NM 16 unit is now $30,000. ...thats crazy.

 

[5MilesBack]

It's $30k as long as there are people willing to pay that kind of money. Heck, there might even be people willing to pay $50k.

My buddy had a decent elk tag this year, and I showed him a pic of an add for an archery LO voucher in that unit for $21k.

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

I spent 2 weeks in one of the 16 units this year. If you can hike, and shoot decent, a 330'ish bull is something very easy to accomplish. That being said, we saw one bull about 360" we nicknamed "Unkilla-bull" because where he was located. We found one other large bull, that could have gone over 400" considering the unreal tine length that it had. My buddy was the one who drew the tag, at sub 1%.

We also had a great team of guys that know what they are doing, scouring a lot of area. $30k is a lot of money for a tag. I'd never pay that... not until Elon Musk buys SRS for a cool 1 billion $$$

Ken

 

[KHNC]

I drew that tag in 2015. Missed two bulls. One well OVER Tree Fiddy! But, i will likely never draw it again. Thats back when the odds were MUCH better, at 1.5%.

 

[mtnbiker208]

it will sell, there are a lot of people out there with a lot of money.
Sometimes i am amazed at the amount of wealth this country has.

 

[Yoteassasin]

You think that’s bad ?!? Go search for a landowner take for a trophy tule bull …. 50-75k all day

 

[LFC911]

This is the good old days, it is only going to get worse from here. Hopefully our kids will still be able to hunt in 20 years.

 

[cnelk]

Don’t bother me none.
There will always be people with more money than the next guy.

I’m satisfied with the amount of money I spend on elk hunting each year.

 

[gbflyer]

Good for them. If I could toss $30K in the wind I’d go in a second.

 

[trophyhill]

That's just crazy. Gives hunting a bad name aka rich man's sport........guess I'll keep applying and doing poor man's hunts

 

[Mikido]

That's just crazy. Gives hunting a bad name aka rich man's sport........guess I'll keep applying and doing poor man's hunts

There is not a single poor man on this site my friend.

Hunting IS a rich man’s sport.

 

[575 ELK]

Not everyone is broke. A guy up the road bought a second home for 2.5 million and has only been there once in the last year.

 

[spike camp]

Don’t bother me none.
There will always be people with more money than the next guy.

I’m satisfied with the amount of money I spend on elk hunting each year.

Truth^^
I spent more on sausage spices and vac seal bags than a tag, and the freezer is full.

So for 30k, or 50+k
It must come down to score…

What would be the size bull one would generally be satisfied with, spending that kind coin?

 

[5MilesBack]

What would be the size bull one would generally be satisfied with, spending that kind coin?

I wouldn't pay that kind of coin, but hunting mature trophy bulls every day through the rut is quite an experience on its own even if you eat the tag. That's worth something to just about every elk hunter even without taking home an animal. $30k to some of us is like $3000 or even $300 to someone else. And I would pay $3000+ any day of the week for a decent archery elk tag every year. That's why I'd rather spend my time every September in a good unit with others I know with a tag, than hunting on my own with an OTC tag.

 

[spike camp]

I wouldn't pay that kind of coin, but hunting mature trophy bulls every day through the rut is quite an experience on its own even if you eat the tag. That's worth something to just about every elk hunter even without taking home an animal. $30k to some of us is like $3000 or even $300 to someone else. And I would pay $3000+ any day of the week for a decent archery elk tag every year. That's why I'd rather spend my time every September in a good unit with others I know with a tag, than hunting on my own with an OTC tag.

I get that 30-50k is a drop in the bucket for many…
And I may be wrong in this assumption, but my thought is that people that pay that much to kill an elk aren’t nearly as interested in the experience and are more focused on something big to hang on the wall.
You’re cut from a different cloth in my opinion, Mike.
And that’s a good thing.

Question remains- What size bull is acceptable if one were to drop that kind of coin?
A 350?
Gotta be a booner?

Doesn’t matter to me either way, more just a thought derived from curiosity.

 

[WeiserBucks]

I get that 30-50k is a drop in the bucket for many…
And I may be wrong in this assumption, but my thought is that people that pay that much to kill an elk aren’t nearly as interested in the experience and are more focused on something big to hang on the wall.
You’re cut from a different cloth in my opinion, Mike.
And that’s a good thing.

Question remains- What size bull is acceptable if one were to drop that kind of coin?
A 350?
Gotta be a booner?

Doesn’t matter to me either way, more just a thought derived from curiosity.

In my opinion many of the guys that spend the big bucks are interested in the experience and fair chase, otherwise they'd shoot a high fence 600" bull to hang on the wall.

 

[Gerbdog]

I feel flat broke reading this thread haha. I like elk hunting an awful lot, and im glad i get resident prices in CO and i hunt low quality units every year...

but i'll be honest, i'd rather retire a few years earlier than go on a 30k hunt. Probably not even 3k at this point in my life, i can grow that 3k a whole lot bigger before i retire if its just burning a hole in my pocket.

That said, im loathe to give up my hunting opportunities and im very blessed and grateful to live in a state with elk hunting. I dont want to see this sport turn into a rich landowners game. I dont have a problem with people paying huge money to come hunt, its their money, do what you want with it, and i dont have a problem with a landowner selling tags at huge prices, its their tag, but i sure hope the low man on the totem pole still has opportunities to come and hunt on their own and a reasonable price in 20 years on public lands.

 

[Beendare]

Does anyone have actual costs of some of these tags last year?

NM elk tags in the various units?
Co 76 and other tags?

Eastern Nevada Elk tags?

 

[BRTreedogs]

You can also thank Rokslide, YouTube etc etc for making tags harder to get.

Pretty hard to experience the experience if you can’t even get a tag.

So if you can’t draw and have the money would you prefer they buy the tag and the land owner can make ends meet?

Because it would most likely be cheaper to pay a poaching fine if you get caught then to buy the tag.

 

[jgilber5]

Does anyone have actual costs of some of these tags last year?

NM elk tags in the various units?
Co 76 and other tags?

Eastern Nevada Elk tags?

In NM, last year saw tags for the 16's in the 9-25k range. Near home in the 6's archery tags were 8-10k. In some of the mid-low tier units archery tags were 5-7k, and in the toughest units saw archery tags around 3-4k. Cow tags usually available around 800-1k.

These of course for unit wide not ranch only.