I’m pretty certain you could cut the entire 2% of welfare beef out of the meat market and never notice a difference at the butcher shop.
have you tried to get a steer in at any rural locker right now? We're booked for February 2022 for our next and slaughtering our own in between to keep up on beef consumption. The people buying Beyond meat aren't appreciably affecting the beef supply, but they are probably hitting the non-resident elk tag application supply right now.
Beef, like every other commodity on planet earth, is in high demand right now. However, I haven’t had any issues getting my hands on a (real) steak whenever I want one. What I have had issue with, is the lack of any appreciable ungulate population on NF and BLM land that is absolutely overrun with beef cattle being grazed at far below market price. The entire system is set up to encourage overgrazing of public land at taxpayer expense, which is exactly what it does.
That is exactly how they are intended to operate. The public land is used to graze all summer while they put up hay on the private land to get the core herd through the winter. In the late fall, the herd comes off public per the grazing agreement (if its followed, and if there’s even one in place), and the surplus is sent to market. The remainder of the herd winters on the good feed on private land prior to calving and moving back to public in the spring.
Ya, and if every state went with random draws, you could go a lifetime and never draw a single tag. That's how random draws work, and the odds keep getting worse for the current random draws just as point creep gets worse too. There's no easy answer that suddenly makes it easier to draw tags for anyone. The easiest to draw tags are the low point tags based on the point system.
This! This is what I saw last year. It was frustrating to say the least. Not much chance of success hunting in a dry lot. Overuse is abuse.
Good points and I agree with you, but the current system for preference points in broken in some states. Tags should never take 20+ years to draw, maybe a bonus system that squares points would be better? I’ve been a point behind for 4 years running, I’ve heard other guys that have been a point behind for almost 10 years. I think a mix of quality general tags and random draw could work. Gives hunters opportunity to hunt and draw a good tag. Similar to what Idaho had prior to changing it this year, it should have went to zones instead of specific units IMO. But there is probably no right answer to the point creep, which is why it exists I guess.
It won’t magically fix it, but it would give you a better chance of drawing. In my state, 75% of tags go to the top point holders and 25% random. Being 1 point behind means I’m in the 25% pool and have below a 3% chance, some hunts are below .5% chance. If points were squares and tag were all drawn from that pool it allows more opportunity to get randomly draw.
It makes a little sense if its a bonus point system but squaring does nothing if its a preference point. All squaring really does is give those that have been in the system longer a higher number of points but if everyone is moving in the same direction at the same speed, nobody is going to get there any faster.
I agree and that’s what I said in a previous post. Points are the issue, do away with them and have ample general hunting opportunities. Allows guys to apply and still hunt if unsuccessful.
