I agree w/Coop on this.
The problem with this is that NR are being asked to help fund things that NRs don't use. I was on a another site a few months back debating this very thing. After some research I found out that WY releases pheasants at a cost of $23 per bird, but only charges $14 for a license. They spend $4 million a year on trout and salmon. I think the NR have a legit complaint when it comes to tag fee increases. A NR will typically use WY lands for 1 maybe 2 weeks a year. While a R will get much more use out of the lands and game activities but they still want the NR to pay for it. I don't know how many NR go to WY for only pheasant hunting or fishing for salmon/trout, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's not very many. If there two above programs were eliminated then I'd be willing to be not one NR would would complain about it, but the R's want the programs so the NR have to fund or help fund it in the form of higher fees. In the end I think they just need to go through the programs, figure out what each is costing and look at how often they're being used then start getting rid of the things that aren't being used that often. Adding a super tag raffle like MT and AZ do wouldn't hurt also.
Look, I agree 100%, the wygf realized they had a big problem, and hastily decided to raise NR prices. I understand why they did it.... But I don't think that it was the right way to go about it. We had this debate and I felt like the crowd came up with some great solutions.
My point was simply this.... everyone, res and non-res a like needs to be willing to pay more for tags... PERIOD. It is going to happen, and it probably has to to be able to keep the tradition alive at all.
I do not feel that the entire burden should be placed on the NR, but the fact is this, NR tags are HUGE generators of money. Part of the problem is that the overall economy and the idiotic fed have reduced interest rates to nearly zero. While i dont know the exact numbers, I guarantee that the WYGF used to make a TON of money off of interest on all of the NR applicants for just the few months they hold the money before they send the refund checks.... not 4.1 million, but a portion of it. A flat % increase will always hit nonresidents harder than residents. Up here we gouged our NR license combos for non-residents..... The fact is, people buy them, no matter how much the cost. I feel like the PP system in WYO has people feeling like they are entitled to not have the prices raised simply because they have X number of points and it isnt "fair" to change the game.
Honestly, I think wyoming's entire system is a joke. After living there for 29 years of my life, moving away and looking at it from a different angle has changes my mind on a few things.
1) In limited quota areas, they should split the rifle and archery tags. As it stands if you draw an area you have the tag for archery and rifle. Thus if there are 25 tags... there are likely 5 people that archery hunt it (even though it is lower impact on the animals and land) and 25 rifle hunt it... for a total of 25 opportunities. The fact is that archery hunters kill an extremely small % of the quota in any area. If they were to split the tags archery and rifle, they would be able to allow 2X as many people the opportunity to hunt a given area, with only slightly more impact on land and harvest quota. this would cause more people to apply, more people to draw (which is way more income than sending out refrunds) and 2X as many people buying gas/groceries/accommodations etc. The archery hunters that try to draw tags only to archery hunt will be pissed.... but something has to give.
2) dont make every single Limited tag ONLY good for that area, MT allows you to draw a tag in one area, but still hunt general areas. In my opinion way way more residents would put in for tags if this was the case, thus more application fees and more money.
3) add a muzzleloader tag to some areas, again, not a very high success rate so the harvest quota is managed, but still more opportunities to entice applicants as well as more hunters in the state.
4) bag the stupid PP system. Yes I know, you have a bunch of points and think this idea is garbage but lets face facts.... most 12 year old that put in for sheep or moose this year, will likley not draw till they are 60 years old due to point creep. I love the idea of being "guaranteed" a tag at some point.... but the long shot odds are keeping tons and tons of people from even applying.
I know that these are easy armchair fixes and it is most likely not as easy as it sounds, but I feel it would be a start. It is truly a shame... I know of one hunter management area where i grew up with some absolute HOGS that produced tons of big deer and hunting access to the publc that is closed this year because the wygf could not out bid the outfitters.
sad day. I am not picking on the NR, i am an NR in wyoming now.... with a shit pile of moose and sheep points, but I truly think that as a hunting commuinity we have to be willing to give. We want premier access with very very little pressure.... but we want to pay the lowest price possible for that tag. Low numbers of cheap tags... means low income and with the economy taking a dump, even the oil and gas cant prop up the GF.
It sucks, but we all have to pay.
Joe
