Wyoming proposal to slash Non-resident hunters

[Rob5589]

and just a few pubes to pick off the filter, no biggie

 

[Rob5589]

This stuff does come up every year and gets shot down. Nothing like a good doom & gloom discussion.

Since we're here: $600 for an antelope? LOL! Since I already have points, I will see this one thru. That'll be it, absolutely it - done. Was gonna do another one but not if the fees go up too much and it seems like it is gonna happen before then so will save the point fees and call it done.

This may reduce the demand - The folks with lotsa points will see it thru, the ones with no points aren't gonna go every year.



Those loaded questions are now unloaded. We don't own squat and don't have any say in the management or use of said lands or animals.

That is where I am at, 3 points, and have always wanted to hunt them. I guess we'll see where al this goes here soon enough.

 

[hutty]

Western big game licenses sales could be the one business where the customer has almost no say and is treated like a second class person. I don't mind caps, don't mind paying a bit more for the opportunity, but cutting quota and charging double is crazy. Heck of a business model.

here are numbers from 2020 https://www.fws.gov/wsfrprograms/Subpages/LicenseInfo/Hunting.htm

Resident $6,744,619 Non Resident 19,355,046 Total 26,079,665
Based on those figures 74% of revenue comes from out of state.

 

[menhaden_man]

Western big game licenses sales could be the one business where the customer has almost no say and is treated like a second class person. I don't mind caps, don't mind paying a bit more for the opportunity, but cutting quota and charging double is crazy. Heck of a business model.

here are numbers from 2020 https://www.fws.gov/wsfrprograms/Subpages/LicenseInfo/Hunting.htm

Resident $6,744,619 Non Resident 19,355,046 Total 26,079,665
Based on those figures 74% of revenue comes from out of state.

We hunt WY often over past 15 years and this is where my head was at - how will this hit the wallets of folks that live in WY (beyond the state gov't)? Sounds like it's a $300M industry with over 3k jobs tied to it. Also curious what this will do to point creep as guys like me that are stacked race to cash out before paying a penalty for patience. Meanwhile Uncle Sam is doling out trillions...

Big game hunting in Wyoming a $300 million industry - Powell Tribune

Southwick Associates, a private outdoor recreation and economics firm, recently concluded that those hunters contributed more than $303.5 million to the state’s economy and supported 3,100 jobs. “With the decline in energy revenue, tourism is …

www.powelltribune.com

 

[sneaky]

Not near the numbers of people come to fish as they do elk hunt. apple to oranges comparison

There are far more NR fishing licenses sold than there are hunting licenses in almost every western state. You are correct that it's apples to oranges, in favor of fishing license sales.

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[Touchdown88]

I don't believe non-residents hunters will protest the price increase this year but what happens when we eventually have another economic downturn? States that are leveraging the bulk of their income on non-residents will have to adjust quickly.

If the senators thought they were getting flak from the non-resident's, wait until the price of a resident deer license has to be doubled in Wyoming or Montana.

 

[Steve O]

I’d like to hear what Game and Fish has to say and also the task force they mentioned at the end of the session. Thank you guys for those video links. Where can I find Thursday’s link if you don’t mind?

 

[hutty]

Here are 2020 fishing dollars for Wyoming, no where near the money hunting generates

WY Resident fishing 2,047,574 Non Resident 4,768,785 Total 6,811,359

 

[sneaky]

Here are 2020 fishing dollars for Wyoming, no where near the money hunting generates

WY Resident fishing 2,047,574 Non Resident 4,768,785 Total 6,811,359

You can't see the forest for the trees. You are looking at tag revenue. You are missing the point about there being so many more people who fish than there are that hunt. You think they don't eat out? Get hotels? Buy gas? Shop in small towns? You are leaving a huge economic metric out of it.

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[Fatcamp]

Here are 2020 fishing dollars for Wyoming, no where near the money hunting generates

WY Resident fishing 2,047,574 Non Resident 4,768,785 Total 6,811,359

I think people are there and buy a fishing license. They go there to hunt. Big difference.

 

[hutty]

You can't see the forest for the trees. You are looking at tag revenue. You are missing the point about there being so many more people who fish than there are that hunt. You think they don't eat out? Get hotels? Buy gas? Shop in small towns? You are leaving a huge economic metric out of it.

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Agree that is a metric that should be considered for the state overall. I am looking at how the state organization that manages critters and fish is funded. All those other metrics don't got to Wyoming Game and Fish.

 

[Fireman03]

That seems low:

View attachment 269785

So if the “combined” funds follow the 77/17 split, the 25% are funding over 80% of WYGF. If and when this bill passes, 10% of us that don’t live in Wyoming will be funding over 80% of WYGF. How long do the residents think that will last? I’m HEAVILY invested in hunting Wyoming and I’m not what I would consider a “casual” hunter...ALL my disposable income and time goes to hunting...this gives me pause. I’m more worried about the loss of opportunity than the cost. When I signed up for AZ years ago I signed up for “up to 10% of the tags. When NM cut NR opportunity, I did drop NM. When I signed up for WY, I signed up for 25% of the tags and I calculated out I would eventually draw a sheep tag before I died. Now they are taking that calculation out to a number I can’t hit much less hike the mountains. I’ve got 10 years before I figure I can retire. I may have to make a temporary residency spot in WY for a year or two so I can get my sheep hunt in. One way or another I’m going to figure out a way.

• Nonresident Big Game Hunting Tag Sales, Preference Point Purchases and Application Fees generated $29.9 million in 2017, which was 37.4% of the total G&F revenue for that year of $79.7 Million
• Resident Hunting Tag Sales, Preference Point Purchases, Application and other fees generated $8.7 million in 2017, 8.3% of the revenue total.
• The top 3 Nonresident Hunter Revenue Sources were: (1) Preference Point Purchases - $8.4 million; (2) Elk Tags - $7.9 million; (3) Deer Tags - $6.3 Million
• The Top 3 Resident Hunter Revenue Sources were: (1) Elk Tags - $2.6 million; (2) Deer Tags - $1.8 million; (3) Antelope Tags - $740K

 

[sasquatch]

Nope, they will be selling lab manufactured meat in stores within the next decade.

Somehow my phone turned synthetic to anything. Lol

So yes, we agree


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[BuzzH]

My solution is to move to WY. Plenty of others will do this as well.

Talk is cheap...if hunting was a real priority, they'd already live here...like I have for the last 21 years.

 

[Dos Perros]

Talk is cheap...if hunting was a real priority, they'd already live here...like I have for the last 21 years.

Hunting, but only after God and family.

I'll be there someday. In the meantime I'll be killing 6 points there at some regular interval.

 

[WCB]

You can't see the forest for the trees. You are looking at tag revenue. You are missing the point about there being so many more people who fish than there are that hunt. You think they don't eat out? Get hotels? Buy gas? Shop in small towns? You are leaving a huge economic metric out of it.

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Not that I don't disagree with your premise, but hunter's eat out, get hotels, buy gas, and shop in small towns. I would bet money that the average time spent visiting is longer for hunters and the guys fishing have to make up $20,000,000 from the word go.

I don't believe non-residents hunters will protest the price increase this year but what happens when we eventually have another economic downturn? States that are leveraging the bulk of their income on non-residents will have to adjust quickly.

If the senators thought they were getting flak from the non-resident's, wait until the price of a resident deer license has to be doubled in Wyoming or Montana.

Would it do any good to protest? no. Most residents will push it aside and say Non-residents are not a priority while ignoring the economic contribution NRs pay. G&F departments know they will sell all their tags and see an increase in revenue. Plain and simple G&F departments do not care about hunter retention or economic status. They care about money...they are government.

Unless the economy completely tanks I don't think they will lose that much revenue...tags quotas will still get filled more guys will just by points instead of entering the draw but the states don't really make more money on #s in the draw. They make it off points and tags sold which there is already a fixe amount.

 

[RyanT26]

Hopefully the outfitters raise holy hell.

Dear Sportsman,

Wyoming Senator Larry Hicks has filed Senate File 103, a 90/10 license allocation and fee increase bill that would be devastating to your ability to draw a Wyoming big game hunting license in the future.

We need your help to contact members of the Senate Travel, Recreation and Wildlife Committee as soon as possible to share your opposition to the bill and how it would impact your ability to hunt in Wyoming. The bill will be heard by the committee at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 4, 2021.

Please keep your messages focused and specific to how this appalling bill will hurt your future plans to hunt in Wyoming. Please let the senators know that you have made a financial investment in preference points and license fees and remind the Senators of the positive economic impact nonresident hunters, like yourself, brings to Wyoming.

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to these Wyoming Legislators it is critical they hear from you and how a 50 percent reduction in licenses would affect your ability to hunt and Wyoming’s economy.

The Senators are listed below:

Chairwoman Affie Ellis (Cheyenne) [email protected]
Senator Mike Gierau (Jackson) [email protected]
Senator Tim Salazar (Dubois) [email protected]
Senator Bill Landen (Casper) [email protected]
Senator Wendy Schuler (Evantson) [email protected]


Sincerely,

Sy Gilliland, President
Wyoming Outfitters & Guides Association
PO Box 2650
Casper, WY 82602
[email protected]
wyoga.org
307.265.2376

 

[ManyBullets]

Are residents short on hunting opportunities in Wyoming? I 100% get that the states can divvy up the tags how they see fit, but is Wyoming really broken or do they have spending problem like a lot of other gov't agencies?
Fees across the board are getting ridiculous. And yeah I saw the argument that the tags are still X percentage of median income but someone forgot to mention there's a million new taxes we've had shoved down our throats in the last 40 years, and healthcare is about $2k/month for a lot of us so it's not exactly a valid argument even though the person has my respect and admiration as an advocate for us.

The fed gov't sends more money to Pakistan for gender studies or "assistance" to Burma and Cambodia than it sends to any state for wildlife management.

 

[jmh00043]

Western big game licenses sales could be the one business where the customer has almost no say and is treated like a second class person. I don't mind caps, don't mind paying a bit more for the opportunity, but cutting quota and charging double is crazy. Heck of a business model.

here are numbers from 2020 https://www.fws.gov/wsfrprograms/Subpages/LicenseInfo/Hunting.htm

Resident $6,744,619 Non Resident 19,355,046 Total 26,079,665
Based on those figures 74% of revenue comes from out of state.

Funny how the residents always complain about NR but NR is what drives the money to allow the game to flourish. Whether that be buying land, population estimations and all that good stuff. It would be funny if this passed and the NR did not buy anything for 1-2 years and then they would see the loss of 3/4 income annually...

 

[publichunter1]

Talk is cheap...if hunting was a real priority, they'd already live here...like I have for the last 21 years.

It took me a few years but I finally made it last year Buzz. Loving it so far.