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Author Topic: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018  (Read 6617 times)

Offline Bob33

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WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« on: January 09, 2018, 09:23:05 PM »
Wyoming Game and Fish Department will increase the cost of license fees, application fees and preference point fees in 2018. The increase in fees is a result of the Wyoming Legislature voting to reduce the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's budget by six million dollars in 2018 and to maintain funding for fish and wildlife at current levels.

The biggest changes for 2018 are for bison, moose, and increases in cost for elk, antelope and deer Special draw permits. Nonresident tags for mountain goat and bighorn sheep increased slightly, as did the Regular draw tags for elk, deer, and antelope. I'll briefly cover these changes below. Since application season is here, for a detailed breakdown of Wyoming elk, draw odds, and other statistics you can check out the recently published Application Strategy article here.

Nonresident bison increased from $2,522 to $4,417, while nonresident cow/calf tags went from $1,000 to $2,767. Wyoming’s price increase could be considered dramatic when compared with neighboring Montana’s $1,250 bison tag. On the other hand, South Dakota charges $6,006 to hunt trophy bison in Custer State Park, while Arizona gets $5,400 plus the hunting license fee, and Utah charges $2,615 to hunt bulls on Antelope Island, and $1,518 to hunt them in the rest of the state.

Nonresident Shiras moose tags increased from $1,430 to $1,997. Montana charges $1,250 and Idaho gets $2,101 plus a $154.75 nonresident hunting license.

The biggest change for this year for nonresidents interested in hunting elk is the increase in the special license from $1,085 to $1,335. The standard elk license also increased from $605 to $707. This change is enough that I think most nonresidents considering entering the Special draw will bank their points for another two or three years and apply for the Regular draw elk tag. Though this strategy may not pay off in the long run. The only state that has a more expensive elk tag is the Utah multi-season limited entry at $1,505.

Nonresident Special draw deer licenses increased by 17% from $580 to $677 in 2018.  Regular draw deer licenses increased slightly from $340 to $389. Youth nonresident deer licenses did not have an increase.

Antelope nonresident Special draw licenses increased from $540 to $629. Regular draw antelope licenses increased from $300 to $341. Like nonresident youth deer, the nonresident youth antelope did not see an increase.

There will be other smaller increases in Wyoming. Bighorn sheep licenses went up to $2,335, an increase of $69. Nonresident annual fishing went up to $102. Nonresident black bear increased to $373. Gray Wolf permits went up by $7 to $187. Nonresident mountain goat tags increased to $2,177.

Resident licenses saw increases by $5 per species or license type.

The big surprises for these 2018 license fee increases are that bighorn sheep only had a small raise, while moose and bison had huge increases in price as well as a large spike in Special draw elk license price. Now that Wyoming’s bison prices are almost as high as Arizona and neighboring South Dakota, I think a lot of people will be priced out of the draw, and it may increase the odds of drawing a bison tag. The increase in the price of moose and Special draw elk will probably lead to more people just buying points.

Only time will tell if applications trends continue to climb or if hunters look elsewhere.

https://www.gohunt.com/read/news/overview-of-wyomings-license-fee-changes-for-2018#gs.39LG1Qc
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Offline Stein

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2018, 09:46:31 PM »
Wow, some huge increases there but not overly surprising as we transition to the pay to play model.  Very unfortunate for the vast amount of the country that will no longer be able to afford to pursue these opportunities.

Trends will increase until people don't buy the licenses.  MT lead the way and so far it is paying off handsomely for them.

Offline cem3434

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2018, 09:55:12 PM »
Sad for most, but the guys with deep pockets will ultimately benefit by being to draw tags on a more regular basis. This will make me rethink my yearly donations to Wyoming moving forward to build points. Maybe it's time to cash in and get out.
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Offline Indian Summer

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2018, 02:24:16 AM »
With little to no points that increase in Special elk is killing me. I don’t have deep pockets but I do have some screwed up priorities in life so I’ll be applying no matter what. You only live once! Thanks for the very informative and thorough update Bob.
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Offline Duckslayer89

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2018, 02:28:31 AM »
With little to no points that increase in Special elk is killing me. I don’t have deep pockets but I do have some screwed up priorities in life so I’ll be applying no matter what. You only live once! Thanks for the very informative and thorough update Bob.

 :chuckle: screwed up priority’s that’s great. I applied for moose even again this year but I’m done I already opted for a refund. Can’t pay 150 bucks a year for a point

Offline Alan K

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2018, 06:29:12 AM »
Im suprised at the wolf increase... Figured they'd keep that essentially free like they had it.  :dunno:

Offline Ridgerunner

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2018, 08:06:12 AM »
Sitting on max elk points I was less than happy to see the significant increase.  I don't like that the model is definitely moving to the pay to play model and guys are getting priced out but I don't see that changing in the future at all.  It's too bad really. 

Offline White Pass Outfitters

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2018, 08:39:32 AM »
Hunting is becoming a Rich mans game. In my opinion the states know they can jack up all the prices, due to all the private landowners offering canned hunts. The states see how much these rich guys are paying to go on those type of hunts. And its going to keep jacking up our prices so the blue collar worker wont even be able to go hunt. All these canned hunts and private land hunts and hunting shows are actually hurting our average hunter in my opinion.
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Offline Ghost Hunter

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2018, 09:04:05 AM »
Im suprised at the wolf increase... Figured they'd keep that essentially free like they had it.  :dunno:
+

It is free in the majority of the state.
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Hunting-Guide/Wolf-Hunting#
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Offline Indian Summer

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2018, 09:08:21 AM »
In my opinion a guy who makes a deal to guide hunters on private land isn’t really an outfitter. All he does is hold the key to a gate. His life is nothing like the a real outfitter. The guys from days gone by who get up early to feed and saddle stock to pack their clients way up into the mountains in nasty weather because a not everyone has the gear, time, and skill to access that remote high country on their own. For that reason ever since I outfitted Montana I have thought that public and private land hunting licenses should be managed separately.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2018, 09:26:22 AM by Indian Summer »
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Offline jmscon

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2018, 11:27:24 AM »
Wonder how long it’s going to take for a class action lawsuit to happen because of price gouging and limiting access to public property for hunting. By definition, that is exactly what is going on!
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Offline Eric M

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2018, 01:56:25 PM »
Wonder how long it’s going to take for a class action lawsuit to happen because of price gouging and limiting access to public property for hunting. By definition, that is exactly what is going on!
I wonder if there will be any push back from the towns that depend on non resident hunters for a large percentage of income.

Offline Mr Mykiss

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2018, 02:03:22 PM »
Time to start buying BISON points...
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Offline dwils233

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2018, 02:32:07 PM »
Unless they changed it, for Bison you had to put in all the money and then if you didn't get drawn they would refund all of it back (minus a service fee).So you are essentially loaning Wyoming your money for 6 months. Its one thing to shell out a grand or two, but nearly 5 grand is steep- same with 3 grand for a cow/calf. Public land hunting shouldn't be prohibitively expensive and it won't do anything good for hunter recruitment and retention

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Offline Indian Summer

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Re: WYOMING’S LICENSE FEE CHANGES FOR 2018
« Reply #14 on: January 10, 2018, 04:30:09 PM »
Wonder how long it’s going to take for a class action lawsuit to happen because of price gouging and limiting access to public property for hunting. By definition, that is exactly what is going on!
Don’t hold your breath. We all have access to public land. That even includes Wyoming wilderness. But wildlife is the property of the state entrusted by the federal government to manage. If any management regulation was going to be the topic of a lawsuit it would likely be the one that denues non residents access to Wyoming wilderness specifically for the purpose of hunting. You can hike camp and even fish there but no hunting. I find that to be unconstitutional.
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