Are Things Getting Better?

[idahohuntr]

IDFG tried to stop their proposed non-resident tag increases in 2009...but there is nothing more popular in state legislatures than to raise fees on non-residents.  They paid a price as the market would not support those fee increases...wolves and a bad economy resulted in millions less revenue than the previous year at lower fees.  Unfortunately, just like access/trespass fees, there is demand for these limited resources and while many of us begrudge them and say we aren't going to do it anymore...we always come back.

[Special T]

However most GOV agencies (in this case ID) thinks that a price increase wont change sales!  Price ALWAYS changes sales even when your priced under the rest of the competition (which they weren't).

[Stein]

IDFG tried to stop their proposed non-resident tag increases in 2009...but there is nothing more popular in state legislatures than to raise fees on non-residents.  They paid a price as the market would not support those fee increases...wolves and a bad economy resulted in millions less revenue than the previous year at lower fees.  Unfortunately, just like access/trespass fees, there is demand for these limited resources and while many of us begrudge them and say we aren't going to do it anymore...we always come back.

The thing is they aren't coming back, at least as many.  MT's wisdom was that they would rather sell more expensive tags to fewer people.  They don't care that the "draw" goes unsubscribed because the revenue is greater.  There is absolutely zero concern for the average guy or even the motel, restaurant or guide who is trying to get people to travel to the state.   The logical conclusion to this is that they will sell a handful of nonres tags at $50k each and then save money on enforcement and administration.  Let them hunt wherever and whenever they want and be done with it.  As long as the residents only pay $20, nobody cares except those who are seeing fewer and fewer paying customers every year.

[RG]

I suspect the increase in tag fees had minimal effects on outfitted hunt sales. Guys who are spending thousands on an outfitted trip and another thousand to get there are probably not going to cancel over a couple hundred more dollars.  When I guided in Montana our clients owned their own hospitals and big companies.  Some of them flew to Bozeman in their own private jets.  It was a high end outfitter but even basic hunts cost thousands now.  A few hundred is chump change to most out of state clients. The increase affects regular guys like me who save all year to go there on our own because that's how we can afford to do it. Every extra dollar hurts.  When we don't go it hurts the gas stations, stores, restaurants, etc. the state still loses revenue but nobody screams at the government about it apparently because the outfitters don't notice too much.

I still say the Outfitter Associations are missing it by not aggressively getting the message out that there are trophies to be had.

[Stein]

I suspect the increase in tag fees had minimal effects on outfitted hunt sales. Guys who are spending thousands on an outfitted trip and another thousand to get there are probably not going to cancel over a couple hundred more dollars.  When I guided in Montana our clients owned their own hospitals and big companies.  Some of them flew to Bozeman in their own private jets.  It was a high end outfitter but even basic hunts cost thousands now.  A few hundred is chump change to most out of state clients. The increase affects regular guys like me who save all year to go there on our own because that's how we can afford to do it. Every extra dollar hurts.  When we don't go it hurts the gas stations, stores, restaurants, etc. the state still loses revenue but nobody screams at the government about it apparently because the outfitters don't notice too much.

I still say the Outfitter Associations are missing it by not aggressively getting the message out that there are trophies to be had.

I couldn't agree more.  I hunted MT last three years, bought deer and elk tags as well as put in for buffalo and antelope.  Next year I already have an antelope trip to Wyoming planned because I can buy four doe tags for my daughter and myself for less than the cost of a single doe deer tag in MT.

[Hilltop123]

It,s not wolves keeping me from Montana......$$$$$$$
It would be interesting to see a demographic breakdown of license buyers, for Montana. Last I looked they still had over a thousand combos on the table,for sale.

[Stein]

It,s not wolves keeping me from Montana......$$$$$$$
It would be interesting to see a demographic breakdown of license buyers, for Montana

Say you had $10k to spend on an elk hunt.  You talk to an outfitter in NV and one in MT.  The guy in NV asks you why you want to hunt where wolves thick are and hope your bull isn't eaten the week before you show up or run out of the county when you can go to his state?  All else equal, why would you run the risk of the unknown?  Then, MT and ID get a reputation of having bad hunting due to wolves among the elite who regularly afford $10k hunts every year (and don't do any research to know if it is even true or not).

[KFhunter]

AZ Elk is on my short list 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Lots and lots of good points in this thread. We've spent the last 8 years hunting Idaho and I can say the elk seemed to adapt to way steeper and way deeper. It seems a lot of hunters would pack into there same places year in and out and get there animals in that area before woofs. Now they need to go even farther into the wilderness and work a lot harder with woofs around. God bless Idahonaians for putting the smack down on the woofs!   The point of elk coming down around people for safety seems true also. I would think with the resetion we just went through would also cause animal numbers to go up with less blue collar folks able to afford to go hunting.