Free: Contests & Raffles.
I would say no they’ll continue with the previously scheduled fee increase.
Some inter-state coordination on how many game animals one guy gets to shoot in one year seems like a good idea too. Lotta game hogs out there these days hunting 3-4 diff states a year just because they can. Never used to be the case until the internet era. Now that one guy is basically 3-4 guys from a demand standpoint. Of course the supply is going to have trouble keeping up with that. But states dont really have motivation to limit that behavior because it brings in a lot of license revenue. And hunters wont self regulate and not be selfish so that just is what it is.Not ironically, those same types of guys are the main barriers for entry for new hunters. Where im from in Michigan the hunter numbers are falling but access to hunt private land is getting far more difficult because one guy holds multiple permissions, and the market for leases has gotten huge so a lot of farmers wont give permission for free. When I came up you could go knock on anybody's door and get permission, made learning easy and fun. Hard to get new people started when its a full time job just finding decent access. Seems to be the case here in the west as well just for slightly different reasons. Point creep, loss of nonresident opportunity, loss of resident opportunity, people wonder how it can keep getting worse and worse every year when hunter numbers are about flat or even falling. It's because in age where it seems a lot of guys are motivated by the pursuit of internet fame, they've gotten a heck of a lot more serious about their hunting. This forum is full of guys that put in dozens of apps a year in diff states then turn around and complain about point creep If you're wondering why your kid doesnt have the opportunity for a quality hunt, check out the dude posting about his 2nd bull elk this year or 3rd deer.
