2007 tag fees

[drgonzales]

Keeps the fair weather hunters at home.

 

 

Nothing p*sses me off more than that attitude.

 

 

You must be a fair weather hunter!!!!

 

The guys doing the road hunting and drinking are not the ones that will be effected. They are not taking their kids. It will be the young guy with a new family or the 28-35 year old with 3 kids who want to hunt and fish. Those kids will one day be of voting age. How do you ask them to support hunting and fishing at the ballot box when they cannot even afford a license?

 

The Dept isn't raising the fees to weed out the riff-raff. They could do that by writing some tickets and taking away hunting priviledges of the law breakers. They are raising prices to generate more money. Those new 4x4 Dodge trucks don't get good milage and they are not cheap. Either is the brand new G&F office complex they are building.

 

It just seems a little funny when last year the Dept was on a rant about hunter retainment and recruitment, so they had to come up with a way to issue hundreds more tags, yet at the same time they jack up the prices so fewer people can justify a hunting license and tag.

 

Yes, I know prices on everything go up over time. Just don't try and tell me that you are trying to recruit more hunters while you are reaching deeper into their pocket.

 

I just had a great idea! Let's raise gas prices to $8 / gallon. Maybe that will weed out the riff raff drivers and I can get to work on time!

 

I remember when I used to buy a candy bar for 50 cents. Do we bad mouth Hersheys?? No. The cost of things goes up.... everything. I am not saying I want the less fortunate families to stay home. But geez 35 dollars for a deer tag isn't that much.

You say writing tickets would weed out the warriors but do you know exactly how many rangers there are per unit? I do. Unit 29 there about 1000 hunters and 1 ranger for about 100 miles in either direction. Where do you start??

[drgonzales]

Boy now thats a big ole can of worms. Any of you who hunt the northern part of unit 32 and are havin gto pay for access now to the private ground. Well thats mostly the " rotten apples" of the OHV world causing that one. Not neccessarily hunters. But guess who end up paying for it.

 

Back to the tags. I would not mind paying a little more to make sure G&F are hiring and keepign quality wardens and other people. Its just that the fee increase is quite significant over one years time. Was this caused by mismanagement over the past couple of years, or greed this year? Thats the question I would like answered. If it was mismanagement over the past couple of years then I kind of understand the increase. But if they are just greedy, then we need to stake them to a pole. But either way I'm still in the same boat with the fees.

 

And no I dont have to put in for every animal, and neither do my children or my wife. But with the rates of drawing a tag. can you find another way for me to get them out and hunting, and try to pass along the heritage that I grew up with. I havent figured that one out yet. And its kind of hard not pass on eating out a couple of times a year or so when you dont eat out in the first place.

 

I just dont think it make sence to want to increase hunters and passing it along to our youngsters and then raise the rates to where we cant afford the tags.

 

I will figure out how to apply for as many tags as I can. and will probably be able to swing everyone applying for whatever they wish to apply for. But OUCH!!!! And with the first applications ( and the most expensive ) now coming right after Christmas, and right before I get my taxes back. that is not going to be fun in any sence of the word. But I will make it work if I can. So my kids can hopefully get out there and hunt. And right now they wish to hunt more then they wish to go to Disneyland. And maybe just maybe if they can draw a few tags I can keep it that way.

First of all it takes a 7 year degree to get into arizona game and fish so yea I think they are quality people, maybe not brought up like you and me, but pretty sharp. Plus the additional 2 years of law training on the job.As for the increase your governor gave them now or up to 7 years for 100% increase, meaning take it all now , or watch it slowly increase over the next 7 years.As far as taking your whole family out for BIG GAME HUNTING well you got to pay to play. Whatever happened to family smallgame hunting ? Some of my best times growing up. I learned more about shooting and the outdoors smallgame hunting then anywhere else, and alot cheaper. The best hunting I ever did was huntin Lizard with a stick. Man how I miss those days.

Well said Mr. goo, well said. I look forward to quail hunting with my bb gun as much as anything else. It's time spent with family, friends and the great outdoors that matters most. Tag or not.

[DesertBull]

You must be a fair weather hunter!!!!

 

 

Not quite, Nancy, but good try.

[mattys281]

$35 for a deer tag doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that I don't think for a minut that this is a "catch-up" increase or that its a "seven year" increase. The tags will go up again next year, and if not then for certain they will the following year. As will the application fees, so your not just dealing with a tag increase. It's been a few years since I sat in an econ class, but from what I recall, I believe the average rate of inflation was around 3-4%. If you figure in an absorbenent price increase in a necessary material for them to do their job, such as gasoline for example, then maybe add a few extra points, but we're still a long way off from hitting the 20% mark, let alone 78%! Besides, if there really is only game warden in unit 29 & that reflect a close to average number than your looking at fewer than 50 F&G trucks operation statewide on a daily basis. How much gas is that, really? I think they've either set a goal to not only operate at available funds, but be able to reserve for some future project, or the money from tags is being siphoned to some other state branch of gov.

I think that what really gets me butt-hurt is that hunting used to be something I just knew I was going to do. It was within everyones grasp without have to save or skip family dining out or whatever. Now, good binoculars run several hundreds to well over a grand, the top of the line bows are all caring stickers of $700+, non-resident tags in other states aren't getting any cheaper, & if they were you still forfeit a limb at the pump to drive there. It's just one more straw on the camels back.

Like coueshunter said, though, we'll grumble about it here & over beers, and then find some way to pony up the money & do it anyway. They'll have to rise a long way before I say it isn't worth it.

[TAM]

I believe that this is one of the reasons that AZ G&F is keeping the $5 to apply and don't pay the balance unless you draw approach. It helps to ease some of the financial burden for folks in the lower income brackets while still giving them the opportunity to apply for everythig without paying for it all up front.

 

The $5 applications allow a family of four to apply for Deer, Elk, Antelope, Javelina, Turkey, Bighorn, and Buffalo for $140 up front, not over $1,800 as mentioned in a previous post. Not to mention that we now have three different draws. Elk and Antelope in January, Javelina and turkey in October, and Deer and Bighorn in May so it splits up the costs throughout the entire year, not one lump sum. Of course you still have to pay if you get drawn, but what are the chances of drawing everything? I'll bet most of the time youd be lucky to draw 2-3 species.

 

The bottom line is that it costs money to maintain our wildlife populations. Alot of money! Even though I personally don't like the $5 up front application, I believe it helps to allow those families who struggle financially to still apply for everything without breaking the bank. I think it goes right in line with the G&F's goal to create more hunter opportunity. In my opinion even a working class family with a plan and a budget can still afford to apply for everything in Arizona!

[DesertBull]

My only real beef was with the cow tags at $100. Is an archery cow tag in unit 19 really worth the same as an early season rifle bull tag in unit 1?

 

CHEERS~!

[mattys281]

I did some digging around on AZGF website. The only rationale I found was that the fees increased to, "provide revenue to meet the rising cost of doing business, and will address commission-identified priorities for the department." Apparently, the reason the fees increased now is that earlier this year the state legislature passed a bill that raised their allowable fees for the first time since '98. Otherwise, we'd have likely seen higher fees sooner. It's also important to note that this information went out in the nov WIldlife Matters newsletter, and include dates for public meetings during which the public was invited to comment on the proposed fee schedule. There was also an e-mail address to which you could write your comments. I'm a subsriber to their monthly newsletter, but as I didn't see this it's obvious I'll have to take a few minutes to read it from now on. Anyhow, everyone had the opportunity to review the new fee sched. & voice concerns months ago, & since I didn't complain then I guess I don't have much room to do so now. I will pay closer attention to their newsletter though & bring up things I find interesting. Happy hunting everyone.

 

P.S. here's the link if you want to look at it yourself. I'm am going to do some more digging & try to identify some of these "commission-identified priorities."

 

http://www.azgfd.gov/inside_azgfd/edits/do...sNovember05.pdf

[TAM]

Desertbull, I agree with you 100%. In my opinion they should charge different prices for cow versus bull elk.

[bobbyo]

My only real beef was with the cow tags at $100. Is an archery cow tag in unit 19 really worth the same as an early season rifle bull tag in unit 1?

 

CHEERS~!

 

This chould go species wide. Is an october Coues tag worth as much as a December. How many would spend $100 on a December coues. I would apply. How about $200.I would apply. Of coarse this logic could lead to a rate based on drawing chance. Harder to draw. larger the price. Then hunting will be just for the rich. This state could easily get $25,000 per Bighorn, $10,000 per Bull and antelope tag. I am going to stop this before G+f get any ideas.

Bob