Tags/licenses in your state?

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elkman06

New member
How does your state manage big game licensing? Do they allow tags to outfitters/landowners for them to sell?
Do your license fees/taxes which help pay for wildlife go strictly to management or are you subsidizing the hunting industry for landowners as well?
Here in Wyo, to date, our state legislature has not alloted licenses to landowners/outfitters, however, they make some creative rules once in a while putting licenses out there that not too many regular folk would take or commit their one elk license on.
Somewhere around 20percent of the alloted licenses in the state are allowed to out of staters which is okay in my book. They bring a lot of revenue in. I do have some personal issues w/ some groups but for the most part it's a good thing.
I just hope you guys stay involved w/ your state legislature and keep YOUR wildlife managed for you as well.
elkman06
 
Texas sells a hunting license with specific allowables on game animals. After that, it's up to the hunter to find a place to hunt. As a generality, the landowner doesn't get any license to sell some number of game animals. SFAIK there is no limit on the number of non-resident licenses available.
 
In Colorado, they have a "Ranching for Wildlife" program which allots a certain number of licenses to a ranching situation, if they guarantee(and document of course) a certain number of underprivileged or handicapped type hunts out of those licenses. Still not real sure about how I feel about that one. Wyoming will create a season and allot standard draw licenses if someone can prove loss of hay, crops, etc. They will normally try to do this rather than pay the landowner for losses. It gets a little funky when it comes down to the tresspass fees etc.
elkman06
 
I live and hunt in CO and while not ideal I don't have too many complaints about it. 100% of our Division of Wildlife funding comes from the sale of hunting/fishing licenses, stamps, park fees, and fines. They do the best they can with that money and it doesn't just go to managing game animals but it goes as well to the study of other thing such as the Mountain Plover, which has been going on for several years now out where my father farms and ranches.

It seems however the outfitters/guide services have an in with the DOW that a average joe can't get. I remember a few years back calling the DOW offices on the Western slope trying to find a landowner who might be having a problem with nuisance elk as I was looking for a cow to fill the freezer. All the DOW did was direct me to a guide service! They told me that they didn't keep a list of landowners who complained about too many animals on their property. Just didn't sound right to me, called one of the outfitters and they said to hunt an elk unguided they could get me on a property for a trespass fee of $500.

I apply for landowner tags every year on my fathers property, and this year I struck the lottery. I picked up 6 tags for pronghorn 2 for Mule deer and 4 for Whitetail. I drew both buck mule deer and buck pronghorn tags so I can't use any of them for myself, although this is the first year I've drew any deer tags. Landowner tags can only be transferred once so by law they can't be transferred to the outfitter/guide and then to the hunter. I'm not going to say it doesn't happen but it isn't supposed to work that way.

As far as landowner tags go I don't sell mine, they go to family and friends first then to other hunters. Then if there are any left over I give them first to a youth who wants to hunt. If you sell a landowner tag for more than $75 you are not entitled to compensation if wildlife damages your property from the State. Plus the problem with landowner tags and selling them to anyone for a lot of money, you never know who you are going to get on your property, since you have to give them reasonable access to your land if they get a landowner tag.

I like the Ranching for Wildlife hunts, as it allows me to access private property to hunt elk where I normally couldn't afford. The RFW requires landowners to improve their property for the benefit of the wildlife they are trying to get tags for. When a property is given RFW status they get more tags than they could normally draw in the landowner voucher system, in trade they have to open their property up for CO residents to hunt for at least one season. I've had nothing but a great experience hunting RFW properties, and I think they are a great place to take a youth hunter for their first hunt. Now I know some people have heartburn that the tags are only for CO residents, but I feel there are plenty of opportunities for a NR to hunt CO.

I know some hunters hate the point system. I personally like it, I feel it is a much better system to the hunter than a pure lottery draw. I did like the year where CO allowed you to put in for a draw and if you were successfully the only took the points you needed to draw that tag. Say you had 5 preference points and the area you wanted to hunt too 3, then after the draw you had 2 points left over. CO DOW only tried that one year, I really liked it but they decided not to keep that kind of draw in effect.

Things I really don't like are the new modified draw for the premium elk and deer areas. The point creep is where you will never draw a certain area that you want to hunt because you'll never have enough preference points. I know that is what the new modified draw is intended to help with but I feel it has shortchanged the people who have waited enough years to draw those premium areas.

The big game access program needs to be more closely monitored as well. While I think the big game access program could be a good thing the biggest complaint I here from the landowners participating in it is they can't reduce the number of hunters on their property and they are worried about an accident. I've heard of hunters never being able to get out of eyesight of another hunter on the Big Game Access properties, but of course I've had that same problem before on pubic lands.

AFAIKI there are no Outfitter/Guide tags in CO, but there are a few raffle and auction tags. That doesn't stop them from getting their customers some premium tags however through RFW properties and Landowner vouchers. Again not perfect but at least the DOW doesn't require NR hunters to use a guide/outfitter service to hunt here.

Just to answer your question on landowner tags and to save posting again. You get your first landowner tag with a minimum of 160 acres (IIRC), and you max out with 6 vouchers somewhere around 3000 acres. It cost me $3 per application for processing and then whoever redeems the voucher pays the price of the tag.

Another thing is CO publishes all there hunting regulations online and they are pretty easy to follow. You can apply for a license as well online, and the great thing about it is if you mess up it will not allow you to continue your application until you fix it. Biggest thing to remember is our legal methods of hunting as we have we have a lot more restrictions on the equipment being used for Archery, Muzzle Loader, and Firearm seasons. Everything else is pretty much standard stuff you learn in Hunters Ed, which is required if you after 1945. Plus the Colorado DOW web site has a wealth of knowledge on planning a hunt to CO, and as far as I know we are still the only State with OTC elk tags.
 
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Taylorace, Quite a discertation..LOL. Anyway, thanks for the post. I had hoped it to be informational for those who would come to another state. So many times, people have a hard time figuring out another states' guidelines.

I am curious, how are your landowner tag numbers alloted. In Wyo, I believe only one license of its' type may be alloted to one family if the land qualifies(60+acres). I know families who take turns within the fam for the one tag...etc. Sounds as though you guys get multiples. I assume it must be tied to acreage?
elkman06
 
In PA your standard hunting license comes with (1) antlered deer tag, a fall and a spring turkey tag.

You then mail in to your county treasurer for a antlerless tag for one of the various districts. Some districts sell out within a week or two. You can apply for multiple antlerless tags.

Elk is a lottery draw. Each time you enter you get a point that goes toward the next drawing. Points roll-over until you get picked.

Bear licenses are just another "stamp" for about $15 or so that you can get when you buy your hunting license.

Farms with deer damaged crops can apply for a few DMAP tags, which then the farmer can hand out to hunters.


PA allows outfitters and various other businesses to sell standard hunting licenses. Proceeds go to game management and to the purchasing of more public gamelands.
 
SC is divided into six game zones with bag limits, seasons and even methods being a little different for each zone. The rules for the Wildlife Management Areas (public land) vary according to the specific WMA. The DNR makes recommendations to the legislature which actually sets the rules. They generally follow the recommendations for the upstate but they go their own way for the lowcountry.

Licenses come in many different levels depending on what you want to do. I always get the Resident Sportsman's license which covers all hunting and freshwater fishing. It includes a Wildlife Management Area permit which is required for public land. The only things it doesn't include are saltwater fishing, migratory bird permit, and state and federal duck stamps. I think it's still $55.

On private land in the upstate, the limit is 5 antlered deer and 15 deer total. Bow season(crossbows allowed) opens Sept. 15, muzzleloader runs from Oct. 1-10 and gun season from Oct. 11 through Jan. 1. Limit two deer per day. There are 12 either-sex days and I can buy up to four antlerless deer tags ($5 ea.) to use on the other days. Tags are not required for bucks but the daily and season totals apply.

In some zones, there is no limit for bucks and gun hunting starts Aug. 15 and runs through Jan. 1. Running deer with dogs and baiting is allowed in zones 3-6.

I don't know where the money from license sales goes. I was under the impression that it had to directly support game management and law enforcement in order to get back our share of the P-R and D-J dollars. Our DNR does a pretty good job with all they're asked to do. They could do better but they could sure do a lot worse too.
 
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