the cost of hunting...

peetzakilla said:
NY decided that it would be a good idea to raise prices this year too. Would have cost me $96 for all my licenses. They were dumb enough, like they always are, to allow a grace period for lifetime licenses at the old price. I swear they actually lose money raising prices. Almost everyone I know finally sucked it up and went lifetime. It'll pay for itself in 7 years in my case and they'll never see another penny from me. They'd make more money if the fee was $35 like it used to be. No one went lifetime back then. Now almost everyone is either lifetime or just won't bother hunting at all. Yeah, good move beauracrats.
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I went out and dropped the $600 for my lifetime this year. At the new rates, it'll pay for itself is 7 years. The one catch that I still need my lifetime archery, but that's "only" ~$230, but for now, it's $21/yr. I can handle that a lot more than the ~$100 it would have cost my the yearly super sportsman. Sure, I had to put it on a credit card, but the interest I paid (I think one month's worth, if that) was, by far, justified in the amount I saved in buying the lifetime.

Screw NYS bureaucrats.
 
theres no way the higher prices will stop me next year, or any year for that matter, but the people at the local sporting goods store where saying how alot of people wont pay the higher price to apply for tags next year? i just cant see that happening
 
I'm not one of them, but from the $40,000 pick-ups, $10,000 4-wheelers, God only knows how spendy camp trailers, and unlimited tanks of fuel for some of these bozos to road hunt with, I don't think a few hundred bucks for license and tags is gonna make much difference. I don't mean to deride those with the nice equipment, just the road hunting bozos.

I'm not happy about the price of license and tags, especially now that the grandson lives across the border and needs non-resident papers to hunt up here with me, but I try to keep things in perspective. I've dumped TONS of money on things that don't provide anything close to the fun that we get from our hunting habit.

I am a tightwad, and Mrs. jd is blessedly low maintenance. Our equipment is good quality, while being basically low-tech with few frills. (OK, I finally got one of those toilet TP's to go over the crapper):p We seem to go hunting and camping in general a lot more than most of the folks I know who have more money tied up in their outfits. I know that we spend less for a full two weeks of elk hunt than it would cost for a couple of days golfing at a nice course with fancy accommodations. And yes, we find elk, and yes we often kill them, and the meat is a bonus not a bargain.

What's gonna suck is a few years from now when our Obamba adjusted dollars are worth about half what they are now.:mad: jd
 
Politicians have figured out a revenue source! And who's going to complain except out-of staters i.e. non-voters!! Same thing with property taxes on vacation homes! Hunting is really becoming a luxury in many ways. And with all the fees/permits/licenses AND high prices on ammo, etc... No wonder less hunters head for the woods every year!:mad::mad:
 
I agree with HogDogs and his point of view. But I would also like to add that I believe if the money we pay for the tags and licenses and what-ever else we have to buy, is put back into the conservation department, then I do not have much of a problem with it.
I always buy two tags for deer, although I usually only take one. I am allowed to get one tag free because I am a land owner, but I never take that. I figure my extra $17.00 might help the Missouri Conservation department improve their services.
But you do have a point also. Eventually they are going to price themselves out of a job. When it gets too expensive for the general public to hunt people will stop buying tags, license and ammunition.
If people no longer hunt, what will happen to the animal population? Look at some of the cities that are having problems with deer. Swope Park in Kansas City had to hire hunters to thin out their deer population.
 
For me hunting has become less about the food, more about time out of the house and enjoyment. I can get beef cheaper than 90% of the people can get wild animal especially if they have it processed by someone else. I paid $30 for a resident deer tag and $20 for a hunting license and habitat stamp, all which are required for a deer. It was worth it though as I had a lot of fun.

In todays paper though I read that approximately 12% less deer were taken this year even though there were 5,000 more permits available. It is becoming extremely hard to get on land and the more land that goes away the more you will see prices of permits and such go up as there are fewer people hunting.
 
This coming year is going to be expensive for me. I went on my first REAL deer hunt ever over the holidays. My buddies put in an area where I could get deer in range with my shotgun, but I sat cried as I watched deer out past 100 yds pick at the newly sprouted cover. I had not attempted a shot with that gun at that range. I didn't feel comfortable trying a shot that far so I let them go. Now I have to get a proper rifle, better clothes, etc. I feel that it will work itself out in the long run tho. If I get a good quality rifle it will outlast me, so every year I kill something I take a bite out of that expense.
 
Cost of hunting

I like to think of my hunting costs as mental therapy. It helps ease the pain of the cost if it is needed for your well being. Here in NE, a resident tag is $30 and some areas have a bonus (free) doe only tag with it. A statewide buck only is around $70. Not sure on non-residents. Jim
 
Beef is cheap for me, and hunting isn't. I still hunt even though the costs of it seems to go up every year. This year all I put in the freezer was one small pronghorn doe, even though I had another buck pronghorn, buck mule deer, and either sex elk tag. Spent probably close to 1K on tags, fees, fuel, food, and camping this year to do all my hunts, and only cost me $365 to put 300 lbs of beef in my freezer. $400 in feed to get my steer big enough to eat, $330 to process split the cost down the middle with my parents.

Even my little old pronghorn wasn't really that cheap. $30 for the tag, $70 to fill my truck up for about 35-40 pounds of meat processed. That makes it around $3 a pound. If I add the cost of ice, food, wapping paper, and my time to process it that drives the cost up even more. However I hunt because it is what I love to do, not because it is cheap.
 
Whatever the price, it is cheaper than paying a shrink to de-stress me.

And compare the money I spend hunting to taking my whole family (4 kids) to Disneyland.....:barf:

I buy the full Sport-pac every year, and have never filled the bear/cougar/turkey tags. I don't mind ODFW getting a little extra of my money.
 
I have to admit prices on everything has went way up. I guess it comes down to the sport, and how much you like it. I reload, and never reload to save money because I always tryed to get the best, but it seemed I always saved anyways. Not no more I am just reloading for the sport, and knowing I have the best coming out of it. To bad for future hunter with everything in general going thru the ceiling.
 
The OP commented on increased prices of licenses. Well, the cost of living for a game warden goes up, just like for the rest of us. We either have game wardens or we turn the deer herd over to the poachers...
 
Art Eatman said:
The OP commented on increased prices of licenses. Well, the cost of living for a game warden goes up, just like for the rest of us. We either have game wardens or we turn the deer herd over to the poachers...
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That's certainly true but you've got to wonder where the breaking point is. It seems like the bureaucrats can only think of raising prices and taxes every time they think they need more money. At some point, lowering prices would produce more money. I'm convinced that we're beyond that point in NY. The price increases have been dramatic. 18 years ago I could buy a Super Sportsman License, complete with doe tags for like $35. This year the price is up to $96. If you don't drop the whole $96 then you have to pay $10 for doe tags, and you might not even get them. Increases yes, but almost TRIPLE in less than 20 years?
 
And you don't think the health insurance for the state employees involved with DNR has tripled in those 20 years?

I realize it is really fun to bash state governments, or city, or federal - but honestly, they are not money making machines (well, I guess the feds do actually make the money...).

Why is government not as efficient as private sector? Very simple, private sector does not have to keep a product line open if it is losing money.

I spend more on my cell phone bill each month than I do for all my licenses and tags for a year.
 
And you don't think the health insurance for the state employees involved with DNR has tripled in those 20 years?
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Indeed it has... and that cost is likely STILL less than 10% of the cost of each officer. The entire cost of each officer has certainly not tripled in the last 20 years. It hasn't doubled. In fact, I'd bet that it's not up 50%.

I speak for no other state besides NY. THIS state hemorrhages cash. The government in this state is consistently rated as the most ineffective, or very close, government in America. The entire government spends most of it's time arguing like kindergartners while the budget languishes, contracts are violated and the state goes bankrupt. We have the highest taxes, the highest fees and the most ineffective and worst services in America.

What's the solution to ineffective governance, incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats and a stagnant state economy? RAISE PRICES! Yes, awesome. Good plan.
 
Peetza,

I had the pleasure of living in NY - stationed at Ft. Drum, and did my MBA at Syracuse.

Actually, OPE (other personnel expenses, which includes health insurance) runs about 30-35%, just rough average. The lower the salary, the higher the percentage, since the health insurance costs the same. So an officer whose salary is $40K, actually costs about $52K per year or more.

My employer pays a little over $13K per year per employee just for health insurance.

Sorry - I have drifted way off topic.
 
I spent a bunch of years as a cost estimator for major engineering projects. Rising costs were part of my daily reading, and for-sure affected my work.

I'm pretty content with the way the Texas wildlife folks have coped. For instance, our game wardens right now have come down from Alpine, the county seat, and it's 80 miles of travel, one-way. Gasoline ain't cheap. So, jeep trails all over the country to patrol, and motel costs for the wardens--and per diem, etc.

I'm not at all surprised that license costs went up some, a few years back. They're doing pretty good to hold the line, right now...
 
The whole game warden pay thing by raising the prices of permits doesn't hold water in Nebraska though. They are paid by taxpayers of everyone in the state. Your permit money supposedly goes to maintaining and building more habitat. For instance my $20 habitat stamp fee goes to purchase or improve habitat for animals IE CRP and other land. Here is the real kick, if your handicap, you still have to pay this $20 fee for the stamp and can't hunt on this land as no motorized vehicles are allowed on the land.

I complain about prices of hunting and such but you know I still do it because the cost of hunting doesn't outweigh the benefit. I view the money as spread out over 12 months as I do everything else in my budget, and it's cheap looked at like that.
 
I guess if you're a guy - or gal who goes hunting just once or twice a year, the cost of license, tags, stamps and etc., seems pretty high. If you go several times, say six or more, it's not so bad. Probably way less than gas. jd
 
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