I have been to colorado 4 years in a row bowhunting, and twice back in 2000 and 2001 with the rifle. Now don't get me wrong, i love it out there, and even with this complaint will do everything i can to go again next year. This year when i arrived to the shop where we buy are licenses i had to lisen to the guy complain about sales being down about 50 percent. Then i relized they had bumped the cost up $50.00. Which i could have swore i checked a few different times this summer online and the cost was still the same. Then i looked at the cost for a residents tag and seen it was a little over $50.00. Now i don't have a problem with a non-resident tag being more but where does it end. I camp and hunt on public land, and do everything i can to keep cost down. At some point the cost of the tag is going to keep the average man from being able to do something that he loves very much. Lets hope that at some point they relize that hunting should be for all people and not just the wealthy few. MAY ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL SEASON WITH LOTS OF LUCK AND MEAT IN THE FREEZER.

you are right about that, they are getting a little nuts when it comes to licence prices. i think it was 1986 when i went to Colorado the first time my Elk licence back then was $210.00. and now it is $550.00.

Kevin

I know back in 2000 and 2001, the year the started that new rifle season, you could buy a bull tag over the counter for $250.00. I think that is a very fair price.

oh its not just your state...... they all are being greedy, thieve'n sucker fish........ its really a shame, the average man is what keeps this sport going....
D-S

Let's just all pitch in and buy a mountain range to ourselves. I'm in college right now, so do you guys take IOU's ??? lol

But on a serious note I agree it's rediculous. That's why I've never hunted out of state, it's all i can do to take hunting trips inside Wyoming. I mean the parents have always paid a majority when i was a youth, and i'm obviously not paying for everything, but it is getting rediculous, and in a hurry. I remember my grandma talking about buying an antelope, deer, elk, and bear tag for like 10 bucks or something like that.

This is the reason why a lot of guys I know only hunt in over the counter area's and buy a tag when they kill something. I don't practice this myself but if the price continues to increase I may seriously consider this practice. I always obey game laws and am a very ethical hunter. The cost for a tag is just getting simply ridiculous. I really don't want to break the law but I feel as though I am being ripped off as if we don't pay enough in taxes every year.

Power to the people.

Ya i know about people doing that also....I don't think I'll ever do that, but it is rediculous.

never done that and pray it doesn't go that far

I will never do that. If i can not buy the tag i will not go. That will be a sad day.

i am with you, i would never go without buying a tag. over all my trips out west are pretty cheap, it usually cost me $1300.00 to $1500.00 for the 2 weeks i am out there, and that includes everything. but it will cost a little more this year because i am going alone.

Kevin

Unfortunately the price of doing buisness across the board has gone up....including hay and other feed.
With higher gas pricese mixed in I can only imagine the wildlife officialls are wishing they could keep the prices down....but they do have their own budget to think about. I hate to side with them in anything...especially here in Oregon where I think they are idiots....but I can see and feel why they are higher with their tags.

I totally feel your point here. It is really sad. I don't know what to do about it. The cost of all things are getting out of hand. One idea is to forbid States from charging out of stater's these outrageous rates. But, if that is done then there will be even more people in the field. As to the idea of only getting a license if you score, the laws for poaching are pretty severe. I would not think it is worth the risk. If anyone knows someone who is doing it, many States have rewards for turning in poachers. In Washington it is cash or 10 preference points for deer or elk.

I am a non resident hunter who has been contributing to the great state of Montana
for over 15 years. I have seen the non-resident/outfitter tag go from $600 to $ 1500
in this time frame.

I stopped going to Montana when it hit $ 1500. What used to cost a max of $ 3K
for tag, outfitter, airfare etc. Now costs close to $ 5K if I choose to go and that
is with me driving not flying anymore.

It is too bad as through the years I have met some really great people through
hunting and I hate to see that limited because of rising prices.

that is exactly why i only do DIY hunts, i can afford $1500.00 a year. and my wife doesn't find me spending it. if it was $5000.00 or more i wouldn't be going on hunting trips every year.

Kevin

I do agree that the costs are getting a little crazy, but everything is these days- it's called inflation. I also do agree with the fact that non-resident tags should be more than the resident tags. Same with non-resident camping fees at state parks. Here in the south east corner of Wyoming it turns into Colorado at the lakes even WITH camping fees at Glendo and Guernsey state parks for non-res being $15 a night HIGHER than residents. I as a resident that lives 32 miles from each lake can't even go to the lakes anymore without a reservation because of this.
It it the same with hunting. Nearly everyone in Wyoming hunts (population 496,356 total, yes- that's the WHOLE state). Can you imagine what it would be like for a local to compete with another half a million hunters applying and hunting "their" state lands?...

Hunting at any level anymore is turning into if you can afford to go... even gas. I live as most of you know in the heart of elk country, I have shot one even from my living room, but I prefer to go into the high country, with a camp made, etc.... even for those who have it in our back yards it is an expensive proposition, let alone for those of you who choose to go to where the elk are....

we got to kidding around a couple weeks back, as I had called a nice 6x6 in for dave on the 17th of Sept during bow season.... and we figured it out to be right about $75.00 a pound when everything was said and done .... thats some pretty expensive meat... but too? how does one put a price on the experience that one has doing it, the calling, the bulls who come right in and are close enough to sniff your feet, and those who hang up, the bull stepping at the VERY last minute around a small pine and going behind you, and he is only 7 feet away breathing down your neck???? and you cant move... even if you wanted to!!!, that heck of a shot, hearing that certain "thwack" that say's it hit home... the heat the cold, the packing the meat out... (shooting it was easy now the work begins... to put the sneak on a herd bull, make a plan, follow it to a T, only to have a cow, blow your whole scene....
really for those of us who find this kind of experience beyond words at time, I'm not too sure you could put a price on it...

I look at the heads on the wall, and I don't think of money... I am instantly transported to that spot in time, I can take a trip at any time of the day or night just with a glance around my living room... and as time moves on and for those of us who are aging, or ill like my MS... in time that is all that I will have, but that will be enough, yes expensive !!! your not just a woofin, but priceless in other respects.

Yes i agree priceless are the memories. This is why i complain. I want to be able to keep making these priceless memories. The problem is the cost of priceless is killing me. I love elk hunting to its deepest roots and i have to. I have been to colorado six times and have had close calls every year but there is always a twig or a swirl of the wind or another hunter. So i know priceless memories very well this is what i have payed for the last six years and will keep paying for as long as i can dish out the money. To me the meat will be a perk along with the tears that will probably come when i finally kill one.

your still a young lad... at 27 ( I looked at your bio to see where you lived), you have tons of years baring any problems to make money and live your dreams, it's hard for all of us in this rotten economy to live regardless of age or location, let alone do extra curricular activities, especially when you live in a non elk state, and or if you have a family just starting out too? that makes it even more difficult, money is so short, the dollar just does not go as far, buy as much, or have any stability right now, and I don't see that ending too soon, it's gotten better from this time last year, but that WHOLE year set me (don't know about others) so far back in debt, because it was an overnight deal... diesel was $6.00/gal with red dye at $5.50, that started a chain reaction over night with the price of everything from laundry soap to the price of a bale of hay, even a sack of grain doubled in a matter of weeks... I still have not recovered $ wise from it all, even when prices went down, others did not as the big stores took advantage that people still had to pay for toilet paper even though it doubled in price (as an example) you still had to by cereal for your kids, even though it had almost tripled in price ... some of those prices have remained the same...., the simple application of supply and demand, I don't blame anyone, we all created this country we live in, but if everyone in the WHOLE US, would go on strike for one day, stay home just one day all at the same time that held a job at any level, it would paralyze this nation and it would send a message that we as consumers just can't keep paying out like we are and still getting no-where, but lining someone else's pocket......and to complain? well it either falls on the wrong ears or a deaf ear...
can you imagine on that one day? everything at a dead stand still because no one went to work? no 18 wheelers on the interstates? no one needing a taxi in new york... you could not go to the store, there would be no one at the cashier station.... it would bring the country to it's knees financially .... just the amount of gas and diesel that would not be purchased nation wide on that ONE day would be STAGGERING and hit petrol companies hard!... these company's that supply us, need a wake up call, we have already had it paying their prices .... it's just too bad it will never happen... i feel for everyone that usta be able to kinda do what they wanted to for hunting and vacations, but people just can't afford it anymore.... I hope you keep going to CO for hunting... get your elk and love each bite you take... it truly is money well spent at least from my point of view..

Yeah I agree it has got to the point where you are only going out because you love the sport. It use to be the type of situation that it was an affordable way to get a freezer full of meat and do the thing you love but that sure has changed. In alberta they are just starting to be able to pay to access land which wasn't the case up untill now. Keep lobbying your politicians and hopefully we can stay off such a bad scene as hunting being a rich mans gig.

Let's not forget the bigger picture. Yes, there is inflation. The cost of operations for everyone, including our state F&G's. That alone has caused a major increase in prices. Another huge factor is the ever decreasing number of people buying liscences for one reason or another
(not including those that have stopped because of the price). We are losing our youth. They are dropping off like flies year after year. If we continue to turn our backs on that, their numbers will keep dropping off and F&G all across the country will have to keep increasing fees for those of us that continue to enjoy our passions to help make up for lost revenue from decreased liscence/tag sales. Less hunters means less money. We need to be dilligent in recruiting new hunters. Both young and old. It isn't the only reason prices are so high but, it is a HUGE factor. One that we have the power to do something about. Therer are alot of kids out there that don't have anyone to show them. Stop and think of your neighbors. I bet each of us can think of a kid down the street that would jump at the chance to go learn about the outdoors. It can transform them and you and it only helps our cause.