[drake]

Originally Posted by shooter

Chuck,

I think you have some valid points in what you say and I see where you are coming.

Our current system and rules have flaws and issues. Although $150.00 for "trophy" tags and a lesser fee for others certainly puts a separation between class of sportsmen right out of the gate which I'm not a fan of. Keep the costs the same across the board IMO.

I like the proposed increase in the application fees. As it stands right now $4 is a cheap price to pay and I can see that if a higher fee of $10 or $20 was initiated, the amount of bogus applications would be reduced. Without knowing how many dogs and cats and aunts and uncles and antis are applying, it's hard to determine what actual affect it would have.

Maintaining the current license fees but making it mandatory to purchase them prior to say July 31 would be enough incentive to weed out many of the broad stroke applications. If not purchased by that deadline, that quota would be put back in the pool and become part of the available under-subscribed license. Purchased or not the initial applicant looses their priority unless due to medical or unforeseen circumstances.

I personally feel that today's sport hunting is an expensive way of putting good meat on a table. The cost per pound of meat for the most part is very high in my experience. By the time fuel, transportation, gear, butchering and licensing fees are accounted for, it would cheaper for most to buy meat at Costco! My point being that an increased in costs of licensing may not have much impact on sportsmen and women when licensing fees already and still would be one of the least costly components of the hunt.

There are for sure issues with the length of time required to pull some draws. My main issue being areas that will never be available at this point to my children in particular but also hunters that are lower in priority. The 408 or 437 sheep draws are both great examples of mathematically impossible areas for anyone not in the first two priority brackets. This is a draw new hunters will never be able to experience, and that doesn't sit well with me because they are mathematically eliminated from that draw. Yet if you look through the draw summary reports year after year people still waist $4 on applying for the pipe dream.

Change is needed! I'm all for it and also willing to pay higher fees if that were to help improve our opportunities as sportsman and women. Like I said before, the cost of the licensing and it's process is by far the smallest expense I face to enjoy my time in the woods.

Really well put