CA Elk Tags for 2008

[DAWG]

As a max point guy, I would rather see fewer combined hunts than more 1 tag hunts. 1 tag hunts make points worthless.

 

[snoopdogg]

Glass-Eye, you've been voted off of the Island--no more Tule's for you! LOL Your avatar more than compensates you for the next 10 years!

 

[soupr]

With max points I'm still waiting patiently. As long as I get drawn this year then no problems.
Good luck to all drawing/applying this year.

 

[mccoycoffee]

Hi Joe,

Can you give us an update on the Independence unit?

 

[DFGELK]

What are you requesting as far as an update? What type of info? Tags will be the same as last year and it is being evaluated for possible changes in the future depending on what the counts show over time. Let me know what you want and I will try to get it to you.

Joe

 

[Lurediver]

DFGELK, how did the San Luis Reservoir hunt do last year? I couldn't find any results on the hunt.

 

[DFGELK]

All the hunt results on in the big game booklet, on pages 38-39 it shows the hunts being offered this year, how many applicants last year, hunter success, the proposed tag quotas, and season dates. Pages 36-37 have more detailed applicant info broken down by max points etc. The hunt was good, 100% success with one killed on private and one on public. We added another tag to it this year as well.

Joe

 

[troutndeer]

Do the number of applicants for the different hunts stay around the same number, or do you have big jumps from one year to the next?

 

[mccoycoffee]

Re:Independence unit

There has been no harvest for the last two years. This had always been a rifle unit with 100% success and better draw odds, wondering if the counts were down.

 

[DFGELK]

The number of applicants are roughly the same each year, no real big jumps to speak of. They do fluctuate but nothing drastic. I do see the number of people with max points declining each year above those that draw a tag and lose their points. But the total number of applicants increases each year, above 26,000 last year

Joe

 

[troutndeer]

Thanks for the info!

 

[Huntr Pat]

People might as well hunt out of state with the cost DFG charges their residents. Why so dam expensive. $350 for a tule elk. Ridiculously to high. Every year they raise the prices. Totally bullshit. To much for my a retired military pension income. An average or $25 a year increase. Who can afford it let alone gas price to go out there to hunt it. Just venting. But its really to high and getting worst.

 

[DFGELK]

Here is the dilemma for California. We do not have a lot of tags to be issued and to actually pay for the program it must charge a certain amount or else they could not even fund the program and with no elk program no elk hunting. So it is either have a higher priced elk tag or no elk tags. The increase amount each year is fixed, all tags and licenses go up every year. That we have no control over and I personally do not like that rate of increase. All the money generated does not go directly into the elk program, licenses gets a lot, enforcement, etc. My budget is just enough to continue the hunt program. Counting elk with a helicopter is very expensive and I can not count everything I need to count every year, so I have to alternate what I count each year. We coordinate with deer surveys and choose areas that the helicotper will already be in, otherwise the cost to move the helicopter for one area for a day or two is some times more than the flight cost.
One note, good luck trying to hunt tule elk out of state at any price. We are talking about a species that was down to a handful of animals (literally probably 2-4 individuals) and thanks to conservation minded people is now around 3,900 in 21 separate herds, found no where else in the world! Capturing and relocating animals to start new herds is not cheap and could not have been done without some type of income to the Department and not all that income in the beginning was generated by the elk program. Nothing about capturing or moving an elk is cheap. California does not pay for damage caused by wildlife and if it did the elk program could not even cover 1/100 of the damge calls I get in a year. This is very important for tule elk because a large percent of their distribution is on private property. Many landowners are very tolerant and others are not.
Basically I think the cost of an elk tag is pricey but worth every penny to hunt elk in California. New herds of both tule elk and Roosevelt elk were started by not only small expanding subgroups of elk but major relocation efforts. Trading Oregon turkeys for elk (a very good trade any day of the week) to start new herds, moving tule elk to new areas of the state, etc. Also RMEF was a big player in helping with moving elk and elk studies. They have funded a lot of the projects that we completed.
One thing I have been thinking of is trying to decrease the cost of the elk tag (all tags or maybe just cows)but increase the application fee. If done correctly it could generate more income to the program and lower the cost of the tag. Not sure if they would even let me do that.

Joe

 

[snoopdogg]

Joe, we appreciate your efforts to keep the elk program up and rolling. I understand many of your obstacles you and your co-workers have to deal with and hope that with your new director, the new DFG commissioners, new legislation and the like will help us (CA) overcome these obstacles.

Thanks again for that and for you and Wildlifebranch being accessible to us on this forum.

 

[DAWG]

I'd have no problem, as a resident, paying way more for the bull tags and applications. Cow tags should be kept cheap, as it is a management tool. Still would be cheap compared to hunting elk out of state. NV is $1200 if you draw, plus who knows how many licenses and applications to get the tag at over $150 a try. I bet they take in on the order of $10,000 for every nonresident elk tag isssued! You have to figure on a minimum of $1000 just for the gas and tag to hunt elk out of state, and anything more just adds. In state would reduce gas costs. Hate to say it, but elk hunting is not for the poor unless you happen to live in a state like with lots of elk. You do not have enough tags here to really make a difference in hunter recruitment, leave that for other more common species. Just my .02, disagree if you want.

 

[DAWG]

DFGELK,

Seriously, consider giving nonresidents a reasonable shot at elk, antelope, and sheep tags. Something like 10% of the total. One tag each is a joke. Other game departments subsizize their cheap resident fees on NR application tag and application fees. Although CA does not have numbers of elk, the rare tule should generate interest. And desert bighorn, do I need to say more? Antelope trophy quality is as good as anywhere. Bet you could sell a lot more nonresident licenses if there was some sort of reasonable nonresident chance of drawing. CA has no nonresident caps on draw deer, but trophy draw deer hunting here really does not compare well to other western states, so draw deer tags do not get much nonresident interest. BTW, I am a CA resident, but do most of my big game hunting out of state. I feel we can all share. And it is mostly federal land these are hunted on......

 

[DFGELK]

The non-resident decision was not made by the Department it was some type of bill, despite what people think I really do not have much say in such things other than commenting on the bills.

 

[mccoycoffee]

Hi Joe,

Thank you for all you do for CA elk. Regarding the Apprentice Hunts, the max pref points for these hunts will be 3. Correct? Assuming points as a 12,13, and 14 yr. old and the last year eligible to apply is as a 15 yr. old. Is there a way to know the amount of max pref point applicants for the Apprentice hunts that offer more than one tag? Wondering how lucky my boys will have to be to hunt elk in CA.

 

[DFGELK]

You will need to check with our licensing branch who keeps track of that type of thing, but I think the max points would be 3, one when they were 12, 13, 14. but depending on when there birthday falls they could potentially have 4 but check with licensing (that is why we have them It gets confusing the way they state max points because Juniors (I mean apprentice) hunters can have max point for juniors but not for adults and I am not sure they separate that out. Sorry I was not much help.

Joe

 

[DAWG]

There was a bit of overlap, a kid born in May could have got oe more try than anyone else (apply late the first time after turning 12, early the fifth before turning 16). It has been chanhed to over 12 under 16 on one day now, so four tries at junior hunts is it. Not sure if this was changed enough years ago that a few elligible for junior hunts might have 4 this year, but it will be the last time for sure.