FHL $150 annual fee

[Huntr Pat]

:mooning:Are they fiiiiinnng crazy. Conservation fee $66.00 Activity fee $84.00 Two day fee $75.00:smiley_doh:

 

[spectr17]

Holy mackerel, nice leap in annual fee. BOHICA!!!!!

 

[solus]

I checked last night and it said $100 on the website...wow!

 

[Uncle Bambi]

I just left there today, and the check-in guy was telling me about the increased fees. Between that, gun registration, and Gibb hall going to $134/night, they're probably not going to be making as much money.

The base was practically deserted with regard to hunters. Gibb Hall and the campground were nearly empty....... on Memorial Day weekend.

 

[ltdann]

With those kinds of fees, they won't make ANY money because nobody's going to pay that. FHL is not THAT good.

Besides, since when was MWR in the business of making money.

I would not pay $134 a night for gibb hall, the place is a dump.

Time to make an ICE complaint to higher HQ. They're charging Non resident fee's, and for what?

 

[wtpops]

If you only hunt it 2 or 3 weekends a year then its kind of high, but for some one like me that lives 1 hour away and hunts FHL 10 to 15 weekends a year its still a good price and it is the best public land around for me, plus i use a bow so the firearm registration is a mute topic, I stay in Paso Robles when i hunt so the room cost is mute also, but i do feel for you guys that travel far to get there and can only make the hunt a few time a year.

 

[Uncle Bambi]

If you only hunt it 2 or 3 weekends a year then its kind of high, but for some one like me that lives 1 hour away and hunts FHL 10 to 15 weekends a year its still a good price and it is the best public land around for me, plus i use a bow so the firearm registration is a mute topic, I stay in Paso Robles when i hunt so the room cost is mute also, but i do feel for you guys that travel far to get there and can only make the hunt a few time a year.

I live 160 miles (3 hours) away. I bought my pass last year late, in November, and managed to get in 4 hunts and 2 pigs, so I'm happy.

I'll pay the $150 - I won't like it, but I'll pay it. Gives me something to do on the weekends, and I like being there. Even if I don't score, I just like being out there and seeing all there is to see. I don't mind the registration, and where else can I combo hunt pigs in the morning and quail during the day (in season!)

I won't pay for Gibb Hall, though. I'll either resort to camping, or else stay in the Hacienda or King City.

 

[Bobaloo]

If these extra fees result in reduced hunting pressure, that alone makes it almost worth it.

 

[CaliJeephuntr]

If you only hunt it 2 or 3 weekends a year then its kind of high, but for some one like me that lives 1 hour away and hunts FHL 10 to 15 weekends a year its still a good price and it is the best public land around for me, plus i use a bow so the firearm registration is a mute topic, I stay in Paso Robles when i hunt so the room cost is mute also, but i do feel for you guys that travel far to get there and can only make the hunt a few time a year.

If you feel the permit is of value to you then $150 dollars is nothing.

However, for me, I think it's ridiculous and wrong what they did. To me there is no value in the $150 dollars from the hunting aspect.

1) You're only able to hunt the weekends over the course of the year, when you are still at the mercy of base training causing area closures.
2) The hunting on the weekends has gone down due to all the weekday hunting, and closed area hunting.
3) You have to have your gun in the case while driving on a dirt road, in your hunting area. I can go with no bullets in the magazine, but in the cases if still a tough one to accept.

There are some other things as well, but, the point is that they seem to be doing everything they can to drive hunting away from the base. $150 dollars is a huge increase in fee's when management seems to be making the hunting worse. While it is a training base, area closures were one of those things that people accepted. But now an area will be closed on the weekend even though it was hunted by someone during the week.

Justifying $150 dollars is a tough pill to swallow.

The only thing that makes me even consider it is my friends, and being able to hunt with them. But that's all.

 

[Uncle Bambi]

2) The hunting on the weekends has gone down due to all the weekday hunting, and closed area hunting......

......... But now an area will be closed on the weekend even though it was hunted by someone during the week.

please tell me more about this..... who is allowed to hunt during the week?

 

[CaliJeephuntr]

please tell me more about this..... who is allowed to hunt during the week?

Military, DoD, base employees...and guests. There is no more break from the hunting pressure.

 

[Uncle Bambi]

Military, DoD, base employees...and guests. There is no more break from the hunting pressure.

No shit - really? This is bad news.

 

[Huntr Pat]

If you work on the base you are allowed to hunt Soldiers & civil employess during the week. I'm a retired Army and pay reduce fee hunting lic Disbl vet. and they took away those fees. I make peanuts for medical retirement salary. now it really put a hole. I hunt only deer then maybe a few time during the winter. Not sure what will happen.

 

[Superduty65]

This reply is just a rant and I'm still going to pay the fee for me, my wife, and son to hunt deer and elk but it will be much harder for me this year even being active military. Just to be clear, I'm only bitching here and understand how it works in the military, I've been doing this for 18 years. I am only voicing a frustration.

It will cost me $300 just in base hunting permits not including licenses and tags for deer and elk. I just think the new MWR/MCCS mindset is more about gouging us and making as much money off of us as possible instead of giving us a special privilege at a nominal fee. A few of our Sergeant Majors at Camp Pendleton are trying to fight this exact type of thing right now with MCCS. Marines don't even call them Marine Corps Community Services, they've nicknamed them the Marine Corps Crime Syndicate lol.

The price hike is going to hurt a lot of people, including many active, retiree's and veterans, and disabled veterans. I just calculated how much the base possibly raked in (using an assumed average), just in big game "draw" hunts and it came out to be about $260,000.00. Keep in mind, the vast majority of that would have been pure income because most of those who entered the draw didn't even hunt the base because they were unsuccessful in the draw (you have to pay the fee to even apply). That does not include what they made from the pig hunters and bird hunters. They must have easily cleared well over 1 million dollars from the hunting on base in one year.

Is it possible they are putting that back into the hunting and fishing program? I don't see it. If the same amount of people hunt the base this year as last year, they would easily clear what would appear to be well over 2 million dollars! It could be much more than that. I just have a hard time swallowing this new MWR/MCCS trend of price gouging us.

***Disclaimer*** Numbers are not official*** I generated my numbers based off of last years big game draw statistics and played it safe by averaging about $75 per hunter. (General Public payed $100, and military payed $35 and $60). I hypothesized that more General Public hunted than military by a small margin. That's how I got my assumed average. Someone with a bigger brain I'm sure will pick this apart.

---------------------END OF RANT--------------------------

 

[ltdann]

+1. That's exactly my feeling. The DOD folks have to pay $150 for the privilge of applying for a draw. The state charges $8 to apply for the elk draw and only successful draw hunters will need to pay the $150 fee (on the civilian side). It's rape, pure and simple.

 

[cali-carnivore]

As a comparison this is the same as a season pass for a type A wildlife area. They should have an active/retired military discount though since this is military land not public land.

 

[ltdann]

The Fort Benning MWR "charges $31 for hunting. The combo fishing and hunting fee is $37 for military. This is wrong.

 

[Huntr Pat]

All concerned military should multiple complaints to fhl concerning outrageous permit increase by morale support

 

[1USD]

I'm not gonna pay that..

 

[cali-carnivore]

It was $10 at ft. Stewart in 90. When I returned from Iraq during the first excursion delta even let us fly free, oh how times change.