How much are you willing to pay?

[larrysogla]

I did not realize that this was an application fee for a drawing, I was of the wrong impression that this was an actual access fee and not a drawing(lottery) fee........whereas the Camp Roberts hunting fee and the Fort Hunter Liggett hunting fee are actual ACCESS FEES.......NOT DRAWING FEES(as in a lottery????). The Lake Berryessa DRAWING FEE is in a whole different ball game.....this is a CHANCE drawing to access the Lake Berryessa hunting area. I did not realize that this was a drawing fee (especially for the unssuccessful drawing applicant)......for the very few successful drawing applicants it is OK....but for the huge majority of drawing applicants who will not be drawn....this is just like a lottery where the huge majority do not win. I still appreciate very much the efforts of Marc(DFG Bear) to give access to the wildlands area of Lake Berryessa and I thank him for that...........but the DFG as a hunter promoter organization supported by hunter revenue is very, very short in promoting the hunting agenda. Marc I thank you personally for your efforts......but IMHO the Camp Roberts and Fort Hunter Liggett hunting fees are just ahead of the game in promoting hunter access and are actual ACCESS FEES AND NOT DRAWING(LOTTERY) FEES that will give access only to a few at Lake Berryessa but collect from everyone applying. I am still grateful for whatever hog productive lands that are offered to the public..........but it begs the question as to why the DFG which is supported by hunter revenue is not able to offer more than just a lottery collection system to the hunters that shell out the revenue dollars and support the DFG??? My comments are intended for the DFG as an organization as a whole and not for any one individual or individuals.
'Nuff said
larrysogla

 

[easymoney]

larrysogla, my thoughts as well.
It sounds like a $25 dollar raffle on a private ranch administered by a public agency... And like most draws here in CA the odds are very slim at best. But, I guess as they say you won't know if you don't put in. Will be interesting to see how this all pans out as they work on it.

 

[larrysogla]

I like the idea of XDHunter..........a $5 processing fee for the drawing fee and then if successful, a $25-$35 dollar access fee. That sounds reasonable for a State agency supported by hunter dollars giving very, very limited access to a lucky few hunters but collecting from the huge majority of unlucky hunters. Marc, again I thank you for your efforts, I know you have to go with the flow of the way hunting politics have gone down in Sacramento.............but man, we have to vote for more hunter friendly State Assemblymen and women and more hunter friendly State Senators.
'Nuff said
larrysogla

 

[DFG_Bear]

surprising...

I appreciate all the feedback...more than I anticipated. I must mention, however, that I'm surprised by some of the responses. You are really willing to pay an access fee to hunt land that a DFG program (currently unfunded) can make available to the hunting public by essentially pre-paying an access fee on your behalf? SHARE legislation allows UP TO $50/hunter/day or $30/acre made available to be paid to a private landowner for opening the gates. I'm really surprised to see that some of you are willing to pay an additional access fee on top of that.

Good to know...

 

[Mr. Luckypants]

I think if DFG gets most of the money with this then this is how I would do it. The higher you pay the higher your chance of getting selected. But up to $50 only. Also, if you don't get "picked" then you accumalate a point for the next drawing.

So for $50 would get you on "top" of the list and if not selected another $50 and another drawing would put you even higher on the list.

Just as long as DFG gets most of the money. Oh use some this money to give free pig hunts to juniors.

 

[boarhunter67]

I agree with most of you that paying for a chance to have a chance kind of sounds like a raffle ticket system where if you win, you then have the right to spend more. For me, it would depend on the chances of being drawn and the hog population. I do appreciate them considering this instead of just hiring a federal trapper to go in and slaughter all the hogs the way they did in the Water District off of Enos Lane in Bakersfield.

 

[larrysogla]

Marc(DFG Bear),
First of all..........allow me to extend my thanks for your concern towards the hunting community.......BUT there seems to be a general confusion(myself included) regarding this so called "fee". I ask for your clarification.
My question: Is this a fee to apply for a drawing?......and if so, since this is a very limited number of 2-3 hunters per 2 day hunt and the applicant is allowed to apply for 6 hunting periods per application then the applicant has 6 chances of getting drawn (but the chances are still slim since there are only 2-3 hunters selected per 2 day hunting period).
My next question: If the lucky applicant to the drawing is selected for a 2 day hunt period, does the drawing application fee already cover the access fee? In other words the drawing application fee also covers for the access fee for the lucky hunter?
If $25 will cover 6 chances of getting drawn and at the same time it also covers for the access fee.......then I would say we are at least headed in the right direction(ALTHOUGH IT COULD GET EXPENSIVE for those who keep applying and paying the $25 drawing fee and keep failing to win a spot). I would say this is a boon to have a potentially productive hog area(due to the availability of water in the Lake Berryessa) made available to the hog hunting public even if the chances of getting drawn are slim. I would say $25 if it also covers the access fee for the lucky hunter.
'Nuff said
larrysogla

 

[Rmoor]

The original question Marc asked was how much would you pay to APPLY for a chance to draw a permit.
This would be the same as applying for elk, sheep, antelope tags and would cover admin costs for the drawing, currently $7.50 ea is what's charged for these apps.
Waterfowl apps are $1.25 for each day applied.
I vote for no more than $5 for the application fee if that included all 6 hunt periods.

Marc also stated that this is still unfunded to pay the landowner the amount mentioned in Marc's above post.
An Access Fee mentioned above could help cover those costs. Since these are unfunded the money has to come from somewhere.
So the second question should be, How much would you pay for an access fee if drawn?


Marc,

You may want to explain in more detail how the SHARE program works with the costs associated with it.
Where would the funding come from?

Rmoor

 

[g791]

$5 per hunt period
$25 for all six hunts

18 to 250,000 chance at getting a hunt ?

 

[bigmike]

$5 app. Fee
If lucky to draw....$50 would not be a bad deal. 5000 acres. Better be high Success! I hate to grive money away and get nothing in return!

 

[larrysogla]

Marc(DFG Bear),
You have a great idea............just needs more clarification........especially for a simpleton like myself.
Thanks for your valuable reply.
'Nuff said
larrysogla

 

[Mt Goat]

I think that $5 per application is fair. That comes to $30 for all 6 applications. Now if the chance for success to be drawn is high or if we retain a point per application for some kind of point system for a better chance at getting drawn the following year etc... Then I might be willing to pay $10 per application $60 for all 6.

Now if you were talking about opening up a pursuit/training season for running hounds in the Mountains I'd be willing to pay $500, and write the check with a smile on my face. I know this isn't related to your question BUT I figured why not keep trying to give my money away, lol.

 

[JNDEER]

Thanks for responding to my first question....One more

What happends to all of the money generated from this program? (which branch, what projects, etc?)

 

[DFG_Bear]

Marc(DFG Bear),
You have a great idea............just needs more clarification........especially for a simpleton like myself.
Thanks for your valuable reply.
'Nuff said
larrysogla

All,

Sorry for any confusion; I was trying to keep it simple, but in doing so I've probably made matters worse. OK, here we go:

The SHARE program currently has $0.00 in it's coffers. I'm willing to front some pig program money (revenue from us pig hunters purchasing pig tags) to get this program off the ground, only as long as we get a hog hunt on some private land. I was going to do this without involving the new SHARE program, but it sounded like a good idea to help out.

The money I'd front the SHARE program would pay the potential landowner an amount that we still are negotiating. In turn, we'd receive public access for hog hunting. Essentially, the SHARE program, using pig tag revenue as 'start-up' money, would pay any and all access fees.

As I've mentioned before, the SHARE program is unfunded. We (the department) cannot fund the program with general fund money. We need to come up with a way to not only fund this one project, but also fund future endeavors. We (the SHARE program coordinator and I) are toying with the idea of charging a fee for hunters to be entered into a drawing. The drawing will select two or three hunters for a single hunt period. The resulting funds will go back into the SHARE program to be used on future public access projects. One other thing: we should be able to use this money as a 1:3 match for Federal Grants, thereby making our money go farther.

If I can find two or three other ranches willing to let us do this with pigs, I'll fund those projects as well. I think that after a few ranches and a few hunt periods, the SHARE program could be self-sustaining and provide other hunts (beyond just pigs). I'll then wean the program off the pig dollars and find something else to do with it.

None of this is set in stone...it's just an idea at this time.

So here's a couple options (which I'll probably create another poll for):
1 - as I've currently laid it out, you could be charged a one-time per application fee which will put you in the drawing for up to six or eight hunt periods (price may be determined by this poll).
or
2 - we could charge a per period application fee, like others have mentioned (around $1.25 per hunt period, or as may determined by a later poll here on JHO).

I hope I've cleared things up. Oh, and by the way, as someone asked, the money from the application fees would be only used by the wildlife branch projects (SHARE program). We'll try to keep this money for its intended use, but I'm not the one who makes all the rules, just some of them. I'll let you know when we finally roll it out.

Marc

 

[feelinducky]

I would be able to pay either fee and be happy with the opportunity to hunt some private land with hogs on it. It is so diffficult to get access to any private land I think its a great idea. $1.25 like the waterfowl system seems real cheap for 1 period. I'd be willing to pay 5-10 per hunt period.

 

[Rick]

I misunderstood - I thought the question was about an access fee. For an application fee, I think $5 to $10 is okay, again - so long as there are hogs there regularly. I'm not talking about a guaranty - just a reasonable possibility of a shot.

 

[easymoney]

Marc,
Thanks for spelling things out very clearly, makes a big difference. I think most folks would pay a nominal fee to enter in a drawing that actually produced a hunt on productive land for a limited number of hunters at a time...

 

[larrysogla]

Marc,
That definitely clears up 99% of the confusion. Thanks for your efforts and creative ideas. Great program when it finally rolls out as it can lead to other land owners opening up there ranches to this DFG sponsored/created program. As we all know, public land hunting other than the Military bases are iffy on the hog population except the public lands with lakes on the property as permanent water sources. We thank you in advance for this proposal. I'll go for up to $25 per application PROVIDED this will cover 6-8 hunting period drawings for an application cost of $3-$4 per hunting period and will also cover the access fee. In other words, IMHO a plus for the California hog hunters starved for good public land hog areas.
'Nuff said
larrysogla

 

[Huntr Pat]

We already pay high fee's for our pig tags why should we pay more. Elk tags is sky rocketing for residents. Other States with high pig populations dont charge nothing to hunt them.

 

[betelgeuse]

Fund it with all of that hog tag money they have been collecting like you mentioned above. It needs to be used for something. As I understand it's just sitting around. I find it fitting that it be used for increased access for hog hunting. Hog hunters generated the revenue they should reap the benefits.

Now the part where I will raise some hackles:

IMHO hogs should be un-regulated. No tags required. They should be paying people to kill them. I think they do way more damage than people imagine. Especially for deer. That being said I know people enjoy hunting them.