Idaho, Montana hurt from fewer nonresident hunters.

[spectr17]

We do have some power with the dollars we spend on our hunts.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/aug/30/landers-idaho-montana-hurt-from-fewer-nonresident/

 

[sancho]

this year, my group sent out $$ to idaho.

next year..who knows?! maybe Montana!!!

i admit..the Idaho Fish and Game offered great customer service.

 

[RoosterKiller]

I last hunted Idaho in 2008. They are asking way to much for to little. Now that they can manage their wolf poulation i may go back . I'll watch the elk poulation and see. In the meantime I am hunting utah.

 

[Bossbrott]

I now support CO DFG, NV DFG, and am letting loose of the tradition of dumping money into the CA DFG, they get their $$$$$ from the HSUS.

 

[FTTPOW]

The friends that I hunt with from Montana advised me to save my money and not apply for Montana this year. The local elk herd is so low from wolf depredation that they didn't even have any close encounters last year. The FW&P raised the Big Game Combination license to over $900. Now non-residents need to pay more for fewer opportunities to fill tags. My only options were to either sacrifice my license fees in order to continue hunting with these friends, or go to a non-wolf environment to have a chance of filling a tag. My only hope is that the wolf management plans work and that the elk rebound before I'm too old and decrepant to take advantage of it.

 

[Sigma]

The friends that I hunt with from Montana advised me to save my money and not apply for Montana this year. The local elk herd is so low from wolf depredation that they didn't even have any close encounters last year. The FW&P raised the Big Game Combination license to over $900. Now non-residents need to pay more for fewer opportunities to fill tags. My only options were to either sacrifice my license fees in order to continue hunting with these friends, or go to a non-wolf environment to have a chance of filling a tag. My only hope is that the wolf management plans work and that the elk rebound before I'm too old and decrepant to take advantage of it.

+1 When residents are headed out of state, you think there might be something wrong? With all the wolf pressure, I think Cameron Hanes would have trouble in Montana. Why mess with it?

 

[sagebrush]

A lot to digest in that article. Game departments throughout the west are having a hard time raising the money to fund their budgets. They will have to get creative to figure out how to do a better job with less money and figure out a better way than just trying to fleece the non-resident hunters. Pricing models show that at some point price increases lessen demand and actually generate less revenue. I think ID and MT have reached that point. I think hunters that have chosen ID and MT as their destination previously ought to look into buying wolf tags as a alternative. You still get to hunt in the state you like and you will be helping to get the elk and deer populations back. Until those states can offer a better hunting experience, they are going to lose non-resident dollars. That's the nice thing about being a non-resident hunter. You can choose where you want to spend your money.

 

[sancho]

A wolf tag is 30 something bucks in Idaho.

 

[Orygun]

Well Montana, you just found out $944 is more than consumers are willing to pay for the experience.The market says it's too much. Most of Montana is the same time/distance from home as where I hunt in CA. For a reasonable non-resident fee I would gladly make the trip east.

I am thinking if you went back to $600 or even less for the combo license you would increase sales. And even if you didn't make enough with increased sales you would certainly boost dollars spent in the towns that hunters travel to or through. Which would increase tax revenue that would get back to the state.

 

[FTTPOW]

A non resident wolf tag in Montana is $350 plus the license. A Big-Game Combo is now over $900. It looks like Montana still isn't interested in thinning the wolves by non residents.