Iowa Tags

[trt sniper]

I know some of you posted earlier about a rumor that Iowa deer tags may go up. Looks like the rumor was true; $323 for the tag and you still have to pay the $80.50 and $8.50 for the hunting license and habitat fee. It is now posted on their website. They sure are proud of their deer. Makes it hard to afford a tag to hunt at those prices. Guess I need to move to Iowa!

[Zim]

Tell me about it. The big 3 (Iowa, Kansas & Illinois) are all going up at a fanatic pace. Wasn't long ago they were $50, then $100, $150, $300, now this. All 3 watch each other and keep the pace. Sad to see the commercialization of what used to be a tradition. That is the way it goes.

I live in Indiana. My wife served me with divorce papers about 2 months ago. We live 5 miles east of the Illinois state line. Guess what I am going to do?You got it! In 60 days I will be the proud owner of a crappy old trailer home and...............a $200 lifetime Illinois hunting license.............legit. Ha! I've already spoken to CO's in both states covering my ass. Gotta beat the system instead of fighting it.

After I get it I may very well forego Kansas & Iowa any more. Not worth it when I will be able to buy 2 IL buck tags for $26 apiece every year, plus be elligible for 2 slammer shotgun special hunts and 2 slammer turkey special hunts. It's the no brainer of the century. $26 instead of $500 + $2.75/gal gas money.

[trt sniper]

don't blame you one bit there. i live in missouri and they will sell a tag to anyone. wish i could move but the job won't let me. guess i could quit and just hunt

[kshunter]

I agree with the expenses. A lot of the states are going up quite a bit. Commercialization is taking it's toll in many states. Wyoming seems to be at the top, but others aren't far behind. It'll never be what it used to be. Kansas has some big problems and until Hayden is fired from being Secretary of KDWP, and our liberal governor is voted out, they'll continue to stay.

[midwest outdoorsman]

trt sniper,you didnt mention the fact that NR's if drawn will receive two tags for the money.One any sex and a mandatory anterless only plus the fact that you also get to upland bird hunt.The opportunity to hunt 2 deer plus birds doesn't seem like a bad deal to me as I like to try to make a trip out west every year so I can relate to the "high" price of fun.

[trt sniper]

don't get me wrong; i'd give up a arm or leg to hunt but paying an extra $100 to shoot a doe isn't all that appealing to me. both iowa and missouri have a high population of deer that they want to regulate a little.nr's can buy an extra doe tag in missouri for an extra $7. is the idnr really worried about the deer population or the $$$$$!

[jnrbronc]

ORIGINAL: trt sniper
is the idnr really worried about the deer population or the $$$$$!

Make no mistake, it is all about the MONEY. Currently the non-resident license quota is capped at 6,000. Since the IA DNR turned away about that many applicants last year, they want to raise the quota to 12,000. Only a matter of time......

[huntingdiva1]

We do have some nice animals here!

[hardcorehunter]

Me being a resident her IMO the worse thing to have happen was to have that 13 year old kid kill that world record deer here. DROVE the price of timber sky high and non -residents flooded southern IA and other parts of the state and bought up timber to hunt on. I just went to Colorado bow hunting last year and tags cost me just under $500 for an elk tag. Other states are high on non-residents and IA jumped on the bandwagon after that world record deer was killed. Now all the hunting shows on TVare coming here. I wish somebody would kill aworld record deer in another state so everybody would slow down their desire to hunt here and take IA out of the spotlight.[&o]

[buckhtr77]

Hardcorehunter------I know how you feel. Being from IL I wish some of the attention would get diverted from IL to say WI, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas. Ground here is out of hand.