ORIGINAL: AK Jeff
ORIGINAL: SouthDakotaHunter
ORIGINAL: muley699
BS, It is not based on fairness, it is based on supply and demand. If you can front the cash, you have just as good of chance as the next out of state shmoe trying to get a tag. Heres a thought, why should any tags be set aside for non-residents when there is a limited resident draw? Why the hell should somebody from out of state even be allowed to put in for a moose tag, when residents can't even hunt them w/o special draw?
Why shouldn't a non-resident have at least a slim chance to come out and hunt on US Forest service land in MT for a hard to draw tag/hunt? After all, isn't Forest Service land in MT just as much mine as it is yours?
I guess all the land in the western states must be private or state owned land??
Ummm...they do. Non-residents can apply for the MT drawings just like residents. The real difference is the tag costs them more.
What you people keep failing to realize is that land-ownership is completely irrelevant in this argument. The game animals are owned by the STATE that they live in, and those states can choose who can and can't consumptively use their resources. It doesn't matter if the animals areon Federal, State, or private property they're all owned by the STATE. That state is really no different than a business owner. They have a commodity to offer and a certain inventory that they can dispose of. They set their pricing based on the market so they can maximize their revenues from the finite amount of game that can be harvested. Lower resident tag prices are really no different than employee discounts that many businesses offer. They're just incentives to keep the constiuents happy. People from outside pay full retail. It's that simple. It's not based on anything even remotely close to fairness. It's all business. State game departments need to maximize their profit margins from the tags they sell because that's primarily what funds their game law enforcement, research progams, educational outreach, etc. They're not going to cut back their programs because somebody is butt hurt that non-resident tags are expensive. Reality is that most states probably wouldn't even offer non-resident tags if they could generate the same kind of revenue from just their residents.
Yeah, I realize that's how game is managed and such - was just making the point that much of the game in western states is on federal land, just an interesting point I think when people are saying I don't have a right to hunt there. And honestly, I don't mind paying more as a non-resident, cause a non-res is going to pay more in my home state too. What irritated me was someone making a comment that just because I'm a non-res, we shouldn't be able to apply for draw tags in their state and the reference to non-residents as a schmoes... IMO - that's just a stupid and rude comment, period.....