Pheasant Tag?
Here in Minnesota the pheasant population is pretty weak due to CRP land going back into production. While brainstorming some ideas on how to get more habitat, we thought of the pheasant tag.
Tags aren’t anything new to sportsmen and women. We have deer tags, turkey tags, bear tags, sturgeon tags, etc. In the south they have alligator tags. One thing all game animals under the tag system have in common - they have flourished.
Purchasing a pheasant tag is key in obtaining solid management data. If we had a tag for every bird we have a better approximation of how many birds are harvested, where, and when. Most importantly, tags would provide a source of funding for public land dedicated to pheasant habitat (not arts, museums, or other urban entertainment).
Pheasant tags would work similar to the bonus deer tag. You need to have at least one on your person while hunting, they have to be purchased 24 hours before you hunt, and you need to register your game. With a tag system you get what you pay for; if you only plan to shoot two birds then you only buy two tags. If you’re an avid hunter you buy more. Those who use more of the resources put more back in. The tag could be as simple as a zip-tie like tag with a number on it that attaches to the pheasant's leg. Putting a barcode on it would allow for the use of a phone app to quickly register your game.
In 2013 there were 62,000 pheasant hunters who harvested and estimated 169,000 roosters. That equates to 2.7 birds per hunter. With numbers like that pheasants are a rare commodity. If we had a tag system that equates to 3 tags per hunter. At a cost of $3 per tag that could generate $507,000 in revenue for pheasant habitat, at an average cost of $9 per hunter. That’s about the cost of breakfast at the diner for one hunting trip.
Hunters who frequent game farms are already accustomed to paying $20 a bird. A $3-$5 tag is a palatable investment into the future of Minnesota pheasant hunting. If you went out and got your limit of birds, is it worth $10? Absolutely. We should not feel compelled to leave the state in order to have great bird hunting. Moving to a tag system would empower Minnesota to invest in quality habitat, provide data that leads to better management, and quite possibly make Minnesota the destination for outstanding pheasant hunting.
What do you guys think? Crazy idea or something you could get behind?