O/U

www.wildlife.state.co.us/

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gobuffs

Fisherking, that is what I was afraid of....Glad to hear you've got a family full of Buffs, all wise beyond their years. I grew up in Grand Junction, kills me to have to pay $470 to hunt elk out of my cabin at Trout Lake, but it would be worse to be unemployed I guess. Just wish I could get credit for paying taxes in Colorado for the 32 years I lived there!!

gobuffs

Fisherking, that is what I was afraid of....Glad to hear you've got a family full of Buffs, all wise beyond their years. I grew up in Grand Junction, kills me to have to pay $470 to hunt elk out of my cabin at Trout Lake, but it would be worse to be unemployed I guess. Just wish I could get credit for paying taxes in Colorado for the 32 years I lived there!! Theres a big difference between $30 and $450......

DeerKing

I guess I’ll throw my two cents in here. First, a lot of people think the reason the DOW is giving you a chance to get a cow tag in addition to a bull tag is to draw the non-residents back to Colorado. There is some truth to that much not much. The reason CDW is offering a second tag is to stabilize the increasing elk population. Next, The prices now for a bull tags are now in line with most other western states so what's the complaint? It’s like you were stealing for all these years and you just got caught! Now its time to fork out the money like you’de be paying elsewhere. And I think its the only state where you can still buy a guaranteed over the counter bull tag, correct? Yes, a lot of nonresidents stayed away last year because they were “boycotting” the increase in prices. You think that hurt the economy? Overall it probably had a smaller affect than you’de think. According to which stats you read, the nonresident turnout dropped about 35-40%. Now you figure that the non-res licenses fees about doubled and the DOW actually made money! Yes some small businesses were hurt but as a whole the Colorado economy was affected very little. Lets face it, the wildlife agencies in every state are a business, they are in it to make money. They will do what they have to. Colorado is in a very fortunate situation with a growing elk population and there are not a lack of people that will continue to come here, even if tags were $1,000. They know they can have 1/3 of the nonresidents shop elsewhere and still profit. They projected they would lose a lot of business (hunters) initially when they raised the prices.....it happened but eventually this will increase quality which will in turn bring back enen more people, especially after nonresidents try other states and likely will not have the success as they are use to in Colorado. The fact that the average hunter has a far better chance of getting an elk here than anywhere else just because of the sheer number of elk we have will keep people coming back regardless of price. Don’t you think the DOW knows this? I think the cow tag this year is just a tool to keep the population somewhat steady, but the DOW would like the population on the high side of course. We as hunters probably don’t think the DOW is managing the wildlife all to well (quality), but as as a business they seem to be meeting there objective (quantity) which equates to money. The DOW realized way to many people were coming here and eventually the elk population would take a dive and residents would complain more than they are now. To keep elk numbers high (which is where they make the biggest portion of their money) they would have to limit the hunters yet still make money. To do this they simply raised their prices. Non resident hunters stayed away, profit still went up, and the population of elk still increased (of course the lack of good hunting weather didn’t hurt either), thus the reason for the extra licenses. Game Over, DOW wins!

O/U

THANKS DEERKING. IM SORRY THAT I EVER POSTED THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE. REMEMBER-THERES A BUTT FOR EVERY SEAT!

LETS GO SHOOT SUM FEATHERS
THE DUCK STOPS HERE

DeerKing

O/U
You don't have to be sorry, the main gist of your topic was about the extra cow license which is true. Residents and nonresidents should find this enticing. I wasn't slammin' anyone, just given my thoughts on the topic.

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RuRu12

FYI - Idaho sells over the counter bull tags. They are limited in number and sold on a first-come first-serve basis.

txhunter58

You are right of course Deerking: Game over, DOW wins. Even though we as nonresidents provide almost 70% of license revenue, we do not have a voice. I don't think it would have been so unpalatable if they had raised resident prices even a little bit. As far as total license revenue brought in, I think the DOW is still down from what they would like. Yes they did take in slightly more than the did the last year, but this was down from before they limited deer tags. Therefore they are not back up to their previous revenue levels.

I think you may be surprised that nonresident numbers do not rebound to pre-increase levels if they continue to raise the prices every year, which it looks like they will do. I know several people who did not go this year, but were considering going back next year until they heard that prices were going up again. They are considering applying for a cow tag though. The only way I believe numbers may come back up is if the cow tags do succeed in getting nonresidents to come back.

Hey, I'm just glad they are lowering the cow tags. Now I can afford to bring my 18 year old son with me. This dog will take any bone he can get, and cows eat great!