My opinion might suck but here's how I see it.

Colorado residents should have to kick in a bit more because we get over pretty good. The animals might be state owned but the public land is not. But it would not be fair to live in a area and never get to hunt out your back door so to speak. OTC might suck at times but at least you get to go hunting.

Non residents suffer in the draw and pay a good price to play the game. It should have always stayed a 50/50 draw on tags that require points to draw. That would have been fair. But then again there's states where we would have to wait in line to draw a tag in their state.

Money. It's all about money.
A ski lift ticket for just one day on the low side is $70
A movie night with the family $100
A nice dinner with your special doe $50 on the cheap side
The amount of ammo you spent on the range for your super mag $100 if you got trigger happy.

In Colorado we don't even pay 10% of what the non residents are paying for tags. Not really fair on that point either.

Suck it up and be part of the stewardship program. If elk tags were $1000.00 for residents I guess I'd save up and still go elk hunting every year. Might cut down on Mcdonalds big macs but elk is healthier. We blow that much money every year on junk.

I'm not too upset about the increasing permit costs. What I regret -- not pissed off about -- is that in my unit in Colorado first rifle season is now bull elk OR cow elk, but not either. I used to be able to buy an either sex tag and shoot whatever I happened to see -- a cow or a bull. This year I bought a cow tag. What if I only see a bull elk? I suppose they have a good reason for doing that, but that I find disappointing. If I pay 20% more for my tag now or even 35% more for my tag than I did 10 years ago? I'm not pissed, though I may regret that. My money spent on an elk license is the best money I spend all year. I think about what it would be like if I lived in France or Germany or Italy or England. Would I have hunting like I have in the United States -- like I, as a Texas state resident, have in Colorado? Think big picture, man, big picture. It could be worse.


I would add that I am not a trophy hunter. The experience of being in the high mountains (11000') in mid-October, sleeping in a canvas wall tent, wood stove heating the tent, and hunting elk is what it is all about for me. I don't measure my satisfaction in my hunt by the size of the antlers of the bull elk I kill. I'm actually happier to take a cow elk than a bull (lighter, no antlers to saw off or to lug back to camp, meat tastes better), but so far I have taken 2 bulls and 1 cow in 8 seasons.

The rub is that they have been ONLY going up for nonresidents. However, there is a bill in the current Colorado legislature (senate I believe) that could raise resident fees and allow for annual raises.......... If this happens, then I will stop complaining because it becomes a level playing field. But I will believe it when I see it. It failed to pass on an attempt last year.

You do understand that even though state fish and game agency's may be funded by "license fee's", that is just another tax, be it resident or NR. I shake my head at those that say a state game and fish is funded by license fee's, not tax dollars. Some state agency's are only allowed funding from the fee's they collect thru licensing, like here in Montana, but those are still tax dollars from us the tax payer. Montana has lodging tax and fuel tax that can be paid by a NR hunter, but little else. So before griping about fee's, especially here in Montana, remember there is no state sales tax, which could add 5-10 percent if you were to add a sales tax. So that bag of groceries you purchase here, no added tax, the guided hunt you purchased, no added tax, the beer you bought, no added tax, ect....

Here is the Bill. Looks like it cleared the Senate and is headed for the House:
https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/defau...8a_143_ren.pdf

Yes, tag fees could be called a "users tax". You only pay it if you hunt. However, though we may not pay a tax on groceries when we hunt there, we give money to the grocery man, the gasoline man (there are taxes there wherever you buy it), the outfitter, the beverage man, the hotel man, and more. All Montana businessmen who rely on our dollars. But you are right that hunting in Montana does cost a bit less in actual taxes. So that makes the $1041 big game combo tag price slightly better, but just not my cup of tea!