etw

Corp of Engineers recently decided to charge $100 to bowhunt deer on the property surrounding a local lake. Frankly it sticks in my craw. Am I overreacting? Your opinion...

adams

Over reacting, not at all.
This is truly federal land? What the hell are taxes for? Crap like this infuriates me[:@].

Jorgy

This is becoming more common. I've never had to pay to hunt on government land, but there are places popping up over Colorado that I have to pay to go fish (using access road) It sucks, and as the years roll on I think it will be pretty common when they figure out that people will pay

wihunter402

I agree with you Jorgy. As more and more hunters and fishermen pay then more governments will charge. Once they find some people will pay for somethine everyone will be forced to pay. []

Almost seems like double taxation?!?[:@]

logs

I can see a reasonable access fee for the users but it should be in line with say, National Park passes. No more for sure. Maybe even a Federal land stamp for Nation wide use to cover roads, bridges and fire protection etc. I have no problem with paying my way but this should provide more than what we already get for the tax money we pay. Direct investment into those lands.

The thing that jerks my chain is land locked BLM land. That is total BS. These ranchers or land owner get to use the land that is in part mine and every other Americans and they deny us access. I believe there should be some rule in place to ensure that anyone who has grazing rights, timber rights etc, on land locked BLM land must provide a public access. Let the Feds cut the road in the appropriate place in coop with the land owner but no one should be able to lock up Public land under any condition.

gutshot

I hunton a peice of land that belongs to a city for a watershed and when it first opened they charged 5.00 per year to use the land. After a couple of years it was determined that it was unconstitutional for some reason and now they don't charger the fee anymore. But the down side to that is that now the city doesn't stock the lake anymore.

WThunter

Where do you hunt? I heard the same thing about the national forest in east Texas.[:@] A guy told me it was going to be Type II which is $48/year. I don't like it if it does happen but I will pay. I don't see how the state can charge for Fed. land.

etw

This is the Georgetown Lake Project. Approx. 2000 acres surrounding the lake proper. They issue 120 permits, splitting the hunters into two groups. One groups hunts mon-thur the second groups fri-sun October, then rotated in November. Yes this is federal land! Hunters are selected : 1.) must have passed hunter safety course. 2.) pass a 10 shot archery test at 3D McKinsie deer targets. (The targets are provided by a local archery club.) $10.00 non-refundable application fee. The Perfect 10 scores are "drawn" first, then the 9's, if any permits are left the 8's are drawn. Must score 8 out of 10 to even be considered. Well over two hundred archers apply each year. Not more than 1 stand per archer. $10 bucks is reasonable, that kicks in over two grand to their coffers.

benhuntin

$100 seems awfully high. The Federal Refuge by me charges $15 for a hunt permit. I heard it was for maintenance of the hunt check stations and all other associated costs
for allowing hunting. Everyone else, (hikers, bicyclist, etc.) gets in there free.

trapperDave

I will not pay to hunt on land that is mine[:@] We bought that land with the taxes we pay on hunting equipment!