I totally agree that non resident tags should be somewhat higher.I have never hunted outside of missouri but have been trying for 4 years to get a wyoming elk tag.Its been a little dream of mine to hunt elk. personally the dream is starting to sour with the $200 worth of preference points.So if I draw a tag for 2010 I will have a grand total of $850 wrapped up in the tag alone. Kinda takes the fun away a little bit as then I feel pressured to take the first animal I might see over being able to wait for a bull.

So would the same logic apply to driver's licenses? Nonresidents purchase driver's licenses in the state where they pay taxes yet are free to drive all over Iowa's roads. Iowa doesn't have any tollroads so the taxpayers are paying for nonresidents to use their roads. What is the difference between a road and a state park?

So you pay $141 for MN, but this year a NR tag for Iowa (plus hunting license, habitat stamp, etc.) totals over $500. Why is an Iowa deer 4 times more expensive than an IA deer 2 miles apart?

And please tell me you're kidding when you suggest someone move to a state just to be able to hunt there cheaply. That is the most insane thought I've heard in a long time.

I grew up in Iowa and have hunted with my family there for over 20 years. The problem is they've raised the prices and changed the tag rules so that it is very difficult for me to justify coming back for the family hunt anymore. I'm not a trophy hunter and am just as happy with a doe as a buck. Why can't I just pay a reasonable amount (<$200) so I can come hunt with my family? There is more to hunting than just killing something. I enjoy getting out with my friends and family to go hunting. But I'm also not rich so that I can pay $500 just on license fees!

No. Apples and oranges. Roads don't appreciably deteriorate from out of state car traffic, and the economic benefits to Iowans of maintaining the roads for use by all outweighs the costs of uilding and maintaining said roads.

200,000 out-of-state hunters blasting 4-5 pheasants a piece would virtually destroy the flock. As would 100,000 out of state deer hunters. It might take a few years, but it wouldn't be long before Iowa was known as a very bad place to hunt.

The IADNR, at the behest of the representatives of the people of Iowa, have determined that we don't want game in Iowa destructively effected by an "open border" licensing scheme. As such, non-resident hunting has been limited by both higher than resident fees and severe limits on available non-resident big game tags. These measures, while certainly frustrating to ex-patriot non-residents, are in place to ensure that Iowa is a good place to hunt for IOWANS. Every other state does similar things for the sake of the residents of their respective state.

I guess it boils down to this, it is the way it is because the residents of the respective states want it that way. Iowa is a better place to hunt FOR ME, an Iowan, because people like you, ex-pat or otherwise, have to pay more to hunt in Iowa. The same is true for you wherever you live. I pay $141 to rifle hunt in MN because that's how much the law says I must pay. You pay $500 to hunt in Iowa because that's what Iowa law says you must pay. You have no right to the natural resources in Iowa, any more than I have a right to the natural resources of MN. If there is disparity, that's just the way it is. Iowa doesn't care to lower non-resident fees, and doesn't care that you chose to move out of the state when your family didn't.

You can throw yourself on the floor and throw all the tantrums you want, but unless you choose to move back, then it is the way it is. Just think, if you lived here you could petition your representative to work to change the law... but you don't, so sorry about your luck.

Mike

You know what's really gonna burn your a$$? I have a disabled vet lifetime hunting and fishing license. It cost me $5.50... and I'm forever exempt from paying the annual habitat stamp fee. Would you like my license to be valid in your state?

Mike

I think that Mike just wants to keep the non-resident rates as high as possible, so most hunters can't afford to leave thier state to hunt. And that was never the point of this thread in the first place. The point was, that a valid hunting license should be valid in any state. The non-resident tag fees and the draw would still apply. He just doesn't understand or he doesn't want to understand.

No, I understand completely what your point is, I just think that it's a stupid idea. If you really understood the obvious drawbacks to such an idea, you wouldn't support it, either. Unless you really are that stupid, then it simply wouldn't matter.

Mike

Why would that burn anyones ass? I would have no problem at all for a person that served our country to be able to come to my state on your $5.50 liscense and hunt or fish. You men and women helped to preserve our freedom, so that I am able to enjoy the great outdoors & it's resources. Mike, I want you to go back and read your last post. Do you see how bitter you sound? Nobody is trying to steal your deer away from you, nor are they wanting to hunt for free. Thank you for your service, but you sound like a jerk.

A lot of what was said before maybe might have been posiable in the early years...........like the 60's and 70's. But now days, states realize that Whitetail hunting is a money maker, and they are going to cash in. Espeacialy in the midwest. Hunting Whitetail, espeacialy big Whitetail is quickley becoming a rich mans sport. And I really hate useing that phrase. The way I was raised, we hunted to eat, period. Yes, I love to hunt big bucks, but I put a lot of doe meat in the freezer.