WY NR license increase

D_Dubya

Active Member
Aug 8, 2012
452
970
South Texas
As much as I agree with Dub, I'd gladly pay $800 extra to keep from sitting on the sidelines for 3-5 years.

I don't think it will work as a deterrent.

More than enough guys will just pay extra and keep going.
There’s no shortage of people willing and able to pay; I’ll pay the higher price too. I might even benefit from this, I have a bucket list elk hunt booked in the Thorofare in 2025, with this scheme I won’t have to worry about drawing that tag. I can afford to keep hunting, but my means are not the point of my disagreement with the premise set by this change.

Many of us on this forum would be able to keep paying higher prices, to the point where demand truly dropped and the most well off would have great hunting all the time, the plebes would still be allowed to camp and fish some beaver ponds in the summer, maybe.

This disparity is on full display where I live in Texas, if you can afford a good lease (and you have to know someone to find a good lease in the first place) the hunting is fantastic. I would hate to see the great Western hunting tradition start trending that direction.
 
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Rich M

Very Active Member
Oct 16, 2012
758
566
There’s no shortage of people willing and able to pay; I’ll pay the higher price too. I might even benefit from this, I have a bucket list elk hunt booked in the Thorofare in 2025, with this scheme I won’t have to worry about drawing that tag. I can afford to keep hunting, but my means are not the point of my disagreement with the premise set by this change.

Many of us on this forum would be able to keep paying higher prices, to the point where demand truly dropped and the most well off would have great hunting all the time, the plebes would still be allowed to camp and fish some beaver ponds in the summer, maybe.

This disparity is on full display where I live in Texas, if you can afford a good lease (and you have to know someone to find a good lease in the first place) the hunting is fantastic. I would hate to see the great Western hunting tradition start trending that direction.
I can imagine TX has been leased and ranched for so long, seems like you would need to be born into a decent lease. We had some like that in FL - the starting price was $7,500 per person with a 2 buck deer limit, turkeys and hogs. A lot of those leases are gone now - the land is getting developed. We have lost so much huntable land in Central FL, it is staggering. All developed to feed, house, clothe, etc. the 23+ million folks here on the peninsula. This is a gorgeous old oak tree I saw while doing an on-site contamination review for some of that property. It is on the nature preserve side of the imaginary line, and that gives me some peace.

Oak Tree.jpg

The next 10 years or so will tell a different story than what we are seeing happening right now.

It must be said that we have no more room for more new hunters right now. That's obvious with the quota points, the folks wanting to limit the playing field by eliminating the NR, folks saying they will triple the current license fees and us saying OK we're going anyway. TX is leased up, FL hunting is primarily 3-day quota hunts every 3 years, GA is leased-up, SC & AL leased up. We got nowhere else to to go once the west dries up.

The west is the last hurrah for many folks. Local hunting opportunity is poor so they turn to the western hunts. Once those are out of reach... The mass of guys heading west is a "sign" of things to come. The wave of hunters is a reflection of how bad things are in local areas.
 

buckbull

Veteran member
Jun 20, 2011
2,124
1,293
Midwest is all leased up as well. I have outfitters on 3 of the 4 sides of my property. 2 of the three are decent but 1 is a real asshole. Very little public land in the midwest as well so that drives some of the traffic to the west.
 
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buckbull

Veteran member
Jun 20, 2011
2,124
1,293
And every plate I see at the outfitters are from Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolina's.
 

Naturebob

Active Member
Feb 28, 2016
185
132
67
phoenix, az.
I can imagine TX has been leased and ranched for so long, seems like you would need to be born into a decent lease. We had some like that in FL - the starting price was $7,500 per person with a 2 buck deer limit, turkeys and hogs. A lot of those leases are gone now - the land is getting developed. We have lost so much huntable land in Central FL, it is staggering. All developed to feed, house, clothe, etc. the 23+ million folks here on the peninsula. This is a gorgeous old oak tree I saw while doing an on-site contamination review for some of that property. It is on the nature preserve side of the imaginary line, and that gives me some peace.

View attachment 41514

The next 10 years or so will tell a different story than what we are seeing happening right now.

It must be said that we have no more room for more new hunters right now. That's obvious with the quota points, the folks wanting to limit the playing field by eliminating the NR, folks saying they will triple the current license fees and us saying OK we're going anyway. TX is leased up, FL hunting is primarily 3-day quota hunts every 3 years, GA is leased-up, SC & AL leased up. We got nowhere else to to go once the west dries up.

The west is the last hurrah for many folks. Local hunting opportunity is poor so they turn to the western hunts. Once those are out of reach... The mass of guys heading west is a "sign" of things to come. The wave of hunters is a reflection of how bad things are in local areas.
I just moved from 45 years in Arizona to S. Carolina . Sickening how land is not huntable here. Hunt Clubs and deer drives with dog . Absolutely hate it . wheres the public land . This is America....................BOB!
 
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Rich M

Very Active Member
Oct 16, 2012
758
566
I just moved from 45 years in Arizona to S. Carolina . Sickening how land is not huntable here. Hunt Clubs and deer drives with dog . Absolutely hate it . wheres the public land . This is America....................BOB!
I was on a lease (no dogs) in SC one year. You'd be surprised at how few decent bucks get shot in front of dogs, they side step em.

Start applying for the quota hunts, the island hunts in SC, GA seem to be a lot of fun - most folks who go want to go again.

You can also head up into the mountains - the deer will be in pockets and you get to find em. ;) I hunted the mountains in GA a couple of times - some areas are truly steep and the deer like to bed up on the ledges and lips, looking down. Found that out after a rare snow in GA, the tracks went straight up the side of the mountain - I was like, nope, not doing that.
 
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