Don't blame Wyoming or other states for fee increases or reducing nr tag percentages. Demand is high currently and they are taking advantage of it. But just because demand is high right now, doesn't mean it always will be. Taking full advantage of demand, without great thought or care about the future, and trying to reproduce continued interest and demand down the road should be the goal. Not just capitalizing on current trends, which could backfire long term. There needs to be a balance that's beneficial for all parties involved or there will be bigger issues down the road.
Compounding problematic risks and future recruitment shortfalls seem inevitable. High costs for something that is not annually enjoyed, or even enjoyed once every decade in some cases, will lead to discontentment and disinterest. How can it not? It'd be like paying up front for your kids to play sports. But they had to apply for ten years to be able to actually get a chance to maybe play someday. With all kinds of changing rules and regulations in how they apply and shrinking opportunities because of high demand. It'll eventually lead to the number of people and the diversity of people shrinking, in an already small demographic of the population, to only the extremely highly motivated ones being involved. Yeah, the demand will still be high, but the overall numbers of people per capita applying will have shrunk dramatically. That is not a good, long term strategy for recruitment or the viability for conservation or the preservation of the hunting culture or the American conservation model that we are now currently blessed with. When as a group of people, hunters are already under the microscope of scrutiny by the masses. And yes, the ones left applying 20 years from now will have to have the disposable income to pay for something for years they may never actually be able to do or get to fully enjoy. For a husband explaining that fact to a young wife with kids is comical to think about. It's about as blissfully ignorant as it gets to not see the writing on that wall. It defines the law of dimensioning returns or risk vs reward analogies. For an activity that has so many variables that can change over the course of time from when a coveted tag is actually drawn and a season opens. Again the risk vs reward for putting in for an 8 year tag and having that opportunity ruined by weather, fires, a pandemic, health, etc. Those 8 years of applying for points and paying fees are lost out the window if the hunt is a bust for some reason out of the hunters control. How many average Joe guys are going to keep risking that over a lifetime of adulthood, with so many other things pulling at a person, with way less risk and way higher reward? Recruiting less people equates to less pull in an ever growing climate that is controlled in the political arena where numbers matter in voting or voices being heard when there's an issue that needs more horses pulling vs a tiny minority of highly motivated individuals.
Use to be an avid waterfowl hunter. Now that void is filled with photography and am probably going to sell a mountain of waterfowl gear, decoys and duck boats someday because it's just more fun to be able to scratch that itch all year, with no limit on the number of images I can take and very few regulations and no licenses needed. Or competition from a group dominated by a$$hat downwinder's. Minnesota's one state waterfowl group shut the doors because of many reasons but as the numbers of waterfowl hunters got pushed into fewer and fewer areas, competition for good spots became constricted. Like a big funnel sloping down to a bottleneck of pressure on fewer spots. When a sport gets to a point where every time out is a competitive battle of crazy groups seeing who can outdo each other, that's not what I'm after in getting outdoors. It's to get away from type A flat brimmers with products in their beards, who get a jizz buzz out of beating other people, drinking monsters and fist pumping after every kill, with little to no respect for the critter they just ended. The optics on types who resemble pro athlete attitudes verses conservationists like Leopold is concerning. Not that all are bad guys, but many need to learn from people like Randy Newbird or Steve Rinella. We live in a very visual world, where perception is 9/10th's of reality. As Minnesota's waterfowl hunter numbers have fallen, so has the desire to help out with what's viewed as a dying activity. Support and fiscal dollars for conservation dwindles. Yeah, we all get that just because you aren't able to hunt out west every year, we should all still be involved and help conservation efforts. But how many out west guys support out east conservation efforts that are also important? There's no applicable knowledge or support for it, because it's so far removed. But in the end the same thing will be inverted and as that happens, political clout and support for conservation efforts when needed won't be there. Then when bigger issues come up that affect resident hunters in states out west, non residents who use to be involved, will be focused elsewhere. It's not that they won't care, but their attention will be diverted to something they could actually be actively involved with. Other than just a distant observer, hoping and applying for and funding something they can only take advantage of every x number of years. The writing is in bold letters on the wall.
There will be a trickle down effect felt by anything otc in Colorado, Idaho, even Utah's archery spike hunts. People will be looking for any opportunity. That will cause those states to have to adjust, and re-adjust. Only making the problem worse. As the slope gets slippery'er, less people will want to shoot cows for increased fees. There'll be more need from agencies to give landowners more control over more critters forced onto refuge scenarios on private land. Hence giving private holders more control over public wildlife on private land. There's and inevitability to it. We've been heading in this direction for a long time and it'll hit a head where state agencies will need to alter their thinking as to how much of the current conservation model is sustainable. With more pressure from more affluent private stakeholders and outfitters. Again, the writing is on the wall. Sucks, because the issue of crop depredation and refuge scenarios on private land could have a solution that took advantage of hunters wanting to shoot stuff and land owners wanting to get rid of critters, but that seems so far out of reach it's almost pointless to address. Even though both parties have seemingly what could be a symbiotic relationship that was beneficial to both parties.
There's still opportunity and probably will be for another decade, but 2 decades from now things will look drastically different as a lot of the grayhair's age out. Most states are behind the 8 ball and are reacting verses being proactive. Not really sure how they could be proactive at this point in time? Funding is a problem state agencies need to address. Other than using non residents as a cash cow. Understand nr tag fees have remained stagnant or the rate of increase hasn't kept up with inflation, but what about resident tag fees? Can't fund conservation by nr tags, preference point and application fees alone. When the perception is their being cut off at the knees in regards to tag fee increases and dwindling opportunities. Imo nr resident tags need to be a percentage of resident fees, so if a nr tag goes up, so do resident tags. But again non residents have basically zero voice. Pretty surprised there's not a non resident out west hunting organization fighting for non resident hunting rights? Schnitzilla there's organizations for everything else.