Is chasing Wyoming permits worth it?

[Bighorner]

My wife’s family lives in Wyoming and I’m still not sure collecting points is worth it. It has dawned on me that I may only even get to hunt there once or twice in my life even with the easy access. For non residents it’s almost more financially sensible to just drop a butt ton of money on a once in a life time thing with a outfitter tag.

I think this is where the private land any antelope tag shines and is a good compromise to a directly transferable land owner tag system. It seems like the private land tag types are becoming more common each year.

 

[Zim]

It might seem like a dismal situation with all the point schemes nowadays, but you can probably expect many states to modify their point systems to attract new applicants and keep everyone in the game. It might be worth it to keep applying even if it seems hopeless right now.

Almost every relevant state has already done this in the past 30 years, starting with NM in like 1995. The next one to fall will be Colorado in 2028. But at least they gave us 3 years advance notice. After that I still expect will be Nevada. Been trying to burn a stock pile points there on low demand units for a decade, without luck. I fully expect to get left holding the bag there, but not for lack of trying. Nothing we can do about it.

 

[sigpros]

I don't know the answer but at some point people will quit buying points I think. Like now if you are a young hunter and you buy points for 5 years to go on a general elk hunt it is probably 50/50 if you want to wait another 5 years for a general tag. Going twice a decade will get old at some point as the older guys age out. Heck I'm 46 with 9 Wyoming deer points and have no idea what to do with them. I am just invested in the game enough it is hard to just quit buying them. Or it could swing the other way and people keep buying points with no plans to even start looking at hunts till they get a dozen or so points.

 

[Trike23]

I don't know the answer but at some point people will quit buying points I think. Like now if you are a young hunter and you buy points for 5 years to go on a general elk hunt it is probably 50/50 if you want to wait another 5 years for a general tag. Going twice a decade will get old at some point as the older guys age out. Heck I'm 46 with 9 Wyoming deer points and have no idea what to do with them. I am just invested in the game enough it is hard to just quit buying them. Or it could swing the other way and people keep buying points with no plans to even start looking at hunts till they get a dozen or so points.

The entire hunting atmosphere in the west is mind boggling. We are seeing anti out of state movements for all species across all spectrums. The states don’t want average working class men and women hunting in their states. That is clear and evident despite what anyone says. The idea is to cater to the ones with the deepest pockets and those willing to hire outfitters. Mostly it’s just turned into a money making scheme. I’m just not sure that is the best idea when hunting culture in general is dying. We lose more and more hunters every year. Where things are headed is pay to play for everything.
Not saying it should be NO limits on none residents at all either. It should be. The points systems and price of tags though basically feel like extortion. Not actual extortion of course, nobody is breaking any legs. Emotional extortion though I’d say yes.
The threat is basically Pay us now for maybe over a decade or more or watch your bucket list dream go down the toilet.
I would have to imagine it has already backfired on them In a lot of ways. When you are young you have dreams but no money. You get older you get a little money but now your 40 thinking, my goodness I’ll be 60 before I draw this tag! Not to mention then maybe give some outfitter an additional 6-20k. Or just DIY it with little to no actual elk hunting experience. Not everyone is like me where I’ll come out and just go to go with no tag. At the end you are wrapped in maybe up to 50k to MAYBE kill ONE elk
Let me tell you guys something. I think something that is lost on a ton of western guys. You can kill a BOAT LOAD( not a exaggeration.) of whitetails on DIY hunts in eastern states for what it would cost to kill one elk in Wyoming and many other western states.No draws, no points, Just buy a license (which is usually like 100 bucks.) have a set limit of deer you can kill, in many cases thats all but infinite in antlerless deer. The value for a HUNTER, not a ego antler obsessed maniac, a man or women who just loves the outdoors and loves to hunt period, is NOT there in the west. You may not get the bluffs and vistas of the west but you are hunting a very abundant species at a reasonable price. I expect to see the value of whitetails in the east just continue to climb and western states just to continue to diminish. Not that one is better then the other but from a purely financial standpoint.
We visit my wife’s family every year in the summer in Wyoming. I fish, I hike all over anywhere I want to go and it cost me what the fishing license cost and I LOVE Wyoming. It’s becoming a second home and it’s talk of relocating eventually. So, it’s not a bash on the state at all. Just a observation as a average blue collar solid middle class middle aged guy who has done basically EVERYTHING in the outdoors except for western hunting and offshore fishing.

 

[J.G.LI]

Im cashing in my 6 points this year while im younger, healthy, and have time to who knows what next year will bring!

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

I think somebody needs to adjust their Adderall dosage.

 

[cgasner1]

The entire hunting atmosphere in the west is mind boggling. We are seeing anti out of state movements for all species across all spectrums. The states don’t want average working class men and women hunting in their states. That is clear and evident despite what anyone says. The idea is to cater to the ones with the deepest pockets and those willing to hire outfitters. Mostly it’s just turned into a money making scheme. I’m just not sure that is the best idea when hunting culture in general is dying. We lose more and more hunters every year. Where things are headed is pay to play for everything.
Not saying it should be NO limits on none residents at all either. It should be. The points systems and price of tags though basically feel like extortion. Not actual extortion of course, nobody is breaking any legs. Emotional extortion though I’d say yes.
The threat is basically Pay us now for maybe over a decade or more or watch your bucket list dream go down the toilet.
I would have to imagine it has already backfired on them In a lot of ways. When you are young you have dreams but no money. You get older you get a little money but now your 40 thinking, my goodness I’ll be 60 before I draw this tag! Not to mention then maybe give some outfitter an additional 6-20k. Or just DIY it with little to no actual elk hunting experience. Not everyone is like me where I’ll come out and just go to go with no tag. At the end you are wrapped in maybe up to 50k to MAYBE kill ONE elk
Let me tell you guys something. I think something that is lost on a ton of western guys. You can kill a BOAT LOAD( not a exaggeration.) of whitetails on DIY hunts in eastern states for what it would cost to kill one elk in Wyoming and many other western states.No draws, no points, Just buy a license (which is usually like 100 bucks.) have a set limit of deer you can kill, in many cases thats all but infinite in antlerless deer. The value for a HUNTER, not a ego antler obsessed maniac, a man or women who just loves the outdoors and loves to hunt period, is NOT there in the west. You may not get the bluffs and vistas of the west but you are hunting a very abundant species at a reasonable price. I expect to see the value of whitetails in the east just continue to climb and western states just to continue to diminish. Not that one is better then the other but from a purely financial standpoint.
We visit my wife’s family every year in the summer in Wyoming. I fish, I hike all over anywhere I want to go and it cost me what the fishing license cost and I LOVE Wyoming. It’s becoming a second home and it’s talk of relocating eventually. So, it’s not a bash on the state at all. Just an observation as an average blue collar solid middle class middle aged guy who has done basically EVERYTHING in the outdoors except for western hunting and offshore fishing.

Ya shout it from the roof tops. Gotta make my government loan this morning