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Montana MSG Results

Fronting the tag fee argument is silly. So you trade off "conservation" dollars for the animal you want to hunt for better odds?

Does the guy with $125 deserve a tag more than the guy without, for an animal held in trust for the people? Why not make it a $1,000 or $5000? A poached sheep is worth $30k, so we know they are worth at least that much to Montana. Lets weed out the riffraff and raise some real conservation dollars. :D

I was curious to see the difference in totals of fronting the money vs application fees and did some quick math. I couldn't find my old MSG regs from the 90s/early 2000s to see how many apps there was. I do remember applying for the best odds in the 90s pre points and it was like 7% for a few units, but most were still stupid low. I remember writing $75 checks, and getting $68 back. My $7 conservation dollars were put to work!

F&G has stats from 2006 to current. In 2006 the department netted about $22 per application including tag sales, point fees, and application fees, etc. once added up. After dropping the requirement and raising all the fees, the department received about $52 per applicant in 2022. Your odds are worse because there is 134 fewer sheep tags issued in the drawing now than there was in 2006. I won't get into draw odds, much, but for draw tag odds (ewe and rams) in 2006 is was 1.6% (total draw tags/total apps) in 2022 it was 0.6%. If you were putting and keeping sheep on the mountain and using 2006 tag numbers and 2022 applicants your odds were just over 1%. Fronting the money didn't really do much for your odds. They are astronomical any way you look at it. Even limiting NR to the units they could apply for didn't change much.

One thing that's clear is the "conservation" dollars and effort spent on the big three sure haven't resulted in more animals on the mountain. As a matter of fact if its a metric, its having a negative effect. I think there is fewer sheep tags issued this year (same as last) than there was in 1984. BTW, MT killed the fewest number of rams last year (98) in a really long time. Worrying about who gets a tag to shoot the scraps should be the least thing to worry about. I'd do goats and moose but its the exact same story, maybe worse.

Good luck in the draws! :D


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Maybe someone needs to start a Montana FWP bighorn sheep mismanagement thread. Just add it to the list.
 
Montana fwp doesn’t advocate for wildlife. There is a sheep population they gave up on. It’s still here in spite of mtfwp. Everything MTFWP does puts the boot right to the throat of wildlife, they justify it by can’t control the weather, talk to your commissioner, this is what the people want, the data isn’t showing that. The best one I heard was the animals didn’t die they just migrated and couldn’t make it back. That came from a game manager. They don’t have a clue or don’t care that Montana is swirling right down the toilet bowl.
 
Montana fwp doesn’t advocate for wildlife. There is a sheep population they gave up on. It’s still here in spite of mtfwp. Everything MTFWP does puts the boot right to the throat of wildlife, they justify it by can’t control the weather, talk to your commissioner, this is what the people want, the data isn’t showing that. The best one I heard was the animals didn’t die they just migrated and couldn’t make it back. That came from a game manager. They don’t have a clue or don’t care that Montana is swirling right down the toilet bowl.
I seen that sheep population you are talking about last week if im thinking of the right one
 
What are you going to do when you draw the tag? If you can’t afford it upfront, can you afford it when you draw? I understand the sentiment but I don’t think it holds much water
If you've ever been barely getting by, you'll realize that there is a difference between paying for a once in a lifetime chance to hunt moose, versus loaning the state money for a couple of months that you could definitely use for food or rent.
Of course times have changed from the 80s, when I was struggling with a young family. Nowadays everyone has credit cards, so they'll all front the money anyway.
 
In my mind's eye, the entire cost of the license need not be fronted. It would be an application fee of say $50 for residents that is non refundable. The funds collected go to managing that animal.

Life is far from fair. I agree that hunting should be available to as many as possible. On the big three, the cost of the hunt will exceed the cost of most hunts, since there will be some sort of taxidermy work likely.

There is a lot of hunting available to the person up against it. Deer, pronghorns, and often elk can be hunted on a modest budget.

There is a subset of hunters where hunting is central to who they are. To the extent possible, I think really hard to draw tags should go to hunters who take hunting very seriously.

Some one will get lucky and draw, likely not me or you.

I'd wish everyone good luck, but that would hurt my chances...now wouldn't it?
 
Montana does not give a shit about your draw odds and never will.

More applicants means more money.

They will do whatever brings more money.
I thought the legislature set the tag prices?

Must be the reason why resident tags are so cheap?
 
I thought the legislature set the tag prices?

Must be the reason why resident tags are so cheap?
What is your argument? I don't understand what you're getting at and how it relates to my post.

I was responding to the people who think Montana should go back to making NR front tag fees so their odds will get better because it reduces the number of applicants.

I don't think Montana cares for the argument that it will increase draw odds.
 
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