new colo $15 refund fee for 2016?

[dan.kirkpatrick]

whats up with Colorado?just read that there will be a new $15 fee for app or tag refunds?they just upped there non-res app to $40 per point just a couple years ago from $27 previously?now this if I read it correctly would now make a refund and point now cost$55 ???anybody else catch this?

 

[HighDesertSage]

I personally believe this is a good thing and it only applies if you are turning your tag in. At least Colorado offers refunds, most western states do not. People, especially residents, would draw high demand tags and wait until the day before the season opened and go turn the tag in if they had not found an animal to their liking. CPW would restore their points, (if points are restored they do not refund a tag, but at $39 bucks who cares), and the tag would go to waste and that same applicant would rejoin the applicant pool the following year. I believe this is CPW's attempt to help mitigate point creep, but maybe I am way off here. Maybe Oak can chime in. I personally witnessed this exact thing happen with 2 coworkers this year who drew deer tags in unit 2. Here's the link: http://cpw.state.co.us/refunds
In regards to the $40 point fee, Residents and NR are subjected to the fee if they did have any kind of hunting, fishing, big game tag the previous year. So if you are only building points in CO, and not hunting every year, then you are subjected to a fee for every species applied for, rather than just being able to build points for free. Considering states like Utah and Arizona make you purchase a non refundable hunting license just to apply, and states like Wyoming charge for $50 for an elk point, I do not believe Colorado is out of line with the current system set up the way it is.

 

[Jerky]

Thanks for the link. I've gotta say that I would support a higher fee to discourage the waste of a tag.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

am I reading it wrong? does this $15 dollar fee apply if you put in the draw and don't pull the tag?obviously ill want my money back as Colorado is a full upfront non-res fee state?

 

[Jerky]

You're reading it wrong.

It's not an application fee or a preference point fee.

This is only for turning in a valid tag that you have in your pocket.

 

[Kiwi]

Pretty sure the $15 refund fee only applies if you draw a tag and want to return it and get your tag payment back.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

Ok ,,sounds good,,i thought they were tryin to throw an extra fee on top of our applications just to get the money back.