They dont restrict the amount of ten day licenses you can buy, so in effect, they do offer a season long ability to hunt.
And what would you think would be a reasonable fee for a season long license? That is the ultimate question..
no problem, one more drought year and continued piss poor WIA's and the SD experience will no longer be the value it once was.......so, my real question is, who stuffs the $1.1 million in their pockets?.......tell me who NEEDS this money and what it is used for!!!!! this is bullshit! i am calling G&F Monday and will rip their ass!
I don't like to spend more than I have to on anything but as a non-resident hunter $120 or 110.00 Big deal. Minor when you consider gas prices, hotel, food, beer, ammo and so forth. As long as the money is spent towards the fish and wildlife of SD I have no issue with the increase. :cheers:
i agree, but i am damn suspicious where a sudden windfall of a million dollars is headed....never heard a peep about their budget being one million short?
i smell fish......they didn't have the balls to raise resident prices.
Read the posted article again--costs to run the GF&P have risen 18% since the last increase in fees---EVRYTHING costs more today than it did a few short years ago and I'm not opposed to an increse in resident fees too. Face it---costs will continue to increase not just in SD but every where and the SD GF&P has to operate from fees charged to sportsmen, it's not just hunters and fishermen. Snowmobile owners pay a fee to use the groomed trails in the state and there is talk of a fee on ATV's and other off road users. Mt Rushmore was to be a free place forever--it still is except to have to pay to park your car there--they- will always find a way to offset costs. For those of us that want to hunt birds or to fish or anything else--we are going to pay for it and a lot larger percent too.
I wish it was not so---but it is and will not get better--enjoy the bargan while you can. :cheers:
I have asked this question many times to those who say.."EVRYTHING costs more today than it did a few short years ago" as a justification for just about everything there is that keeps going up in price. Like this is just exceptable. Do you take the same approach when our government keeps spending to stay afloat? I bet not. Then I don't except it when GF&P sticks it to us either. Why do they not have to tighten their belts and make cuts just as any other program? Why is it exceptable to allow them to spend away...but that same approach isn't exceptable to heating assistance for the poor and elderly? I'm apposed to any increase in hunting and fishing costs. They only serve to help dwindle the numbers of us hunters. $1,000 season long license costs...WTH? Then to think that driving away the crowds would be a benefit to the sport...NO it would only be a benefit to the current generation who has the capital. It would be the demise of many. They would be forced from the sport. Too much me, me, me here IMO.
Read the posted article again--costs to run the GF&P have risen 18% since the last increase in fees---EVRYTHING costs more today than it did a few short years ago and I'm not opposed to an increse in resident fees too. Face it---costs will continue to increase not just in SD but every where and the SD GF&P has to operate from fees charged to sportsmen, it's not just hunters and fishermen. Snowmobile owners pay a fee to use the groomed trails in the state and there is talk of a fee on ATV's and other off road users. Mt Rushmore was to be a free place forever--it still is except to have to pay to park your car there--they- will always find a way to offset costs. For those of us that want to hunt birds or to fish or anything else--we are going to pay for it and a lot larger percent too.
I wish it was not so---but it is and will not get better--enjoy the bargan while you can. :cheers:
So just what is the answer? Freeze everything--make due with the funding you have--or better yet cut it 50%. Have state employes (GF&P) drive the truck we provide--but due your own maintenance as there are no funds to do that--if it breaks down completely then use your private car or walk. You could always just suspend all hunting and fishing--camping and other things the GF&P supports--then you could take the money saved by shutting them down and apply it to your favorite other government program.
I don't have the answer--but it's a cold hard fact that everything that anyone needs, be it a goverment agency or you and me, costs more every day. Some days I'm glad that I'm 65 and won't have to watch the demise of public hunting as we know it----get rich or find another hobby because this one is on it's death bed. Woke up this morning feeling good--think I'll go take a long nap
I'll agree with you Jim, I don't want to see public hunting go away but at the same time. There's a ton of fat that could be cut from GF&P's. Hunter and fisherman have ALWAYS pulled their weight. It's about time some of these RVer's, bikers, hikers, birdwatchers, Etc. started picking up more of the tab. Every time they raise the cost of this sport, many draw the line and go take up something else. Each time, you have those who only give a rip for themselves that say hurray!!! more for me. When really each time that happens. we loose voices and voters that help support and empower us at the poll's. GF&P's can make cuts just like everybody else. We can't raise the price forever and ever...because soon the end will come. When there's just not enough people doing it to even have hunting weigh in come time for decisions with CRP vs Big Ag for example.....it will be plow it under and drill baby drill.