Sale of Licenses is Down

Corn

Amen to that. Food for fuel makes no sense. Not only do you subsidize the fuel with your tax dollars, you end up paying more at the grocery store besides. The whole industry exists to create an artificial market. The support for it is taking a hit though, and with abundant NG and fracking, things could slowly change for the benefit of the land and the hunter. I hope I live to see it happen.
 
Another factor is the small town experience. Hunting kept some of the restuarants and motels open. Not sure they will be open some places next year.
 
More good news

First time in 75 years Mexican government will now let outsiders in to extract their oil. I checked the map and Mexico is pretty darn close. More pressure on the ethanol industry to slow down their nonsense. There's a serious amount of petro in Mexico. I'm gonna keep my truck after all.
 
Remember the 80s when farms were foreclosing and under auction. Mostly Indiana, Iowa and Illinois, but all states were impacted. That was part of the drive for CRP ... to remove acres from production.

Now land prices have skyrocketed, chemicals and fuel while a little lower now are vulnerable to large price hikes if the global economy rebounds ... and crop prices for the most part are lower because supply is long ... not much drought and other parts of the world are catching up to US standards.

If ethanol subs are pulled ... it could happened all over.

Ag is like most commodities ... cycles with large variations and while some cylces are BOOM, others are BUST.

Ag radio today was urging farmers and small town business men tied to Ag to call now to keep ethanol subs going.
 
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Uncle Buck said:
Another factor is the small town experience. Hunting kept some of the restuarants and motels open. Not sure they will be open some places next year.
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Totally agree with the motels. Cafes - not so sure.

Ag does help small towns employment. Implement dealers, car/truck dealer and sales, chemical sales, seed sales, elevator workers and general farm hands .... much more than hunting ....

Still it would be nice to see a balance.
 
BRITTMAN said:
Totally agree with the motels. Cafes - not so sure.

Ag does help small towns employment. Implement dealers, car/truck dealer and sales, chemical sales, seed sales, elevator workers and general farm hands .... much more than hunting ....

Still it would be nice to see a balance.
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I think everyone in the state that makes any kind of income off of recreation, will feel the pinch.. Motel had 1 truck in it Saturday night that looked like it was hunting, with a kennel and a 4 wheeler in the back.

If you are in the sporting/recreation arena, about the last thing that you want to ever do to your participants, is give them a reason to try something different..

Old habits are hard to break.. I think they will feel the effects of the downturn in license sales for a long time to come, irregardless of whether the pheasants come back or not.

17000 non residents would be the 6th largest city in South Dakota.

Personally, I was torn about buying a license this year.. But, Im close, and also have a cabin to stay in whenever I want to go. Even still, it took some deliberation to take the plunge.. With that said, I have no regrets about buying the license now. and another one this week.. I wasnt so sure when I hunted opening weekend and never fired a shot..
 
BRITTMAN said:
Totally agree with the motels. Cafes - not so sure.

Ag does help small towns employment. Implement dealers, car/truck dealer and sales, chemical sales, seed sales, elevator workers and general farm hands .... much more than hunting ....

Still it would be nice to see a balance.
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Agree re balance. The small town retail---other than the local gas convienience, watch's all the local cars drive right by if there is a bigger town nearby. The cafe get's the morning coffe drinkers, but not enough to survive without the out of stater bonus. Motels get funerals and a few weddings. Most of what you mention above can no longer be founs in the size town I am talking about. The grain handling business is getting bigger. You should see what was built a mile from my house. Yet there is not one retail business in Lyons---too close to Sioux Falls. The new grain complex has closed at least one smaller elevator already.
I guess I'm talking about small towns west of Sioux Falls, Aberdeen Mitchell Huron etc.
 
All a person has to do is look at some of the small towns in Iowa, after the pheasant population took a puke, you go through them and there are a lot of small cafes, bars etc weren't able to hold it together after the non-residents quit coming.
 
canthitathing said:
All a person has to do is look at some of the small towns in Iowa, after the pheasant population took a puke, you go through them and there are a lot of small cafes, bars etc weren't able to hold it together after the non-residents quit coming.
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You wouldn't be talking about Rick's in Barnes City would you?
 
still remembering waking Rick up for breakfast, he looked so comfortable on the pool table with a roll of toilet paper as a pillow-----those are thing that make memories and stories.:cheers:
 
I do feel bad for the small business that feel the pinch, but on the other hand, it's good to see hunters talking with their pocketbooks. If hunters keep coming despite all the landowners ripping out tree rows, plowing grassland, and draining wetlands, then what's the incentive for them to stop?
 
dead pheasants forever said:
I do feel bad for the small business that feel the pinch, but on the other hand, it's good to see hunters talking with their pocketbooks. If hunters keep coming despite all the landowners ripping out tree rows, plowing grassland, and draining wetlands, then what's the incentive for them to stop?
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Loss of hunters is not an incentive for farmers to stop drain tiling, burning sloughs and tilling sloughs and eliminating CRP acres. Many farmers drive to the larger towns to shop anyways.
 
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