I guess I'm continually amazed at how folks look at money and hunting. A lot of folks pay $500-$1200 for a puppy, they'll spend $500-$12,000 for a dog box or trailer, $500-$600 per month for training. They'll spend $.33/mile for 4000 miles for a total of $1320 for the trip. They might bring $400 worth of snacks and drinks-not counting alcohol. 1-2 bags of $40 dog food will make the trip. 7 breakfasts at Denny's X $10 each is $70, and that's just breakfast. The truck they ride in is $40,000. They're wearing $300 worth of Cabela's clothing not counting the boots. Most are carrying a gun worth $400-$3000. They'll bring 6 boxes of shells that cost $22 each. They'll pay $54-120 per night for a motel room. They're happy to find a vet open on Saturday to spend $300 to have the barbed wire cut sewn up on Rover. All that and they'll complain about a $20.50 resident or $72.50 Non-resident hunting license that grants them the privilege to hunt on over a million acres of WIHA, 300,000+ acres of public hunting without having to ask anyone for permission all on a 365 day license.
To be fair, lets talk about the neighbors. An Iowa NR license is $123. A Cornhusker NR license is $101. An Oklahoma NR license is $142. None of those provide State land of over a million acres. Sure, some of the WIHA ground may be for ducks, some for deer, and some may be in a rotation that just sucks for anything in the current year, but Kansas is the standard that all other states aim for. I just find it hard to rationalize that "WE AS SPORTSMEN" are more willing to pay for the costs that don't directly support our passion than we are those that are critical for it! Yes, missing a year because of low bird populations can make buying a license for the last month and a half of the year seem a partial prize at full cost, but as long as you buy each year, The license you bought for the January part of last season is good on opening day of this season.
I've been buying licenses for about 40 years in Kansas. It has always been an annual license. Sometimes you have to pick challenges that you can win. Changing the license to a season license probably isn't one of those. Even yet, Crossing Shot, to buy a license in November for just the remaining part of the season is still only about $1.6 per day. As for new upstarts, the new 16-21 year old license we put in that costs $42.50 is extremely smart! Five years for the price of two is the right way to get them started in hunting! Gents and ladies, I'm not trying to step on toes or brow beat, but the license cost is a minimal part of your hunting costs overall and without it, we might be watching football instead ( and look at your Cox bill)!
