This has sure been an interesting thread to follow with many different ideas and thoughts on what to do. What I really see underlying everything though is that these tags and the applications for them are really tickets to dream. And if you are lucky and/or persistent enough, you can actually make your dreams come true eventually.
My wife buys a lottery ticket once in a while when the jackpot gets really high. I don't think she really thinks that someday she will hit it and we will be rich. But she does seem to get some enjoyment just from being able to dream about what it would be like to win.
I prefer to put my money into hunting tag applications. I stand a much better chance of being a winner in one of those, and for me, the dreams themselves partly justify the costs. I wish I would have entered more States earlier, but I look at it as both an investment in future hunts and a chance to dream in the meantime.
Jacks investment of $10,000 sounds crazy at first glance, but if all but a few hundred is refundable is not quite as bad. Most of us won't go anywhere near that extreme, but to put out 2 or 3 thousand knowing most of it comes back can be possible.
I'm a banker, and I have seen the trouble people get in with credit cards, so don't take this wrong. But if you had one card that you used only for tag applications, paid the interest on the money while the Game & Fish departments held onto it, it might cost you a hundred or two each year in interest to play that game. The key is to make sure to pay the balances off when the refunds come back. If you don't think you will do that, don't even try this game.
It all boils down to how bad do you want to do it. Like Ray said, I'm glad not everyone does, because the fewer people in the better my chances. But if things like this are important and you really want to do it someday, don't sit around thinking you will do it when you get older. It takes time, planning, money, and persistance to make your dreams happen.
Topic: Giving Up a Dream, What to do? (Read 5531 times)
