Giving Up a Dream, What to do?

[Rick McGowan]

Nate, well I'll be the voice of reality(or negativity). As you know I have been applying for MANY years in Utah, for bison(and other things). They also pulled the "lets let them get a few points and then jack up the price", thing this year. Now I am faced with sending them $75 a year for a POINT or giving up on the money I already invested. When I started the odds were about one in 55, in 2006 they were one in 550. Look at the actual ODDS of you getting drawn, not when it is theoretically possible that you COULD get drawn, then multiply that times the $100, I know in some places the odds for getting drawn on sheep is one in several thousand. Its great to have dreams, but they need to be tempered with reality. I saw an interview with Mickey Rooney once, he said that when he was 16 he lost $1 on a bet, in the next 50 years he lost $8 million more trying to win it back! The other side of the coin is that by sending them more money, you are supporting this blatent ripoff, thats your call, but I will not send Utah another penny. It is $100 now, but its a certainty that the price will continue to go up and the odds will too, whats it going to be in 20 years? If NOBODY sent these ripoff states money, things would change very rapidly. I will buy the charity raffle tickets for sheep hunts etc.. but I won't personally support borderline illegal profitteering by states.

[Rick_H]

I was going to be a smart ass and point out that both of CA's senators are women, but it's a congressman whose behind that effort. Let's hope he is successful.

[Steve H.]

That legislation is going no where.  It is clearly determined in the courts that game is the property of the state.  I GUARANTEE you guys do NOT want the feds to manage game.  What a disaster that would be.  Think about all that coat tails with this and what you are asking for if you support this!  Think yellowstone wolf escapades for a reality check.

Nate, isthere nothing you want or would go back to WY for in a given year since you would have the license?  (That is where the $100 goes, towards a license right, or is it JUST a number on a piece of paper?)

[jon]

Nate,

"Keep you feet grounded in reality but always follow your dreams". I don't know where I first read that but I have always adhered to it. I went on my first mountain hunt in 1993 for elk. Since then, I have gone back as much as I could afford to. As time went by, prices have gotten out of hand and I found I could not go every year as I liked to. 15 years later, after much planning and soul searching, My wife and I have moved to Montana. It took sacrifice and a lot of luck, but we have pulled it off. I have a piece of property that backs up to the national forest and have already seen elk, bear, turkey, whitetails, and a ton of small game on the place. I'll be able to hunt elk out my back door. Dream fufilled.
My point is this: if I hadn't had the dream and acted on it(with planning and sacrifice) I would still be in Florida griping about the heat and humidity. Follow your dreams! I've always believed that the worst thing for me would be going to meet my maker with unfufilled dreams. Follow your dreams! Good luck.

[IB]

I don't think that Nate is so much worried about the political issues as much as "What We Would DO" Yes they play an Integral part, however casting them aside what would WE do??

[Orion]

There's no doubt that game agencies are socking it to non-residents, but we might try looking at it from their perspective.  They're caught between a rock and a hard place.  

On the one hand, state budgets throughout the country are becoming tighter and tighter as people don't want to pay higher taxes to continue to get the services they've come to expect.  This means that game agencies, along with other state agencies, are seeing no increases in their budgets or even substantial cuts.

On top of that, the local hunting populations aren't particularly thrilled with a lot of non-residents invading their ground each fall.  They lobby hard for keeping in-state hunting fees low as well as for higher non-resident fees, which they see as a way to reduce the number of hunters competing with them.

All of these views are rather short sighted, but they are reality.  Most state game agencies have little choice but to sock it to the non-residents.  Unfortunately, I don't think boycots by average Joe hunter will reduce deamand or prices.  There are too many folks with deep pockets to keep the current system in play.

[allanburden]

Nate, all I have to say is do not give up on your dreams.  One cannot know what the future may hold.  Even if you try your entire life, at least we live in a country with the opportunity to make our dreams come true thanks to the lives of countless armed servicemen and women throughout the life our our great nation.  So dream on, and I'll be praying for you to get your chance.

[Caranthir]

And we wonder why the number of young people entering our sport and hunting in general is declining. Hunting is not becoming a rich man's sport, it's already here my brothers. Money is scarce and hard to come by for a lot of us and these prices are just forcing more and more of us out of even trying for a dream hunt. There are a lot of other priorities in life that come before our hunting so dreams is all some of us will ever have.

[Rick McGowan]

Dreams are great, we all need to have dreams, but applying for a low odds lottery isn't a dream its a fantasy that you have no control over other than to throw more money in the pit or not. I spend a lot of time in Las Vegas and there are loads of people there, living their dream and sleeping on the sidewalk. All those hugh casinos that cost many many millions were built on dreams. If this was a matter of time before being drawn, I'd say go for it, but its not is it? The odds say that you will need to apply for several hundred more years to have a good chance of being drawn and thats if they don't get worse. Its good to have dreams, but have ones that you can actually work toward achieving, rather than just gambling on.

[Mark Trego]

Well put Caranthir. With the high cost of fuel and everything associated with it, the workin man has to face reality. The good paying manufacturing jobs that were once abundent are getting very scarce, thus people can't afford the hunts they have always dreamed about,sad but true.

[Steve O]

Don't give up.  

The good thing about WY is it IS a true preference point system (for now).  That means if you stay in long enough, you WILL get a tag.  Lots of guys are going to drop out this year; watch and see.  Lots of those above you are going to draw or (not to be disrespectful) die.  

If you don't apply, you can't draw.  I drew a Colorado Bighorn ram tag last year and even though I didn't get a ram, I had the experience of a lifetime.  It is worth EVERY penny.

You know, $100 in a year is one less 12 pack of beer a month, or one less pizza a month, movie, ect.  You get the idea.

Put in for NM.  The odds are very poor, but it is $6.  That is much better than the cost of a ticket in every sheep hunt raffle I know of.

[Steve O]

Steve H...all you get for your $100 in WY is a point.  See Rick, Utah is a better deal than Wyoming    at least you get your NR license.  Silver linings everywhere...

[Gehrke145]

You can go for a ewe here in CO almost every year if you put in as a first choice.  You'll never get your dream if you dont try!!!!!!!!!!

[Rick McGowan]

Steve O, yeah I could take that license and frame it or spend just a couple thousand more to travel out to Utah and hunt otc mulie does. Whewhoo..........

[Gene Roberts]

Do not give up on your dreams.You have still got at least 10 years.It'll work out.Just think,it will NEVER work out if don't try.

[Steve O]

Rick,

Believe me, I feel your pain.  It is just fun to crank you up a little...you could hunt huns and chukars too   :p  

Gene, he has at least 30 years, don't sell him short.

So, you put in for 23 more years, by then the lic will be $3300.  So you have $5600 in it now.  By then, the Alberta Bighorn hunts will be $50000...so you are at least $44,000 ahead    

I will say it again because I an SURE I am correct:  If you don't put in, you WILL NOT draw.  

I decided long ago I would never make enough money to retire and hunt.  Anyway, I would be old and broken down and wouldn't be able to hunt anything I wanted to.  So, I'll have to work another year to pay for all the hunts I go on from now till then...so what!  I'll have the memories, pictures, friendships, and mounts to look back on.  Nobody can take it away once you do it.

DO NOT GIVE UP!


 


 


 


 


 


 

[JDinPA]

Joe M, I'd be interested in which Senator is pursuing the $200 cap. Thanks

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

i just bought my Utah elk preference point and new this year, Utah makes you buy  a 65.00 hunting license BEFORE .  you can buy the 10.00 preference point.

 Can't raise taxes to pay the way , its always the non resident who takes it in the shorts  Always has been , always will be.

[MW]

Nate,

First it was great meeting you and having lunch the other day.

I know its a hundred bucks but a dream is a dream!

I know a few guys that find creative ways to finance hunts.  I know its hard with kids.

Mitch

[Bonebuster]

If I am understanding this, buying a preference point used to be seven dollars, and they jumped it to one hundred. Who is to say that in five yrs it won`t be five hundred per point.

All forms of government are now feeling the pinch of less money. The same kind of pinch the average guy has been feeling for several years now. They had better get used to it, because it ain`t gonna get better.

Raising fees is going to happen. Going from seven to one hundred, just for a point, is just plain ridiculus. They WANT to discourage you from hunting sheep.

You asked what we(I) thought about this. If I were you, I would demand my money back,(even though it will do no good) and ask the government of Wyoming why they want to discourage the average non-resident from hunting there. Those prices are outrageous, and clearly send a message.

 Raising application fees, and tag fees,will provide zero extra money for any state funded program, because for every extra dollar that is raised, two more will be wasted somewhere else. This is why our taxes have never been increasing as they are now, and money problems within any given state have never been greater.

In my opinion,paying BIG money to hunt anything, anywhere, within our borders is big time bad news for ALL of us.

If you decide to pursue your sheep dream, I hope there is a computer glitch, and it spits one out for you next year. I hope you get to hunt hard, make great memories, and I hope you get to roast sheep ribs over an open fire.