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License fee changes proposed

Old Buck

Old Buck

Life Member
This is from the IBA website.

"In a statement released in December, Al Farris retiring head of the Wildlife Division of the Department of Natural Resources, stated the department would request an increase in resident hunting and fishing license fees as well as a reduction in the price of nonresident fees. This past year the legislature increased nonresident fees, including nonresident deer licenses to $305, while leaving resident fees alone. At $305 Iowa's nonresident deer license is amongst the highest in the nation and several bordering states have hinted at special reciprocal licenses for residents of Iowa unless the state reduces the fee to a more competitive figure."

It sounds fair to me. We need to pay to manage our wildlife resources and a modest resident increase is a fair way to do it. Also I think the legislature raised the nonresident fees too high and a reduction would be more in line with other states.
 
I don't mind a small increase in fees to pay for our hunting resources, but I'm not so sure about other increases. I don't like them saying there hasn't been any increases in license fees for several years. The licenses may not have raised but we now have both fish and wildlife habitate fees. That seems like an increase in discuise. I also thought the nonresident fee was high but compared to a deer or antelope or elk tag out west, it was still a bargin.
I also hope that they continue to maintain or even reduce the number of nonresident licenses. Sorry to all of you out of state members, but I think with cheaper licenses and more of them we will see a huge increase in the leasing problem, and or tresspassing. According to a lot of posts on here there already seems to be a lot of overcrowding. I just think we need to make more opprotunities for our own hunters, who pay most of the bills, before being over ran during deer season.
 
I have to second bowmakers comments. Is an antelope, mulie, or elk a greater trophy? From the comments of nonresident members on this site, I'd say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Residents have been pushed for quite a few years to take does. Some like myself have done so with bow,shotgun, and muzzleloader in hopes of improving the herd and now they seem to be selling us out.
 
I may not have the same opinion as other hunters but the more ideas in the basket the better the results. I personaly fill that before they raise the deer tag rate for residents they should eliminate the Land Owners Free Tag.. The land owner how ever should never be refused a paid tag. Before anyone complains lets look at my reasoning. If you answer yes to any of the statements below you can afford $26. dollars for a deer tag.

Do you smoke.
Do you drink
Do you gamble
Do you go out for pizza or steak
Do you go for brunch Sunday after church.

Also if you look at the price of an acre of land in Iowa it is any where from $500 to $3500. per acre. If you can afford to own 10 to 1000 acres you can afford $26. for a deer tag. The land owner most of the time can set his own hunting times and control a persentage of the deer coming and going from his property, if he can keep tresspassers off.
The poor guy that hunts public land pays $26 for a tag, usually drives alot farther to get to their huntig spot and has to compete with every one that comes through and if his is lucky enough to score he has to drag the deer out to the road; not drive up to it with an ATV or his pickup to retrieve the deer. If the state wants to lower out of state license they should not sale more out of state tags. Al
 
Hunting big game outside of your state of residency is expensive no matter where your going, or what your hunting. I pay a big chunk of money to hunt in CO every year, and if I don't shoot anything I don't feel as though I've been cheated, or overcharged. I know what the cost is before I go out. If they increased the price again, I'm sure I'd still go. Most out of state hunters don't want you to know that its not the actual price increase that hurts them, its the fact that they think they're getting cheated in some way.
Thats the way out of state hunting is. You've got to pay to play, and its not going to change.
CRITRGITR
 
Since you mentioned Colorado I just looked on their Dnr site. A resident bull elk tag is $30.00, a nonresident one is $470. plus $3.00 to apply. Mountain goat is a lot worse resident $150.00 NR $1580.00. And these licenses are very limited, way less than 16000 like the proposal for Iowa NR deer tags. Almost all other states are similar.
 
Little Al,

My answers are Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,No.
Do I think I should receive a free license for the 10 acres I own? Not sure. My property is all timber, I don't have any crop loss, except for the Bio-logic that I planted and the deer never touched. I receive a tax break on my property because its in timber reserve, so I can't cry about high taxes. Did it bother me all the years that I didn't own my own property, and everyone else who did got a free tag? No.
Let me ask you this, if you were offered a free tag by the state to hunt a piece of property within five minutes of your house, would you take it, or would you decline it because not everyone else got one?
CRITRGITR
 
My sentiments are summed up in bowmaker's comments. Personally I think we should lower the # of NR tags and raise the prices. The price increase should be inversely proportional to the decrease in tag #'s to compensate for loss of income. They'd still fight over the chance at an Iowa tag if we tripled the price. I have no problem with non residents hunting in Iowa, I just think it would be nice to keep thier numbers down so competition between NR's and residents does not become a problem.
 
I think that the non resident $308 fee is a bargain and should not be decreased. I dont buy into the arguement that this makes it a rich mans sport. Hey, if you want to drive a Cadillac you are going to have to pay for it and do without something else. Cheap NR Missouri tags are available to those who are OK with driving a Chevy.
 
Critrgitr: When someone is offered anything for free I don't blame them for taking it no matter what it is. My main thought is if the state wants to raise tag fees than every one should recieve an increase to hunt deer. AL
 
Little Al,
Sounds like you're confusing me with a non-resident. The issue at hand is non-resident license fees. I've heard no talk of anyone trying to raise resident fees, which I'll assume are the one that you pay.
I guess you've got me a little confused, but why should my resident tag be increased before a non-residents tag is?
CRITRGITR
 
Critrgitr

I was under the impression they were going to lower non-residence fees and increase residence fees; $300. was to much for NR. I think they should leave NR fees where they are and tag numbers alone. If they needed more money and were going to raise residence fees, then they just as well even them up so every one pays the same if you are a resident. Al
 
On my NR tag the price breaKdown was $220.00 for th e any sex tag, $80.00 for a NR hunting license and $9.00 for a habitat stamp. As far as I know this was the first year that a NR was required to buy a hunting license as well as a deer tag. I didn't mind the $220.00. I did not like the idea of having to purchase an $80.00 hunting license. In my opinion that was the only "unfair" part of the deal.
 
I wrote the legislature opposing the fee increase. I think we need to look at solution that will not price people out of hunting.

However, I now see that my favorite western state will raise elk tags to $900.00 and charge you $50.00 to get a preference point. The increase will generate $5million in revenue from nonresident while they increase resident revenue by $500,000. The western states have learned to charge nonresidents 90% of the costs.

I think we, as residents need to be willing to pay for our hunting privileges without making the DNR dependent on Nonresident fees. However we also pay other taxes so I would expect Nonresidents to pay more for the privilege to hunt Iowa.

We can always do what Colordao did with elk tags they came up with an economic formula residents wanted fewer nonresident hunters so they raised fees to a point were they would sell half as many tag yet keep revenue constant.
 
Rackaddict, that was the way the DNR increased fees...

The legislature shot down the fee increase so the DNR changed the rules. They can not raise fees without the aproval of the legislature but they can change the rules to require nonresident deer and turkey hunters to purchase a hunting license. Thus the $80.00 increase.
 
I do not think the current $308 is excessive for a non-resident deer tag. Iowa is considered the number one state for B&C entries and the price of a non-resident tag should reflect this. Most out of state hunters will tell you that $308 is small in comparison to the total amount they end up paying by the time they come here to hunt and go home. Not too many will travel to Pennsylvania instead in order to buy a less expensive tag. If $450 is considered reasonable to hunt immature bull elk and meat cows in Colorado, then I think a $308 tag to hunt whitetails in the best area in North America is a real bargain!

With regards to increasing the cost of licenses for residents, I will pay whatever is necessary to maintain quality hunting in Iowa. That being said, I think we already pay a lot, especially if you buy multiple tags. In North Carolina where I previously lived, when you purchased your deer license you received a total of 5-6 tags. In Iowa, I have to pay for each tag individually. For deer hunting this year, I bought my resident's general hunting license, a habitat stamp, one general bow license, one late muzzleloading license, two antlerless only county tags for bow season, two antlerless only farm unit tags, and one special late season tag. That comes to $132.50 and does not include fishing, turkeys, and waterfowl. I'm not complaining, just pointing out that I have spent quite a bit in license fees to ensure that I have a valid tag so that I can maximize my time hunting deer. Very few of the tags will end up filled.

I think landowners should receive a freebie tag as they are providing a home for wildlife. There would be very little hunting in Iowa without the support and cooperation of landowners. I do think a person should have a minimum amount of acreage, say 50 acres, to qualify. Most states provide a freebie deer tag to landowners.
 
I have a friend who moved from Iowa to Mo. He was digging me about their deer license there, only $15.00. What he doesn't see or understand is his sales tax rate is 7 1/4%, and part of that goes to the DNR. So for every thing he buys he is paying 2 1/4 cents more on the dollar. That has to add upto way more that the $10.00 difference in fees, but he thinks he is getting buy cheap. I have made several trips to trout parks in Mo. and think they are clean, neat, well ran, and beautiful. Maybe Iowa should think about a sales tax program that is similar.
 
The NR increase was steep but I would have paid it gladly. Hope to see you all next year at any price.
 
I'd like to throw a twist into this since it effects a family member who's job took him out of state to live. He hunted deer in Iowa with us since we were kids. Not a week goes by we don't talk about deer hunting and looking forward to that first week in December. Now he lives out of state and must pay an enormous increase in license fee to come back home and hunt. I know you can't have a double standard on non-residents but there is a lot of memories and history in many families around hunting that are jeoporadized by non-resident increases.
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I would support a less expensive doe-only non-resident tag that is readily available for those who just want to come to Iowa and hunt with friends and family. Let those who want to chase our precious trophy bucks belly up to the table and pay a fee that is appropriate for the best whitetail buck hunting in North America. That being said, with the rampant party hunting that is legal and takes place during shotgun seasons, I would be very concerned of non-residents with doe only tags shooting a trophy buck and then having someone else in the party tag the deer and let them take it home. This is one way a person who does not have a buck tag can circumvent the intent of the law, without actually breaking it.
 
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