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Licenses (Deer, big game, birds, fish) by State

Hardwood11

It is going to be a good fall!
Which states are fair, and who sticks it to you ? The quality of the hunt or angling experience has to be factored in….
 
I feel like South Dakota is very fair on their NR fishing license price. I think for a year it’s around $100. I go up there for two five day trips, June and September, and have done it the last two years. The fishing there, even when it’s slow, is pretty great!
 
I’ll start with one steal of a deal, a husband and wife can fish all year in Minnesota for $68… & their kids !

10,000 lakes, & Lake Superior.
 
I feel like South Dakota is very fair on their NR fishing license price. I think for a year it’s around $100. I go up there for two five day trips, June and September, and have done it the last two years. The fishing there, even when it’s slow, is pretty great!
Plus the SD pheasant license is still very affordable and they are the best pheasant state !
 
Plus the SD pheasant license is still very affordable and they are the best pheasant state !
SD limits you to 2 5 day periods per season as a non resident. They also have a resident only opening week then allow NR‘s after that. SD is one of the least affordable relative to other primary pheasant hunting states. I believes ND has a resident only opener as well, but other than those, the other pheasant states do not have delay in NR season opening.
 
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I bet MI tags are still cheap!!! If they paid me $5k to use one I still wouldn’t ;).
I’d suspect the best whitetail states all cost more. I think kansas is around that $500 mark??? The 3 next “top destinations” …. IL, OH & maybe KY …. I know IL isn’t cheap. Not sure on other 2. I think OH is pretty low cost.
MO is cheap!

I am gonna guess out west the best elk states & areas cost a pile??? Maybe I’m wrong there.
High out of state costs don’t bother me that badly to be honest….
Here’s the good part about all of this… people can vote with their feet & pocket books. If MO is cheaper than Iowa - hopefully more folks will go to MO. I do think states that have sold out their resource to the point of “hunting sucks here” will never be able to charge big $ for a deer tag. If MI said “$500 deer tags” - no one would buy them - because they ruined their resource. If Ohio or kansas, etc charges same price- guys will buy them til they are gone because they have done a vastly superior job managing their resource.

Out west tag comparison chart I found….
 
Non res Iowa whitetail, hands down worst in price. Just not in value. SD getting worse. To get a non res tag now you have to apply in March and the cost has risen in recent years. And less deer because of ehd. Nebraska license getting more expensive, and for first time ever there is a cap on non res tags. Also less deer because of ehd. Missouri, not too bad on non res tags. Pressure through the roof though. Illinios is kind of expensive, but you know you can make plans to go. Ohio not too bad on price. Insane non res pressure. Kansas draw , maybe you won't draw, pretty expensive tag. Non res hunters can't hunt Saskatchewan DIY, so expensive . Cheapest best value , and near me, is Massachusetts. 2 non res buck tags for $100 and doe tag $10.
 
Wisconsin is $160 for a NR deer license!

Sell that Iowa farm and buy in Wisconsin. You can use a rifle there too.

I pay $650+ for a NR deer tag in Colorado. I don’t see why people complain about the cost of a NR tag. You don’t have to hunt in that state if you don’t want to pay that price. Resident tags are cheaper for a reason.


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It’s a bit ironic that most the NR’s around me are from WI. Probably 3-4 times the deer population. I’m guessing 5-8 Times the habitat & cheap deer tags. They drive 7-11 hours to buy land to hunt here.
To be clear- I like these people. Friends. Don’t blame them. I get to hear the WI updates every year too. The absolute best areas of WI like Buffalo co & surrounding are still described continuously as “mediocre at best”. “No comparison to iowa”. When people drive 10 hours & have more deer & more habitat to hunt deer here for 3x the money of a deer tag- that really does speak volumes. I also have some buddies from MN & WI that hunt my farm on occasion.
I have zero issues with any NR’s, they are my friends and I don’t mind if any of us has a healthy debate here. Or if people respectfully disagree. All good.

Here’s what I wish for my WI buddies…. Wish they would do a 1 buck limit & move gun season out 14 days. That’s it. The result would be: a huge % would say “now I have no need to drive to iowa!!!!” After that - if they did decide they wanted to charge $500 for a deer tag- they would have no issue.
 
You can use a rifle in Iowa too ! $650 in Colorado is that Mule deer or whitetail ?

It’s just a deer tag. So whitetails would be the same. Now the tag itself is only $420 but you gotta add in application fees and the small game licenses you have to buy to get preference points. Iowa is right in line price wise.


Also think about this Iowa charges their residents $20 less to hunt whitetails than a resident in Colorado can hunt elk.


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All tags are incredible cheap IMO. Months and months of value.

People will blow $120 on dinner, $100 at the golf course, $75 going to the movies, but will scream if a tag goes up $40 (which is like 33 cents per day of deer season)
Same boat here. I've been building points and some people think I'm spending too much. But for the experience I think it's super cheap.
 
Tennessee Non residents license are a great value. Includes all fishing and hunting wrap up together for one price. You get 2 spring turkey, fall turkey, and small game and big game. Best of all, you are allowed 3 deer per day beginning last weekend in September until 2nd weekend in January. That allows you to legally harvest over 300 deer. All for about $350/yr. Quantity over quality management at its best...lol
 
Iowa tags might be overvalued today but the hunting is still good and they still have zero issues with getting rid of tags.

In the last three years straight wall cartridges, high power shed buck season were add and miraculously this year kills were up 7% and 110,000 deer killed. Whenever crossguns ( I said when) get introduced , higher NR tags allowed or unlimited.

Crystal ball say when more kill them all laws are passed Iowa will become just another whitetail state and the cost of tags will be overvalued in a different way because Iowa will suck.
Enjoy it now
 
I bought a SD pheasant license last year for the “two 3 day hunts”. Off memory- it was maybe $175-ish??? after the gazillion fees?? full season license was more & obviously I didn’t need that. I hunted 2 days. I wouldn’t call that “cheap”. $30 a bird & I did get limit. Plus gas, shells, food, etc. Clearly buy a chicken for way less $. I’d call this “a bit on the expensive side”. But…. For pheasants, who has the best hunting? South Dakota. The quality is there. They put bounties on raccoons. They put a lot into habitat in certain areas. They put a ton of $ & resources into improving quality & management of resource & habitat. So it creates a quality environment that. I’d rather pay $175 to hunt there vs $30 to hunt a poor quality area in iowa or another place that’s less $ but not as good. That’s me. Quality hunting & fishing are getting HARDER to find vs EASIER IMO & I think a growing # of folks are willing to pay that larger price tag for the quality areas or states.

Fishing is interesting. I don’t do much. I did do Canada & it was somewhat reasonable but they sure made it difficult in a lot of ways for NR’s. I’ve never fished MN but I’ll say now- I look forward to experiencing it sometime.
 
Canada required a Covid vaccine to enter the country so I was out. Have not been since. Many anglers changed their plans.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Michigan. The pressure was intense. But I was all for it. Enjoy our state !

The border policy has now changed, nearly put some Canadian resorts under .
 
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