Increased WY NR Tag Fees Now In Effect

[tellico4x4]

New Wyoming Laws: Higher Hunting Fees, Plans For Drug-Addicted Babies

The New Year triggers a pair of new laws in Wyoming. One raises nonresident hunting fees and the other mandates health care plans for babies born addicted to drugs or alcohol.

cowboystatedaily.com

 

[ThorThor]

Cannot wait for WY to sit on my 2k until mid May. Not sure it help odds for the better tags. I have 14 points ( just had other hunts and a couple lucky draws the last couple years ) I need to burn them. People will still apply the same for the top 10/11 units or so. General tags may get easier to draw however. Getting to be a very expensive hobby. Was already expensive.

 

[tellico4x4]

Yep, at 14 across the board and plan to start burning them next year

 

[J.A.F.O.]

From everything I've read you don't apply unit to unit anymore. It's regional and you can hunt the entire area and they have increased the tag allocation per said region as well. Their nonres tag allocation % hasn't been updated since a resident tag application survey in mid 80's. My father in law seems to think it will increase our odds at drawing a tag and will keep alot of in his words….uhhhh well I'm not gonna say it on here but…unfavorable people the locals don't like, completely out of the process.

I don't know what to think either but I go off of what he tells me for out there. I've got 6 points to burn but he has already told me to probably hold off but I'm itching to cash in and take a trip in September.
Good luck if y'all apply and draw!

 

[mike243]

At some point Tn will break the state into 3-4 segments and raise the prices, a sportsman will be able to hunt all the different units while the single segment wont be able to, may not be for another 20-30 years but its going to happen, and they will be able to control the $$ for the folks who only want to hunt and fish local.

 

[megalomaniac]

Really interested to see how this helps/ hurts draw odds, especially in the special pool.

I'm thinking it will get a LOT easier for NRs to draw the poor to mediocre units with fewer points, but won't help in the top tier units.

sitting on 16 for elk and 17 for antelope right now. I'm trying to plan a trip across the ocean to hunt next fall, so won't go out west if that pans out.

 

[AT Hiker]

Only thing I know is I have horrible timing. I'll be burning my elk n deer points and my wife will be burning her deer n antelope points.
Most likely all will be in the special pool, regardless I will be a broke sun of a gun this summer.

 

[Redfox]

From everything I've read you don't apply unit to unit anymore. It's regional and you can hunt the entire area and they have increased the tag allocation per said region as well. Their nonres tag allocation % hasn't been updated since a resident tag application survey in mid 80's. My father in law seems to think it will increase our odds at drawing a tag and will keep alot of in his words….uhhhh well I'm not gonna say it on here but…unfavorable people the locals don't like, completely out of the process.

I don't know what to think either but I go off of what he tells me for out there. I've got 6 points to burn but he has already told me to probably hold off but I'm itching to cash in and take a trip in September.
Good luck if y'all apply and draw!

I could be mistaken but I believe the unit specific applications (limited quota units) are still in effect. All the change did was split the entire states general units into 3 general "regions". So you have to decide what general units you plan to hunt before you apply.

I don't particularly care for how the 3 units are laid out. I think it will concentrate applicants into the large western region and have the south as a runner up. That being said once you deduct the limited units it may not really matter.

 

[ThorThor]

Really interested to see how this helps/ hurts draw odds, especially in the special pool.

I'm thinking it will get a LOT easier for NRs to draw the poor to mediocre units with fewer points, but won't help in the top tier units.

sitting on 16 for elk and 17 for antelope right now. I'm trying to plan a trip across the ocean to hunt next fall, so won't go out west if that pans out.

Lots of options at 16 elk points. Pronghorn I would sit on them or stay north and hunt unit 114, you can draw that in the regular pool. I wish I had 16 elk points, even 15 might get me where I want to go I have 14. I have had to many other elk hunts come through I should have burned them and started over already, but I have been lucky a few times.

 

[AT Hiker]

No way I'd burn those points on 114 antelope.
So far things are looking good in WY. 2-3 years of decent weather and trophy lopers will be back on the landscape. Many, many antelope reach full trophy potential at 3 yrs of age.
I wouldn't have burned my points last year if I hadn't needed to. Same for my wife, she will be burning hers this year because it's a "use them or loose them" situation.

 

[MidTennFisher]

Wyoming Game and Fish Department - Know before you apply: Nonresident elk changes for 2024

wgfd.wyo.gov

I know very little about Western hunting. Has the map always looked like this article shows where NR can only hunt with a guide? That's such nonsense.

 

[AT Hiker]

Wyoming Game and Fish Department - Know before you apply: Nonresident elk changes for 2024

wgfd.wyo.gov

I know very little about Western hunting. Has the map always looked like this article shows where NR can only hunt with a guide? That's such nonsense.

I'm not sure what map you are looking at, the link you posted doesn't show well on my phone.
However, in WY, NR have to hunt big game with a guide in the federally designated wilderness areas.
Notice I said "big game", yes it is nonsense.

 

[WanderingNomad]

This doesn't bode well for getting to hunt Idaho again as they will probably either follow Wyoming's lead on tag fees hitting ridiculous levels or they get overwhelmed with people trying to hunt due to lower tag costs that getting a license will be near impossible..

 

[MidTennFisher]

The Western states are tired of getting flooded with OOS hunters that post literally everything they do on Instagram/TikTok... attracting even more attention to Western hunting, and thus making it harder for even residents to draw tags or enjoy the hunts they do draw because of increased crowding.

So I get wanting to restrict OOS hunters and the most effective way to do that is making tags very expensive. It sucks for the people who want to hunt out West purely for the enjoyment of hunting such a beautiful place and not for drawing attention to themselves on the socials.

I can't say I wouldn't be in favor of the increase if I was a WY resident. But as a SC resident who dreams of hunting there one day, I hate it.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

WY didn't appear to be too upset taking my $2,013.14 the other day.

 

[tellico4x4]

It's just business now. Supply/demand and charge whatever the market will bear while maintaining objective goals.

Remember when gas was $0.30/gal & diesel was always cheaper than regular, sadly no difference...

When I bought my first nonresident CO license in 1979, it was across the counter, good statewide for elk, mule deer & black bear, cost $212.00. I sweated paying that much as my salary then was $20k/yr.

@Buzzard Breath paid 10 times that amount for the chance to hunt a relatively small area for a limited amount of days!

When I started buying WY preference points for myself & 2 grandsons, my plan was to take (pay for) us to hunt there together. Planning on a 2025 elk hunt, but told the boys they were going to have to buy their own license as that cost alone will be over $6K for the three of us. Times have certainly changed.

 

[AT Hiker]

It's just business now. Supply/demand and charge whatever the market will bear while maintaining objective goals.

This is why I don't think the price increase will
make much of a difference in draw odds.
Maybe for the eastern region where elk are more likely to be on private.

Think about it. Less than 10 years ago you could draw the general elk tag 2nd choice in the special app. Demand has increased so much that it became impossible to do that and started taking several points to draw it first choice.

MT has been selling out of their general elk combo for some time now and it's $1k….

 

[Biggun4214]

From what I understand the $2K tag is a special hunt. I just applied for a tag and the cost was about $725. Maybe it's different since we are going with an outfitter.

 

[AT Hiker]

From what I understand the $2K tag is a special hunt. I just applied for a tag and the cost was about $725. Maybe it's different since we are going with an outfitter.

The $2k fee is for the special application. It's complicated but each unit has a set number of NR tags. A portion go into the regular draw ($700) and a smaller portion go into the special draw ($2k).
No outfitter pool in WY, thankfully.

 

[Biggun4214]

The $2k fee is for the special application. It's complicated but each unit has a set number of NR tags. A portion go into the regular draw ($700) and a smaller portion go into the special draw ($2k).
No outfitter pool in WY, thankfully.

Thanks, I was beginning to worry about how much more this trip was going to cost.
I'm still trying to find out about the grizzlies too. Apparently the outhouse is away from the camp. The camp has an electric fence and the outhouse doesn't. I never was fast but I'm a lot slower now.