Arizona does away with auction tags

[realunlucky]

So the commission voted to end all Arizona auction tags by 2026.

Curious what everyone thinks about it.

Regardless if you supported or opposed this measure, it's going to massively impact available project money. Anyone know how/if they propose to replace those funds?

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[Steve O]

Raffle tags make nowhere near what auction tags do. I did a little research recently on Idaho specifically.

AZ also forces you to be in state when you make the raffle purchase so this drastically cuts down on the pool of donors. It is going to cut a ton of funding for worthwhile projects, especially in the sheep world.

 

[Steve O]

This was the raffle tag revenue for all species in AZ last year. In the past there was a breakdown of each species; turkey, black bear, javelina, mountain lion ect. don’t bring in very much.

 

[Steve O]

And I don’t think wildlife should be managed for profit or “fair market value” but one auction tag and one raffle tag is a great way to raise a ton of money to do a lot of good for the welfare of that species and all the others that benefit from something like a guzzler or range improvement.

 

[100 others]

Torn. The $$ for 1 animal is great for conservation, but I’ve never been able to appreciate the picture of one rich dude with his 20 guides sitting behind a massive bull/buck/ram out of season that has been monitored for months or years just for the purpose of the auction tag. Kind of bastardizes the fair chase process and in AZ makes hunting that much more hostile between guide services and regular joes.

Edit: If the monetary loss of an auction tag is going to get pushed to regular tag prices, that wouldn’t be a good thing either. I’d be more ok with the auction tag if they could do a better job regulating the competition in N.AZ and take away the advertising potential of any animal that gets killed outside of regular seasons.

 

[Steamer]

If they raffle off a tag for one animal that creates hundreds of thousands of dollars for conservation of that species I think it’s worth it. They need to take a hard look at the left and right lateral limits of that tag though.

 

[Weldor]

Tough one, How much of that money is actually used for conservation? I can only testify to what I see up here on the rim. Not much has been done to improve water catchments, fences or range. Just more tags for revenue. I agree with 100 others. 30 guides helping some rich guy walk up on a 400 inch bull and shoot it, Meh. There used to be a program called adopt a ranch, that was a good idea, have not heard about it recently. It was money well spent.

 

[Dos Perros]

If auctioning one tag funds projects that enables more tags going in the pool the old fashioned way then it makes sense to do it. I'm not sure how you could demonstrate that, tho.

 

[dirtytough]

I'm not a fan of the Utah model when it comes to auction tags. I personally think one auction tag per species probably has more pros than cons though.

 

[CorbLand]

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I am personally torn on it. Seems like a good idea because I don’t think wildlife should be managed for highest profit but it also takes money to manage them and a couple tags bringing in what they do helps with that.

I haven’t researched this so this is just a nonsupported observation/opinion but it does seem like every state has their big name units and all the money gets funneled to them. These tags bring in a bunch of money, unit X has big animals, so you funnel all money there and it becomes a cycle. I wish that the funds had to be split equally across the state or a large portion has to go to struggling units.

 

[Weldor]

I get it on making money for improvements. Also I thought that 's what license fees are for. Seems to me if everyone who uses resources had to pay a fee the game and fish would have plenty of funds. Let me think here so I don't miss any. I pay hunting, fishing ,utv and road tax for street legal side x side, orv for my quad. That's five fee's every year just here in AZ. How about a hiking, mountain biking electric orv fees just to name a few. I'm not against any of them, but there's untapped revenue for state and federal land there.

 

[Ramem7mm]

Definitely torn on the decision made. Funding is something that the State needs to help manage the wildlife however like some have mentioned the tainted perspective of one animal for a large sum of money doesn't feel right. Each to their own and those who have worked for everything they have and can afford it then they should be able to do with it what they want.

 

[100 others]

At the end of the day, that same rich person is gonna pay someone for the opportunity to shoot an easy “trophy” whether it’s an auction tag, on a private ranch, or high fence operation. At least with the auction tag the money goes to G&F.
Does anyone here know if that auction money goes to specific projects or does it just get dumped into the general funds? It would be cool to see how many animals are produced or saved with the $ from the auction.

 

[Weldor]

Brief read on the interweb, looks like it all gets diluted to conservation projects? AZGFD should have it on their yearly budget. Public info somewhere.

 

[MattB]

I think the resource is going to suffer in the name of “equity”. Not only do raffles generally bring in less than auction tags, they cost more to administer and adding more raffle tags (especially those where you need to be in state to buy) will further limit the revenue potential - not to mention cannibalize the existing raffles.

I looked at some numbers the other day, and sheep tags in AZ are 40%+ over the past 30 years, and I have to believe auction tag money was integral to the expansion of public draw opportunities.

For those who are hung up on rich guys being able to buy an auction tag, are you happy to do away with that if it actually means less potential opportunity for yourself in the future?

 

[dtrkyman]

They will want to recoup that money, probably raise everyone's license and tag fee's, then they can all complain about that.

 

[Crowmangler]

Torn. The $$ for 1 animal is great for conservation, but I’ve never been able to appreciate the picture of one rich dude with his 20 guides sitting behind a massive bull/buck/ram out of season that has been monitored for months or years just for the purpose of the auction tag. Kind of bastardizes the fair chase process and in AZ makes hunting that much more hostile between guide services and regular joes.

Bro are you saying you didn't like the palanquin with the Jimmy Johns decal on the side door?

 

[100 others]

Bro are you saying you didn't like the palanquin with the Jimmy Johns decal on the side door?

lol he sure seems to be living it up the last few years. That Covid takeout boost funded a lot of sweet tags!

 

[WCB]

I think the overall problem with auction tags is that the process isn't transparent. Not sure why WSF or REMF or wherever doesn't show a break down of how that specific money is used. Example:

MT Governor Big Horn: $500,000

$200,000-habitat improvement for sheep (list locations/project names)
$100,000-Disease research (collect samples/tissues sent to University of X, Big Hole herd monitoring project)
$100,000- New research or grad grants ( name grant winners or head biologist of study)
$50,000- Towards sheep specialist wages (name position and how many people)
$25,000- community/public outreach, Disease awareness

But I guess still you would have Joe blow crying about it even though the actual population would benefit. Next will be raffle tags that you have to be present to win or have to purchase in person. Bunch of cry babies

 

[BBob]

How much of that money is actually used for conservation?

All of it and in many times it's matched by outside sources for those conservation projects. If you need a project in your area maybe some research on who to talk to and how to get it done might be in order.

HPC: Project Proposal and Planning Resources - Arizona Game & Fish Department

Planning Resources Habitat Partnership Committees are designed to facilitate local decision making regarding wildlife habitat issues and improvements, and act as a vehicle for partnership development and communication between private, … Continued

www.azgfd.com