Disclaimer: this question is not intended to sport bitch about NR costs, tag allocations, hunting opportunity, or general NR entitlement . That’s for you, Buzz!
I’ve been reading a lot recently about increases in tags fees and decreases in quotas for NR. It got me thinking about how this situation may be artificially stimulated by a booming economy and the current “fad” of western hunting. Many states seem to be stacking their chips in the NR economy - namely packing more and more revenue into a shrinking segment of the hunting population. I also am fully aware of the engine of capitalism: supply and demand, in addition to the inability of legislatures to plan beyond their collective noses. Much in the same way nearly every state (except for NM and ID - god bless you) have created various Ponzi schemes with point structures. Sounds great for revenue generation in the short term, but ultimately crushes Hunter recruitment - and therefore long term revenue - by relegating the youngest hunters to the worst units during the peak of their health and formative period- whether resident or nonresident.
So are we in an artificially created bubble? Does it pop when the economy hits the next recession or when western hunting is no longer the #HotThing? If so, what does it look like when an increasingly small group who fund an increasingly larger portion of budgets, no longer do so? Do we ever actually get there? Is there ever an impetus for states to reverse their thinking on funding budgets and tag allocations? Is there ever a point when a state recognizes a train wreck and abandons a point structure to benefit the new rather than the established?
Just offseason musings...
I’ve been reading a lot recently about increases in tags fees and decreases in quotas for NR. It got me thinking about how this situation may be artificially stimulated by a booming economy and the current “fad” of western hunting. Many states seem to be stacking their chips in the NR economy - namely packing more and more revenue into a shrinking segment of the hunting population. I also am fully aware of the engine of capitalism: supply and demand, in addition to the inability of legislatures to plan beyond their collective noses. Much in the same way nearly every state (except for NM and ID - god bless you) have created various Ponzi schemes with point structures. Sounds great for revenue generation in the short term, but ultimately crushes Hunter recruitment - and therefore long term revenue - by relegating the youngest hunters to the worst units during the peak of their health and formative period- whether resident or nonresident.
So are we in an artificially created bubble? Does it pop when the economy hits the next recession or when western hunting is no longer the #HotThing? If so, what does it look like when an increasingly small group who fund an increasingly larger portion of budgets, no longer do so? Do we ever actually get there? Is there ever an impetus for states to reverse their thinking on funding budgets and tag allocations? Is there ever a point when a state recognizes a train wreck and abandons a point structure to benefit the new rather than the established?
Just offseason musings...