Economic impact on elk applications

cardiac5

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Sep 20, 2018
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Is anyone noticing less people talk about putting in for elk due to the economy right now or is everyone still applying? I've kinda held off on elk due to a mule deer tag I should pull. Hoping there's some good WY archery cow tags leftover.

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I think a majority of guys that aren't going to apply are the nonresident types that aren’t super serious, and go as a group mostly for tradition. It may lead to less applications in the short run, but if the economy straightens out before October we’ll see a bunch of guys going OTC that otherwise would apply for low draw units/tags.
 
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We are going to have record unemployment. That’s going to keep people at home.

We are going to have economic insecurity for many months or years. That’s going to keep people at home.

People are losing their vacation to stay at home with kids or getting vacation payouts as they get laid off. That’s going to keep people at home.

It’s hard to tell by all the shiny gear around this community (elk hunting in general, not just ROKSLIDE), but a lot of elk hunters are blue collar workers who are only able to narrowly fit the financial cost and vacation time into their budgets. Forget the dollars, a lot of people only get two to three weeks of vacation. Losing even a week means canceling trips.
 
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My small data point: I'm not slowing down, I'll have apps in WY, AZ, MT, NM, CO, and NV this year.

However, I had been planning a CO archery hunt with a friend for the past year. Friend is a part owner of a family business that has been hit very hard and he had to drop out this year. He might have been able to swing it financially but it would have been irresponsible when the whole family needs to make compromises to weather the storm. He wont be the only one.

For the CO draw we were planning on hunting a unit that took 1 less point than we currently have the past 2 seasons. I haven't made up my mind but I'm thinking I may apply for a unit that was 67% with my current points last year hoping that the economy stops point creep for a year.
 

pk_

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My tentative plans for an elk trip in the next 3 years went from the back burner, back into the cabinet. And I haven’t even been financially affected, yet.
 

realunlucky

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On a slightly different note my buddy from Montana called and asked about hunting ewe sheep together. The tag price this year gave me pause because this year is very uncertain work wise.

That said I've applied for elk as normal with the exception of picking mostly top units and hoping to get lucky. That's mostly due to my hunting partner finally drawing his Wyoming elk tag and saving my vacation to help go all in on that.

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Felix40

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Well we had a record number of applications again in NM this year. I cant see many people throwing tags in the trash with it being so hard to get one.
 

Catahoula

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Loveland, CO. was AZ.
I would agree that the possibility of non-resident applications could be lower based on cost alone and the state of their monetary obligations. However, as 5MB commented, it might be the same as always in any western state. Time will tell....
 

Ucsdryder

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Tags are cheap compared to fuel, food, gear, time off work, etc. No doubt it will impact out of state hunts.
 
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NM and AZ draws probably were not as effected. We will get a better idea when the app numbers for CO come out. People really started losing their jobs at higher rates in the last few weeks. Im hoping my NV odds get a little better.
 
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NM and AZ draws probably were not as effected. We will get a better idea when the app numbers for CO come out. People really started losing their jobs at higher rates in the last few weeks. Im hoping my NV odds get a little better.

Yep. Wyoming was probably early enough that any impact there will be because of their delay in actually doing the draw and folks dropping out of the draw or returning tags because of the economy.

Will be interesting to see the impacts to draws in MT, CO, and NV.

On another note, maybe I better put in for ID bighorns this year too..
 

realunlucky

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Yep. Wyoming was probably early enough that any impact there will be because of their delay in actually doing the draw and folks dropping out of the draw or returning tags because of the economy.

Will be interesting to see the impacts to draws in MT, CO, and NV.

On another note, maybe I better put in for ID bighorns this year too..
Shhhh
That was supposed to be my Ace in the hole
 

Usi05

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If there is any effect I would suspect it happened in some of the draws. The NM draw #’s seem to disprove that though.

I do expect OTC to be a bit more crowded with folks that might have went draw but didn’t.


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MAVinWA

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Based in WA, OTC archery public land in AZ, UT, so
well a drop of NR hunters will probably be evident, if this CoVid situation continues past July. Sates losing the NR dollar$, license revenue and local economy revenue = decreased state & local muni budgets

more damaging to the big game resource; an increase of poaching will certainly increase....
but not from Non-resident hunters.
 
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Is anyone noticing less people talk about putting in for elk due to the economy right now or is everyone still applying? I've kinda held off on elk due to a mule deer tag I should pull. Hoping there's some good WY archery cow tags leftover.

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One thing I notice when out in public is the stress and worry I see on people's faces. There's alot more at stake than hunting right now. That's why fewer are talking about it. It's hard to get excited about anything for alot of people right now with the fear that the pandemic has caused. The media has played a huge part in the fear and panic as well with the left never letting a crisis go to waste and politicizing it while the deep state run media is pushing their agenda's for them......
 

Beendare

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Its a silver lining if there is an impact.

"How can they shut down the woods?" I've had buddies say.

Well what happens if the F&G is shut down....similar to my construction business where we have projects outside we can do but are hung up and can't work due to city inspections halted.

Sure we are outside...but what if the F&G and Game wardens aren't working?

Lets hope this doesn't happen...


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