making wisconsin a deer lottery state

[schlupis]

I would like to see Wisconsin become a lottery state for non-residents like Iowa and Kansas and Illinois are, I think this would be good for our deer hunting...Nothing against non-residents but I am noticing that it is far more expensive and harder to get a tag in other states....Wisconsin is not even close to other states as far as cost to hunt for non-residence ball park 170 dollars... Bottom line I would like to see Wisconsin raise the price for Non-residents stop stickin it to the residents.....

[gunther89]

I would agree with you, Wisconsin has big deer as well as other states and to me it would get our dnr more money which would maybe get more game wardens out there helping people with poaching.

[Legnip]

You definitely have a right to your opinion, but "stop sticking it to the residents"? I grew up in WI, and my family still lives there. I think they pay $20 for the priveledge to hunt deer. I've hunted in WI every year since I was 13. Now keep in mind I Own property in WI. I pay taxes, but have not rights to hunt deer as a resident. Talk about Taxation Without Representation! I have to pay the $170-180 every year. You should be happy that the non-residents pay the equivalent of 8 resident licenses. If you do the math, then where would the additional funds come from? Raise taxes? Raise license fees? Both of those options don't really sound promising to the resident hunter who supposedly keep getting stuck.
 
As hunters we should encourage the use of the outdoors by all. This is not an elitest sport. The number of hunters seems to decrease every year.

[vipermann7]

I have to agree that I dont think Wisconsin really needs to be a lottery for non-resdients. i've lived and hunted in Wisconsin my whole life, so it wouldn't directly cost me more money if it did. But Wisconsin has plenty of deer, and plenty of quality deer. For the most part, nonresidents aren't coming here to shoot does and 100 inch bucks, they spend the money on licenses and traveling to shoot a trophy. Next thing is they are generally limited to hunting outfitters or public lands, two places that any resident is also welcome to hunt. So it's not like non-residents have any advantage over us residents. The same deer they shoot, us residents could be out there shooting as well. If Wisconsin's deer herd was suffering from over-hunting, then I would say a lottery system might be appropriate. As it is the DNR says we have way too many deer, I'm not sure if that is true or not, but as long as the herd is healthy, I see no reason to make it increasingly difficult for others to come here. Not only that, hunters spend a lot of money every year, might as well let some of the non-residents come to Wisconsin and spend it here.

[RNC]

I have to disagree with this one. Even though our family owns property in WI and pays taxes on that land we still pay the non-resident fees. After that you want to make it where I may not even be able to get a tag? We chose to buy land where we are because we like the area and did so knowing that even though we would pay the higher non-res fee we would be able to get a tag every year. Besides the taxes and the hunting fees we also spend money in the local towns for gas, groceries, restraunts, deer processing, food plot stuff from the co-op, used local contractors to build our cabin and put in a septic system. This spring we also started turkey hunting so there is more money we put into the WI DNR and local economey. I am positive we are not the only non-residents who do this. So you really want to create a lottery system, raise hunting fees and possibly loose incomming money from the folks like us?

[gunther89]

vipermann7 if non residents are coming to Wisconsin to just harvest trophy class bucks, then why not charge them more for it.  The state would make more money with it because people will come no matter what the price is because they want to shoot that big buck.

[bigwisconsinbucks]

I disagree that there should be a lottery in Wisconsin for non-residents. Many landowners live out of state and own land in Wisconsin primarily for hunting. They should not have to pay a huge sum of money or just have a chance of getting to hunt on their land. I know a few guys that own farms here in Wisconsin, but live in other states. They shouldn't have to take a chance to hunt the land. Also, in our deer camp we have guys from Minnesota that come and it would be a shame not to have them come because of a lottery. In addition, I believe that some non-residents come here just to fill the freezer while enjoying deer camp. It's nice to be different than the other trophy producing states and not have a lottery.

[Legnip]

Gunther - Have you ever been to WI or hunted there? Trophy hunting is tough to do unless you are at a game farm. The typical buck that is harvested is 1.5 years old. My numbers are off, since my memory doesn't work like it used to. but the WI gun season typically has over 600,000 hunters in the woods and the season is only 9 days. That is it. If you hunt in the southern part of WI, then you can easily loose count of the number of shots fired. Opening weekent sounds like the gun range at Fort Cambell. In the snow belt you'll hear 60 shots during opening weekend. Trophies are taken, but it is mostly a fortunate accident. Selective harvest for trophy hunting is next to impossible, unless you are in a high fence deer pen. Not to mention the problems that you have with poachers and trespasser who think it is their right to do whatever they want. I'm rambling now... Thanks for the opinion, but I disagree. Take care.

[Legnip]

Hey bigwisconsinbucks - I agree with you about deer camp. It is the best part of the entire week. I actually sent the DNR a letter about the land ownership with conflicting rights. As a land owner you can hunt small game on your property without a license. I made may argument to them base upon that. They didn't address it, but stated that WI had some of the lowest non-resident fees. They changed the small game rule the very next year. Oops they showed me. Take care.

[schlupis]

Hey legnip I am siply stating that I believe it is far too cheap for a non-resident to hunt in Wi. if a guy wanted to hunt in iowa kansas illinois the three other states that come close to wis for trophy bucks...you will pay bare minimum 350 dollars not to mention the 5 to 10 dollars each year for preference points..and non-residents are still standing in line to hunt in those states....If wis raise the price they would still come here to hunt......