MDC proposed fee increases

[tjm]

14 hours ago, Gavin said:

Have a football field sized property in the STL burbs. House sits on the first 100x100. Plus deer. Can’t shoot them but our dog likes to run them off.

~acre  and half, so do the deer live there: sleep, eat, breed and have fawns without using other lands? Or is your place just on the route to somewhere else, similar to a "deer crossing" on the interstate? (they won't let us hunt the interstate either and there's acres and acres of habitat.

100x100; Big house too, is that a chore to clean?

[SpoonDog]

It's easy to shout "cut costs!" in the abstract, up until the point it directly effects the person shouting.  Let's cut to the chase. 

Post up the conservation areas, the fishing accesses, the shooting ranges, nature centers, programs, or cost-share opportunities you use, that you're willing to see go away.  Not some obscure conservation area across the state you've never been visited, because everyone already knows it's easier and less painful to burden someone else with the consequences of your actions than it is to own them. 

So which of your favorite spots to hunt or fish or enjoy the outdoors will you give up in the interest of cost reduction?  Let's share.

 

 

[SpoonDog]

On 6/21/2019 at 9:01 AM, TroutRinger said:

Agreed. While it is for non-residents, I am firmly against any government agency getting more revenue unless they have documented a history of cost reduction first. 

The rate increases is the change I am least concerned with. Raising the minimum acreage for landowner hunting tags and creating a landowner registry are BS.

There is also a proposed requirement that would essentially require you to butcher your deer in the field if you live in one county and hunt in another. You wouldn’t be able to transport the carcass home to butcher if you have to cross state lines...you could only take it to a taxidermist or licensed processor.  There’s a place where I hunt where I may be in Boone County one hunt and Callaway the next depending on the spot. In either case, I am 20 minutes from the house. CWD doesn’t follow county lines, if you are putting a restriction like this in place (which I don’t support in any form), at least make it a mile radius so people that hunt close to home in different counties or have land that is in two counties don’t get screwed. 

Auditing MDC is one of the legislature's favorite pastimes, and it's pretty rare for them to find glaring mismanagement of our taxdollars.  There's already oversight, and it's showing MDC is a far better steward of public funds than many of the other state agencies.  For me, that's enough. 

Costs go up, irrespective of whether you're a public or a private entity.  Insurance, wages, retirement benefits, materials, utilities, maintaining and replacing infrastructure, trout chow- all those costs increase.  MDC may not pay property taxes (although don't they reimburse some counties for lost tax revenue?), but they may be paying other taxes and fees.  They're paying contract loggers, they're paying the dude to pump out the pit toilets- those costs go up through time.  If MDC needs to adjust permit fees to cover those increasing costs, it seems reasonable to me. 

A trout tag at Montauk is still far cheaper than a day at a private trout farm.  For the extra dollar tacked onto license fees, hunters and anglers maintain half a million acres of public access.  There's probably some permitholders in this state who could afford that level of access all on their own, but not many.   Purchasing your own private land for hunting or recreation isn't cheap.  Managing it for wildlife isn't cheap.  Hunting leases aren't cheap.  If we're gonna talk bout cost reductions, we ought to acknowledge the tremendous savings gained by supporting public lands. 

As for the CWD regs, my read is that they're only affecting the CWD management zones.  As far as I know, neither Boone nor Callaway county are within CWD management zones.  You may not be effected. 

[tjm]

1 hour ago, SpoonDog said:

half a million acres of public access

If you count the National Forrest and USACE lands/waters  managed in part by MDC you have a few million acres.

[tjm]

1 hour ago, SpoonDog said:

A trout tag at Montauk is still far cheaper than a day at a private trout farm

A comparison for those who doubt, from a Mo. resort offering private trout fishing:

Quote

 Catch & Keep fishing permits are $30 per day. .. You must keep everything you catch and the trout are $4.75 per pound live weight. ...Catch & Release permits are $125; these permits are sold per day, per guest

 

[oneshot]

On 6/21/2019 at 9:42 PM, fishinwrench said:

Around here?   You'd be surprised!

Actually I can give you a genuine answer ......9 to 14 is quite possible without baiting at all.

Agree I use to hunt 5 acres and kill Deer all day long , I have killed Deer there before getting set down.

Being said I know a Guy that would get Landowner Tags and shoot Deer on Public Land Tag them with his Land Owner Tag. Know another Guy lives in Springfield, drives to his Moms place by Stockton Lake and uses Landowner Tags. He also Baits. Like he said never has had to call a Turkey.

oneshot

[jdmidwest]

9 hours ago, oneshot said:

Being said I know a Guy that would get Landowner Tags and shoot Deer on Public Land Tag them with his Land Owner Tag. Know another Guy lives in Springfield, drives to his Moms place by Stockton Lake and uses Landowner Tags. He also Baits. Like he said never has had to call a Turkey.

That is what they are trying to target in a round about way.  Its another word for Poacher.