Its becoming a rich mans activity.
This is true and it will be the death of hunting for sure. It has already started that way.
But your first license, at $12 was a resident license, I'd wager and the value of those $12 in today's money is, hmmm, abit more than $12. In state licenses everywhere I have looked, have not kept even close to the cost of inflation. Meanwhile, the state agencies are being systematically defunded and forced to depend more and more on excise tax returns from the feds and license monies. Since in state licenses cannot be increased easily due to political liability, that leaves out of state tags to go sky high. If you think that's bad for birds, try big game out west.
This is a croc. As Tamid says, it's just more whining. Rich man's game ........... pshaw! I regularly drive 1200 miles to Arkansas and back to hunt ducks for 4-5 days at the trip. I do the whole trip for between $400 and $500, licenses, fuel and shells. You could bump that up to about $750 if I used the going rate for mileage costs of $.535/mile. I don't count food because I'd be eating if I stayed home. And actually I could knock some off the mileage costs because I'd be putting miles on the truck if I stayed home, too.
In one sense
any sport hunting is a rich man's game, compared to the income level of much of the world. But, I don't think that's how the comment was meant. Flying to England or Spain to shoot driven birds is a rich man's game. Going to Africa to hunt any of the Big Five is a rich man's game. Not that it's for everyone, but you can still shoot high volume doves in Cordoba for four full days for under $6K, if you plan and do it right, with a group. It costs more than that to plant one 30 acre field of sunflowers for doves here, and you might not get but one good shoot out of it.
This is all just complaining to be complaining, IMO. Those who want to hunt badly enough can find a way without taking out a mortgage to fund it.
SRH
