The NR “battle” will never end with everybody being happy.
I am not anti NR and agree they have an economic impact to the small gateway towns, but here’s some perspective.
We know the owners of a store/station in a small gateway town and have had this discussion numerous times. A NR will usually pull in a day or two before the hunt, fill up, buy a few last minute needs and maybe fill up 2/3 times during the hunt and possibly replace a few necessities.
A resident hunting near the same town will visit the same town 2, 5, 10 times before the hunt and spend the same money a NR does during the hunt. This is not to say a NR doesn’t add to the economy, but at the end of the year, the residents brings in substantially more money to these gateway towns.
The numbers may be different in a state with OTC licenses like Colorado?
Eta; it is typically the outfitters that make the argument that NR hunters keep the lights on in the small gateway towns.
