Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Non-Resident ELK Prices

Well said Bill. Same here. I’m about at half life.

I figure the only thing that’ll keep me from elk hunting will be my loss of sight

Or do what I do--pray daily for a series of harsh winters like I experienced through the 70's. There are two generations of people living in Colorado who have never experienced a harsh winter here. Some may think they have, but they haven't..........

That's california, without the Elk hunting...

Yes I have. NR licenses are out of sight there, too. When I can’t afford it, I’ll cut back.

All things considered NR hunting is still pretty cheap compared to most vacations.
Personally as a resident of MT I am chit full of NR bitching. It would be nice if the doubled prices and cut NR allocations in half.

Curious if you held that opinion as a MI resident?

I read that a week's trip to Disney World for a family of 4, using in Disney's hotels and restaurants, can easily top $10k.

Why does a MI resident think they deserve cheap elk licenses in MT? Save and go hunt.

i like your thinking next year i will go back to buying a non-resident tag if i get drawn. i still might try for a cow tag there is nothing like elk hunting and being in the mountains. thank you for posting i turn 70 this year i don`t have many hunts left,Pete53

Cow tags are now the same price as bull tags,starting this year. Pete,I turn 80,this year. I missed last year, but am planning to hunt this coming season.

Yes, I did. NR hunting is a cheap vacation all things considered and if anything Montana NR tag prices have not kept up with inflation.

This is exactly it.

A number of eastern states now have elk hunting. Check out their tag and license fees. They aren't much different than the western states and draw hunts are even harder to draw.

If they even offer NR licenses.
All the elk came from Western states yet I think 1 state allows NRs to apply and they give out only 10% of the tags to NRs, hummm.
The state with public land to hunt only allows Residents to apply for the public land hunts.

Those animals came from public lands so guess what, I payed taxes on that land like you all and helped raise those elk so I should get a licenses too, for cheap.
Not how I really think on licenses allocations but guess what if your states did what most western states do for NR elk hunters you all would be crying.

Virginia had their first elk hunt his past season. 6 tags. I think three were non residents.Those elk came from 70 that came from Pennsylvania ten years ago, not western states. Other states have received eastern elk too. Some form Alberta.

Those eastern elk hunts are extremely hard to draw and there are not that many.

Pricing out young guys with families who live in states without elk isn’t something to be proud of in my opinion. Hunting shouldn’t only be a rich man’s game particularly public land DIY style. I’d like my 18 year old grandson to keep hunting after I retire & can’t afford to subsidize him. I’d like the electrician who married the oldest granddaughter to be able to take their 3 boys.

Like the rest of the old farts here it won’t keep me off the mountain unlike crowding & wolves will eventually.

Having to own a truck & potentially an atv/UTV for thousands of dollars, $2,000 binoculars,$1600 in scope & rangefinder & carrying around $1,500 in packs, boots & fancy clothes, gloves all the other BS elk hunters buy cost of elk hunting is expensive & tag costs aren’t the biggest share.

But it gets more expensive every year. Hunters with the most money buy private land guided hunts like Europeans & hunters in Africa. We have always been different in America where a few bucks & more drive, stubbornness & grit could get you a rich man’s trophy on a working man’s salary. I hate to see that end.

Cow tags are still pretty cheap......

In Idaho all NR elk tags are the same price. The problem is availability. The demand far outstrips the supply.

Does anyone bitch about the cost of downhill skiing or golfing or reloading or scuba diving or long range shooting or just about any other hobby? You pick just about any interest or hobby these days and it's going to be expensive if you want to be good at it. A one-day adult lift ticked at Vail is $262. ONE DAY.

Except some rare archery hunts, and they get rarer everyday, hunting in CO has become a lot less hunting and a lot more opening day ambush. Forget calling, stalking, and other true hunting skills, it's now ambush an escape route with a 700-yard-capable rifle and wait. By the third day of the season you can go home as the elk have moved onto private or other inaccessible land. Even the wardens will tell you that now. I actually crave the few days pre-season more than the hunt days now.

Yes actually people do bitch about those things. Church and high school class ski trips around here went extinct a decade ago because it got too expensive for small town kids to raise the funds to go. I know probably two families that still go on ski vacations as opposed to 12 or 15 from a few years back, they all say it’s gotten too expensive.

I know plenty of guys who have given up golfing due to prices. I’m one of them. I never was any good or really into it, but I’d pay the $22 or whatever our local course fee was for 9 holes and a cart to hang out with my buddies and have a friendly competition and a couple beers. Now it’s $75-100 for an afternoon at the course, not worth it for me.

Hunting is much more important to me than any of the other things you listed so I try harder to make it happen. I get both sides of the argument both hunting out of state every year and living in a state that needs to raise their nonres license fees. But nothing I can do about it on either side but make the best of it.