House Votes To Boost Cost Of Hunting Hunters Will Pay $6 More If Bill Passes

It could cost resident and nonresident hunters alike another $6 to hunt deer and elk in Idaho next season.

The House voted 44-26 for a bill that would boost the cost of tags in order to generate an extra $1.4 million for an agency which has run into a budget crunch in recent years. The measure was sent to the Senate.

If the measure becomes law:

A resident deer tag which now costs $9 will go to $15 and the resident elk tag charge of $15 moves to $21.

The nonresident deer tag, now $225, would become $231. For a nonresident elk permit, the charge would jump from $325 to $331.

The charge for a general hunting license would remain the same, $7.50 for residents and $101.50 for nonresidents.

Fish and Game Director Steve Mealey said the agency plans for revenue increases next year in the neighborhood of $6 million. He said that will be decided after the Fish and Game Commission meets with sportsmen to set priorities and the best way to finance them.

Fish and Game officials said they plan to use the $1.4 million to add enforcement officers, schedule more back country patrols, improve harvest estimates and spend $287,000 implementing a mandatory hunter reporting system.

Sponsoring Rep. Jack Barraclough, R-Idaho Falls, said Fish and Game expects to sell about 233,000 game tags next season.

Many complain about nonresident hunters, Barraclough said, but they take only 6-7 percent of the animals and yet pay 65 percent of the hunting fees collected by Fish and Game.

Rep. Ken Robison, D-Boise, said lawmakers should support putting extra money into the wildlife agency because of its importance to the state economy.

“A lot of businesses around the state benefit if there is a deer in the woods and a hunter is there to pursue it,” Robison said.