Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Support wildlife, habitat and the DNR

Old Buck

Old Buck

Life Member
The DNR is in a very difficult financial position, and the excessive nonresident increases imposed by the Legislature last year have backfired. Non-Resident License Sales (and future expectations) are down, and the lack of money is having an impact. The DNR is actively cutting capital expenditures (land acquisitions have already almost completely ceased), the Shelterbelt Program (which establishes winter cover on private lands) has been slashed, and the DNR's new and very well received Private Lands Program may well be eliminated if finances do not improve. Staff reductions that may take place in the near term include wildlife and fisheries staff, and law enforcement.

The DNR is funded primarily by license fees and they haven't increased since 1992. A bill is now in the house to increase the resident hunting license fee by $4.50. It also requires the IA DNR to spend $500,000/yr. for 5 years on pheasant and quail habitat restoration.

If you bird hunt you know numbers of both species are down. If you don't care about birds remember quail and pheasant habitat is also habitat for deer and many other species.

Contact your legislator (call, write or e-mail) and urge them to pass HF 2480 (was HSB 695). AN IOWA RESIDENT HUNTING LICENSE IS ONE OF THE BEST BARGAINS THERE IS! If you love to hunt let's support wildlife, habitat and the Iowa DNR.

The phone number to reach your Senator is 515/281-3371 & for your Representative is 515/281-3221.

To access bills, E-Mail address for legislators, & other info on the Internet go to http://www.legis.state.ia.us/
 
Thanks for all the good information, Old Buck!! Keep fighting for the cause!
 
I know someone who wants to buy a non-res deer license, even with the increase. When can you apply for it?
 
Larry/All,

I just put a call into the House as well as the Senate and left messages for my Senator and Represenative urging they pass HF 2480.

As a past DNR Commissioner I couldn't agree more with "Old Buck". We are in difficult financial times and we all need to act and show our support for this bill.

The call took me 5 minutes total and in reality it's better than e-mail, especially if you can visit with your Senator or House Representative.

Just Do It!

TLH, Founder/Owner - iowawhitetail.com -
 
I would like to mention a few things that are on my mind concerning Iowa hunting.First of all I was born and raised in southern Iowa and lived there for over half of my 44 years. When the State jacked their out-of-state licenses off the planet it priced myself out of a opportunity to go home and hunt.What a bummer! The problam in Iowa is no different than any other state:Too much Govt.Until they start down sizing, taxes and fees will continue to grow. Maybe Iowa needs to reduce the states work force.Why punish the outdoorsman of this country for poor govt. ecomomics? Anyway, I hope things workout for the State. I am proud to be FROM Iowa. Maybe many of you will still have an opportunity to travel to another state and enjoy the resources they have to offer. May your next hunting or fishing trip be a success.
 
All,

Your opinions are welcome on this and other pending legislation.

To also clarify our e-mails and comments...we are not opposed to non-resident hunting in this state it's just this year version we aren't too excited about.

A 3X increase in NR deer licenses since 1998 smells a little greedy to us. As far as the landowner bill, this also needs to be looked at closer in a tough agricultural enviroment.
There is a better way of solving this issue as well.

Basically we have made our stand this year and that's in support of the IBA.Next year could be different, lets talk about it before the Bill is on the Senate floor
smile.gif
 
Old Buck; The language in 2480 does not address "habitat." It would provide money to fund a "pheasant and quail restoration program." If that means dropping out dopey birds raised in Minn, I would oppose it.

That would not benefit deer or deer hunting.

Does anyone know yet what is causing the bird decline? Until you (they) know and accept that, they will have little success correcting it. Meanwhile, the extra money will be spent on something.

It is good to see that the non-resident devils are finally been exorcised and are taking their dirty money elsewhere.

This may be an early indicator of the golden bubble beginning to burst. ALL DNRs face the future of a rapidly delining hunter base at the same time that their fixed (and variable) costs are continuing to rise. In 20 years, the IDNR will be a very different animal, with a much different mission. The few remaining bowhunters will have plenty of big bucks to pick from, if the Farm Bureau has not killed all of them for us.
 
Hey Old Buck, where have you gotten your facts that the price increase has back fired.
I was lucky enough to get a Spring turkey tag but friends of mine did not, which shows that they still sold out even at the much higher rate. As I see it, they must be patting each other on the back for pulling it off.
 
First I must address the post from ODOC. I realize we are each entitled to an opinion, and the right to express it. That being said, I can only say there are several non-residents who frequent this site, and the state of Iowa and appreciate the habitat and quality of the deer herd.

Secondly, I'm not a devil nor is my money "dirty." I'm a working man who supports a family of four with my salary as a state trooper. I suspect there are a number of non-residents who take some of their hard earned money and spend some of it in Iowa on non-resident license fees, gas, food, etc. Economically speaking, I heard no complaints from the cafes or mom and pop gas stations around Corning complain when I came in with my hard earned money last fall.

Lastly,(I'll quit rambling soon)I too, support the limit on the number of non-resident deer tags offered each year. I'll wait my turn to for a chance to hunt Iowa as a non-resident. I'm in it for the quality.

Humble offerings from a radar cop in Missouri, MO
 
Oh, and one more thing...That warning about not deleting the cookies in your computer, it's good information! You have to re-register and start all over with the number of posts submitted!!

MO
 
mo-antertips, I just wanted to tell you that your awalys welcome here, (in Iowa) as far as i'm concerned. I noticed that you said you hunt around corning, i live just up the road in massena, we have some nice deer in the area, hope you comeback and get a big one. good luck next fall.
micah
 
I am not going to speak for anyone else, but as for myself I am not apposed to nonresident hunters, I am just not to keen on more competition for hunting ground. Mo-antlertips, no offense is intended by my lack of support of the extreme increase in the number of nonresident deer tags, I am just looking out for my and other residents interests. I think we all hope that you understand. I, for one, am glad to have an outdoorsman like yourself involved with this site.
 
Mo-Antlertips, Keep an eye out for ODOC when he passes through OUR state will ya! He might be inclined to leave a little revenue with us!
 
The problem I see with this whole issue is Iowa's Pheasant and Quail numbers are so low that the state is trying to do anything in its powers to raise money for the DNR so why not go to a species that we are overpopulated in, Deer. The whole issue is money NOTHING else, they also say they haven't raised the instate license fee's in the last ten years, this is crap, they haven't raise the base fee for hunting and fishing licenses but they have raised everything around it like habitat stamps, duck stamps the NEW fishing stamp etc. so don't tell me they haven't raised the fees because they have! I buy my 3 children + my own instate hunting licenses every year for Christmas and I know they have gone up alot over the past few years, it is in the mid 40 dollar range right now. We do NOT need any increases in our instate license fee's we need the DNR to get off their duffs and work on getting our Pheasant population back up so we can attract the out of state licenses back up to where they used to be and not even bring up an increase in out of state Deer tags. This issue is all about the money they are losing because of the loss of our Pheasant population thats it!!!!!!
BB
 
mo-antlertips
I agree with Kelcher's post, I also welcome NR's to our state, but feel twice the current number is a bit much. Reading your post, I can tell you appreciate a quality deer hunt and are willing to wait and be drawn for that opportunity. I,too, put in for quality tags in other states and understand that I will not get drawn every year. Thanks for your understanding...and Good Luck deer hunting this fall!


TB
 
Yes, I also agree with Kelcher on this. I was just saying that I don't mind having quality guys from out of state hunting. But I do think the increase in tags is way too extreme.
 
MO-Antlertips, I hope you don't mind me leaving some dirty Iowa money at the Ozarks in July. As for the DNR needing money: I work for a public utility that has been "broke" for the last 5 years. Somehow, they seem to find the money for the things that they want and then complain about needing funds for the things they "need." The bird numbers are down because of an unusually hard winter and a wet spring. When the numbers return, the out-of-state hunters will return (in droves) and the DNR will still have their fee increases. JMO
 
The state senator from my region is Sandra Greiner from Keota. I had a chat with her by phone on friday night.She told me that she has had very little positive response from her constituents on 2480. The KIOWA chapter of Ducks Unlimited is having their Spring Banquet in Harper on Sat Nite March 16th,and Sandra said that she would try to attend.Hopefully she can make it to our banquet that would give her a chance to talk with some of the sportsmen in the area and get some real feedback.My state rep.Betty DeBoef has not returned my call I will keep trying to reach her this week and see if she would attend our banquet.I think that would be great if we could get them both to our banquet and talk to them about 2480 and not to mention 2448and 2449.
 
Im not sure how the DNR works in other parts of the state but they dont give a crap about the deer here.Its all about pheasants, ducks, or geese.They buy land and if god forbid theres a tree on it somewhere or even a whole grove of them they go in and cut them down.That improves the pheasant habitat but sure dont leave the deer, squirrels, or anything else that might need a place to get out of the weather many options.They bring all sorts of heavy equipment in and dig these little ponds in the hopes they will hold water.I can think of over 20 such ponds theyve dug for waterfowl restoration, and a grand total of 3 of them have held water.When me and a friend of mine talked to them one day while they were cleaning up the remains of another grove they took out, we asked about the treecutting and shallow ponds.The guy actually started screaming at us about how went to school for 4 years and the trees didnt belong there.I got a little irate myself and told him i didnt have his education but even i could see that pond they spent thousands of dollars digging hadnt held a drop of water in the 3 years since they dug it.Now I wonder why theyre going broke???I spend over 100$ a year now on fishing and hunting licenses and I have a six year old thats showing a interest in hunting so thats going to double soon.Then I see stuff like that and wonder what my moneys actually going for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom