Hagedorn letter: big game tags
We oppose the sale of any Governor’s Wildlife Partnership big game auction tags for Idaho’s wildlife. Recently, Idaho’s legislators and the Department of Fish and Game are talking of selling 12 more “governor auction tags.” The selling of these tags is for only a special interest, group of people. This plan would be an abuse of Idaho’s hunting heritage, of Idaho’s wildlife by Idaho sportsmen and would create additional resentment and distrust for the legislators and Fish and Game.
If you think governor auction tags are so great, take a look at our neighbor state of Utah. They started off with a few auction tags and now they are selling between 300 and 400 tags a year. The tags sold are mostly in controlled hunt areas along with a few resident and nonresident draw tags. The folks that get the draw tags are hunting with those who paid big bucks for the auction tag.
Most residents call these hunts “a hunt from hell” coping with all those who paid big bucks for hunts in prime units. The idea of family and friends being able to purchase over-the-counter tags to hunt together is in the past and the same thing will happen in Idaho. Then, in Idaho, only the rich get to hunt.
Jim Hagedorn, Viola, Idaho for Wildlife Foundation
This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Hagedorn letter: big game tags."