How easy its become...
Elk
I just cannot believe how easy it is now compared to the old days of paper applications. i just put in for a hunt license in one state...and two draw hunts in two other states all in about 20 minutes tops....and that was searching hunt codes and everything.
So glad those paper apps are gone. Shoot it wasn't that many years ago [ok maybe 10 or 15] that Arizona lost a pile of applications- one of them mine- in a year I should have drawn right before they limited non res tags.
There has to be some old timers like me left that feel differently....
Yeah and some people still use the draw brokers are whatever they are called to help them get their applications in. Was kind of cool back in the day to get surprised by a tag in the mail and that was your first indication you could get to know you didn't screw up the application you sent in months before. I only apply for the state I live so it's pretty much cake to do for me and the wife!
I remember back when we used to seal our application envelope with wax and hand it to the Pony Express rider as he came through!
Seriously, back when it was paper apps only in CO, I knew a couple guys who swore that red ink got them higher odds of being drawn. Not sure how, but for some reason those two guys did get drawn more often than others we knew.
I remember when you had to send Montana seven hundred-fifty dollars to apply for moose, sheep, and goats!
Can anyone tell me how to get my check into the computer??
It has become pretty convenient for sure. I bet my odds were better when I had to fill out a paper app and actually send in real money in the shape of a check.
Everything evolves, some good and some not so much.
Rick M made my point. Filling out apps and having enough in the bank for the checks to clear was an obstacle. When its easy, more folks apply for that tag you want.
The joys of steam-powered elastictrickery and interweb access...back when a mouse was a small rodent and computers weren't so much personal as barn-sized
I remember at schoolyou had to specifically opt to take IT classes, now it's compulsory...a child who cannot use a PC is considered as illiterate as one who cannot read or write
I dont think I have wrote a check in 6 years. When I got divorced in 09 I opened a new checking account. I still have my starter checks. Never have ordered any checks.
I agree with its easier now days but it has its down side as well.
I remember one year going to the DOW office to drop off my paper apps with each one in a separate envelope and they would not allow me to put cash in the envelopes. Had to go back home and get my checkbook and write a check for each species I was applying for. Never thought I would see the day that someone would refuse cash, LOL.
I agree, now if we could just work on the draw odds getting easier:)
I wonder how many paper apps were just put aside or lost way back when...can't do that with computers doing all of the heavy lifting now.
To Ricks and some of the guys point about easier to draw back with paper apps-
Yeah there were a lot less bowhunters back then. Back in the 80's I drew for deer in Nev every year. In many of the states bowhunting was statewide. If you found a good spot it wasn't broadcast through the media to everyone. I drew elk tags in Az about every 3-4 years....there are a lot more bowhunters now.
I think that right now is the good old days of bowhunting.
So many opportunities in different states, different species and many are easy to get the tags. I see guys whining about "They can't draw an Az elk tag" but look at all of the states they can get a tag every year and go hunt....and all of the different species, the list is a long one!
True, but back when I used stamps and envelopes, I didn't care when the draw date was because it was essentially 100% draw for resident archery elk. Heck, antelope was unlimited archery tags and either sex. The seasons for everything were waaayyy longer then too.
Back then, it was "send your money in so they will send you a tag," not "click 'submit application' and pray I get drawn" like it is now.
The application process has gone the same as archery equipment. Much easier to use, so a lot more people doing it which has resulted in lower draw success and much shorter seasons to accommodate the trend.
Beendare, it happened in CO, too. A bunch of paper apps with "Attn: Bighorn Sheep" on the envelope were somehow "misplaced" in a Post office. They were discovered after the drawings. I never heard who did it but there were suspicions that it was an anti-hunter/sheep lover postal worker.
The CDOW had to have a special "redraw" for bighorn sheep that year, and issued additional tags.
For selfish reasons, I'd like to see services like T.A.G.S. abolished, and require the individual hunter to put in the effort to figure it out and apply. Those services truly are flooding the premium draws and screwing up the odds.
Then again, there's a certain segment of the hunting public for which "hunting" is about providing a credit card, getting picked up at the airport, driven to the animal that has been pre-scouted all summer, pulling the trigger, and posing for the hero shot with the rest of the "team"..
I pray that Colorado continues with paper-only for Sheep, Moose, & Goat from NR. First, for the obviously better draw odds. And second, it's cheaper for the Division to take a check, considering the merchant fee on a $6000.00 Credit Card transaction is at least $100.00. If they went to on-line apps for NR, you know the NR applicants will end up paying those fees, one way or another, either with the requirement for a general license purchase, or with a new "PP fee", like virtually every other western state has done.
As far as the "lost in mail" worries, I use Registered Mail with return receipt and send my apps in well in advance. If an envelope got lost, I'd have time to rectify it.
Would mailed in paper apps be considered "Trad" applications????
heheheheh....
I do believe if one wanted to.... trad applications are still accepted in most if not all states... you know, if one wanted the extra "challenge".... =D
Only if you use a quill and parchment.
I am curious if tag app services went away how many people would drop out of draws.
Jaq, I remember that Big Horn snafu!
I agree with your post....but thinking glass half full here, everyone has a different idea of what a "hunt" is- to each his own.
I prefer to look at all of the opportunities we have now- which are off the chart.
Yep, we do have a ton of opportunities. No doubt. I hear CO residents complaining all the time. Really? We can bowhunt 2 elk, pronghorn, deer and bear every year. If we do it right we can hunt from mid August until the end of the year. We can also hunt cougar during bow season now. NRs can do the same thing. With some patience and luck we have the other big 3 species.
Sure, the draw odds are growing for limited tags, but that's also a factor of more participation and the growing emphasis on "trophies".
But we still have it pretty good in most of the country
The old days??
Still living them here. That's my spring grizzly application.
Its true Lou...the opportunity in our state is endless if you get a little creative. I had tags for 6 different species to hunt with a bow last fall. There wasn't enough time to do it all but sure was fun looking at the tags pinned in front of my desk all summer and daydreaming.
A spring grizz app would be nice... even if I had to do it the hard way.... hand write it and put a stamp on it.
I wonder in years past... maybe even a few times now... how many states got envelopes with wads of cash stuffed inside em....
FWIW... I HAND DELIVERED a fistful of paper apps right to the Maui DLNR office this year. Azzbackwards HI doesn't even offer apps on line... license yes, apps no... can't even download the apps to print out.
I mentioned to a licensed HI guide friend I think the DLNR here is chock full of anti-hunters, and have a few nightmare stories to back it up. He said they aren't anti-hunter so much as anti human being.....
I had a woman from the Wyoming Game and Fish tell me that they didn't send out big game brochures anymore and everyone had to apply online for all tags. I said what if someone didn't have a computer. She said if a NR can afford to buy a license in Wyoming, they can afford a computer. No joke!
Ambush, I would be happy with filling out a paper appl if I could hunt spring grizzly. Hard to compare you Canucks....its still legal there to carry a sharpened hockey stick as your backup weapon, aye?
TD, And for that I will be forever grateful. Nice to know that laid back island attitude is alive and well in the game and fish office....if only the animals felt the same way.....
LKH, Thanks, Eh! I wasn't sure,Eh! All I know, Eh, is thats the way I talk Eh, after hunting in Canada for a week, Eh.
We only say "eh" when there's tourists around. Then when they say it to fit in, we recognize the subtle difference in inflection. That's how we know if we are talking to someone who my be packing concealed. Then we're real polite.
A hint Beendare: "eh" never has a capital or punctuation.
And it's pronounced "eh" but never just "eh". You see the difference, eh.
I'd be happy to entertain you for a week up here in BC so you can learn the west coast dialect.
Ambush, I lived with a couple of guys from C eh N eh D eh for a few years in college. Football players no less. After a year or two I could pass for a Canadian any time we went oot, I mean out:)
Yeah I would be happy filling oot a paper app to hunt grizz!
Funny how we are starting to sound like our dads talking about the good old days.
Rick, them fellas must'a come oot ah da east coost.
Dem's Newfies boyo.
