License Fees and running more people away from Hunting

Teh Wicked

Senior Member
Have not hunted in GA since moving here because of the price of leases in the area. People are insane...

I have a general freshwater license and a trout stamp. Hunting has become a rich mans sport thanks to modern day television. This will likely lead to me never hunting again, and this is after nearly 30 years of hunting. In my eyes, the fun of it has already been ruined, you cant even take your kid deer hunting without having to pay in excess of $2500 for a lease, license, firearm, clothing, ammo....Just to shoot a freaking deer. What happened to the days of hunting in the back yard after work?
 

shdw633

Senior Member
Have not hunted in GA since moving here because of the price of leases in the area. People are insane...

I have a general freshwater license and a trout stamp. Hunting has become a rich mans sport thanks to modern day television. This will likely lead to me never hunting again, and this is after nearly 30 years of hunting. In my eyes, the fun of it has already been ruined, you cant even take your kid deer hunting without having to pay in excess of $2500 for a lease, license, firearm, clothing, ammo....Just to shoot a freaking deer. What happened to the days of hunting in the back yard after work?

$2500 would be a blessing for me!! Come to Central Florida where leases run anywhere between $6000 and $15,000. :hair: I know of plenty of Georgia leases that are under $1000 and Georgia also has tons of public land available so no reason that you can't continue to hunt and keep it under $100 a month, especially since you can buy the resident license. As far as hunting in your back yard??? That's going to cost you some bucks for the land, the days of asking the farmer for permission for free are gone in my opinion.
 

The Fever

Senior Member
$2500 would be a blessing for me!! Come to Central Florida where leases run anywhere between $6000 and $15,000. :hair: I know of plenty of Georgia leases that are under $1000 and Georgia also has tons of public land available so no reason that you can't continue to hunt and keep it under $100 a month, especially since you can buy the resident license. As far as hunting in your back yard??? That's going to cost you some bucks for the land, the days of asking the farmer for permission for free are gone in my opinion.

Gone? Naw. When I lived there you just had to knock on doors. Got to put in the time and not just ask for something, but it doesn't hurt my feelings when y'all think this way lol. I've got 400 private acres I can hunt ;)
 

The Fever

Senior Member
Have not hunted in GA since moving here because of the price of leases in the area. People are insane...

I have a general freshwater license and a trout stamp. Hunting has become a rich mans sport thanks to modern day television. This will likely lead to me never hunting again, and this is after nearly 30 years of hunting. In my eyes, the fun of it has already been ruined, you cant even take your kid deer hunting without having to pay in excess of $2500 for a lease, license, firearm, clothing, ammo....Just to shoot a freaking deer. What happened to the days of hunting in the back yard after work?

That averages out to $200 bucks a month for a year. The firearm should last a lifetime, and the clothing several years. So remove those two and you're at least talking $100 bucks a month, and you're spending that elsewhere in your life on a variety of things. It's all about priorities.

I sat in a bar watching a football game last year and the fella sitting next to me started a conversation. Eventually we got to hunting and fishing. Talked about how hunting costs too much for him. I used to feel the same way. I even was against the license increases. We watched that game and he had himself many a beer and wings. Game was over and he paid his $70 dollar tab and left. Said he'd see me in here every saturday if I wanted to catch up again. $3,360 in beer and wings a year.

His truck was covered in stickers that would have cost what your rifle would have too. I did the math in my head and realized I needed to quit complaining and tighten down on what I spend my money on. I bowhunt now. My budget revolves around it, and if there is some money left over, I water swat some shovelers and ringnecks come December.

Most folks have the money if they do some soul searching. Heck! I bet your cable bill is enough to allow you to hunt if you cut it!
 

Totaloutdoorsman

Senior Member
WMAs aren't free. Game wardens protecting the resource aren't free. Youth programs aren't free. Prices for all of those and more have gone up across the board. It takes money from licenses to pay for most of it. I'd rather pay a little more for a license than lose public land opportunities or forfeit youth programs. It's the world we live in now. It would be like getting mad at Burger King for raising prices on a hamburger that used to cost .55¢ in 1985 to $2.00 in 2017. It's called inflation.
 

Teh Wicked

Senior Member
$2500 would be a blessing for me!! Come to Central Florida where leases run anywhere between $6000 and $15,000. :hair: I know of plenty of Georgia leases that are under $1000 and Georgia also has tons of public land available so no reason that you can't continue to hunt and keep it under $100 a month, especially since you can buy the resident license. As far as hunting in your back yard??? That's going to cost you some bucks for the land, the days of asking the farmer for permission for free are gone in my opinion.

Lived in Tampa for 7 years....I'm familiar, I used to drive all the way to the Green Swamp WMA's just to be followed by unprepared hunters and people that watch entirely to much Bone Collectors shows on the Outdoor Channel.

There are cheap leases, you are correct, but most of them are not very good leases. The state seems to be filled with people who thinking of hunting property as a means of income. So they rape and pillage the property for years allowing hoards of hunters to shoot everything around, completely kill the area, and then continue selling the lease using old photos of the lease.
 

Teh Wicked

Senior Member
That averages out to $200 bucks a month for a year. The firearm should last a lifetime, and the clothing several years. So remove those two and you're at least talking $100 bucks a month, and you're spending that elsewhere in your life on a variety of things. It's all about priorities.

I sat in a bar watching a football game last year and the fella sitting next to me started a conversation. Eventually we got to hunting and fishing. Talked about how hunting costs too much for him. I used to feel the same way. I even was against the license increases. We watched that game and he had himself many a beer and wings. Game was over and he paid his $70 dollar tab and left. Said he'd see me in here every saturday if I wanted to catch up again. $3,360 in beer and wings a year.

His truck was covered in stickers that would have cost what your rifle would have too. I did the math in my head and realized I needed to quit complaining and tighten down on what I spend my money on. I bowhunt now. My budget revolves around it, and if there is some money left over, I water swat some shovelers and ringnecks come December.

Most folks have the money if they do some soul searching. Heck! I bet your cable bill is enough to allow you to hunt if you cut it!

Im pretty strict on my financials, im a single income home with 2 kids and im a disabled vet. So with the time it takes me to complete tasks around the house, combined with the cost of a "Decent" lease every year, my costs would be just not worth it. Even if the lease is $500 per year, and I invest is absolutely nothing else. $500 will buy ALOT of meat from Kroger for the year.

I look at hunting as a hobby with the added benefits of delicious pay offs. And these days, the delicious payoff's are not worth the investment to me anymore. Maybe I'm getting crotchety after 35 years on the earth and refuse to drop that kind of money on hunting a wild animal that come up in packs of 5-6 every evening in my back yard.

I guess I been in the hunting game so long, im sick and tired of seeing people try and get rich off the market and taking advantage of inexperienced hunters looking for lease land to hunt and then get ripped off.
 

C.Killmaster

Georgia Deer Biologist
Im pretty strict on my financials, im a single income home with 2 kids and im a disabled vet. So with the time it takes me to complete tasks around the house, combined with the cost of a "Decent" lease every year, my costs would be just not worth it. Even if the lease is $500 per year, and I invest is absolutely nothing else. $500 will buy ALOT of meat from Kroger for the year.

I look at hunting as a hobby with the added benefits of delicious pay offs. And these days, the delicious payoff's are not worth the investment to me anymore. Maybe I'm getting crotchety after 35 years on the earth and refuse to drop that kind of money on hunting a wild animal that come up in packs of 5-6 every evening in my back yard.

I guess I been in the hunting game so long, im sick and tired of seeing people try and get rich off the market and taking advantage of inexperienced hunters looking for lease land to hunt and then get ripped off.

There's close to 2 million acres of public land in Georgia you can hunt.
 

Crakajak

Daily Driveler News Team
My MIL gave me the money to buy a lifetime licence many years ago.Didn't get anything else for a few years. Best Christmas present ever. She has since pasted and I think of her everytime I do
anything hunting or fishing related.
 

Spotlite

Resident Homesteader
I just turned 65 and at 60 I [ Luckily] bought a lifetime license for $95.00 now from age 60 to 64 that same license is $315.00!! What happened that we needed to increase the costs of that license over 3 times !! this is totally ridiculous.! Retired folks on fixed incomes can't justify paying these prices.

How nice to live into your supposedly GOLDEN years and the State of Ga. and DNR penalizes you for it ,!!


I sure hope the DNR and state Legislators that passed all this get a LOT of feedback for going overboard on lots of these huge increases. In times of losing ground for hunters this IMO will only add another nail into the coffin!!


No-one ever likes to pay more, but this is not a huge increase, at least for residents. Georgia is still a state that has the longest hunting season available, deer season alone takes up 1/3 of the year. The increase is very minimum when considering it has not increased since 1992. I don`t know about everyone else, but for myself, I cannot pay my current bills based on my salary that I had in 1992.

For a good read, http://www.eregulations.com/georgia/hunting/major-changes/ and http://georgiawildlife.com/changes-hunting-and-fishing-licenses-2017

To get more involved, http://georgiawildlife.com/regulations/meetings


I hated to see a charge added for landowner tags, which have been free until now. Part of my family would get these each year.
RESIDENT HUNTING OR SPORTSMAN’S LICENSE is required for all resident hunters 16 years of age or older, except when hunting or fishing on one’s own land or land owned by immediate family (blood or dependent relationship) residing in the same household.

Big game license is required, in addition to a valid Hunting License, for hunting deer, turkey, or bear. The Big Game License is not required by resident hunters hunting one’s own land or land owned by immediate family (blood or dependent relationship) residing in the same household,

I believe it is still free. The key words here "residing in the same household".......So.....were they really legal when they got these in the past:D
 

Spotlite

Resident Homesteader
As a landowner who leases some property to a few people, it's not always about money with me. As you stated, I'm basically being paid for free maintenance and an extra set of eyes to watch out for my property, the hunters get to hunt in exchange for those services. I've been offered more money before, actually I get approached every single year about someone wanting to "out bid" the current club that leases from me. It's not worth it to me because I know the guys leasing my property now and they keep it clean, let me know if any shadiness is going on and they actually offer me meat. Their rate stays the same from year to year, and I'm happy I have good folks hunting my property that I don't have to worry about. Win, win.

This!!

Most people don`t understand that leasing works both ways. Take care of the place and pay your lease on time, the landlord is hesitate about increasing the cost!

I got my lease in 1996 that only covered the deer hunting rights. It was a farm place. And in 2000, it went up $2 per acre when turkey hunting rights were given. There was no small game hunting or fishing allowed (4 ponds on the place), and no food plots could be put in. The little things count, remember their birthdays, a cheap Thanksgiving and Christmas card goes a long way!! Remember them when they are sick, send them a card. We started this and the end result is, they also send us cards. They get my kids something for Christmas every year and they remembered them on their graduations. Since 2003, I have rights for unlimited use of the place......even cutting hay. And, I have not had an increase in lease cost since 2000!
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member

PappyHoel

Senior Member
This!!

Most people don`t understand that leasing works both ways. Take care of the place and pay your lease on time, the landlord is hesitate about increasing the cost!

I got my lease in 1996 that only covered the deer hunting rights. It was a farm place. And in 2000, it went up $2 per acre when turkey hunting rights were given. There was no small game hunting or fishing allowed (4 ponds on the place), and no food plots could be put in. The little things count, remember their birthdays, a cheap Thanksgiving and Christmas card goes a long way!! Remember them when they are sick, send them a card. We started this and the end result is, they also send us cards. They get my kids something for Christmas every year and they remembered them on their graduations. Since 2003, I have rights for unlimited use of the place......even cutting hay. And, I have not had an increase in lease cost since 2000!

This is spot on. I'm searching for this place now :)
 

chase870

Possum Sox
I contacted my state rep about this, he voted for it and didn't know about this increase on 60 and over, he said he was told it would go down for seniors. he was gonna find out why and get back to me.:biggrin2:

Sounds like your state rep can’t read. I’d vote against him from now on if he’s voting for things he does not read. That’s how we got Obama Care
 

chase870

Possum Sox
Actually, she was right. Disney did raise their prices to deter people from coming. They were getting to the point where the experience wasn't pleasant due to the excessive amount of people so they raised the prices to have less people come but still make their profit margins.

There is a reason it cost more to live in a gated community than the housing project too. Raise the price of anything just enough to keep the scum out and still earn a profit
 

Son

Gone But Not Forgotten
Hear some grumbling when dues go up, but they soon quiet down when they see the hunting got better. It cost to plant, keep a camp and so forth. But, when the license went up, we lost some good folks who said, it went over their limit. Also lost some good folks when GA/Fl stopped the reciprocal agreement. Those folks may have gotten a free license, but they paid a lease and spent into the local economies. Priorities gets ones income before anything else. Well, that's how it should be. The way i see it is, there's lots of good folks who are not rich, who are a pleasure to be around, good hunters etc. Darn shame to see any of em quit.
 
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