First, let me make it clear that I have always had questions about the fact that Colorado makes you pay the full tag price upfront even if you are only applying for a preference point.

I have heard the argument that they are collecting interest on your "loan" but that does not hold water: refund checks go out in about 2 months(1/6th of a year). If you figure that they earn .5% interest(one sixth of 3%) then Colorado stands to gain about $1.50 for a deer tag application that they refund.

If you factor in that they pay a transaction fee for credit card purchases and then have to pay for mailing each individual refund(they mail a check instead of refunding your CC) it is clear that the state of Colorado is not getting fat on the interest that the make on the refunded tag fees.

Anyway, long post short, I believe Colorado is asking for the full tag price to be paid up front not for the interest on your money($1 or $2), but rather in hopes that the refund checks($300 to $500) are not cashed(lost in the mail or lost by the recipient or whatever).

Case in point, Colorado residents received their refunds 2 weeks ago. I just received my elk refund today(mailed 2 days ago). I am still waiting on my deer refund.(Why do they mail them separately?????).

Two years ago I could have sworn that I never received my elk refund(and my bank did not show any deposit). When I called the CDNR they replied that my check had been mailed and showed "paid in full". I was a bit sheepish because I thought that I had cashed it an forgotten about it. Now I have to wonder...

I have not.
I refuse to participate in an tag system that requires me to send the full price in ahead of time.

"Government" You must always remember what they do rarely makes good sense. Financially or otherwise.

If they didn't require payment pre-drawing then a small but significant portion of successful applicants would, for whatever reason, change their minds and never buy the tags. This would obviously cause all sorts of problems.

It is inconvenient (and a financial hardship for someone whose finances are tight) to have to pay at the time of application, but I understand why they do it.

My biggest complaint is that they contract with a private company (located in Kentucky, IIRC) to do most of the paper work and the contractor frequently "messes up". The contractor collects the money and handles the lottery, but then it is the state (DWR) which has to cut the refund checks based on data from the contractor.

quote:

Originally posted by Thunder Head:
I have not.
I refuse to participate in an tag system that requires me to send the full price in ahead of time.

"Government" You must always remember what they do rarely makes good sense. Financially or otherwise.

***Then you obviously don't hunt in very many states other than your own because most require upfront payment of fees. I will also call BS to the post made by the OP, as those comments for the most part are ridiculous!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Thunder Head:
I have not.
I refuse to participate in an tag system that requires me to send the full price in ahead of time.

"Government" You must always remember what they do rarely makes good sense. Financially or otherwise.

I know of no state that does not require up front payment.

With all the things you could call "scams" in relation to western state nonresident applications, I would rank this near the bottom of the list. In fact it doesn't even make my list of favorite complaints.

FYI Nevada does not require up front fees for tag or point applications.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
If they didn't require payment pre-drawing then a small but significant portion of successful applicants would, for whatever reason, change their minds and never buy the tags. This would obviously cause all sorts of problems.

I fully understand why they would want you to pay in full is you are putting in for the drawing for tags. What I can't understand is why they want to full tag fee paid upfront when you are applying for a preference point only.

They know that they will be refunding the full tag price(minus the point fee) to you, so why have you pay for a tag? Why not do like other states and have guys who want a PP simply pay the PP fee? My guess it that they make some money on the guys who don't cash their refund check(due to death, lost checks, moving, etc.)

Colorado does seem to make it difficult to keep track of by mailing checks out at random times, and so on.

BTW, I am not calling this a scam, I am just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with their check being "lost".

Have you asked for a copy of the canceled-paid check? If not I would do so in writing.

+1

I'm pretty sure sending the full fee upfront increases odds at least slightly. So I'm all for it.

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
What I can't understand is why they want to full tag fee paid upfront when you are applying for a preference point only.

You should give them a call and ask them. I don't think it's unreasonable at all and felt that way before I moved here. Let us know what they say

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
BTW, I am not calling this a scam, I am just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with their check being "lost".

The insinuation is there. My street number is 304 and I receive mail weekly from the other 304 street numbers in my neighborhood. I have had mail lost as well but my guess is it went one street over and they never brought it to me.

If you want to really get riled then check out AZ. If you want a point then you have to buy a license. It doesn't bother me, you have to weed out the guys that are serious from the guys that aren't somehow or you will have point creep of epic proportion

I have only lived here a bit under five years. I had the same gripe.I was told the reason there was an up front license fee was the antihunting/firearms crowd was putting in for the licenses and then not hunting, taking away the chance of a animal from a legit hunter, and skewing the population of game animals into a more animal than habitat scenario. I don't know if its true, but there are sure a lot of anti's here in this state.

quote:

Originally posted by Lee Woiteshek:
there are sure a lot of anti's here in this state.

Didn't used to be. But when CO got invaded by the idiots from the Land of the Looney on the west coast the number of anti-hunters exploded. Just another reason for this CO native to hate everything about CA.

As a native Californian just a generation away from working cowboys in San Diego County - I have to tell you almost all the idiots are imports who brought Eastern city ideas with them.

Unfortunately we appear to have become a permanently sunnier Massachusetts. If you separated out San Francisco and LA the state would be much closer to the rest of the Western States in politics and attitude.....but now instead of oranges we export idiots to CO and elsewhere.

Co not the only state that requires full payment to apply for the draw. Some like Nevada that doesn't but they want $150 for a non resident license before you apply.

I move to Co 1977 from Calif and we had to pay in full up front for all draw tags. As to the preference points to get one you have to fill in a hunt code and that require price of the tag up front. Lot will put in for a point knowing they won't get drawn as first choice but will put in for a 2nd choice and draw tag or 3rd/4th choice.

Calif wants $140. non resident license fee for the draw tags and Oregon same way.

By Law, if that check was never cashed, after a set period of time, I believe it is now 3 years for most states, it must be "escheated" to the state treasurers office of unclaimed property. They can't just "keep it".

Banks do it all the time, and it is the LAW of the land.

For example, if you have not made a transaction on an account for the amount of time specified by your state,(3-7 years) the monies must be escheated to the State treasurers office of unclaimed property..

Now some states are better than others, but often a forgotten escheated item will show up YEARS after it has been turned over to the state.

At least annually, I will check the office of unclaimed property for all the states i have ever lived in, and believe it or not, stuff has turned up for me and relatives. Worth checking.

I've done the very same thing! It has paid off!