https://www.ktoo.org/2021/03/1...to-boost-its-budget/



Alaska Fish and Game is selling raffle tickets for big game permits to boost its budget

March 12, 2021 by Claire Stremple, Alaska's Energy Desk



Tickets are already on sale for what’s called “Alaska’s Super Seven Big Game Raffle.” If it sounds kind of like buying a lottery ticket for musk ox — or another one of the seven most sought after species in the state, like a brown bear or a caribou — it is.

Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game is raffling off permits for some of the state’s most desirable hunts. Officials hope the earnings will help make up for a decrease in hunting license sales during the pandemic.

“We saw close to $2 million revenue loss in the wildlife division this last year because of COVID, primarily because of the significant or steep decline in nonresident license sales this last year,” said Tony Kavalok, the assistant director of Fish and Game’s Division of Wildlife Conservation.

Kavalok said COVID-19 travel restrictions and the closure of the spring brown bear hunt meant nonresident hunting license sales were way down this year.

He said another reason the division wants to raise money is to be able to match some federal money. States get cash from a tax on firearms and ammunition sales and firearms and ammunition sales are trending way up. But states only get the money if they can match one dollar for every three federal dollars.

“So it’s a very important situation right now because with license revenue flat or declining and our federal match dollars going up, it’s gonna be really important to have that additional funding,” Kavalok said.

The raffle is the first of its kind in Alaska. But other states like Arizona and Wyoming have similar systems. In Wyoming, the raffle raised more than a million dollars this year.

The Alaska raffle is open to residents and nonresidents. Avid sportsmen said these are once-in-a-lifetime hunts.

“If you’re really looking for a really, really nice animal for that species, these areas are the premium areas in the state to have,” said Louis Cusack, a lifelong hunter who lives in Chugiak.

Cusack is the executive director of the Alaska chapter of Safari Club International. It’s one of the nonprofits that’s partnered with the state to run the raffle. It donated a tag and will sell tickets — most of the money goes back to Fish and Game, but Safari Club International can spend 30 percent on a conservation project of its choice.

For most of these hunts, only a tiny percentage of the hunters who usually put in for a tag get one. And those tags often show up on auction for big money. But a raffle ticket is only twenty bucks. That’s important to Cusak.

“You don’t have to own a Learjet, you know, have to be able to afford to spend 1000s of dollars,” he said.

Raffle tickets are on sale through mid-April. Winners will be announced May 1. Hunters age 10 and older are eligible.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/in...g=huntlicense.super7



Link to raffle.

and this is how we get to hunt.

buy a raffle ticket and cross your fingers.
then realize you can't afford the plane ticket and lodging expenses on your monthly SS check the one time you actually do draw a tag.

I guess I'm not seeing the big picture here for non residents. Perhaps someone could enlighten me. These permits are on a draw anyway and you'll have to find a guide at full price. I guess you'll be able to buy more chances????

In other states you can actually bid on a coveted tag and if you win the bid you can make a plan. Unfortunately those tag often can be quite spendy.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
I guess I'm not seeing the big picture here for non residents. Perhaps someone could enlighten me. These permits are on a draw anyway and you'll have to find a guide at full price. I guess you'll be able to buy more chances????

In other states you can actually bid on a coveted tag and if you win the bid you can make a plan. Unfortunately those tag often can be quite spendy.

Mark

Our draws are over. This is another chance for residents or non-residents in a lottery fashion. As you know you non-residents need a guide for Brown Bear, Goat and Sheep but there are other tags there that are difficult draws normally like the Nunivak Muskox, Copper River Bison, Koyukuk Moose,or the AK Range Caribou.

Proves once again it is not about management.

But dollars

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Proves once again it is not about management.

But dollars

So there would be better management without Fish & Game?

Auctioning Governor Tags have been a standard money raising technique for some time as Mark mentioned. That action favors only the rich.

This lottery is like a Governor's tag for the lucky.

I doubt our game numbers are going to crumble because 7 additional animals all of a different specie from 7 different locations hit the ground.

I put in for TMA Sheep and Delta Bison every year (as well as some other tags). I've never drawn either, though Joyce has drawn Delta Bison. I may pony up some bucks for a couple of these critters.

It is not about management.

The title says it all.

It is about boosting their budget.

They are not one and the same.

all they do is manage numbers.
it's not like they go out there and assist the bucks into breeding 40 does.

I mean Dude,.....

The herd surveys, the spawning densities, the migrating counts, the sportsman success ratios all cost gasoline, utilities, salaries, fringe benefits, dinero.

It's no surprise that pdog don't get that, but,....

Government agencies have a insatiable apatite for money.

If they do a good job or not.

Guys,

AK,F&G does a heck of a lot more than push paper around. I have personally witnessed them in the field many times. I think they do a great job and manage a great resource for residents and non-residents alike.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Guys,

AK,F&G does a heck of a lot more than push paper around. I have personally witnessed them in the field many times. I think they do a great job and manage a great resource for residents and non-residents alike.

Mark

+1

Every time I've called a F&G office biologist concerning game condition in a new to me area to hunt I have always gotten excellent intel.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
Every time I've called a F&G office biologist concerning game condition in a new to me area to hunt I have always gotten excellent intel.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
I guess I'm not seeing the big picture here for non residents. Perhaps someone could enlighten me. These permits are on a draw anyway and you'll have to find a guide at full price. I guess you'll be able to buy more chances????

In other states you can actually bid on a coveted tag and if you win the bid you can make a plan. Unfortunately those tag often can be quite spendy.

Mark

I look at it as a logical way to make $$ and as a NR if I wanted the tag it's an extra way to get my name in the hat.

PA has 2 governors elk tags: 1 is auctioned so the common hunter isn't in the running 1 is raffled I always enter the raffle hunt as well as the general hunt points to increase my chances, I figure the raffle will have a smaller pool of people

Alll the states do it
But F and G departments are government entities and act as such and that is why some of us don’t always trust them with our dollars
They wanna run it as business but they don’t want to lay off any people off-season to save money
After all, game and fish management is seasonal work for at least half the force
Nothing wrong to question Government agencies, that way they maybe behave a little better instead of like rulers...

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
It is not about management.

The title says it all.

It is about boosting their budget.

They are not one and the same.

P Dog, does your glass ever get to even half full?