Yes There IS Gambling In The Building

US hunters begin boycott over Colorado gun laws

What'd they expect? American hunters would start throwing keggers because of more anti gun owner laws being in effect here?

"Those new gun laws and others were drawn up in response to mass killings at a suburban Denver movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school."

No; those laws were written because Obama, Biden and Bloomberg wanted to start eradicating our culture and bought off or threatened enough Colorado congresscritters and the governor to do it. (For more on this, Slippin' Into Darkness has links to show you exactly what these laws do, Hick has some conclusions about what led to this, and the Colorado archives here will probably fill in any blanks that are left.)

"Out-of-state hunters accounted for 15 percent of hunting licenses last year, 86,000, compared with 489,000 for residents."

Just to put things in context, a resident of Colorado will pay $34 for a deer tag. A non resident will pay $354. A resident elk tag will run about $46. A non resident elk cow tag will cost $354, a non resident bull or either-sex tag will set ya back $586. A small game license is $21 to a resident and $56 to a non resident. A resident turkey tag will range from $16 to $24 depending on a few variables, but a nonresident turkey will come to $101. (None of that includes the $10 habitat stamp required for all hunting and fishing licenses, or the $5 state and $15 federal waterfowl stamps required to hunt waterfowl.) Here's a Colorado DOW flashpage of the Colorado big game brochure, here's a page with the small game and waterfowl fees and here's where the turkey season dates and fees are located,

But by my reckoning (Warning: Guitarist attempting math!), if we assume those 86,000 nonresident licenses are equally divided betwixt big game, small game and turkey, and the big game hunters are equally divided betwixt bull and cow elk tags, and none of the small game hunters are going after waterfowl, that comes to an average of $209 per license. Multiplied by 86,000 that's $17,974,000. That $10 habitat stamp for all of them ($860,000) brings things up to $18,834,000. That's eighteen million dollars and a lot of change.

Using about the same criteria for a guestimation resident licenses should bring in $18,582,000.

All of that is just from license sales. The Colorado DOW estimates that hunting and fishing brought $1.8 billion (with a "B") and supported 21,000 jobs across the state. Here's a .pdf of the 2008 Economic Impact report if you care to digest it.

The gist is that non resident hunters generate more revenue for Colorado than resident hunters (through increased license fees as well as traveling expenses residents don't typically have). In any state when a segment of the economy starts being measured in millions, it should be paid some attention to, when it gets measured in billions it should be paid a lot of attention to.

What Bloomberg, Obama and company did, through Hickenlooper and a lot of useful idiots in the Colorado legislature, is roll the dice. They're thinking there's a chance that most hunters can be appeased and won't mind risking a little trip downtown to sort out this business about magazines being able to hold more than 15 rounds with a basepad change and exactly when Uncle Charles loaned you that varmint rifle.

They're gambling with the livelihoods of a lot of small mountain towns that told them not to.

And the press acts surprised that hunter would avoid a state just because of its poorly written anti-gun owner laws. Wait until they find out just how much this NYC sanctioned crap game costs...

I feel pity for the folks who make their living in the hunting industry of Colorado. But I can't tell anyone out of state to risk jail-time, attorney's fees, the forfeiture of their arms and accoutrements and the possibility of being a prohibited person for two years when we're surrounded by states that have less restrictive gun owner laws and equally good hunting.

If you're not a Colorado resident and these laws still stand on July 1rst, take your money elsewhere. If you are a Colorado resident and these laws still stand July 1rst, consider moving. After all, why should anyone spend money in a place where their culture is not only appreciated, but attacked by the government?

Posted by Publicola at March 27, 2013 11:00 AM | TrackBack