Looks like the days of buying unlimited chances for the draw are over. I guess my bank account won't take as much of a hit this year.

http://www.outdooralabama.com/oaonline/

MY A@$ IF MY CALCULATIONS ARE CORRECT THEY SAID IN PREVIOUS YEARS THE SEASON RAISED APPROX $85,00.00 THAT DIVIDED BY $5.00 PER ENTRY IS ROUGHLY 17,00 ENTRIES. IF AND THAT IS A BIG IF THAT MANY PEOPLE APPLY THIS YEAR THEN AT $20.00 PER ENTRY IS RIGHT AROUND $340,000.00. ID LIKE TO KNOW WHERE THE REST OF THE MONET GOES TO

“We’re not trying to make money off of this program. We’re just trying to pay for the administrative process.”

Didn't you know.... The Admins fees are always greater than the process itself....

SOMEONE IS GOING TO MAKE A LIL EXTRA OFF THIS

It wouldn't be due process if they didn't....

HONEST ENOUGH

You know it costs alot of money to print those tags.

In the past, it's actually been $6 per entry, so roughly 14,000 entries. I'm not sure where they got $5. Most bought multiple chances so the number of actual individuals buying chances was much lower than 14,000. I'd guess that number would be more around 4-5k which would put the totals about the same if those 4-5k buy a chance at $20 per.

So what's happened the last 6-7 years with the $6 fee and administrative process? Were they losing money that badly? If so, that would imply some ineptitude somewhere. If they were not, and jacked it this year, did the administrative costs/process rise that dramatically in a year?

Horsefeathers. They're limiting the applications but raising the fee significantly. Explaining the need for $20 "administrative process fees" for an online application process would seem to be in order from the DCNR.

When can you apply for tags? Can someone throw a Linky out here please thanks

Not $340,000. One entry per person now. There won't be 17,000 entries. Probably more like 1000.

Mississippi does it this way and I liked it when I lived over there. You would pay for 1 entry, then rank the different regions in the order you would like to be chosen for. The nice thing about it is if you weren't drawn, you would receive preference points to be applied the following year to increase your chances.

Edit: Just read the article in the other thread and it sounds like they are modeling the new process after MS. I think that most people will end up liking it this way. In AL, I would spend more than $20 on entry fees anyway and only got drawn once. This will actually save me money and increase my odds.

^^^^yeah but Mississippi gives out somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 tags each year, we have 240 this year, I am a big proponent of , he who wants it more will pay more, I think the half asses who only put in 6 dollars a year were the only ones who complained that it wasn't fair, I guess with their minimalist attitude they will complain when they give up the first night and don't kill a gator. And how is it going to be a completely random drawing when there are preference points involved?

First, as others have pointed out your math is simply wrong. Moreover, as I understand it the admin cost is not solely the registration, they have to move extra personnel to locations of hunts - remember more than one- to oversee, check-in, working overtime, because hunt at night, getting per diems, because people have to eat and sleep, burning gas, because that's how boats and trucks run, etc.

I don't have any idea if it is going to balance to $0, and neither can DCNR at the time they set price, because they don't know how many people will register. I do know this, the reason they changed it is because people complained that the old system wasn't fair because people who had more money could register 50 times and almost be certain to draw. So, if you were the average guy that was registering 4-5 times, you are now getting better odds for less money. Really reeks of conspiracy doesn't it.

But my real frustration with your post is the jump to accusation that someone is making money off this. How in the world can that happen? Your credit card goes into a state account. How exactly does it get from there to someone's pocket? I'm going to guess there's some pretty tight auditing of cash withdrawals.

I know folks who have the same mentality about more or less buying tags under the old system, and I have no problem with it to tell you the truth.

I like this new system simply because I don't care enough about going, to go out and drop $500 to get drawn. My half ass minimalist attitude has killed gators on the two hunts I've been on too. One in MS and one here in AL and one of those was 11' 3".

It's fairly simple to keep it a random draw with computer software to weight entrants who were not selected in prior years. Just because some entrants are more heavily weighted does not mean it's not random

Who said I spent 500 dollars? I actually spent 120, that have me 20 chances to get drawn and I figure a gator tag was worth 120 bucks to me.

I didn't say you did, but I knew groups that entered every year that spent well over that and at least one of them drew a tag every year.

well said

When did these new rules meet the requirements of the Alabama Administrative Procedures Act?

It may not be as "over" as they think. Did you have a chance to review and comment on them?

Wasn't that the point?