Quote Originally Posted by spinner1 View Post
Petchenik worked with DNR's licensing staff to run a query of the automated licensing system to see how many people bought a trout stamp for every year 2004-2008 but stopped buying the stamp after 2008. That total was 2, 268. Those people received a letter to verify their address was still current. The survey design called for 800 of them to get a survey in the mail to fill out and return. The surveys were mailed out the second week of October.

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/DNRNews_artic...up.asp?id=1947
The information given by the DNR is more complicated than they present, and the information is misleading overall. Lets examine that actual raw data rather than what is presented in that article.

You would believe from the article, that the number of trout stamps has been decreasing; but that is not true. Trout stamp sales actually increased from 2004 to 2008 and 2009 is even higher. So it is obvious that while some folks have stopped buying trout stamps, even more new anglers are buying trout stamps.

If they are doing that survey to see why anglers are quiting, I would suggest that they ask the new anglers why they started. Maybe by doing that, we can get even more new trout anglers.

"The number of trout stamps sold in 2008 increased 5 percent over 2007, and 2009 sales increased 7 percent over 2008."

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/DNRNews_artic...up.asp?id=1895

If you look at the PDF below, the number of trout stamps sold in 2008 was 136,836 and grew to 146,803 in 2009, a gain of 10,000 trout stamps. And trout anglers increased from 191,995 to 197,555. There was a decrease in both trout stamps sold and trout anglers from 2004 at 137,828 sold stamps and 212,414 anglers vs 2006 at 129,194 stamps sold and 189,168 anglers respectively.

However, the trout stamp fee increased from $7.25 to $10 in 2006, an increase of about 40%. Could the fee increase be a cause? The survey says...........

"The cost of the trout stamp has increased from $2.50 during 1978-1983, to $3.25 during 1984- 1991, to $7.25 during 1992-2006, and currently is $10.00 (since 2006)."

"The number of trout stamps sold varies from year-to-year and averages about 142,000 stamps annually over the last 10 years. In 2008 sales increased by 5% over 2007 and in 2009 sales increased 7% over 2008."

http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/pubs/troutstamp0810.pdf

So is the glass half full or half empty?

It reminds me of a true story told to me by my late best friend, Jim Greenlee, the former owner of Weinbrenner Shoe Company. Jim was the former VP to the Chariman of Bata, founded in 1894 which became the the largest international shoe company by 1931.

Early on, the Bata sent two employees to South America to see if there was a potential market. There reported independently to the Chairman. One came back and said that there was no market for shoes because no one wore shoes in South America. The other said that the market potential was great because no one wore shoes! Bata opened stores in Brazil and soon captured the South American Market.