Enter Cabela's Outdoor Adventures' new T.A.G.S. program. The acronym is short for Trophy Applications & Guide Service. Cabela's new T.A.G.S program can do everything the other application services do, but all you have to front is the nonrefundable state application fee and a consultation fee. Cabela's will put up the cash for the license, and you pay them for it only if/when you draw the permit. Obviously, if you don't draw, the refund for the license goes to Cabela's. The consultation fees vary with the cost of the permit you're applying for, and can run from $20 to $150. For instance, the cost of a Kansas state tag for whitetail is $201, so Cabela's will charge you $50 to advise you where to apply in that state and prepare and submit the paperwork for you. However, a Rocky Mountain bighorn permit in Arizona costs $915, so the consultation fee is $100. There is a fee for each permit you apply for, and be aware that the fee is annual. Still, consider that for the examples above you would only be fronting $70 and $105 with Cabela's versus $200-plus and $1,000-plus respectively.
T.A.G.S is set up to submit applications for 16 big game species (black bear, brown bear, California bighorn, Coues deer, elk, Dall sheep, desert bighorn, ibex, moose, mountain goat, mountain lion, mule deer, oryx, pronghorn antelope, Rocky Mountain bighorn and whitetail deer) in 13 states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota,........(continued)
