Legislation

Looks like there is almost 600,000 people in Wyoming. Of them almost 80,000 hunt big game. About 42,000 NR apply for big game hunts. What is the attitude of the other 520,000 residents about hunting, wolfs, grizzlys, etc. You would think the resident hunters would welcome the NR’s help in voicing concerns and funds contributed to wildlife.
 
In Colorado, hunting is nearly a $1 BILLION dollar industry!

Colorado offers UNLIMITED elk tags to nonres and 20 to 35% of deer, elk, and antelope tags to nonres. Colo learned years ago how important nonres are to the revenue of the CPW and to local small town community economies.

Here's an interesting article about hunting revenue in Colorado.

According to the study, Larimer County generated $4.1 million in retail trade sales of hunting-related gear in 2013, the state's sixth-highest figure by county.

Hunting also creates 574 jobs in Larimer County, second to El Paso and Arapahoe counties.

For smaller Larimer County communities like Red Feather Lakes, or Walden in Jackson County 100 miles west of Fort Collins, the fall big-game hunting season is the lifeblood of the local economy.

"Hunting affects a lot of businesses, bars, restaurants, hotels, gas stations. Everybody gets a boost from the hunters," said James Carothers, owner of the Moose Creek Cafe in Walden. "It's our lifesaver."
Sorry jims but no way in heck Wyoming will ever give NR unlimited OTC licenses for anything. We have too much respect for our game to do that.
If Colorado is so great why then are you even coming up to Wyoming to hunt, shouldn't you be helping your resident business owners ?
 
As many have said time after time, outfitters are currently the only resource and voice nonres have.

Teepee take a look at the colo ski revenue. Colo blows Wyo out of the water in revenue from skiing and Colo still has an open arms policy to otc elk hunters and 20 to 35% of limited elk deer and antelope tags.

I was making a point....colo offers unlimited elk tags plus 20 to 35% of limited deer, elk, and antelope tags. I’m not saying Wyo needs to follow suit and offer otc tags I’m making a point that colo learned years ago how important nonres revenue is for supporting wildlife and are a major boost to small town community revenue. It’s a well known fact that Wyo nonres are the life blood of the wg&f.
 
jims why do U keep bringing up Colorado we dont want to be Colorado... U can have Ur OTC Colorado elk tags and the orange army that come with it... Ill take a Gen Wyoming elk tag any day of the week and twice on Sunday... OTC elk tags will be coming to a end here shortly in Colorado once the wolves get a good foot hold.. And with the new season dates the mule deer heard will be in the tank in a couple years what will Colorado do then jims? 90/10 will pass it just a matter of time.....
 
Jims, Colorado's total elk numbers are about triple that of Wyoming's. Make sense to have a lot of hunters in CO. And I'm totally missing your analogy to skiing in Colorado Vs Wyoming. Yep, Colorado has a lot more ski areas than Wyoming and therefore more revenue from skiing. And how is that relevant to non-resident's percentage of our big game tags?
 
The reason I keep bringing up Colo is that Colo is the most generous state in the Western US to nonres. Colo learned many years ago how important nonres are to the CPW and small town communities. The Wyo economy is struggling and covid isn't helping. Nonres hunters boost the Wyo economy.

If wolves are the demise of Colo elk the same thing will happen to Wyo general elk units....possibly even sooner!

This was Teepee's post: Jims, with Yellowstone & Grand Teton parks getting 4 million visitors per year, do you really think western Wyoming tourism is reliant on non-resident hunters?

I was comparing Wyo's tourism to Colorado's. Even though Colo blows Wyo away with tourism revenue, Colo still has an open arms policy with OTC elk tags plus 20 to 35% of tags offered to nonres. The revenue from nonres hunters also benefits the numerous small town communities outside the realm of the ski towns.
 
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Hmmm...I wonder what the allocation in Colorado is for bighorn sheep, moose and mountain goat? 90/10? Maybe not even.

And I can't wait until Colorado starts limiting NR in elk and deer. It will be worth it just to see jims fighting for every NR tag!
 
As a former non-resident and now a resident of Wyoming, perhaps I have a unique perspective of the situation. My biggest issues with the 90/10 proposal are the pricing structure and what the consequences of the bill will be to preference point holders. Based upon the opinions of all the residents that have opined on these issues; I fully understand that I am in the minority.

Regarding the proposed pricing structure:

1. Why does market pricing apply to non-residents but it doesn’t apply to residents? Why didn’t Senator Hicks look at the same top 4 states to see what they charge their residents? The pricing increases for non-residents would be easier to accept if the residents pricing was increased proportionally. Just doesn’t seem reasonable to expect the NRs to continue funding almost 50% of the WGFD budget in return for only receiving up to 10% of the tags.

Regarding preference points:

1. I assume that something will change with NR preference points also. The change won’t be equitable to the highest preference point holders because they have the most money invested. The only method that provides a chance for lesser point holders to draw a tag (if the random draw tags are eliminated) is to split the available tags between folks with the most points and folks with lesser points; similar to what Arizona did several years ago. Without a change, I would expect that NR preference point revenue (especially for sheep and moose) will experience a decline once low point holders realize that they are wasting their money on preference points since they will never draw in their lifetime.

I did agree with the WYOGA when they indicated that sheep, moose and goat should be OIL (once in a lifetime) for residents and non-residents and that this change should be retroactive. I thought the comments from the private citizen from Hoback were very interesting and confusing at the same time. He spoke of the governor/commissioner tags for sheep and elk that are awarded to the highest bidders. On one hand he indicated that the tags were worth (market value) $90 K for sheep and $20K for elk. But on the other hand he wanted these tags returned to the resident pool therefore enabling Wyoming residents a chance to draw them. If they were returned to the resident pool they would be sold for $157 for sheep and $62 for elk.


Also, perhaps Senator Salazar was only kidding but he indicated that the legislature would not wait 12-18 months for the task force to address these issues. He stated that he would wait until January 2022; approximately 9 months.

just my 2 cents. Fire away!!
 
All those contacts you made with Wyoming legislators made no difference in the end about you selling wildlife locations. But keep trying, I actually think it works in favor of state residents.
The bills failed for 4 years before finally passing!
Last year I had a legislator call me asking what he could do to help stop that bill. Had others also agree as to what a bunch of horse crap it was.
The way it was written last year though, I knew I’d still be able to operate, as I don’t need to provide where a deer was standing 2 months ago to be valuable. I told him don’t worry about it, if they pass it AS IT IS, I’m good. Worked out fine for me!
But you can have whatever opinion you want. I say it helps, and I encourage others to voice their opinions to legislators. :)
 
Why didn’t Senator Hicks look at the same top 4 states to see what they charge their residents?
Because those states charge their residents the same or less than Wyoming charges it's residents.
 
As many have said time after time, outfitters are currently the only resource and voice nonres have.

Teepee take a look at the colo ski revenue. Colo blows Wyo out of the water in revenue from skiing and Colo still has an open arms policy to otc elk hunters and 20 to 35% of limited elk deer and antelope tags.

I was making a point....colo offers unlimited elk tags plus 20 to 35% of limited deer, elk, and antelope tags. I’m not saying Wyo needs to follow suit and offer otc tags I’m making a point that colo learned years ago how important nonres revenue is for supporting wildlife and are a major boost to small town community revenue. It’s a well known fact that Wyo nonres are the life blood of the wg&f.
That is coming to end...heard from a reliable source that CO is looking at going to draw only and/or capping NR elk tags.

NO way they can't do that...the "open arms" policy is about to come to a screeching halt.

Residents are sick of the sea of orange and given the current demand for elk hunting, OTC elk in Colorado is soon to be a thing of the past...and rightfully so.
 
Jims, Colorado's total elk numbers are about triple that of Wyoming's. Make sense to have a lot of hunters in CO. And I'm totally missing your analogy to skiing in Colorado Vs Wyoming. Yep, Colorado has a lot more ski areas than Wyoming and therefore more revenue from skiing. And how is that relevant to non-resident's percentage of our big game tags?
This is jims, grasping at straws, because he's about to lose 10% of his tags in Wyoming.
 
That is coming to end...heard from a reliable source that CO is looking at going to draw only and/or capping NR elk tags.

NO way they can't do that...the "open arms" policy is about to come to a screeching halt.

Residents are sick of the sea of orange and given the current demand for elk hunting, OTC elk in Colorado is soon to be a thing of the past...and rightfully so.
Only a decade, maybe more, too late.
 
Regarding the proposed pricing structure:

1. Why does market pricing apply to non-residents but it doesn’t apply to residents? Why didn’t Senator Hicks look at the same top 4 states to see what they charge their residents? The pricing increases for non-residents would be easier to accept if the residents pricing was increased proportionally. Just doesn’t seem reasonable to expect the NRs to continue funding almost 50% of the WGFD budget in return for only receiving up to 10% of the tags.
Colorado charges $56.88 and Wyoming $57 for a General Elk License. Wyoming will increase their resident fees also. The non-residents pay far more as that is what neighbouring states are also doing by raising their fees dramatically. You seem to want to keep status quo for non-residents and oppose the 90/10 yet you fight against what Wyoming resident opportunity have had for 75+ years ie the ability to harvest more than one moose or sheep tag in their lifetime. It seems you would rather fight for the non-residents here. Your true colours and out of state thought process and values are becoming ever more apparent. Perhaps you should return where you came from where you are neighbours with people who think like you do.
 
highfast. The bill in Montana has not passed the same as this wyoming one has not passed. i would encourage everyone to do their own research instead of listening to what people type.
 
highfast. The bill in Montana has not passed the same as this wyoming one has not passed. i would encourage everyone to do their own research instead of listening to what people type.
It has been amended but still favours Outfitters.
“The amendment – proposed by Sen. Tom Jacobson, D-Great Falls – instead allows non-resident hunters to pay $300 more to enter an early lottery for elk and deer licenses, so they can hire an outfitter with a license-in-hand.” https://missoulacurrent.com/outdoors/2021/02/hunting-licenses/
 
Well , while everyone was going back and fourth. Rumor on the east coast is the bill about cutting tags to NRs was killed before getting out of committee. Is this true?
 
nocwalker,
The bill did not make it out of committee. The topics of 90/10, preference points and fees was sent to the newly appointed Wyoming Wildlife Task Force. The task force estimates that it will take 12-18 months to address the issues.
 
No way the feds ever give up control of Federal land. Way too much power over the States having that control.
 
Actually there is a bill floating around that the state takes over management of federal lands, that sounds pretty good right now.
It sounds pretty good until the state decides to start selling it off! If you like public land access, having the state take over federal lands is not the answer.
 
Time to call our Senators and start a grass root movement for the Feds to control all Federal land for hunting and issue Federal tags.
No way the feds ever give up control of Federal land. Way too much power over the States having that control.
It's almost as dumb as the idea that the Feds control state managed wildlife, wouldn't you say ?
 
Every one of these threads for each respective state says the same nonsense. NR privilege vs R right/entitlement. It's a privilege to us all, please don't forget that when discussing topics created to, or have the ability, to be divisive. One voice is clear, a thousand is white noise. Think outside the box. Example: States should take over Federal lands, States should even sell those lands to the rancher that holds the lease. Contract of sale stipulates that sold lands have "public use easement congruent to traditional use standards." I.e. Can't be developed, public has traditional access, and public facilities (campgrounds, parking areas, corrals) must be maintained so agricultural activities do not interfere with public use (can't block a legal access road, fill a campground with cow sh@&, exploit a resource that alters the traditional public value). At the very least make state/federal leases operate within the laws of capitalism. $1.36/AUM BLM lease when private lease renders $25-$50 /AUM depending on area. See that money that could go to your State? Put it out to bid with current lease holder having first right of refusal. That oughta piss off the ranchers. Surprise! I am the rancher many ***** about. ONE VOICE, or lose it all. No one is entitled.
 
Seems to me many nonresidents like yourself are in an uproar about losing opportunity in Wyoming. What does that tell you about how good a job the Wy G&F does managing wildlife?
Not sure why you think I’m in an uproar. Maybe others can’t speak for them. Just posting comments. I’ll be antelope hunting WY this year deer in Colorado and possibly deer in UT. I’m retired hunting and happy.
 
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Actually there is a bill floating around that the state takes over management of federal lands, that sounds pretty good right now.
Most Wyo folks don´t understand what the laws/rules are governing public access to Wyoming State Lands.
 
Cultivated state land must be posted as such and the leasee cannot hunt it either unless the statute has changed
 
It’s really not too difficult, just do a little prior homework on the State Lands website. https://wsfd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=fb32cd8ed849469f95ab751470bb397a
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I don't see where it is going to decrease the amount of animals harvested. The residents will just harvest the animals meant for NR.
Non of wyomings,wild life is meant for non residents
The wildlife in all states,IS managed and MEANT for the RESIDENTS of the state
Non residents,have ABSALUTELY NO RIGHT to the game in any state
You should be THANKFULL Wyoming doesn't pass the law Montana,just did
They just kicked non residents diy hunters square,in the teeth
 
Non of wyomings,wild life is meant for non residents
The wildlife in all states,IS managed and MEANT for the RESIDENTS of the state
Non residents,have ABSALUTELY NO RIGHT to the game in any state
You should be THANKFULL Wyoming doesn't pass the law Montana,just did
They just kicked non residents diy hunters square,in the teeth
I cashed in my points in Wy. and I'm fine with what ever route they choose to go. I'm very happy with the way my state treats NR. 90/10.
 
The day will probably come when some of us will just have to enjoy scouting, finding bucks, take pictures and video, and live vicariously through the gunner.
Montanahas,started,that movement today
With the latest outfitter welfare giveaway that they passed which I said,a,while ago would get passed,and everybody saidvwouldnt happen
 
Montanahas,started,that movement today
With the latest outfitter welfare giveaway that they passed which I said,a,while ago would get passed,and everybody saidvwouldnt happen
While I agree the bill in Montana is garbage, they didn’t take away a single tag from any non resident hunter. The resource is what got kicked in the teeth (elk, deer), and that is more troubling than nonresident or resident taking it in the shorts.... or at least it is to me.
 

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