Didn’t draw an antelope tag? Blame your senator

Submitted by Rob Shaul
Posted 7/7/20

Dear Editor:

Under a bill that went before the state Senate in February, an  additional 3,000-plus Wyoming resident hunters would have drawn an antelope tag this year.

But ... the bill, …

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Didn’t draw an antelope tag? Blame your senator

Posted

Dear Editor:

Under a bill that went before the state Senate in February, an  additional 3,000-plus Wyoming resident hunters would have drawn an antelope tag this year.

But ... the bill, Senate File 94, failed on introduction. In fact, just one state seantor, Larry Hicks of Carbon County, voted to introduce it.

Wyoming is by far the most liberal western state when it comes to nonresident hunter tag allocation. We currently give 25% of our bighorn sheep and mountain goat tags, 20% of our moose tags and 16% of our limited quota bull elk tags to nonresidents. Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado all limit nonresidents to 10% or less for most big game tags.

SF94 would have changed Wyoming’s tag allocation to match Montana’s “90/10 Plus” allocation, where 90% of limited quota big game tags go to resident hunters, 10% to nonresidents, and if there are 10 or less tags for any hunt area, all of those tags go to resident hunters. Wyoming resident hunters would have received 3,665 more coveted tags in 2019 (2020 numbers aren’t out yet):

• 34 more bighorn sheep tags;

• 44 more moose tags;

• 14 more mountain goat tags;

• 622 more limited quota, type 1 and type 9, elk tags;

• 3,011 more limited quota, type 1, antelope tags;

• 24 more bison tags.

Why are Wyoming’s resident hunters getting screwed? Blame your state senator and the Wyoming outfitters, stockgrowers and the traitors at the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, who all campaigned against the bill.

We’re not beat yet. A group of Wyoming Resident hunters are working with Sen. Hicks and others to get another 90/10 Plus bill introduced in 2021. We are going to make this an election issue in the August primary and November general election.

Want to help? First, call and/or email your state senator and ask him/her to explain their vote not to introduce SF94 in February. Next, go to www.307hunter.com and sign up.

I’m a fifth-generation Wyomingite, and I need your help putting Wyoming first!

Rob Shaul

Hoback

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