How to end NR Wyoming wilderness ban?

BuckSmasher

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Messages
122
Location
North ID
And as I’ve said many times, get it changed. There are ways to put the wheels in motion but as has been stated, the outfitter board is pretty powerful and the elected state officials are very pro Wyoming Resident. Just as I’d hope other states elected officials would be.

I’m sure we would agree on the majority of topics. I just like pulling up to a trailhead and the only other vehicle has a Wyoming plate so I know they endured the same shitty winter and are contributing something to the state and enjoy a sheep's company just as much as I do…
I am super against the WY rule not allowing NR to hunt in wilderness and this post made me chuckle. To many people taking themselves too seriously. Almost every single WY resident I have met have been super cool folks. Seems like you would be to.

My solution to getting WY to drop its dumb wilderness rule is for the landowner agency, i,e. the USFS to make a rule only allowing activities on its land that are open to all residents not just state residents. If the USFS quit allowing WY residents to hunt big game in wilderness areas this rule would be gone in 15 seconds.

Not gonna get sucked in to some of the angry stuff I have seen in this thread. Just posting because I have an opinion on an internet opinion board. But I will say that federal land in WY is just as much mine as any WY residents, even if the state manages the wildlife the landowner, (me and every other of the 99.998 percent of Americans living outside WY) decide to do something with OUR land then WY and its residents would have to adjust accordingly.
 

HOT ROD

WKR
Joined
Apr 15, 2012
Messages
994
Location
Casper Wy
Another way to get read of the NR wilderness rule would be for NR help us Residents get 95/5/5 tag split witch means 95 percent of all big game tags go to Residents 5 percent go to NR and 5 percent to Guides and Outfitters...
 

wyogoat

WKR
Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Messages
704
Location
Wyoming
Another way to get read of the NR wilderness rule would be for NR help us Residents get 95/5/5 tag split witch means 95 percent of all big game tags go to Residents 5 percent go to NR and 5 percent to Guides and Outfitters...
How do Wyoming residents go about doing that? These items aren’t on ballots like approving a 6th penny tax you know?
 
Joined
May 7, 2023
Messages
612
Back on the reciprocity argument, maybe not in this case, but it does work. Many years ago there was a push in Kansas to discontinue selling deer tags to Oklahoma residents as we were killing all of their deer (much like we Okies think Texans are doing the same now). I don't remember all the particulars of the "case", but when the powers that be in Oklahoma heard of this, they said fine, but Kansans will no longer be allowed to fish in Oklahoma.... The KS ban never went into effect. Just for fact checking sake, this was a long time ago and I may not have my facts straight, but it's a good story...lol.
There was an article in the Oklahoman referenced at the beginning of this thread. Kansas didn't allow NR hunting at all. Oklahoma threatened to not allow Kansas and I think there were other states that were going to follow suit. In '94 Kansas changed the law to allow NR.

... And Texans are killing all our deer 😂 jk
 

HOT ROD

WKR
Joined
Apr 15, 2012
Messages
994
Location
Casper Wy
How do Wyoming residents go about doing that? These items aren’t on ballots like approving a 6th penny tax you know?
In all honesty I was being very sarcastic and snarky about this whole crying and squalling over the Nr wilderness rule. Wyogoat if it could be done would U consider letting the Nr in our wilderness to hunt big game to have 95/5/5 I know I would never killed a critter in a wilderness area of Wyoming anyway....
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2014
Messages
1,427
Location
Tulsa Ok
There was an article in the Oklahoman referenced at the beginning of this thread. Kansas didn't allow NR hunting at all. Oklahoma threatened to not allow Kansas and I think there were other states that were going to follow suit. In '94 Kansas changed the law to allow NR.

... And Texans are killing all our deer 😂 jk
Thanks, I didn't have time to read the entire thread, so I wasn't too far off (in my mind anyway). I knew it was shortly after I moved here. The texan thing was a joke...lol Have just been hearing a lot from them since we raised our non resident fees this year.
 

Archer86

WKR
Joined
Jun 28, 2019
Messages
480
Location
Greatest place on earth
Hard to see this thread still going with forum members posting a willingness to break a fish and game law to harvest wildlife.

Your tags is not valid in the wilderness areas in wyoming with out a guide or resident guide its no different the killing a animal in a unit you don't have a tag for.

The funny part is there is great hunting outside the wilderness I wish they would eliminate the rule then all the pesky nr would be wasting time in the wilderness
 
Joined
May 7, 2023
Messages
612
Hard to see this thread still going with forum members posting a willingness to break a fish and game law to harvest wildlife.

Your tags is not valid in the wilderness areas in wyoming with out a guide or resident guide its no different the killing a animal in a unit you don't have a tag for.

The funny part is there is great hunting outside the wilderness I wish they would eliminate the rule then all the pesky nr would be wasting time in the wilderness
I think you're right. They should just do away with the rule. All it does is make NR feel like they're missing out on the "good hunting". Everyone wants what they can't have. All they're missing out on is longer walks and more blow down most likely.
 

3325

WKR
Joined
Oct 10, 2021
Messages
431
I’m a Wyoming resident and I admit it makes no sense. If you can hike, camp, and fish in a wilderness area without a guide, I believe should be able to hunt. It also seems nonsensical that you can hunt non-wilderness areas in the state without a guide, when some of the non-wilderness areas can be as remote and dangerous as wilderness areas. But don’t expect it to change as long as outfitters support it.

I would note that wildlife on federal land still belongs to Wyoming. So the argument that federal land in Wyoming belongs to you as much as me is true, but is still probably not addressing the issue from the best angle. Because Wyoming is not saying you can’t enter a wilderness area in the state without a Wyoming guide. Wyoming is saying you can’t harvest Wyoming’s game in a wilderness area in the state without a Wyoming guide. So if you’re going to take on a legal fight, you probably need to address it from a wildlife harvesting perspective, not a land usage perspective.

But pick your battles wisely.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 7, 2023
Messages
654
Location
Wyoming
I don’t disagree with your points regarding the quality of hunting in the wilderness. But good hunting or not, it’s the principle of the issue that rightfully bothers us. Federal land belonging to all Americans should not be off limits to legal hunters based solely on them not being a WY resident. That’s not right.

As a WY resident, I’d say the exact thing about any other state if they had this rule.
 

3325

WKR
Joined
Oct 10, 2021
Messages
431
I don’t disagree with your points regarding the quality of hunting in the wilderness. But good hunting or not, it’s the principle of the issue that rightfully bothers us. Federal land belonging to all Americans should not be off limits to legal hunters based solely on them not being a WY resident. That’s not right.

As a WY resident, I’d say the exact thing about any other state if they had this rule.
I don’t disagree about fairness. I consider it unfair and unnecessary. But let me play devil’s advocate.

I’m not a Wyoming outfitter, although I worked for two of them in my youth. If I was a Wyoming outfitter and someone made a legal challenge basing their argument on federal land use, I’d counter by proposing a state law requiring non-residents to be accompanied by a Wyoming resident to harvest Wyoming’s game anywhere within the Wyoming borders - federal land, state land, private land.

Now, go forth and use your federal land, Mr Non-resident. Go in hunting season, wear orange, and carry a rifle if you want. But don’t get caught harvesting Wyoming’s game on your federal land without being accompanied by a Wyoming resident.

Think such a law would get through the state legislature? As I said, pick your battles wisely.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 7, 2023
Messages
654
Location
Wyoming
Yes, going full Canada would make more sense than only excluding NR hunters from federal wilderness they own.

Would it pass the state legislature? Not likely. Too much money would be lost.
 

LFC911

WKR
Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Messages
560
Location
Lenexa, KS
I’m going to hunt the wilderness with a WY NR friend next year. Go meet some people if the wilderness areas are that crucial.
I know this has been said several times and think it is the best option. I'm sure there are a few WY Res solo hunters wish they had a caller or someone to help pack out their BOAL.
 
Top