Nonresident Exclusions

[Will_m]

So what are the thoughts on some state's laws against certain non-resident hunting opportunities? Alaska for grizzly/brown, sheep, goats and WY's wilderness areas come to mind.

I know that this has to be a product of lobbying to protect guiding and outfitting services, but it seems like an unfair deprivation of access and opportunity. I think this has been litigated, unsuccessfully, in WY but not sure of other states.

Yeah, I hear you on the whole protecting people from themselves argument (don't want Jim Bob heading out into the bush on his first DIY archery grizzly hunt after asking a couple questions on this forum about what a grizz looks like) but I don't particularly agree with that line of thinking....at all. Notwithstanding my issues with what looks to be a clear chilling of an individual's rights, I don't think that one being a resident of X state makes them intellectually better equipped to hunt that state.

 

[Rich M]

You hit the nail with personal safety. Too many greenhorn w money and a desire but no skills to back it up.

 

[xOttox]

Safety for the greenhorn with too much money and safety of the search/rescue folks.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[WBT]

If safety is a concern, then why can a hiker or family from Texas on their summer vacation march off into the wilderness? Seems like they’d be at greater risk than a hunter. The OP already identified the real reason, which is the outfitters.

 

[william schmaltz]

The safety/field judging argument is a joke and everyone knows it. If they were that concerned with safety, they wouldn’t let every military guy from Texas and Florida go out after never leaving Anchorage for a year. That’s just a way to make a point, so don’t freak out on me. I moved up several years ago from ND and after a year in AK I was magically a skilled mountaineer AND mtn goat/sheep/grizzly judging expert! Come on

The laws are driven by the guide industry. I think most AK residents would be on board with limited NR quota for big 3 in AK and let people hunt em on a draw. It would benefit all us regular resident hunters substantially! But we couldn’t even get limited NR quota in a couple units basically exclusively hunted by guides. That’s enough to prove to me guide lobby money is our law maker.

 

[WCB]

I think the argument for it being about the safety of the "inexperienced" person is BS. I can legally access, hike, camp, fish, etc. all the same areas any time I want. The moment I buy a hunting license all of a sudden I'm "not experienced enough". I know and have seen a TON of residents of the out west states including WY that shouldn't have been more than 100 yds from their vehicle with how unprepared they were.

 

[spike camp]

I feel comfortable assuming, if you lived in WY (for example)
You’d be psyched about the NR Wilderness deal.

I live in Colorado, and I’d give my left nut for the same rule.

 

[Laramie]

Outfitter well fair program, period. I have a good friend that owns an outfitting business. He agrees, the Wyoming law in particular is specifically there to boost outfitter business. I regularly hunt with residents so the law doesn't bother me, but I can see how it would really bother the average non-resident hunter.

 

[FLAK]

It's called the COS program,,,,,Crock of Shi**

 

[Northpark]

The WY law is why I don’t hunt elk in WY. It’s dumb. I live 15 minutes from the WY line. I can hunt the wilderness on our side but as soon as I cross the state line (in the same wilderness area!) I’m suddenly unable to fend for myself.

 

[Will_m]

Does anybody know of any groups pushing to challenge this stuff in court or at the policy level? There are a lot of very skilled people who will never be able to pursue certain animals simply because of where they live. Seems like a good cause to get behind.

 

[Legend]

Does anyone know if AK receives any federal funds to manage brown/grizzly bear, sheep and goats? If they do that would be disappointing.

The safety argument makes me laugh. I took friends from fairbanks hunting in MT....there were surprised at the size, number and disrespectful nature of our bears.

 

[Poser]

The safety argument is a joke. You can backcountry ski in both AK and WY with 0 oversight and anyone who argues that grizzly bear hunting or elk hunting in the WY wilderness is more dangerous than backcountry skiing is off their rocker.

 

[Will_m]

Does anybody know of any groups pushing to challenge this stuff in court or at the policy level? There are a lot of very skilled people who will never be able to pursue certain animals simply because of where they live. Seems like a good cause to get behind.

If not, anybody want to start one?

 

[Laramie]

You will never get the residents behind it. Without them, it will be a very challenging law to change. Almost every state treats non-residents differently in some way and you can count on it getting more and more difficult to go hunt out of state in years to come.

 

[Will_m]

Does anyone know if AK receives any federal funds to manage brown/grizzly bear, sheep and goats? If they do that would be disappointing.

The safety argument makes me laugh. I took friends from fairbanks hunting in MT....there were surprised at the size, number and disrespectful nature of our bears.

I would think this could give rise to a constitutional level challenge in federal court, but I may be wrong. I seem to remember something along the lines of this type of argument against the nonresident prohibition in WY Wilderness areas. If I remember correctly, it didn't work there essentially because the court held that the state could manage it however it liked.

 

[Will_m]

You will never get the residents behind it. Without them, it will be a very challenging law to change. Almost every state treats non-residents differently in some way and you can count on it getting more and more difficult to go hunt out of state in years to come.

I don't necessarily think you need the support of the residents if you could challenge it on a federal level. I don't know the temperament of the judges in those districts, but would suspect you would be in much better territory than state court.

Surely there has to be a group somewhere pushing for this.

 

[307]

I feel comfortable assuming, if you lived in WY (for example)
You’d be psyched about the NR Wilderness deal.

I live in Colorado, and I’d give my left nut for the same rule.

It's the only place we can go to get away from the Front Rangers! Lol...

 

[mlgc20]

This issue was litigated at the federal level. It went to the US Supreme Court back in the late 70's. The state has the right to do basically what it wants in this regard.

 

[LostArra]

This issue was litigated at the federal level. It went to the US Supreme Court back in the late 70's. The state has the right to do basically what it wants in this regard.

Except the state can't fine poachers from the Crow reservation who wander into Wyoming (lost?) and kill elk without a license. Then just take the heads/horns.

The Wyoming outfitters must have signed a treaty too.