With the Wyoming legislative session now about halfway through, we take a look at how some of this year’s hunting-related bills fared. Spoiler alert: most of them didn’t gain much traction.
HB 186 - Bear coupons-game and fish
Lawmakers considered a bill that would have opened up grizzly bear hunting as soon as 2026, even if the animals were still protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Representative Bob Wharff (R-Evanston) introduced HB 186 to a House committee on Jan. 30 and said he’s “very frustrated” that grizzlies are still managed by the feds.
“ [Grizzlies have] met recovery goals since 2000 and I'm tired of the courts interfering with our state's ability to manage [them]. I guess I'm trying to make a statement here,” he said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to keep grizzlies on the Endangered Species list at the start of this year, despite petitions from states like Wyoming to delist the bears.
But since President Trump took office, the agency cancelled public meetings in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho about the decision. Trump’s pick for Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, expressed support for delisting grizzlies in a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing.
Under the proposed bill, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would have included a free “bear coupon” to all elk licenses for residents, specifically for areas outside the grizzly recovery zone at the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Essentially, anyone hunting elk could also hunt a bear while they’re at it.
The bill brought up bipartisan concerns in committee and on the House floor about agencies and individuals violating the Endangered Species Act.
During the bill’s first reading, Representative Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie) called the proposal “bad policy.”
“You're putting the people of Wyoming in harm's way because they might not understand the federal law, because you want to shake your fist at the federal government,” she said.
The bill failed during that reading with a 26-32 vote.
HB 286 - Mountain lion hunting season-changes
Some lawmakers wanted to make it possible to hunt mountain lions all year round. Currently, the big cats are managed by Wyoming Game and Fish using an approach that considers a variety of factors including location, season, gender of the cat and human safety. Hunting mountain lions requires a license and goes from September to March in most areas.
Representative Mike Schmid (R-La Barge) co-sponsored HB 286 and argued that opening up the season would help mule deer.
“This is as much about mule deer, or more, than it is [about] the mountain lion. The mountain lion is just one of the pieces of the puzzle that we need
to try to control to help our statewide suffering mule-deer populations,” he said.
But the vast majority of people who provided public comment during the bill’s first reading with the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee on Feb. 4 opposed the change.
That included Lee Livingston, president of the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association. While he said that “quite a few” of the board members are in favor of the bill, the group ultimately opposes it.
“We came to the conclusion that wildlife management is better left in the hands of wildlife managers,” he said. “There have been many in this building that railed against biology from the bench. We don't want to see our season starting to be set by legislation rather than [by] wildlife managers.”
“Most of our members are lion hunters and deer hunters, myself included,” said Joe Kondelis with the American Bear Foundation. “We just ask that you let the best large carnivore team in the country do what they do best and listen to the science and heed their recommendations.”
Following public comment, the committee did not make a motion on the bill, leaving the bill to be “indefinitely postponed” according to Committee Chairman Andrew Byron.
SF0003 - Mule and whitetail deer-separate hunting seasons
The Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Interim Committee brought SF 3 to this year’s session. The bill would have created separate hunting seasons for mule deer and whitetail deer, allowing the Wyoming Game and Fish to set up different licenses for the species.
Advocates for the bill said separate hunting seasons could support mule deer populations. But on the Senate floor, Senator Bill Landen (R-Casper) said he didn’t think the bill was needed.
“If you corner folks who work in the field out there, you probably won't find anybody who says they need this bill,” he said. “The reason is they've got all the tools necessary to take care of the deer populations in Wyoming. They're doing it now.”
Senator Jim Anderson (R-Casper) also said he’s heard a lot of opposition to the bill from his constituents.
“I talked to my sportsmen and landowners and I didn't find anybody in favor of this,” he said. “In fact, I found some that were radically against it.”
Other senators echoed that sentiment and the bill failed on the Senate floor during its third reading with a 12-19 vote.
HB 2 - Hunting license application fees increase
HB 2 would have increased hunting application fees for big game, trophy game and wild bison licenses. Current application fees for residents are $5 and $15 for non-residents, and the bill proposed bumping those fees up to a max of $20 for residents and $75 for nonresidents.
While supporters of the bill said the increase would go to support the state Game and Fish Department, the bill wasn’t heard on the House floor before a Feb. 10 deadline and is therefore assumed to be dead.
Another bill related to hunting licenses – or the lack thereof – didn’t take off. Under HB 109, people who are charged for trespassing on private property to hunt, fish or trap would lose their license for two years.
After being first assigned to the Travel and Tourism Committee, the bill was reassigned to the Agriculture Committee but did not come up for discussion. Like HB 2, it also wasn’t heard on the House floor before the Feb. 10 deadline.
HB 211 - Hunting wildlife from vehicles
Amidst the failures, a bill about hunting animals from vehicles is still moving through the legislative process. HB 211 seeks to clarify what kind of animals are legal to harass, pursue, hunt, shoot or kill from a plane, car, trailer or snowmobile.
In a nutshell, the bill would make it legal to shoot non-protected animals like prairie dogs or mice. While a common practice for many, it is illegal under existing Wyoming statute.
During the bill’s first committee hearing, Robert Ward said that was news to him. He lives in Casper and said he had no idea about that technicality until he had a run-in with a game warden last summer.
“We were shooting prairie dogs – tons of people in the state of Wyoming do – and we were stopped by a Game and Fish officer saying that we were doing something illegal,” he said. “To be perfectly honest with you, I had not the foggiest clue that was technically illegal.”
While the law currently states that people can hunt from a vehicle only for “predatory animals,” the new bill would swap that definition for “wildlife that requires a license or permit to take, is protected under W.S. 23‑1‑101(a)(ix) and (x) or is classified as threatened or endangered by federal wildlife regulations.”
W.S. 23‑1‑101(a)(ix) and (x) refers to animals and birds listed as “protected” under Wyoming Statute, which includes black-footed ferret, fisher, lynx, otter, pika or wolverine as well as migratory birds protected under federal law.
The bill passed the House with a 59-2 vote and was assigned to a committee in the Senate on Feb. 13.
Regardless of the bill’s progress, it’s still illegal to shoot big game or trophy game like deer, elk or black bears from a vehicle. The only exception is for disabled hunters if they obtain a special permit.
