Selling the Wild? Wyoming’s Landowner Tag Proposal Sparks Heated Debate

 

In the world of Wyoming wildlife management, the sale of landowner licenses has been a consistent topic that rears its head. As recently as the 2025 Legislative session, a few months ago, a proposal for transferable landowner licenses in the Cowboy State was defeated by many NGOs and concerned sportsmen. 

However, at the Wyoming Legislature’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee meeting last Friday, a Casper-area citizen brought forth a new proposal to allow landowners to sell their deer, elk, and pronghorn licenses on the open market. This proposal suggests landowners of 2,000 acres or more could be eligible for selling their licenses.

The current regulations as to how landowner tags are distributed are in revision. Those draft proposals from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department include increases in acreage and percentage of ownership to be eligible, and expansions of who qualifies as a member of the family. Those are slated for discussion at the July Commission Meeting in Casper, WY. 

Many of Wyoming’s sportsmen disagree with allowing transferable landowner licenses on principle because it would break the North American Model of Wildlife Management tenet of wildlife being held in the public trust. 

Proponents often refer to the Governor’s tags and Commissioner’s tags sold in Wyoming as a similar program. While some funds will go back to Wyoming communities at large, like 4H and FFA programs, oftentimes, funds from these tags go to initiatives like wildlife-friendly roadway projects and habitat projects that improve rangeland for producers and wildlife alike. 

There is no doubt that wildlife consume forage and water, damage fences, and impact livestock operations. Though less than half of the Cowboy State is privately owned, it’s undeniable that the best wildlife habitat in much of the state is on those private lands – an artifact of the settlement days where water and grazing were of utmost importance. Proponents say this would create a revenue stream for those who provide critical habitat in kind of a “habitat leasing” sort of way. 

One of the most destructive of wildlife on large landowners’ operations are the growing elk herds in Wyoming, especially on the private-dominated eastern portion of the state. While Wyoming Game and Fish Department began its unlimited cow tags for elk a couple of seasons ago, access remains the biggest issue for reducing populations and damages on those private lands. 

An olive branch to those in opposition in the sporting community attached to this new proposal would include a mandatory public fishing and hunting access component for the public, much like New Mexico’s E-Plus program, where public tagholders may have the opportunity to hunt on places that receive landowner tags. 

In Wyoming, resident and nonresident landowner licenses are removed from the quotas set by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission each year, leaving very few or no landowner tags for the public drawing in some cases. Whether or not this proposal addresses the removal of landowner tags from the public drawing quotas was unclear. 

This proposal touches on the deep roots of what it means to be a hunter (and a large landowner) in Wyoming. It raises difficult questions about how we value the interaction of land, wildlife, and access as things change around us every day.

Is this a fair way to reward landowners who host Wyoming’s big game? Or is it the continuation of the trend of turning our wild heritage into a commodity for the highest bidder?

As with so many things in the West, the devil is in the details. How this plays out will likely shape the future of hunting and conservation in the Cowboy State.

As always, I’m interested to hear your opinion.