Group: Reform Wyoming Commissioners’ Licenses

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — A new subsistence-hunting advocacy organization says changes are needed in how Wyoming Game and Fish commissioners hand out complimentary licenses.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports each of the seven commissioners get eight complementary elk, deer or antelope licenses annually to donate to nonprofit charitable organizations, which then auction or sell them.

The organization Mountain Pursuit contends that the program is being used as a platform for wealthy nonresident hunters to acquire hard-to-draw licenses and benefits groups that have little or nothing to do with Wyoming wildlife.

It says the tags should be auctioned off with the money going to Game and Fish.

Game and Fish's license manager, Jennifer Doering, says the agency stands behind the program, which funds wildlife and conservation projects and hunting and fishing promotion efforts.