What Qualifies a Person for a Wyoming Landowner Hunting License? Wyoming has some great hunting opportunities, for both residents and non-residents. One great opportunity is the Landowner License option that Wyoming offers.
What Qualifies a Person for a Wyoming Landowner Hunting License?
Wyoming has some great hunting opportunities, for both residents and non-residents. One great opportunity is the Landowner License option that Wyoming offers. This can be a huge advantage especially in draw areas where drawing odds are particularly low. Unfortunately, the information on the subject is hard to come by through the Wyoming Game and Fish Department website. The regulations are available, but not easily found. The following link is to Chapter 44 of the Wyoming Game and Fish Regulations. Scroll to Section 9 (page 44-23) to find the information regarding Landowner Licenses. In addition, Section 3 provides definitions regarding the regulations, including who the landowner can be, and which relations to the landowner can apply for and possess a landowner tag.
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Regulations/Regulation-PDFs/REGULATIONS_CH44-(1).pdf
Below is a summation outlining the regulations which will hopefully answer common questions about the program. These landowner tags are available for elk, deer, antelope and wild turkey.
1. To apply for a landowner tag, the landowner must own 160 contiguous acres in the draw area being applied for. If general tags for the species are available, landowner tags will not be issued.
2. This deeded land must provide food, cover and water for the species being applied for. The land must provide 2000 days of use for the species in a 12-month period, demonstrated by the landowner. In other words, it must be shown that in order to qualify for landowner tags, the species must use and occupy that particular land. Two thousand days of use could be 10 animals for 200 days (common for deer or antelope) or maybe 500 head for 4 days! Not unheard of for large herds of elk.
3. A maximum of 2 tags can be issued per landowner per species. The landowner does not have to be issued the tag. One or both can be issued to an immediate family member including the landowner applicant’s parents, grandparents, lineal descendants and their spouses, or landowner’s siblings. In Wyoming, these tags cannot be transferred or sold to other people.
4. Each landowner applicant is limited to 2 tags per species, regardless of the total number of parcels owned by that individual. It is also important to note that of the 2 tags, only one can be applied for as a full price tag in any calendar year. Additional tag must be reduced price (doe or cow tag).
5. Change of ownership to any parcel of land will never allow more than the 2 tags per species limit on the parcel of land. ALSO, “any lands purchased or subdivided for the primary purpose of obtaining landowner licenses shall not be eligible for landowner licenses” per the first paragraph of Section 9. This has been a concern of some sportsmen who believe that landowner tags may be cutting into the ‘pool’ of tags available to the general public.
6. The landowner tags do come out of the ‘pool’ of total quota issued for a particular area. However, it should be comforting to know that the number of landowner tags issued in an area is limited. If more landowner tags are applied for than are available, there will be a competitive drawing within the landowner pool, and no additional tags will be taken from the draw-area pool of tags available to the public.
This program is a way to help compensate landowners for the amount of resources these private lands provide to the wildlife population of the state. At 2,000 days of use, that can be quite an impact on people’s private lands! Please check out the link above or contact the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for more information and questions on the Wyoming landowner licenses.
If you are interested in buying or selling a hunting property in Wyoming, please contact one of our Swan Land Company Wyoming Real Estate Brokers.
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