CHEYENNE—Laura Pearson’s sheep ranching family has had a rough go of it lately.  Woolgrowing is an industry that’s shrunk dramatically from its heyday, including in Wyoming. Modern disruptions and hardships, like the brutal winter of 2022-’23, were a gut punch to operations that have hung on, even knocking some woolgrowers out of business.  “Ranchers are hurting right now,” said Pearson, a Republican state senator and school bus driver from Kemmerer who’s new to the Wyoming Legislature. “In May, my sister was sending us messages, saying, ‘This is all the money that we have left to get through the end of the year.’”  Pearson cited those hard times as inspiration for bringing a bill, Senate File 118, “Landowner hunting tags-amendments,” that would allow her family and other Wyoming landowners to generate some extra cash by creating a new market for the special hunting licenses they receive.  “It’d give ranchers and farmers the ability to … sell or give those tags to whomever we want,” Pearson said.  Lambs graze a pasture along the west slope of the Wind River Range in 2023. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) A dozen Republican members of the Legislature lined up behind the idea, most associated with the hard-line Wyoming Freedom Caucus and its Wyoming Senate allies. (See the list of co-sponsors at the end of the story.)  The legislation they signed would task the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission with creating rules and regulations governing the resale of landowner tags.  Critics, including hunting and wildlife advocacy groups, say the changes could overwhelm Wyoming’s license allocation system, giving wealthy non-residents an unfair advantage over ordinary resident sportspeople. Landowner tags basics  Property owners are eligible for a Wyoming Game and Fish Department landowner license if they possess at least 160 contiguous acres that provide habitat for elk, deer, pronghorn or wild turkeys. Recipients can possess two licenses for each species, and they’re good throughout the hunt area where the property is located. To be eligible, landowners must demonstrate 2,000 “animal use days” (for example, 1,000 elk on their property for two days or 40 mule deer for 50 days).   Currently, landowner licenses must be kept within the family, though there are workarounds, like subdividing land, that have exploited the system currently in place.  The program is growing more popular. Between 2014 and 2021, the statewide count of landowner licenses spanning all species rose 26%, from 2,800 to 3,518, Game and Fish License Section Manager Jennifer Doering told WyoFile in 2022.  There are Wyoming hunt areas where landowner tags are eating into and even dominating the total number of hunting licenses that are available. Elk hunt zone 124, located south of Interstate 80 in the Red Desert, is an example: Special landowner tag recipients have dominated the few limited-quota licenses available for non-resident bull elk hunters during recent hunting seasons.  The system’s growing popularity and existing problems explain why SF 118 is running into stiff resistance from the hunting lobby.  “It’s essentially the privatization of a wildlife resource,” said Jess Johnson, government affairs director for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation. “This system allows someone to bypass the tag system.”  ‘Pay-to-play’ model? When Game and Fish runs its lottery for Wyoming’s limited-license hunts, landowner licenses come “off the top,” Johnson said. In other words, they’re drawn before the rest of the public gets a shot. If the legislation was enacted, those tags could then be turned around and sold. In essence, it’d put wealthy non-residents — those most willing to pay big bucks for big bucks — at the front of the line.   Hunting organizations lobbying in Cheyenne also worry that the bill would open the floodgates and create more interest in the landowner license program.   Jess Johnson, government affairs director for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, in 2025. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) “A lot of landowners don’t apply for or get landowner tags, even though they’re eligible for them,” Johnson said. “Because they [could] sell them for however much money, this [would] incentivize them to put in for landowner tags.”  Other western states have gone down a similar path. Cheyenne resident David Willms, who directs western wildlife issues for the National Wildlife Federation, cited New Mexico as an example. Some 38% of all the elk hunting tags in that southwestern state are issued via transferrable landowner tags, he said. And three-quarters of those end up in the hands of non-residents.  “It reduces the overall availability of tags in the draw for [New Mexico] residents,” Willms said.  In Wyoming, he said, the change could “stress and pressure” lotteries for licenses in hunt areas where the number of landowner tags has already taken off.  “You could see situations where there would be potentially zero tags available in a public draw,” Willms said. “The only way you can hunt this is by purchasing a license from a landowner. The going rate, from what I understand in New Mexico, is roughly about $10,000 for a bull elk tag.”  Wyoming’s red-shirted game wardens also oppose the bill. The state’s wildlife “belongs to all and is held in public trust” by the Game and Fish Commission using sportsperson license dollars, Wyoming Game Warden Association President Levi Wood said in an emailed statement.  “Transferable and sellable landowner licenses are a step toward the privatization of this public resource and away from the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation,” wrote Wood, who acknowledged the “critical role that landowners play in stewarding wildlife habitat. “ “However,” he wrote, “the association does not feel this is the appropriate method to show appreciation to those landowners and change such as this will come at the detriment of Wyoming resident sportspeople.”  Sen. Laura Pearson, R-Kemmerer, during the Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 general session. (Mike Vanata/WyoFile) As of Wednesday morning, SF 118 has not yet been assigned to any committee — a requisite first step in the process. If the legislation does move forward, Pearson, the primary sponsor, said she’s considering watching from the sidelines because of the conflict of interest.  “I’m probably going to have to recuse myself,” Pearson said, “because we are landowners in southwest Wyoming.”  Senate File 118 co-sponsors are: Sens. Brian Boner, R-Douglas; Bob Ide, R-Casper; Troy McKeown, R-Powell; Darin Smith, R-Cheyenne; Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington; and Reps. Marlene Brady, R-Green River; Scott Heiner, R-Green River; Jayme Lien, R-Casper; Darin McCann, R-Rock Springs;, Mike Schmid, R-La Barge; Nina Webber, R-Cody; and Bob Wharff, R-Evanston.  The deadline for Pearson’s bill to be reported out of a Wyoming Senate committee is Feb. 7, according to the legislative session calendar. The post Should Wyoming ‘landowner tags’ be for sale? A bill proposes big bucks for big bucks. appeared first on WyoFile .