Once again, the Wyoming Legislature is considering a bill to allow landowners to sell hunting licenses issued to them to whomever they choose. If enacted, this law would permit individuals, based solely on their status as private landowners, to personally profit from the private sale of state hunting licenses at whatever price the market will bear. This system allows those with deep pockets, without going through the public license draw, to move to the front of the line for coveted Wyoming hunting licenses so that they can pursue a public trust resource, wildlife, owned by all Wyoming’s citizens.
Opinion
Similar legislation was considered in the 2025 legislative session. Public opposition killed that bill, as it has with previous proposals, but the idea just won’t die.
What is the public trust? The Public Trust Doctrine holds that wildlife is not individually owned but rather held in trust by state or federal governments and managed for the benefit of all citizens. In the United States, the doctrine was first established in the Supreme Court decision Martin v. Waddell, which cites public stewardship tenets in the English Magna Carta of 1215 as part of its rationale. Clearly, wildlife held by government as a public resource managed for the benefit of all is not a new idea.
Wyoming Statute 23-1-103 affirms this idea: “For the purposes of this act, all wildlife in Wyoming is the property of the state.” That language has been part of Wyoming law since 1937.
State ownership of wildlife does not mean that further legislation couldn’t give some or all of the public’s ownership rights to private citizens.
In early November, the House Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Interim Committee agreed to sponsor legislation in the upcoming 2026 budget session that would allow private landowners to: “transfer a hunting license issued under this subsection to any person.”
Some might argue that the issuance of hunting licenses is a regulatory matter and the act of allowing landowners to sell landowner licenses to another is not granting ownership of wildlife. We are not qualified to offer a legal opinion on this topic, but we can apply some Wyoming logic and say that if it looks like a skunk and smells like a skunk, it’s probably a skunk.
There is no doubt that private lands, and consequently private landowners, provide millions of acres of habitat used by wildlife. Included in these acres are a large portion of the winter, migration, breeding and nesting habitat critical to our wildlife. Simply stated, Wyoming would not have the abundance or diversity of wildlife it now enjoys without private lands.
But one has to wonder, how many more public benefits must be offered at the altar of compensating for wildlife on private lands?
Since colonial times, landowners have been able to charge whatever the market will bear for the right of access to their lands, including access to hunt. Wyoming has generously provided private agricultural landowners with numerous benefits.
The Wyoming Legislature first authorized landowner licenses in 1949. Up to two licenses for deer, elk and pronghorn per qualifying parcel can be issued annually. Landowners pay the full fee for each license, but their licenses are drawn before the draw for other resident and nonresident applicants. Over the last three years, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has issued, on average, 1,173 nonresident and 2,534 resident landowner licenses annually.
Since wildlife belongs to all citizens, U.S. courts have determined that states are not liable for damages caused by wildlife unless they choose to assume this burden. Wyoming chose to do so in 1939. Over the last three years, the department paid on average $811,283 in damage claims for deer, elk and pronghorn annually. Including the additional costs of damage prevention and program administration, the department spends approximately $1 million each year to mitigate deer, elk and pronghorn use of private lands.
In 1939, the Wyoming Legislature also established the landowner coupon program. This coupon, attached to every deer, elk and pronghorn license, allows the landowner to redeem $16 for wildlife taken on their property. Over the past three years, the Department has, on average, annually reimbursed landowners $304,587 for these coupons.
Given the partial list above, one is left to wonder, how much is enough? For those who think this latest request will be the last item offered at the altar, the history of our state indicates otherwise.
During the work of the Wyoming Wildlife Task Force in 2021-2022, a proposal was submitted to: “provide qualifying Wyoming private landowners with an allocated number of resident and non-resident hunting licenses for elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and pronghorn antelope.”
This was not the first time the idea of allocating a portion of Wyoming’s hunting licenses directly to private landowners was brought up. Would some additional allocation beyond the two landowner licenses currently allowed be enough, or would that allocation simply set the stage for the next ask and the next until the only thing we, the public, have to give is private ownership of all wildlife?
Wyoming is at a crossroads. You can influence which path it takes by providing respectful input to your local state senator and representative.
Wyoming’s wildlife, and its status as a public trust resource, is an irreplaceable heritage passed down to each one of us by those who came before. In our view, it is the duty of this generation to prevent any attempt to carve off some of our heritage for the exclusive use of a few. It is our duty to pass on our heritage intact.