Image: elk_wyoming

If a new bill passes the state legislature, the hunting license application fee for resident Wyoming hunters will increase from $5 to $20, and from $15 to $75 for non-residents. (Photo by Danita Delimont)

Wyoming in-state hunters may end up having to pay four times as much for their hunting license applications if a new bill passes the state legislature. Out-of-state hunters would have to pay even more.

According to cowboystatedaily.com, House Bill 2 would increase the resident hunting license application fees from $5 to $20. Nonresident hunter fees would jump from $15 to $75.

The bill’s proponents say the increase is a reasonable solution to keep funds flowing for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

“Wyoming has world-class wildlife resources and warrants world-class management. This comes at a cost. With the WGFD (Game and Fish) not receiving general fund legislative dollars, this is how revenue is generated,” Josh Coursey, president and chief executive of Muley Fanatics, said. “Sportsmen and sportswomen are proud to have footed the bill for wildlife management since the days of Teddy Roosevelt.”

Hunting tag application fees are a major revenue stream for Game and Fish.

Raising the application fees would “essentially be a de facto hunting license fee increase,” retired Game and Fish game warden and biologist Joe Sandrini told Cowboy State Daily.

But he doesn’t believe the application fee increase will negatively affect hunting license sales, because previous cost increases for big game tags didn’t.

“There’s typically always a ‘first-year effect,’” or a slight dip in sales during the first hunting season after a price hike, Sandrini said.

Wyoming outdoorsman Paul Ulrich said that if the bill passes, he has no issue paying the increased application fees.

“This is a reasonable increase. And why it matters is because it gives the Game and Fish today, and moving forward, that ability to put more money from application fees on the ground, where it’s most needed,” he said.