New Wyoming Wildlife Task Force is Stacked Against Resident Hunters
To review, earlier this month the Wyoming State Senate Travel, Wildlife and Recreation Committee (TRW) voted 4-1 to kill SF0103, this year's 90/10 bill. The Wyoming Stockgrowers Association, Wyoming Outfitters & Guides Association (WYOGA), and Wyoming tourism industry through the Chamber of Commerce, successfully lobbied against SF0103.
Three of the four TRW Committee members who voted against SF0103, partially justified doing so the newly formed Wyoming Wildlife Task Force could take up the issue.
The Wyoming Game & Fish Department (WDG&F) announced the task force in the Fall calling for volunteers, and the members were appointed jointly by, the Governor, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president of the Senate, the president of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, and the director of the Game and Fish Department in January.
According to the Wyoming Department of Game & Fish Press Release, the task force included one member with close outfitter ties, Sy Gililand, owner of SNS Outfitters in Casper and President of the WYOGA.
However, we've been researching the task force membership, and the G&F press release is misleading. In fact, the Task Force Membership includes 4 outfitters:
Sy Gililand, Owner of S&S Outfitters, President WYOGA
Duaine Hagen, Owner of Fiddleback Ranch, LLC and member of the WYOGA
Lee Livingston - Owner of Livingston Outfitting, and Board Member of the WYOGA
Peter Dube, Owner/Contact for Bear Track Outfitters at gohunt.com, and on his linkedIn profile. - "Private land hunds for mule deer and antelope, Buffalo, Wy. Dube is also a rancher - and owns the Dube Ranch in Buffalo - and we can assume he's a member of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association.
Gililand and Livinston both testified against 90/10 at the TRW Committee meeting earlier this month.
It's amazing to me that the G&F Department would hide that Hagen and Livingston's were outfitters by describing them as a "Landowner" and "County Commissioner" in it's press release or that Dube wouldn't disclose his outfitting!
In addition, two rancher members of the Task Force Members lease hunting rights to outfitters:
Jaimie Flitner, Diamond Tail Ranch - Lease to Tangle Ridge Outfitters according to Guidefitters, and
Gohunt.comOgden Driskill - Owner, Campstool Ranch in Crook County.
Driskill also owns the KOA in Devil's Tower (lodging industry) and is a lifetime Board Member of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association. He's a State Senator as well, who already voted against 90/10 once in 2020 when he voted against the introduction SF94. It's safe to assume that Flitner is also a member of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association.
Task Force Member, Albert Sommers, is another rancher - from Sublette County - a future Stockgrowers Association Board Member, and State Representative, who told me personally, in 2019,"I will never vote against the outfitters," when it comes to 90/10.
Task Force Member Liisa Anselmi-Dalton owns a motel in Sweetwater County (lodging industry), and lost her seat as a State Senator last fall, partially due to her vote against SF94 in 2020.
So, adding these up, we've got four outfitters, three ranchers and one motel owner - 8 Total - on the 18-member Task Force already positioned against resident hunters.
But we've got Task Force members on our side, right?
Other than Sen. Hicks (who's on the Task Force) I'm not hopeful.
Task Force Member Adam Teten, listed as a "sportsman" started and ran the Right to Roam Podcast until mid 2019 when it stopped. Teten interviewed myself and James Howell about 90/10 and other issues in early 2019 but then spiked the interview. He never published the interview on his podcast because he thought our stand fighting for resident hunters was too controversial with his nonresident hunter audience. Don't expect much fight from him.
Then there's Josh Coursey, co-Founder of the Muley Fanatic Foundation (MFF). Coursey and the Muley Fanatic Foundation have a strong reputation in Wyoming, and were instrumental in getting the Wildlife Conservation License Plate approved. The problem is that a huge source of MFF funding comes through donated G&F Commissioner Complimentary Licenses - we're talking over $300,000 between 2008 and 2018.
Over the past 3 years alone, MFF been by far the largest recipient of Commissioner tags - 10 in 2019, 7 in 202 and 8 in 2021 - or twenty-five in the last three years!
Most of these tags are sold/auctioned/raffled to nonresidents as limited quota elk tags and bring in $18,000-25,000 each. So, if we use a conservative price of $20,000 each, MFF has received $500,000 in funding from the sale of Commissioner Tags since 2019 - it's like MFF is a mini-Game & Fish Department!
Because MFF has essentially become dependent on receiving Commissioner Tags, Coursey has no incentive to stir things up by fighting for 90/10 and resident hunters. Both this year and last, Coursey and the Muley Fanatic Foundation were silent when the 90/10 bills came before the legislature. MFF never took a position, or reached out to me for questions or to offer support.
As well, in 2018, according to the IRS, Coursey and MFF co-founder, Joey Faigl, each paid themselves a salary of over $132,000 for an organization with with one employee and an annual budget of $786K. As a comparison, G&F Director Brian Nesvik's salary is $125,000/year, Governor Gordon's, $105,000, and a Senior Game Warden makes $65,000/year.
In 2018, Land Tawney, Executive Directory of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, made $137,000, but he had 38 employees and a $3.2 million budget. Lisa Macgee, Executive Director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, made $80,000 in 2018, but managed 16 employees and a $883K budget.
Coursey and Faigl are clearly overpaid ... but the bigger point here is that Coursey has a direct, personal, financial interest in not rocking the boat and I don't expect him to fight for us despite his influence. He certainly hasn't yet.
So where does that leave resident hunter representation on the Wildlife Task Force? Not in a strong position. Sen. Hicks will fight for us and 90/10, but I don't have high expectations, given the way the membership is stacked against resident hunters, that 90/10 will come out of any task force recommendations.
We have heard that the Outfitters may be willing to "compromise" and agree to 90/10 for all but elk, deer and antelope - so sheep, moose, goat, bison and grizzly - but comparatively, this will benefit few resident hunters. The big gain for residents will be in the increase in antelope and limited quota elk tags that would come through 90/10.
Then there's the timeline. The Task Force won't begin meeting until this summer, and has an 18-month run time. So even if 90/10 does get traction, it may be some time before any changes are made if left up to the Task Force.
Which is why we'll continue to push for legislation - including another 90/10 bill for the 2022 session.