House District 24 Representative Sandy Newsome, along with the Wyoming Wildlife Taskforce, will be hosting an informational meeting about proposed changes in the Preference Point System. It will be held Thursday, December 8th from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the new Wyoming Game and Fish Building at 2 Tilden Trail in Cody. A tour of the new building will start at 5:30, and the presentation will begin at 6 pm.
The Wyoming Wildlife Taskforce’s is studying “top-priority wildlife policy issues facing the state related to the allocation of hunting opportunity, sportsperson access and other issues, and is planning to make “recommendations to the proper decision-making body regarding solutions to these issues,” Newsome’s website states.
Following multiple discussions over several meetings, the Taskforce voted to recommend substantial changes to the manner in which bighorn sheep and moose licenses are issued for both residents and nonresidents regarding the use of preference points.
There are three primary components recommended for change:
1) Transition from a prescriptive draw where 75% of licenses are drawn from the top point holders to a system that is completely random.
2) Transition to a weighted bonus point system where an applicant’s advantage in the draw increases exponentially with each subsequent year they continue to apply. The Taskforce recommends this be implemented by squaring an applicant’s total number of bonus points.
3) Delay implementation by up to four years from the date the law is effective to provide long term applicants with the highest numbers of preference points a transition period.
There is currently only proposed legislation to change the Preference Points system and it is in the draft phase. It is not the final legislation. More information on the legislation can be found by clicking here.
Game and Fish did an extensive survey of hunters, and the purpose of this informal survey was to gauge opinion and educate the public.
