The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission updated its public records’ policy to enact a new state law. This law keeps some personal information private of people who buy a license from the Game and Fish. Those license buyers will now have their email address, phone number and date of birth kept confidential, unless that person chooses to allow it to be public.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department sells hundreds of thousands of hunting, fishing and trapping licenses each year. As well as thousands of boat registrations. “We believe this new law and our policy create a good balance between allowing the public to know who is using its wildlife resource, but also keeps some key personal information private,” said Scott Talbott, the director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

The commission met in Gillette. It also heard a report on the history of how past commissions set the allocation of elk hunting licenses. Elk populations have increased over the past three decades, while the license structure has stayed the same. Anyone can see that presentation on the Game and Fish website.  The Commission directed staff at Game and Fish to come back with some options for how it might update elk hunting license allocation in the future at a meeting in November.

Other topics the Commission addressed include presentations on the current laws and regulations for landowner licenses, elk feedgrounds in Wyoming, and new emerging technologies used to take wildlife.
The meeting was streamed live on the Internet. Learn more and watch here. The Commission meets next in Lovell on November 14 and 15.