Hunter Surveys
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department recently sent out a series of surveys to gather input from resident and nonresident hunters on key management issues. The Big Game Hunting Weapon Type Survey has been sent out to individuals who applied for an antelope, deer, or elk license in the past three years. Recipients were selected randomly from this group. The surveys were sent out on email Sept. 8th. A reminder was sent the week of Sept. 21st. The goal of the survey is to evaluate hunter satisfaction with Wyoming's current approach to allocating opportunities to hunt antelope, deer, and elk with type 9 archery-only licenses or with seasons where either archery OR firearm-but not both—can be used, and gauge whether any significant regional or statewide changes should be implemented for limited quota and/or general licenses. Game and Fish Deputy Chief of Wildlife Justin Binfet says some hunters have increasingly expressed a desire to revisit the way the department allocates those licenses.
“So, we felt like it was high time to actually do a really robust randomized survey across the spectrum of rifle hunters, archery hunters or those that choose to do both. And we are surveying folks that have held a deer, elk, or antelope license in the past three years—or a random selection of those folks—just to gauge their input as to whether or not we need to change how we allocate those archery hunting opportunities.”
A similar survey for black bear hunting Was sent out Sept. 14th to all black bear hunters who held a license in the last three years along with licensed black bear outfitters. Additional, smaller surveys designed to get feedback on local management issues will also be coming out later this year, such as a survey about elk hunting in the southern Bighorn Mountains.
It’s important for hunters to know that these surveys are separate from the annual harvest surveys sent out each October, which are only sent to individuals who held a license. Annual harvest surveys gather information about how hunters did during the fall hunting seasons including what or if they harvested, where they hunted, and how long they hunted for. Those types of harvest metrics are extremely important for Game and Fish to help guide the management of species. All department hunter surveys are used in the decision-making process, and it is very helpful to the agency when hunters submit their completed surveys. Hunters are always welcome to call their local Game and Fish office should they have questions about a particular survey.