Shooting prairie dogs from inside vehicles is common in Wyoming, said one resident, who added that he was a shocked when a game warden told him that it’s illegal.
“To be perfectly honest, I had not the foggiest clue that was technically illegal,” Robert Ward told legislators Tuesday.
“We were shooting prairie dogs. Tons of people in the state of Wyoming do (from vehicles),” he said while testifying via Zoom to the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee.
Shooting prairie dogs is a common sport during the warmer months in Wyoming. It’s widely regarded as a recreational form of pest control and is legal in much of the state.
The committee voted to advance House Bill 211 to the House floor. The bill would clarify that it’s legal to shoot from vehicles at certain species, such as prairie dogs.
The bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, previously told the committee that under current statutes, it’s technically illegal to even kill a mouse inside a pickup.
If a prosecutor decided to press the matter, a person could face up to a year in jail and/or a $10,000 fine for trapping mice inside a vehicle, he said.
Not Game Animals, Not Predators
At the heart of the issue is the classification of certain animals, such as mice or prairie dogs, in Wyoming.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is primarily responsible for big game animals – such as deer and elk – and trophy game animals – such as moose and black bears.
Those animals may be hunted only with a license and during specified hunting seasons. And they may not be shot from inside vehicles, except by disabled hunters with special permits.
Game and Fish doesn’t have primary jurisdiction over animals classified as predatory. Predatory animals are under the purview of the Department of Agriculture. They include such species as coyotes, foxes, skunks, jackrabbits and, in much of the state, wolves.
No license is required to shoot those animals, and they may be shot from a vehicle.
The vehicle must be parked off a highway or public roadway, because shooting from a roadway for any reason is illegal.
But prairie dogs, mice and a host of other critters don’t fall into any particular classification, Allemand said. But they’re still, by statute, considered to be “wildlife” that can’t legally be shot from a vehicle.
‘Darned Prairie Dog’
That’s the obscure intersection of law that Ward said he and some friends found themselves caught in recently.
He said they weren’t even in the cab of the pickup. Rather, they were in the bed of the vehicle, and “resting our rifles” to get clear shots at prairie dogs.
He said they were “stopped by a game warden” and told what they were doing was illegal.
During his comments, Ward didn’t indicate that they were ticketed for the offense. A message from Cowboy State Daily seeing further comment from Ward wasn’t answered.
The incident left Ward and his friends baffled, he told the committee.
“I would have never thought in my life that you couldn’t shoot a darned prairie dog from your truck. It’s just not one of those things you’d think you’d get stopped by the Game and Fish for,” he said.
Roll Call
Reps. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie and Liz Storer, D-Jackson voted against forwarding the bill to the House Floor.
The aye votes included Reps. Andrew Byron, R-Jackson, Elissa Campbell, R-Casper, Marilyn Connolly, R-Buffalo, Steve Harshman, R-Casper, Julie Jarvis, R-Casper, Pam Thayer, R-Rawlins, and Robert Wharff, R-Evanston.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
