Hunters of a certain age might wax nostalgic for a simpler time. Back then, hunting tags were readily available at the local store and knocking on a local rancher’s door and politely asking permission to hunt on his land usually worked.
Nowadays, hunters must plow through online page after page of digital regulation books months in advance, just trying to figure out which tags to apply for. And even when they’re successful in drawing their most-desired elk or antelope tags, getting hunting access can be a headache.
Many private landowners are much more selective about who they allow onto their land, so public land hunting spots get mobbed.
At age 84, Dan Kinneman of Riverton has seen his share of changes on the Wyoming hunting scene.
For years, he was a hunting outfitter in the Dubois area.
He doesn’t like going up that way to hunt anymore. It’s changed too much, and from his perspective, for the worse.
“I used to do all my hunting with horses. Now you go out there and it’s all side-by-sides (ATVs), bumper-to-bumper,” he said.
“There was a lot more general-tag opportunity then, and there weren’t as many hunters,” he added. “There are a lot more hunters there now. A lot more.”
Kinneman hasn’t given up on hunting. He spoke with Cowboy State Daily over the phone while sitting in a dove-hunting blind near Riverton early Thursday.
He said he also has big game tags that he hopes to fill this fall.
“I still just go buy a general license over-the-counter,” he said.
Northeast Wyoming resident Joe Sandrini has seen the changes both as a hunter and a Wyoming Game and Fish Department agent. He was a game warden and biologist from 1992 to 2024.
It’s understandable that hunters get frustrated, he told Cowboy State Daily.
Lack of hunting access and the complexity of regulations and hunting tag applications are the two main reasons why it’s difficult to retain hunters or recruit new ones, he said.
Two Tag Categories
For decades, big game hunting tags have been broken down into two main categories: General and limited-quota draw.
General tags can be purchased over-the-counter at any time. They’re also good for any areas in the state that have general tag hunts for deer or elk.
All antelope tags, as well as many deer and elk tags, are limited-quota draw. That means each tag is good for only a specific area – such as Elk Hunt Area 7, in the Albany County region. And only a limited number are available for that area.
Hunters must apply for those well in advance, usually by the end of May. The tags must also be paid for in advance.
If the hunter succeeds in drawing a tag, it’s mailed to them. Hunters who don’t draw tags have their money refunded, minus a processing fee.
In Wyoming, there are 115 hunt areas for antelope, 170 for deer and 130 for elk. Some are general tag areas, some are limited quota, and some have a mixture of both.
Tag Types
Adding another layer of complexity are various tag types.
Again taking Elk Hunt Area 7 as an example – there are four tag types available.
Type one tags are good for any elk during archery season (Sept. 1 to Sept. 30) and the first part of the rifle season (Oct. 15 to Nov. 20).
From Nov. 21 to Dec. 31, the Area 7 type 1 tag is good only for antlerless elk.
Then there is the type 2 tag, good for antlered elk – with five points or fewer on either antler, and only in the sections of Elk Hunt Area 7 that are in Converse County.
Then there are type 6 tags, for cow or calf elk. And finally, type 8 tags, which are unlimited and good for cow or calf elk. They are good on private land in Albany and Carbon counties, in all of Platte County, but not valid in Converse or Natrona counties on Wyoming Game and Fish Commission-owned lands.
‘ATVs Changed Everything’
Like Kinneman, seasoned Wyoming hunter Karl Brauneis of Lander said he’s noticed the onslaught of ATVs in recent years.
“ATVs changed everything. Many use their ATVs with respect for the land and animals, but others do not. It used to be that hiking or horseback into a remote area gave you better opportunities, but not after the ATV,” said Brauneis, who is retired from the U.S. Forest Service.
“As a forest ranger, many times I heard the complaint of a hunter in a remote area on standby with binoculars, only to have an ATV drive up to him and ruin the hunt,” he added.
Sandrini also said the advent of ATVs, e-bikes and other mechanical means of conveyance have had an effect on hunting.
Hunters can go farther, faster and spread out across the land more than ever before, he said.
That might lend to the perception that hunt areas are becoming too crowded, even if the overall number of hunters hasn’t increased, Sandrini said.
Readily-available GPS mapping systems, such as onX Hunt, also make it impossible for hunters to find secret hunting spots.
“The downside (of mapping systems) is, there aren’t any ‘sleeper spots’ anymore, there’s no such thing as the secret 40 acres,” Sandrini said. “There’s no accessible public land that nobody knows about, besides you.”
The trend of private landowners granting less permission, or giving exclusive permission to outfitters, has also driven more hunters on to public land, he added.
That, too, might be adding to overcrowding in some areas, he said.
Wyoming No Longer The Best-Kept Secret
Kinneman said that Wyoming been discovered as a hunting destination.
Decades ago, it seemed that nearly all the hunters were Wyoming residents, and they usually stuck to areas near their hometowns, he said.
“There are a lot of non-residents running around out there now,” he said.
He partly blames social media for spreading the word about Wyoming as a hunter’s paradise.
“Guys are putting up hunt videos on YouTube. That gets people excited. There’s a lot more information about hunting in Wyoming out there now for people all over the country to see,” he said.
Brauneis said he’s seen a big shift in the number of hunters, and the overall culture of land ownership and hunting.
“The numbers of people and change in the cultural landscape has been dramatic. Traditional or historic ranchers most often allowed hunters to hunt by permission,” he said.
“Today’s landscape of wealthy corporate owned ranches and farms operating under leases. ‘No Hunting’ signs are just something we never saw back in the 1960s and ‘70s,” he added.
While the number of hunters might have increased, the number of game agents and Forest Service personnel in the field seems to have gone down, Brauneis said.
“This directly relates to the office and computers. In the 1970's everyone on the ranger district patrolled horseback or by truck during the hunting season. Often this was to assist hunters as well as enforce off road travel and fire restrictions. Sometimes we were the first on the scene to assist with search and rescue efforts,” he said.
Getting Hunters Where They’re Needed
Sandrini said he saw hunting tags skew more toward limited-quota draw, and the application process get more complex, during his career with Game and Fish.
But that wasn’t done out of spite, he said.
Hunting is the primary tool for big game management in Wyoming, he said.
“The challenge for Game and Fish was trying to get hunters where they were most needed,” he said.
Particularly as the number of elk in Wyoming continued to swell, the agency is “trying to get the hunters where they are needed to harvest the animals,” he said.
And one way of doing that is to set tag types and drawing quota, to focus hunting in certain areas, he said.
Keeping It Simple
Firearms technology has also changed.
Better rifles, scopes and other advancements have extended the range that some hunters are comfortable shooting, Sandrini said.
That change hasn’t been for the better, Brauneis said.
“Long range shooting is not hunting,” he said.
“Hunt close. I shot most of my big game with a 30-30 Winchester with a 26-inch octagon barrel manufactured in 1904”, he said.
He said that when he and his wife were raising a family, he often shot two deer, and elk and an antelope each fall to help feed the household.
“Folks use to say the 30-30 is for beginners. Those wise in hunting know that the 30-30 is for expert hunters. Skill in hunting must overcome the technological disadvantages of using 100-plus-year-old technology and rifles,” Brauneis added.
Sandrini agreed that sometimes the old ways are best.
“With all of the things that have changed, there are some things that haven’t. A lot of people think they need the newest rifle or the best scope or the latest camouflage pattern,” he said.
But some of the best hunters he knows still go afield in “Carhartt jackets and wool caps,” Sandrini said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
