For Immediate Release:

 

 

Drawings Held for Resident Elk and Nonresident Deer and Antelope Licenses................................. . 1

July 1 is Deadline to Apply for Super Tag Raffle.................................................................................... . 2

Upton and Wright Youngsters Take Top Honors at the 7^th Annual Youth Hunter Challenge........ . 3

Anglers Asked to Help With Bass Project.................................................................................................. . 4

Lander/Green Mountain Mule Deer Working Group Meeting June 17................................................ . 5

Game and Fish Calendar................................................................................................................................ 5

Ask Game and Fish......................................................................................................................................... 5

 

 

 

 

DRAWINGS HELD FOR RESIDENT ELK, AND RESIDENT AND NONRESIDENT DEER AND ANTELOPE LICENSES

 

CHEYENNE – The 2014 drawings for resident elk and resident and nonresident deer and antelope licenses are now in the books and hunters can check their results on the Game and Fish website wgfd.wyo.gov or by calling (307) 777-4600.

Refund warrants for those unsuccessful in the drawings will be mailed in the next several weeks followed by the licenses mailings for those who were successful in the drawings.

As is usually the case, a number of areas have licenses remaining. A total of 5,886 full price antelope licenses are available along with 6,504 reduced price doe/fawn antelope licenses. For deer, 1,615 full price licenses are available and more than 4,820 doe fawn licenses. Elk hunters who would still like a license should note that 2,855 full price licenses are available as well as nearly 12,000 cow/calf licenses.

A listing of the areas with licenses remaining for each species is found on the Game and Fish website wgfd.wyo.gov. Hunters can purchase full-price leftover licenses via home computer, automated license agents, or at Game and Fish regional offices beginning at 8 a.m. on July 10. Reduced-price licenses for cow/calf elk and doe/fawn antelope and deer will be available a week later on July 17.

Some of the areas have reasonable public access either through public federal and state lands or the Game and Fish hunter management and walk-in area programs. There are also many licenses remaining in hunt areas that are predominantly private lands where public access is difficult. Hunters are advised to obtain permission from landowners before obtaining licenses in private land areas.

                Hunters who have questions on applying for leftover licenses or public access in the different hunt areas can contact the Game and Fish at 307-777-4600.

(Contact: Al Langston 307-777-4540)

-WGFD-

 

JULY 1 IS DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR SUPER TAG RAFFLE

 

CHEYENNE – Hunters who are looking to add to their chances to have the opportunity to hunt in the best areas in Wyoming are reminded the deadline to apply for the super tag and super tag trifecta raffles is July 1.

Residents and nonresidents are eligible to apply. Tickets are sold by species. One winner will be drawn for each of the ten species. The single trifecta winner will have the chance to buy licenses for three of the ten species offered. There is the potential for 11 different winners, but it is possible for an individual to win more than one of the drawings.

Winners for both raffles will be able to hunt in any open hunt area for the species they select. (The winner of a moose license will be able to select any moose hunting area with more than 10 licenses available; for bighorn sheep, eight licenses.)

Winners of the Super Tag and Super Tag Trifecta raffles will retain any preference points they may have accumulated. In addition, the five-year waiting period for moose and sheep and the once-in-a-lifetime restrictions on bison and mountain goat licenses will be waived. 

In the Super Tag raffle, 10 winners will receive the opportunity to buy a hunting license for one of Wyoming’s premier big and trophy game species, including:

• bighorn sheep
• moose
• mountain goat
• wild bison
• elk
• deer
• antelope
• black bear
• gray wolf
• mountain lion

Hunters select the species they wish to hunt when they purchase their raffle tickets. One license will be offered for each species which will be issued through an independent drawing.

The Super Tag Trifecta raffle is similar to the Super Tag, except there will be one winner and the successful applicant will be able to select three of the 10 big and trophy game species for license issuance.

Tickets are $10 per entry for the Super Tag and $30 for the Super Tag Trifecta. There is no limit on the number of raffle tickets hunters may buy. Tickets are available through July 1 at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s website (http://tinyurl.com/WGFD-County10). Winners will be notified by July 15 and must buy any applicable licenses and/or stamps before hunting.

(Contact: Glenn Pauley 307-777-4555)

-WGFD-

 

 

YOUNGSTERS FROM UPTON, TORRINGTON, WRIGHT, PINE BLUFFS AND STAR VALLEY RANCH TAKE TOP HONORS AT THE 7^TH ANNUAL YOUTH HUNTER CHALLENGE

 

UPTON – Youngsters from communities from all over Wyoming vied for top honors in the recently completed youth hunter education challenge held May 31-June1 at the Upton Gun Club.

                Taking top honors in the Senior (age 15-18) Division was Colton Buckley of Upton. Second place was awarded to Doug Williams, also of Upton while third place honors went to Alex Colson of Torrington. Twenty participants competed in the senior division this year.

                In the Junior (14 and under) Division, first place was awarded to Garrett Steele of Wright. Wyatt Fornstrom of Pine Bluffs took second place and Style Thurston of Star Valley Ranch was awarded third place. Twenty-three youth competed in the junior division.

The championships are officially called the National Rifle Association’s Youth Hunter Education Challenge. It has been hosted by the Upton Gun Club since its inception seven years ago.

As in previous years, hunters were tested in sporting clays style trap shooting, .22 rifle, muzzleloader and archery marksmanship, wildlife identification, orienteering, and hunter safety judgments.

“The challenge is designed to be fun for all participants,” said Game and Fish hunter education coordinator, Jim Dawson. “Every year we have interest from youth in communities throughout the state. It is great to see the interest and skills these young hunters possess.”

Dawson said the challenge has many volunteers and sponsors. “There would be no challenge without the Upton Gun Club members and particularly event chairman Rick Rothleutner,” said Dawson. “These are the folks who took the initiative to get it started in 2008 and have kept it going every year since. They put in countless hours in organization and preparation and make improvements for the benefit of the kids every year.”

                All youngsters received a prize for their participation and some hunting accessories. The winners also received jackets embroidered with the event and their name.

The prizes were possible thanks to the contributions of many sponsors including the Upton Gun Club, Weston County Sportsman Club, Inyan Kara Bowhunters, Wyoming Friends of the NRA, , Cliff and Julie Abbott, B-4 Automotive, , Becky and Brady Morris, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, , B&B Roustabout, Rocky Mountain Discount Sports, Scheel’s Outdoor Store of Rapid City, Wyoming Weapon Collectors, Casper Skeet,Trap and Sporting Clays Club, Pheasants on Kara Creek, Heather Shideman , Lowham Walsh Engineering, H2E, Wyoming State Shooters Association and Pathfinder Arms.

Young hunters are invited to participate in next year’s challenge. It will again be held at the Upton Gun Club, where the various ranges are nestled into the Black Hill’s sagebrush and ponderosa pine. The June 2015 date will be announced soon.

In accordance with NRA rules, youngsters need to provide a copy of their hunter education card and pay a $10 entry fee to participate.                                                                                                                                                                           (Contact Jim Dawson 307- 473-3439 or Rick Rothleutner 307-281-9980.

-WGFD-

 

ANGLERS ASKED TO HELP WITH BASS PROJECT

GREEN RIVER – Wyoming’s smallmouth bass populations in Flaming Gorge Reservoir are getting a little attention this summer through an important research project that hopefully willincrease their populations.

Fisheries biologists with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, along with assistance from Cowboy Bass, Wyoming Bass Federation, Utah Bass Nation, and other volunteers, recently tagged 359 smallmouth bass in the Jarvies Canyon area of the Gorge. The bass were transplanted in an effort to supplement bass numbers and spawning on the northern end of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The tags will be used to evaluate whether the bass stay in Wyoming or return to their point of capture in Utah.

Smallmouths in the 8 to 13 inch class were caught and fitted with green FLOY tags (also called "anchor", “spaghetti", or “dart” tags). The FLOY tags are inserted into the fish below the dorsal fin and lock into the bones below the fin. Anglers who catch any bass with a FLOY tag are asked to record the location of where it was caught, the 4-digit FLOY tag number, and, if possible, record the length of the fish if they can do it quickly as to not kill the fish. Releasing the fish is the desired outcome. Smallmouths are long-lived and the may be caught several times over their life span, providing biologists with valuable information each time a tagged fish is captured.

“The fish did great on the move with no mortality observed once they were placed in their new home,” Green River fisheries biologist Joe Skorupski said. “Of the 359 fish tagged, 26 stayed in the Jarvies Canyon area to be used as a control population for the study.”

According to fisheries biologists Utah has a robust population of smallmouth bass. Green River fisheries supervisor Robert Keith says the plan was to collect bass from the over-populated Utah population and transplant them north to the Wyoming side of the Gorge where smallmouth populations have been declining for five or six years due to burbot predation.

“The bass were caught by volunteer anglers with hook and line and handed off to the Wyoming and Utah biologists for data collection and tagging,” Keith said. “We chose male and females that were in pre-spawn (egg-laying) mode that would be ready to spawn soon and would most likely stay and spawn where we relocated them.”

Keith said the Game and Fish is hoping to supplement the suppressed Wyoming populations. in response to the decimation of smallmouth bass populations on the Wyoming side of Flaming Gorge. “Those populations have been depressed due to the illegal introduction and proliferation of burbot,” Keith said.

Keith said the tagging study will allow biologists to see if the fish just go right back to where they were originally caught or stay in the area they were transplanted into.

“It they stay put, spawn, this transplant effort will be worth repeating in the future,” Keith said.

“This is an excellent way for to become actively involved in the management of bass in the Gorge,” Skorupski said. “Thinking about the next step and evaluating the long-term success of the transplant, it will be crucial to receive fish information when the tagged bass are captured by anglers. This information will allow us to evaluate the transplanted smallmouth bass in the Gorge.”

(Contact: Lucy Wold 307-875-3223)

-WGFD-

 

LANDER/GREEN MOUNTAIN MULE DEER WORKING GROUP PUBLIC MEETING JUNE 17

LANDER – The Lander/Green Mountain Mule Deer Working Group will have their first meeting at 6:15 pm on June 17 at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's Lander regional office, 260 Buena Vista Drive. This meeting is open to the public and everyone interested in mule deer and their management in the Sweetwater and South Wind River herds are invited and encouraged to attend and participate.

This working group is composed of a group of enthusiastic community members representing various interests in mule deer management and conservation in the Lander/Riverton area. The group’s charge is to make short and long-term mule deer management recommendations to the Game and Fish Department for deer hunt areas 92, 94, 96, 97, and 160.

The State of Wyoming supports the Americans with Disabilities Act. Anyone requiring auxiliary aids for this meeting should contact the Game and Fish regional office at: 800-654-7862. Every effort will be made for reasonable accommodations.                                                                                                                                                                       (Contact: Rene Schell 307-332-2688)

-WGFD-

 

 

 

 

Game and Fish Calendar

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

June 17 – Lander/Green Mountain Mule Deer Working Group meeting, Lander Game and Fish Office 6:15 p.m    

July 1 – Hunters who did not apply for preference points in 2014 drawings can begin applying for points

July 1 – Deadline to apply for Super Tag and Super tag Trifecta raffle

July 10 – Limited quota licenses leftover from the drawing go on sale via the G&F website

July 17 – Leftover reduced price cow/calf elk and doe deer and antelope licenses go on sale via the G&F website

 

 

Ask Game and Fish