§ 23-1-703 — Limitation of number of certain licenses; reservation of certain licenses; reservation of certain unused licenses

(a) The commission may limit the number of resident or
nonresident big or trophy game animal licenses or wild bison
licenses to be sold in any calendar year and may designate dates
after which one (1) or more classes of licenses will not be sold
except as authorized by the commission.
(b) Subject to subsection (c) of this section, no person
may apply for and receive more than one (1) cow or calf moose or
one (1) ewe or lamb bighorn sheep license in any consecutive
five (5) year period. Licenses issued under this subsection
shall be issued partially through a preference point drawing and
partially through a random drawing of all remaining unsuccessful
applicants for that year. The department shall assign points to
each license applicant for a specific species by multiplying the
number of years the applicant has unsuccessfully applied for a
license times one (1). The calculation used to assign points to
an applicant for a particular species under this subsection
shall include any year the applicant does not apply for a big or
trophy game animal hunting license for that species, provided in
the case of a resident the applicant pays the fee specified in
W.S. 23-2-101(k), and in the case of a nonresident, the
applicant pays the appropriate fee established by the commission
under W.S. 23-2-101(m). License applicants within each hunt area
for a species shall be grouped according to the number of
assigned points for that species. Not less than seventy-five
percent (75%) of available licenses within any hunt area shall
be randomly selected through a preference point drawing from
among the group of applicants with the largest number of
assigned points and shall continue until all applicants within
that group have been exhausted or until all available licenses
have been issued, whichever first occurs. If any applicant
grouping has been exhausted and licenses remain available within
that hunt area, selection shall continue from among the group of
applicants with the next largest number of assigned points.
After the selections through the preference point drawing have
been completed within a hunt area, the remaining licenses
available from that drawing and the licenses available for the
random drawing for that hunt area will be issued through a
random selection from among all applicants in the hunt area who
were not selected for issuance of a license for the species
through the preference point drawing in that hunt area. For
purposes of assigning points under this subsection, any
unsuccessful license applicant failing to apply for a license,
or pay the applicable fee in lieu of applying, during the second
calendar year shall be considered to be a first year applicant
for any subsequent calendar year in which the applicant submits
license application for that particular species.
(c) Except as provided in this subsection and subsection
(f) of this section or by rule of the commission, no person who
is issued a hunting license on and after July 1, 2022 for a
grizzly bear, or for a mountain goat, any moose or antlered
moose, any ram bighorn sheep, any bighorn sheep and any wild
bison, and no person who, on July 1, 2022, is subject to the
five (5) year restriction under subsection (b) of this section
for a moose or bighorn sheep license, shall be eligible to apply
for or receive a hunting license for that particular species in
any future year. The commission may issue hunting licenses to
any person in future years when necessary for wildlife
management purposes to harvest grizzly bear, mountain goat, ewe
or lamb bighorn sheep or cow or calf moose. The commission may
issue hunting licenses to any person to harvest cow or calf wild
bison pursuant to W.S. 23-2-107(f).
(d) Repealed By Laws 1997, ch. 24, § 2.
(e) The commission shall reserve ninety percent (90%) of
the bighorn sheep, wild bison, moose, mountain goat and grizzly
bear licenses to be issued in any one (1) year for resident
hunters and the remaining ten percent (10%) of the bighorn
sheep, wild bison, moose, mountain goat and grizzly bear
licenses shall be reserved for nonresident hunters. The
commission shall determine the allocation of resident and
nonresident mountain lion harvest.
(f) Notwithstanding W.S. 23-1-704, 23-2-101(j) and 23-2-
107(e), any person who is issued and purchases a license listed
in paragraph (i) of this subsection, but who does not use the
license, may reserve a license for the particular species and
sex of animal designated on the unused license for use during
the immediately succeeding hunting season by applying to the
commission in accordance with commission rules as provided in
this subsection. Upon receipt of an application that establishes
the conditions listed in paragraphs (i) through (iv) of this
subsection, the commission shall cancel the initial license and
prior to the subsequent season opening date for the designated
species and sex of animal, issue to the applicant at an
administrative cost of ten dollars ($10.00), a license for the
designated animal valid for that season. A person may apply for
and reserve a license under this subsection only if all the
following conditions exist:
(i) The license is one (1) of the following:
(A) A limited quota, full price big game animal
license;
(B) A trophy game animal license;
(C) An any wild bison license;
(D) A female or calf wild bison license.
(ii) The person is unable to use the license in the
year for which it was issued and good cause, as defined in
commission rule and regulation, exists for the person's
inability to use the license in the year for which it was
issued;
(iii) The person submits an application to the
commission that demonstrates eligibility under this subsection
before the closing date of the season for which the initial
license was issued;
(iv) The person submits the initial license with the
application.
(g) In addition to the authority granted under subsection
(b) of this section, the commission may through rule and
regulation develop and implement a preference point program for
nonresident antelope, nonresident deer and nonresident elk
licenses which are limited in quota and would otherwise be
issued through a random drawing. A program established pursuant
to this subsection may be implemented for all or selected hunt
areas and may be applied to all or portions of licenses for any
particular species. The commission may charge nonresident
license applicants a nonrefundable fee to accumulate preference
points under the program as provided in W.S. 23-2-101(m).
(h) Rules and regulations shall be promulgated by the game
and fish commission to carry out subsections (a) through (f) of
this section and may be promulgated as provided in subsection
(g) of this section.