wyoming wilderness study area's hunting?

[jorvin]

i know that a non-resident needs a guide in a wilderness area in wyoming but what about a wsa (wilderness study area) the rigion i am going to hunt say's there are no wilderness area's but there is a wsa????

 

[Topgun 30-06]

WSAs are areas designated by the US Dept of the Interior BLM and have nothing to do with the Wilderness areas designated by the State of Wyoming where a nonresident needs a guide.

 

[jorvin]

thanks topgun good luck this year!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

You too bud!!!

 

[sendero72]

What's the purpose in making a non-resident use a guide in a wilderness area?? Is it just for the money?

 

[Topgun 30-06]

It's strictly to help the guide business and for no other reason because unless you are carrying a gun in them a nonresident can go anywhere they want with no restrictions! It has been challenged in the Courts and Wyoming won since a state sets the rules for hunting and fishing within it's boundaries, even though all those Wilderness areas are all Federal National Forests and not State of Wyoming land. What is really crazy is that a person who has lived there all their lives and knows one like the back of his hand still can't go hunting if they move from Wyoming and then have to buy a nonresident license.

 

[ZEEK]

I know a lot of guides only guide part time and often in a state they are not a resident of--so my question: Is it then OK for a non resident guide working in WY to guide a non-resident hunter?

 

[Topgun 30-06]

It doesn't matter where the permanent address of the outfitter or guide is or whether they are a full or part time operation. All outfitters and guides operating in Wyoming must maintain a license issued through the Wyoming State Board of Outfitters & Professional Guides and those licenses are issued only for the areas requested on the application. If it is BLM or National Forest land, they are also required to show proof that they have all the permits required by the Federal Government for that assigned area. The Board has very strict rules and requires comprehensive tests be passed and that the applicants are properly insured. This year new applicants will be required to show they have passed a CPR course and if they were born after 1/1/66 they must also possess a hunter safety certificate to show they have passed an approved course in firearms safety. The law even states that there must not be more than 2 people per guide in a Wilderness area or 6 in any other areas. The only other way a nonresident hunter can go into a Wilderness area without a licensed outfitter or guide would be with a resident who applies for a temporary permit through the G&F and they can't take more than two people in any given calendar year.

 

[D.Camilleri]

The permit you speak of is called a resident guide license. It is easily obtained from a game warden as long as you have all the required information, name address, DOB, hunting license number, etc. I do it almost every year for some friends. The other thing to keep in mind is that the resident guide has to be in close proximity of the people he is guiding. Last year we thought we were ok being in radio contact and I had it clarified by the game warden. He told me within visual proximatey, fyi

 

[Topgun 30-06]

D.Camilleri---I see you live in Worland. I have some good friends there that I will be visiting again while out for deer and elk season this fall. Do you by chance know either George or Margaret McClellan? They live on Culbertson Ave., a couple blocks from Lanes Processing. George grew up there and was a Prof. at the University of PA before retiring and moving back home. They are in their late 60s.

 

[D.Camilleri]

Sorry, don't know them, but I do know the area. Worland is a great small town, but I live a few miles out, I am not an in town type.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Topgun, that challenge in court should win now since obviously the feds are not letting us manage wildlife within our borders such as the wolf problem the feds have our hands tied with. Can not have it both ways. Read it one way for one thing and another way in another matter. Makes perfect sense though to polititians and the government. It is a law the outfitters association got passed for obvious reasons.

Just like the similar law the outfitters association got passed in Alaska so non residents could not hunt sheep, goat and bears. Plus caribou and moose in certain areas. However a nonresident with virtually no experience with bears has to guide me with 35 years bear hunting experience teaching him how to do things. This guide the outfitter hires for me flies up for the hunt to guide me and flies back to the lower 48 after the hunt. He has no experience of the area or with bears but because he is hired by the outfitter it is legal for me to shoot a bear in his presence. Go figure.