A proposal to boost the number of acres people must own to apply for landowner hunting tags in Wyoming could cut out smaller property owners across the state, hunters told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
“I put generational sweat and blood into my property, as I’m sure a lot of people in Wyoming have,” said Ken Ball, who owns 400 acres south of Glenrock.
The change would require landowners to own 640 acres, up from 160 acres. Ball currently qualifies for two landowner antelope and two landowner elk tags each year. He uses one of each per species, while he typically gifts the other tags to family.
“It’s a generational thing. My daughter grew up thinking she was going to have access to those tags, along with her soon-to-be husband,” Ball said.
Kevin Christopherson owns a total of 490 acres on two parcels in the Box Elder Canyon area, also south of Glenrock. He and his family have used landowner tags to hunt elk there, and he wants to pass that legacy on to his grandchildren.
If the qualifying amount of land is boosted to 640 contiguous acres, it would disqualify “hundreds of property owners” from getting landowner tags, he said.
“This is a statewide issue. Not just a regional issue,” Christopherson said.
