The Wyoming Game and Fish (Game & Fish) hosted a meeting March 23 at Saratoga Town Hall to discuss changes in the hunting seasons for big game.
Will Schultz, wildlife biologist for Game & Fish, told the audience in the nine years he has been involved with the hunting season in the area, this is the fewest changes he has seen.
Hunter area 50 the 2015 Antelope hunting season is reducing the Type 6 limited quota licenses for doe and fawn from 100 to 25.
“We are still in recovery and trying to build that herd towards the objective,” Schultz said.
In Chapter 6 of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission 2015 Deer Hunting Seasons, Area 75 (Four Mile) and 79 (Kennaday Peak), Shultz said there is a small tweak in the regulations.
The boundaries have become more important with the change in the elk boundaries and the limited quota deer seasons. “We went between using a divide between Medicine Bow River and Brush Creek and the North Platte River to something that people can find on the ground,” Shultz said.
On U.S. Forest Service Road 103, the boundary used to be on the northeasterly side. Now the boundary is on the northwesterly side.
Even though it is a small change, Schultz said hunters need to make sure they are on the right side of the road when hunting.
The limited quota deer in the Platte Valley is expected to stay the same as in 2014, Schultz said.
In Chapter 7, which is the elk hunting regulations, Schultz most of the recommendations are to the east or north of the Platte Valley.
In Hunter Area 9 hunters had the whole month of October in 2014. That has been changed for 2015 for the general license, which reduces the hunting season to Oct. 15-31 for any elk, except spikes.
Area 10 hunting season has also been reduced with the same criteria.
For the Type 6 licenses, the hunting season has been changed from ending on Dec. 31 to ending Nov. 30.
“We are going to remove the first two weeks and align it with area 12,” Schultz said.
More opportunities have been made for off national forest Unused Area 10 Type 6 licenses.
In Area 11, a Type 9 license has been added, which is archery only. “We are proposing to have 50 licenses available for that area,” Schultz said.
In Area 114, the limited quota has been reduced from 150 to 75 for cow or calf Type 6 licenses.
On the East Slope Sierra Madre Areas 13 and 15, a spikes excluded has been added. While the Game & Fish are trying to reduce the number of elk in the area, having the spikes excluded allows the spikes another year to mature.
Chapter 9, for big horn sheep, a new hunt area—Area 26 — has been added on the east side of the Platte River to go with the Seminoe Herd. Although this year Area 26 will be closed, the Game & Fish may be allowing hunting in the future. Areas 18 and 21, which in the past has had a limited quota of two is closed for the 2015 hunting season.
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