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Bill would make some personal info on hunt and fishing licenses confidential

Laura Hancock 307-266-0581, Laura.Hancock@trib.com Updated 8 hrs ago


CHEYENNE – In March, a representative of Kenetrek Mountain Boots requested information from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department about nonresident elk hunters and resident and nonresidents pursuing bighorn sheep.

In March of 2015, Bob Wharff of the ultraconservative Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife requested information of everyone who planned to hunt antelope, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, mountain goats, moose, turkeys and wild buffalo.

Two months later, Liz Storer, who is president of the Storer Foundation and also involved with left-leaning activist groups in Wyoming, requested that same information, in addition to 2013 and 2014 data on anglers.

It’s unknown how the these people used the data they obtained from the state. But sportsmen regularly complain to Fish and Game that their email inboxes are filled with requests and solicitations from organizations and companies, said Scott Talbott, the department’s director.

“They do not care to have their email provided to the public,” Talbott said at a legislative committee meeting Thursday morning.

Senate File 26 aims to reduce the email sent to people with hunting and fishing licenses by exempting from public records laws applicants’ email addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and sportsmen numbers.

Physical mailing addresses would remain public. Talbott said sportsmen complain most about emails.

If the bill passes, Talbott said sportsmen could check a box requesting the information be kept private.

In the past two years, nearly 165 people and organizations have requested personally identifiable information about licenses, permits and tags from Game and Fish, according to information provided to the Star-Tribune.

Representatives from the Worland Chamber of Commerce, Thomson Outfitters and Wyoming Expeditions, a Georgia company that specializes in hunting trips in the western part of the state, wanted information on people hunting elk, for example.


Numerous law firms sent requests as did hunting and fishing outfitters.

Jim Angell of the Wyoming Press Association said the bill in its current form is not problematic because much of the information that would be private is the same information that is private from drivers’ licenses, such as dates of birth.

Angell said he will follow the bill through the legislative process to ensure that additional personally identifiable information isn’t added to the bill. Public information laws benefit everyone, he said.

“We see these law as very important to maintaining democracy in Wyoming,” he said.

SF26 passed the Senate Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources on Thursday morning. That afternoon, it passed the first of three votes in the Senate.