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March 20, 2003
Attorney general rules against antler season
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -- The state Game and Fish Commission has no authority to regulate the collection of antlers shed by big game animals on public lands in Wyoming, according to an opinion from the state attorney general.
The opinion, commissioners said, may set back the commission's attempts in recent years to establish an antler hunting season to cut down on the harassment of deer, elk and moose during winter months.
"We will work to protect Wyoming's wildlife when and where we have the authority to do so," said Commissioner Doyle Dorner.
"But now something else will have to happen" regarding the department draft rules regulating the collection of antlers, he said.
Antlers and horns are routinely gathered each year on public lands in Wyoming by collectors who sell them as decorative items or use them to make furniture. Antlers are also collected to make aphrodisiacs in some Asian countries.
Disrupting the animals
But Game and Fish biologists say antler hunters can disrupt big game animals to the point where the animals starve.
The commission has struggled for more than two years with the question of how to best protect big game animals from human disturbance on winter and spring ranges when animals are most vulnerable to physiological stress and displacement.
In November, the commission decided to not move forward with proposed draft regulations that would have closed some areas of southwestern and southern Wyoming to antler hunting primarily from January to May.
The proposed regulations would have closed 15 deer hunting areas in southwestern, westrtn and south-central Wyoming, mostly located on public rangelands in Sweetwater, Carbon, Sublette, Uinta and Lincoln Counties.
The commission worried about how effective enforcement of the antler collecting rule would be and whether the board has the authority to regulate antler collecting.
The commission decided to seek an opinion on their authority from the Wyoming attorney general's office before moving forward with regulations.
"The short answer is no," Commissioner Kerry Powers told commissioners Monday.
Setting the season
The opinion signed by the Attorney General Patrick Crank said state statutes allow the commission to set seasons on any species or sex of wildlife -- except predatory animals and those protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The opinion said that because antlers "are not live animals, but rather... the hard, bony, deciduous growths that grow on the heads of ... deer, elk and moose, the commission does not have the authority to fix a season on the collection of those animal parts."
In April 1999, the commission directed the department to develop draft regulations that would have made it illegal to collect antlers in some areas of western Wyoming and Park County on public lands from Dec. 1 until May 1.
But the commissioners withdrew the draft rules after overwhelming public opposition surfaced. The commissioners decided then to shelve the proposal until more data on antler collecting and its effects on big game animals could be gathered.
Attorney general rules against antler season
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -- The state Game and Fish Commission has no authority to regulate the collection of antlers shed by big game animals on public lands in Wyoming, according to an opinion from the state attorney general.
The opinion, commissioners said, may set back the commission's attempts in recent years to establish an antler hunting season to cut down on the harassment of deer, elk and moose during winter months.
"We will work to protect Wyoming's wildlife when and where we have the authority to do so," said Commissioner Doyle Dorner.
"But now something else will have to happen" regarding the department draft rules regulating the collection of antlers, he said.
Antlers and horns are routinely gathered each year on public lands in Wyoming by collectors who sell them as decorative items or use them to make furniture. Antlers are also collected to make aphrodisiacs in some Asian countries.
Disrupting the animals
But Game and Fish biologists say antler hunters can disrupt big game animals to the point where the animals starve.
The commission has struggled for more than two years with the question of how to best protect big game animals from human disturbance on winter and spring ranges when animals are most vulnerable to physiological stress and displacement.
In November, the commission decided to not move forward with proposed draft regulations that would have closed some areas of southwestern and southern Wyoming to antler hunting primarily from January to May.
The proposed regulations would have closed 15 deer hunting areas in southwestern, westrtn and south-central Wyoming, mostly located on public rangelands in Sweetwater, Carbon, Sublette, Uinta and Lincoln Counties.
The commission worried about how effective enforcement of the antler collecting rule would be and whether the board has the authority to regulate antler collecting.
The commission decided to seek an opinion on their authority from the Wyoming attorney general's office before moving forward with regulations.
"The short answer is no," Commissioner Kerry Powers told commissioners Monday.
Setting the season
The opinion signed by the Attorney General Patrick Crank said state statutes allow the commission to set seasons on any species or sex of wildlife -- except predatory animals and those protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The opinion said that because antlers "are not live animals, but rather... the hard, bony, deciduous growths that grow on the heads of ... deer, elk and moose, the commission does not have the authority to fix a season on the collection of those animal parts."
In April 1999, the commission directed the department to develop draft regulations that would have made it illegal to collect antlers in some areas of western Wyoming and Park County on public lands from Dec. 1 until May 1.
But the commissioners withdrew the draft rules after overwhelming public opposition surfaced. The commissioners decided then to shelve the proposal until more data on antler collecting and its effects on big game animals could be gathered.
