Yes, I know they dont come out of the commission tags.
Still not over 100 wealth tags, even though the supertags are cheap raffle.
I also saw your question about the bison tags, and I'll clear that one up for you. Surprised you didnt stay on top of the issue, since I posted what was going on last session on many of the boards you frequent, including this one.
The Supertag and Bison bills were both introduced by your old pal Bob Wharff of WYSFW. I testified in committee, by writing, and also phone calls or in person on both of these bills. Beings how Wharff torpedo'd every license fee increase, the TRW committee was more than willing to go out of their way to pass anything that they thought would be a revenue stream. Their way of "helping" the GF.
The supertag idea passed, as most Resident hunters see themselves opening an email congratulating them on their supertag they just won. I guess they dont understand draw odds, but thats what the majority wanted, and thats what we ended up with.
As to the way the bison bill happened, well, that is a longer story. I personally dont think there was that much support for it, but there was also not much opposition. I still contend that the TRW committee as well as the Legislature in general must have received more calls against it. But, the noise just wasnt there to stop the bill...something that wont happen again. Yeah, I agree, it would have been nice for the various groups to be more organized.
These two bills passing, along with the denial of license fee increases, is the exact reason the Wyoming Sportmens Alliance was formed and has taken shape.
To carry on with Bison bill, and why those tags are still not showing up. The reason that Bob Wharff pushed them from the start was for 2 reasons:
1. Bob was sure that if there were 5 bison Governors tags, a new committee would be formed within the WGBGLC. He had already asked to be on that Committee and figured himself a "shoe in".
2. He figured that WYSFW would get some of the tags.
In true form, Wharff also worked a back handed deal with someone at the Governors office, (yes, I know who worked the deal with him, and NO I'm not going to disclose that information) to get one of the 5 permits that could have potentially been offered last year.
As a member of the WGBGLC, Moose committee, I didnt even know about the one bison tag promised to Wharff, until our annual meeting in Casper.
In another sweetheart deal, Wharff further feathered his own nest, by WYSFW take 30% of the funds from the sale of that lone bison tag. That is in complete disregard to the standing rules that allow only 10% of the sale of the tags to be kept by the group that sells any Governors tags.
When I heard this at the WGBGLC meeting, I wasnt too happy, and shared my "feelings" about SFW and how that group operates. The other committee members were also not happy.
Wharff/WYSFW were awarded the tag, and supposedly raffled it off. I havent seen the numbers on how much money they raised.
It was also decided at the Casper meeting that there would not be a bison committee, but rather have the funds from the bison governors tags go into the "all wildlife" pool. This makes sense because there likely wont be many bison projects to fund, but we will consider funding any that should come up.
It was also decided, that since the Bison Governors license were adopted so late in the year, that it would be about impossible to market them. There really isnt any way to gauge who should be selling these tags, how much they will go for, and what kind of a demand there will be. There were a couple options discussed, but I havent heard how the tags are going to be handled.
Believe it or not Zim, some "good" came from the "mysterious" bison gov. tags. I have a lot more I could add, but wont for some very good reasons.
I will send you a PM with my phone number if you want to discuss further, and I can fill you on some of the other details I dont feel comfortable sharing on a forum.
