A Legacy Worth Protecting: The Freedom Caucus Wants to Lock You Out of Wyoming’s Public Lands.
Wyoming has always prided itself on our outdoor legacy — the open access and freedom of our public lands and our world-class wildlife. Ninety-two percent of us use our public lands. We hunt here. We fish here. We teach our kids the Wyoming Way of life here.
But the Freedom Caucus seems determined to rob us of this heritage.
In 2024 Freedom Caucus legislators joined a legal court case before the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the transfer of our public lands to the state.
In 2025, they introduced a resolution demanding that the federal government turn over our public lands —national Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands— to the state.
They claimed it was about “local control.” But we all know what happens next: those lands get sold off.
A 2-year study commissioned by our own Legislature in 2016 concluded that we can't afford to manage these lands. And when Wyoming can't pay the bills, they'll sell to the highest bidder. Sold off. Locked up. Lost forever. You know – the same sellout they’ve been calling for in DC.
That’s right — our freedoms go up for sale, and only the wealthy have access.
And now, they’re at it again.
Elk Mountain
Turning Wyoming’s wildlife
into a private marketplace
The Freedom Caucus-led Agriculture Committee (made up largely of big ranch owners) has been pushing legislation to let large landowners sell state-issued hunting tags — a privilege no public hunter enjoys.
These “landowner tags,” meant to reward those who provide habitat, have existed since 1949. But they were always non-transferable — landowners could use them or give them to family members, not sell them for profit.
But the Freedom Caucus now wants to turn our wildlife into a commodity. They propose that large landowners be able to sell tags directly to the highest bidder — often to out-of-state trophy hunters — for tens of thousands of dollars each.
That means fewer tags for the public draw and fewer opportunities for resident hunters.
In New Mexico, where a similar system was implemented, resident access to big game tags plummeted, while large landowners profited.
Wyoming hunters can see what’s coming, and at every committee meeting, sportsmen warned:
“This is privatizing wildlife. This isn’t the Wyoming Way.”
They’re right. Once hunting — or public land — becomes a cash crop, it stops being free, being public for all.
Public land, public wildlife
— for all of us
Wyoming’s wildlife belongs to the people of Wyoming. That’s not just moral principle; it’s written into state law: Wyoming’s wildlife is held in trust for its citizens – not for personal profit.
Our national public lands also belong to the everyday public, and unlike state lands – they are managed for multiple uses, not strictly for revenue generation.
Here’s the bottom line:
The Freedom Caucus wants to take control of our public lands — which will lead to privatization and closed access.
They’re pushing to sell hunting tag rights, turning the state’s wildlife into a get-rich system for a few large landowners.
And they’re doing it under the banner of “freedom,” when in truth, it strips freedom from everyone else who isn’t wealthy or politically connected.
