GREEN RIVER -- Wyoming has won another case challenging the constitutionality of its policies governing out-of-state hunters.

United States District Judge William Downes ruled in favor of the state in a suit filed last year by a disgruntled Florida hunter who alleged the state's system for allocating nonresident hunting licenses violates federal equal protection laws or federal commerce laws.

Donald J. Schutz had filed suit in September 2002 in United States District Court in Cheyenne against the state, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

In his suit, Schutz -- a Florida attorney who at one time attended Laramie High School and the University of Wyoming -- alleged that the non-resident quota system used by the department was unconstitutional.

Schutz further alleged that both the guide requirement for nonresident hunting in wilderness areas and the existing nonresident pricing structure were also unconstitutional.

Wyoming attorneys brought a motion to dismiss late last year and the court converted the motion into a Motion for Summary Judgment.

That allowed the parties to supplement the record with affidavits and additional briefs during winter and spring. Schutz also filed a Motion for Summary Judgment.

In his ruling issued June 28, Judge Downes ordered that Schutz's motion be denied and the state's motion be granted.

The court agreed with state attorneys who argued in briefs that nonresident hunters are not a suspect class, that hunting is not a fundamental right, and that the Wyoming statutes are rationally-related to a legitimate state interest.

Downes said Wyoming regulations that allocate hunting licenses do not violate the federal commerce clause.

Ebay sheep sale

Schutz's suit alleged it was unconstitutional for the agency to allocate a higher percentage of hunting licenses to state residents -- particularly for exotic species such as bighorn sheep -- through its nonresident quota system.

Many of the department's big game license allocations are currently set by the Legislature through state statutes.

For example, the 20 percent of deer and antelope licenses and the 25 percent of the sheep licenses going to nonresidents is statutory. Other license allocations are done by Game and Fish Commission regulations.

Downes ruled that Wyoming's fee and quota statutes have a legitimate state interest.

The quota system and non-resident fee structure rewards residents for conservation of wildlife and economic sacrifices in forgoing development to protect habitat, helps maintain herd sizes and provides an economic boost because many people in Wyoming hunt outside of their county of residence, the ruling said.

Schutz also asserted in the suit that he would be forced to hire a professional guide if he buys a bighorn sheep license and hunts in wilderness areas.

But the ruling said nothing in the state's guide statute requires Schutz to pay for a guide, "it merely requires that a resident guide be utilized if hunting in a wilderness area."

Downes said there is a legitimate state interest for the guide statute, including protecting Wyoming's wildlife from poaching, protecting nonresident hunters in wilderness areas and helping non-resident hunters in the proper identification of the species and gender being hunted.

The lawsuit said Schutz purchased Wyoming elk licenses in 1998 and 2002 and that Schutz planned to participate in the 2003 drawing for bighorn sheep.

If successful, Schutz said in the suit he intended to sell the inedible portions of his big game in interstate and international commerce.

But the ruling said the plaintiff's allegation that Wyoming's guide statute "is interfering with his right to consider selling a bighorn mount on E-Bay is even more conjectural" than his assertions that the guide statute is unconstitutional.

The ruling also found that unharvested game is not an article of interstate commerce and thus the Commerce Clause is not applicable.

"Wyoming... is not regulating a significant economic activity," Downes wrote. "Rather, they are merely controlling how and when big game animals can be hunted."

The Schutz lawsuit marks the second time in the past few years that the agency's license distribution system has been challenged in U.S. District Court.

In 2000, a federal judge ruled in favor of the commission in a lawsuit brought by the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association over the state's hunting license distribution. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal filed by the association in March 2002.