What can $20 get you? 

As a kid, my revenue stream consisted of mowing my parents lawn for the nominal fee of $20 per mow job. Looking back, I don't know which was lower: my charge, or the expectations from my employer. Either way, pocketing my earnings eventually allowed me to save to buy those things every Wyoming kid wanted: a 20-gauge shotgun and a .270 rifle. 

Half a tank of gas, 4 fancy coffees, and a small pizza will each run you about $20. That amount of money just doesn't go as far as it did when I was a kid.

Enter Wyoming BHA's Commissioner's Tag and Gear Raffle. 

Looming large in southwestern Wyoming is Raymond Mountain. Within its range lies a large block of landlocked public land, including a 33,000 acre Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wilderness Study Area. Historically, this unit of the BLM-managed System of Conservation Lands was nearly inaccessible to its heir apparent: the public.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department acquired a public access easement to that 33,000-acre Raymond Mountain Wilderness Study Area (WSA).

However, this easement through private lands will require infrastructure work before it can be available. Visitor services are needed to ensure the protection of adjacent private and public easement resources. Fences also need to be built, access roads need gravel, and trailhead infrastructure is necessary to provide sustainable access to the WSA.

Knowing BHA members and supporters, I know we’ve got an untapped legion of backcountry badasses who value access to wild public land. 

For $20 (that is: one mow job in 1995, or some pizza in 2021), you can contribute to America's enduring legacy of public land, water, and wildlife while ensuring sustainable access to a wild place with native cutthroat trout and burgeoning big game populations. 

You may be wondering, “hold on, didn't he say something about a raffle?" 

I did! 

Thanks to a generous donation by Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioner Gay Lynn Byrd, contributing to this project will also get you a chance to win a Wyoming Commissioner’s hunting tag. If you win, you get to choose the species (elk, antelope, or deer) and the hunt area. How about elk hunting in the world famous Red Desert? Maybe a slammer mule deer rutting and migrating out of the famous Hoback herd? 

But wait! There’s more...

While our Grand Prize Winner will be adorned with a Commissioner's tag, the following prizes will be available to runners up: 

• 2nd place: Life Membership to BHA, donated by the Wyoming Chapter of BHA (includes a Weatherby First Lite edition Vanguard Rifle in winner’s choice of caliber!)
• 3rd place: First Lite Catalyst kit, coat and pants donated by First Lite
• 4th Place: Maven Optics RF.1 range finder donated by Maven. 

Raffle ticket prices are as follows: 

• 1 tickett: $20
• 5 tickets for: $100
• 15 tickets for: $200
• 50 tickets for: $500

This raffle will run until 3000 chances are sold, or through July 15: whichever comes first. 

BHA Wyoming Leadership Team members, BHA employees, and BHA National Board members are not eligible to win the Commissioner's tag.