Solus, The DOW has always prided itself on the fact that their revenue all comes from sales of hunting and fishing licenses, so a decrease in license sales means a direct decrease in their funding. It don't want to wish them ill will, in fact I am a volunteer Hunter Ed instructor and have a lot of respect for the people that are employed by DOW. But they not only have a dog in this fight, they have the credibility to get the Governor's ear at a time when our point of view seems to be irrelivent to the Dems. If their plan is to lay low and not make waves, it could bite them in the butt. I for one will not feel guilty about encouraging out of state hunters to stay away, I may even sit this season out myself, and go to Wyoming to hunt this fall. Maybe by pitting the State Division of Parks and Wildlife against the Legislature we will get someones attention. 
Nothing I said disagrees with your statement.
They were not created to sell hunting licenses but to manage wildlife in the stare. Part of that is setting hunting quotas etc...and selling hunting licenses...which pay the bill.
What I am saying is if they discourage hunting with state laws, the job still needs to get done. Hunters help manage wildlife by "culling the herd" under DOW guidelines each season. Without hunters, that work will still need to be done, they just won't have folks paying to do it.