Wyoming Game and Fish: Could You Stop Shooting Our Signs? Please?

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department just requested the most Wyoming thing we've heard all day: "Could you stop shooting our signs? Please?" the agency wrote on a Facebook post today.

"And if you're not the one shooting our signs (thanks by the way), but you see someone do it, could you call us? We're so tired of replacing these. And they're expensive! So yeah, that would help a lot."

"To report vandalism or misuse of an access area or wildlife habitat management area, call your local Game and Fish warden, local law enforcement or the Stop Poaching Hotline at 1-877-WGFD-TIP."

In the state of Wyoming, defacing government signs is illegal.

Wyoming Statute 6-3-201 specifically covers property destruction and defacement, including signs.

Penalties for this offense can range from a misdemeanor (imprisonment up to six months, a fine up to $750, or both) to a felony (imprisonment up to 10 years, a fine up to $10,000, or both), depending on the value of the damage and other factors.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation is fed up with people using their signs as target practice, too. More than 100 of them have bullet holes, which is costing the state big money.

Speaking of which, WYDOT recently put several spent "Welcome to Wyoming" signs up for auction. These signs are being replaced with a more contemporary design. You've got less than two weeks to place a bid on the old ones, most of which are at about $100 at the time this was published.

They're weathered and some have graffiti, stickers, and evidence of gun shots.

My question is, why on Earth do people shoot signs? It's hard for this goody two-shoes to wrap her mind around it. Here's what I found:

1. It makes a loud PING when you hit them.

2. They don't move, usually.

3. It's punk rock. Stickin' it to the man, or something like that.

4. One person put it eloquently like this: "As they used to say around my neck of the woods…It needed ah’ shootin.'"

5. Someone with the handle danceswithcats suggests it has something to do with having a small you-know-what. They're on their third mailbox and they're pretty sure it's the same hooligans who shoot signs' fault.

6. People want to let the tourists know that it's Wyoming, you can expect everyone has a gun.

7. Drunkeness.

8. Boredom.

9. Road rage.

10. Why not? (See the above consequences by the state statute bit).