Great point Itaca...just the fact that a rancher would not move until forced too even though there was obvious overgrazing speaks volumes about his concern for the land and wildlife he was sponging off of.
Bill.......nope..we didn't get to see what we should have there.....like I said earlier...the range was in such poor condition......the elks were heading back high to nibble on bark and what ever else they could find that hadn'r been desimated by the cattle. This found them in some steep and rough terrain, thus making our cow hunt a real challenge. I can only imagine the added stress of them having to saty high in the worst of the winter.....more energy loss in deeper snows, as well as poorer forage...but hey, it's not like they have much of a choice......unless of course eating cowshit becomes a viable option.
We were hunting up in your country......beautiful stuff up there.
Younghunter.....you sound like a lot of radicals I know.......
"stop overgrazing=stop hunting".......
"public not wanting to fund Hunting"......
"rachers care as much about wildlife as they do their own cattle"
......I fell to see any connection between the stopage of overgrazing and the loss of hunting priveledges....
.....and the general non-hunting public doesn't fund hunting...hunters do with the sales of hunting license and donations to wildlife groups and projects......
...and if ranchers loved the wildlife so damn much, we wouldn't be having this discussion. I read EVERY year where they either are, or wanting to decimate herds of deer and elk that enter their property. Most look upon wildlife as scourge...and I understand why, but don't color the picture a pretty pink when it is obviously a bloody red.
.....and I want to go on record as saying it is unfair to lump all ranchers in, because many are great stewards of the land......but realistically, the ones who are not are enough to give them all a black eye as a whole, and that is too bad.
And the Younhunter says "but in ranching a bad rancher can show up more than a unethical hunter."
.......now that is a line of BS if I ever saw one! Almost every week we see a poacher or slob hunter spattered all over the news...and many times because us hunters won't stand for it and regulate our own.....and turn their sorry asses in...
...when is the last time you remember see a "bad rancher" in the news?....if you can remember, I bet it wasn't weekly or even close, but let a hunter screw up and his nut sack will be displayed publicly and most times he is kicked out of hunting for a time. Now there is an idea......a rancher found to be overgrazing being kicked out of ranching, or his tractors seized, home taken.....yepper, I think we are on to something!
In reality though, it will never happen. The bleeding hearts will keep getting the "free lunch" card, and the wildlife will continue to draw the short stick. But don't you fool yourself into thinking we will sit by and let hunting go the way of the dinosaur. True, our numbers are few compared to non-hunters......but I believe most hunters are cut from a different metal.....staying truer to their original roots. We were born hunters as were our ancestors....and after thousands of years, we are the ones who refuse to evolve into anything less, even though we no longer have to continue to hunt for survival.........but it IS who we are, and we stay true to ourselves...........in my opinion, the strongest of our species. I don't think any of us are willing to loose that........