Hunting In National Parks.

[BWALKER77]

Roll Over Teddy – Bison Culling in Yellowstone… - Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journals

Did you hear that? The eerie restless noise coming from the location of Theodore Roosevelt’s grave?

blog.eastmans.com

 

[Ben Lamb]

Another poorly researched & reasoned blog from Eastman's. I'm shocked.

 

[appaloosa]

They need to stick to their (semi-) public land (semi-) DIY platform and avoid issues more complex than draw odds and harvest statistics.

 

[lpcoutdoors]

Thanks for posting the blog. I am all for hunters being used for population reductions in national parks. There are definitely ways to make this happen and I have never heard a roadblock that is not overcome-able or just not true. For example, many have suggested that hunters wouldn't want to harvest the females, often cited in the Grand Teton mountain goat reduction debate. I guarantee you'd have to turn away people who would want to have the experience of hunting mountain goats and be more than happy to hunt a female. Anyway, glad these options are being discussed more and more.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Seems simple on the surface, but it's a pretty tricky issue all things considered. I'm for using hunters as much as possible, but it's not always a workable solution. I'm also supportive of relocations and giving the meat to tribal members or food banks, as long as some population management is happening.

 

[wytex]

Can't speak to the goat harvest but bison would not be hard to implement. Yellowstone would be a tag I would love to have for a cow bison.
Why not let the state in which the animals are located manage the hunts.

 

[kwyeewyk]

My understanding is that for bison that leave the park, it is up to the states to decide, but of course you have a ton of pressure from the livestock industry to not let them roam around much outside the park for fear of brucellosis transmission. So if you're looking to kill 900 bison and use hunters, you'd have hunters lined up along the boundary of the park and it would look terrible for hunters. The Buffalo Field Campaign loves to film whatever happens to the bison that leave the park and dramatize it. They do the same thing with FWP and Dept of Livestock, but at least they're govt agencies that are used to getting black eyes in the press. And just imagine if NPS allowed it inside the park.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Can't speak to the goat harvest but bison would not be hard to implement. Yellowstone would be a tag I would love to have for a cow bison.
Why not let the state in which the animals are located manage the hunts.

Congress would have to rewrite portions of the enabling act of 1872 in order to allow for hunting inside of Yellowstone National Park. It is highly unlikely that the first national park would be opened to hunting given the advocacy against that, and the unlikelihood of congress to find the votes to pass such a bill.

My understanding is that for bison that leave the park, it is up to the states to decide, but of course you have a ton of pressure from the livestock industry to not let them roam around much outside the park for fear of brucellosis transmission. So if you're looking to kill 900 bison and use hunters, you'd have hunters lined up along the boundary of the park and it would look terrible for hunters. The Buffalo Field Campaign loves to film whatever happens to the bison that leave the park and dramatize it. They do the same thing with FWP and Dept of Livestock, but at least they're govt agencies that are used to getting black eyes in the press. And just imagine if NPS allowed it inside the park.

Largely, yes. Bison are a much different "animal" than elk, deer, wolves or bears, however, thanks to brucellosis & it's effect on the livestock industry. Bison in Yellowstone are managed under the Interagency Bison Management Plan - as one friend put it - a 50 year plan we're 20 years into. This plan calls for culling of animals once they are over a certain threshold.

Over the last 15 years or so, MT has been trying to expand the zone of tolerance outside of the Park for bison to utilize during the winter months, in hopes of both increasing hunter opportunity & harvest and to decrease the need for culling. On top of this, there is a quarantine program in place for bison that come out of the park. Those animals are quarantined for around 5 years to make sure they are not exposed to brucellosis. If they are, and they test positive, they are slaughtered with the meat generally being sent to various first nations for their use. It has taken a helluva long time to get to a point where those bison that are tested & come out clean are able to be sent to first nations with bison programs so they can take the overflow for their herds. Things were going well, until the previous SOI got in the way and set back translocation efforts over a year.

The point about hunters lining up for a firing line is spot on. That's why increased tolerance surrounding the park for Bison to have winter habitat is vital for bison conservation around YNP now, and why we need to think about trans-locating bison to areas of the state, and country, that can support a wild herd of bison.

 

[BWALKER77]

The firing line hunts are distasteful, which is why hunting should be allowed in the park proper.

 

[mottlet]

The firing line hunts are distasteful, which is why hunting should be allowed in the park proper.

Then call your Congressman or woman and ask 'em how many cosponsors they think they could get on a bill allowing controlled hunting of America's national mammal in America's first and arguably, most iconic, national park.

Sometimes I wonder what we could get done if we worried about putting more animals on the landscape instead of fighting to shoot as many as we can in the limited spots we got a few extra.

 

[runningmt]

When populations of elk and bison get over objective in Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, they have held very closely monitored hunt in the park. It is a National Park just like Yellowstone, but certainly not as popular and political as America’s first.

 

[shootbrownelk]

They've had an elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park for decades. Just a stone's throw from Yellowstone, so why not let licensed hunters harvest the excess Bison?

 

[Straight Arrow]

They've had an elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park for decades. Just a stone's throw from Yellowstone, so why not let licensed hunters harvest the excess Bison?

Not a valid analogy. Read Lamb's excellent recap of the bison issue(s). Yellowstone NP is the iconic first national park and holds special importance and characteristics unparalleled by other parks. So many stakeholders have been struggling with this bison issue for many decades and have achieved what seems to be viable solutions mildly acceptable to the public. One thing has remained constant since the US Army showed up in 1886 to curtail poaching and other commercial problems and that is the no hunting policy. Other than the era of culling elk numbers by rangers, which was highly unpopular, hunting has been solidified as taboo in YNP. You and I might think it a good idea and cherish the opportunity ... but the rest of the world is staunchly opposed ... and our dimes don't hold much sway.

 

[bullbugle]

The elk hunt in GTNP was written in when the park was expanded in the 50s thanks to the Rockefellers and others buying up parts of the valley and donating it to the feds to add to the existing park that was established in the late 20s.

That happened in a completely different set of circumstances and a completely different culture around hunting than what we have today.

We're never gonna have hunting in Yellowstone.

 

[BWALKER77]

Then call your Congressman or woman and ask 'em how many cosponsors they think they could get on a bill allowing controlled hunting of America's national mammal in America's first and arguably, most iconic, national park.

Sometimes I wonder what we could get done if we worried about putting more animals on the landscape instead of fighting to shoot as many as we can in the limited spots we got a few extra.

The political reality of the matter is that yellowstone bison will never be allowed to get to far away from the park. It's also a reality that they are destroying parts of the park due to over grazing.