Migration initiative on the ropes

[BuzzH]

Trump’s ‘liquidation plans’ could wipe out Wyoming research group renowned for migration work - WyoFile

Fate of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit’s science faculty — Matt Kauffman, Anna Chalfoun and Annika Walters — unclear as president orders deep cuts.

wyofile.com

 

[rogerthat]

Probably another illegal action by this admin but putting Humpty Dumpty back together will be nigh near impossible as slow as the wheels turn in the judicial branch. But hey everything will be okay right?

 

[Big Fin]

This would be a complete train wreck for hunters and the research being done on migration, habitat, and the consequences of human involvement/development/encroachment. They try their best to work with those groups bringing human pressures to these vulnerable landscapes. Wildlife is going to pay the price if this goes through.

WMI gets the largest share of our cash donations each year. They are at the top of my charitable donation list. I've met with Matt K, Greg N., and some of their other people. I've had them and Dr. Kevin Monteith on the podcast. Those guys know more about migratory mule deer and pronghorn than any people I've ever spent time with, by a mile.

I will be asking my delegation to keep that funding in place. To help fill gaps, I'll be ramping up my personal donations.

This is terrible news if it comes to reality.

 

[rogerthat]

This would be a complete train wreck for hunters and the research being done on migration, habitat, and the consequences of human involvement/development/encroachment. They try their best to work with those groups bringing human pressures to these vulnerable landscapes. Wildlife is going to pay the price if this goes through.

WMI gets the largest share of our cash donations each year. They are at the top of my charitable donation list. I've met with Matt K, Greg N., and some of their other people. I've had them and Dr. Kevin Monteith on the podcast. Those guys know more about migratory mule deer and pronghorn than any people I've ever spent time with, by a mile.

I will be asking my delegation to keep that funding in place. To help fill gaps, I'll be ramping up my personal donations.

This is terrible news if it comes to reality.

So far the delegation has been okay with ceding their power of the purse to the executive branch. If you can get them to step up, you’re the man. I’m proud of Montanas senators and reps for voicing their stance on public land sales. I would be even prouder if they stepped up and said “that’s our job” when it comes to many other things. I think we are a long way from that day. We will see. However, thanks for all you do in these types of topics.

 

[BuzzH]

This bullshit is getting out of hand.

 

[Irrelevant]

This bullshit is getting out of hand.

What buzz you don't love all this #winning?
Shots of lib tears for everyone, on the house!

...incredibly frustrating, those guys (and gals) are doing absolutely stellar work to give us common folk the knowledge and tools to protect the wildlife we love.

 

[Treeshark]

Complex situation as wildlife is a state resource- I am hopeful that the affected states are able to step up.

 

[Big Fin]

This bullshit is getting out of hand.

It is, completely.

Yet, we're gonna hear bitching that tag numbers are low. Yeah, when we wipe out all the science that helps mitigate the impacts our society places on resource demands in wild places, we should expect wildlife to take the hit. And very few of us will do shit to try sway things to the favor of wildlife. We'll bitch and blame it on wolves, weather, or some other bullshit.

The folks who want grizzly delisting, of which I am one, better readjust our sights. The courts seem to have a lot more spine than Congress and they aren't real keen on delisting species without science, data, and monitoring that is being RIF'd.

Hunters are going to bitch about waterfowl numbers. When DOGE inefficiency takes full effect we don't have hardly any people left manage refuges, work on habitat, and coordinate the programs that help keep waterfowl numbers from dropping further. We best expect to not have as many ducks in the sky, shorter seasons, and lower limits.

I could go on and on about very important programs that benefit us immensely as hunters. In 3-10 years we're gonna hear hunters bitching, looking around and blaming predators for all the problems as to why they didn't fill their tag, or maybe even why they weren't able to draw a tag.

We're gonna hear complaints that tags got cut even further. Where we hunt as nonresidents we are going to see shrinking percentages, as residents want to save what dwindling opportunity remains as opportunity for themselves. Eventually we'll feel lucky if we get allocated 5% as nonresidents, as more states will go closer to 0% nonresident allocation as these resources shrink.

My tolerance for complaining and criticizing without taking action is completely gone. Never in my life has wildlife, and the infrastructure that gives us these amazing opportunities, been shown so little priority from elected officials. And never have hunters been this apathetic, with the average Hunt Talker being way outside the bell curve when it comes to activism among hunters.

Seems that collectively, too many of us are afraid to offend someone we voted for. That as a group, we're too afraid that we'll be labeled with some tag by our circle of social media "friends" if we speak up. Mostly, as a collective group we've set a high watermark for being uninformed/misinformed, entitled, and politically sensitive.

We're gonna get the wildlife abundance/scarcity, and corresponding hunting opportunity, that we earn. Always been that way and always will.

I'll wait to send Congressional letters in the morning in hopes my temperament improves.