I never said anything about recommending the WYGF issuing bull tags to landowners….so I’m not sure where your going with this? The root of the entire issue is landowner access.
But to answer your ?’s
A- It wont, but that’s what the landowners are pushing for and it will line the landowners pockets with tresspass hunt fees. And you wait and see, it will happen. At 10k a pop.
B- Same answer as A…
To that end, If the ranchers won’t let people hunt cow elk on their property to keep them in check then I say let the elk destroy their properties and dont pay them a nickel for anything damages. Landowners are not wanting cow elk hunters on their properties during the season because they want to hold those big bulls for paying clients…..then once the season closes it’s “oh the elk are destroying my land! Booo hoo hooo” , then, they receive damage checks.
It’s quite the card they are playing and it is Landowner welfare at its finest.
The answer to the problem is VERY SIMPLE. Stop paying landowners for damages and only pay them for access. PERIOD.
Force them to allow access or suffer natures wrath.
You're so far out in left field you've left the ballpark, out across the parking lot, and staggering through the rhubarb.
The landowners here are not making a significant run at increasing landowner tags. You should pay attention and listen to the Task Force meetings, read some local news, and find a clue if you can. The outfitters would like to see it happen, but most landowners here like the way the landowner tag program is structured, I do as well. Its a small price to pay as sportsmen to increase landowner tolerance of wildlife as well as giving wildlife more available habitat to live on. Plus, if you had the first clue, you would understand that there are many landowners who receive these tags, that are allowing public access in the Laramie Range and other places via the HMA/Walk in programs. Most landowners are also very much against transferable LO tags here.
Your lack of knowledge is blaring when it comes to damage claims in Wyoming. I attended TRW meeting on Monday, and the question of damage claims was brought up. Statewide, elk damage over the past 10 years has ranged between $150,000-$356,000. Most all of it in the form of replacing fencing, providing fencing to keep elk out of hay, etc. Very little in reimbursement of forage damage.
Landowners that do not provide access for hunting are not compensated via game damage claims. Also, the ranches that harbor most of the elk, are not interested in damage claims, and because they allow no public hunting, they don't receive them. Kroenke, Gordy, Samuelson, True, Nicholas, etc. don't give two chits about damage from elk. They also don't mind large numbers of elk utilizing their lands because they don't need to make money on them to survive. They also don't provide public access, so they get no damage claims, and honestly, with the kind of money they have, damage claims wouldn't even be a rounding error on monthly expense reports. You aren't going to entice them into HMA programs either, literally chump change.
The surrounding smaller ranches do allow access suffer from these large, mostly inaccessible herds. They allow hunting, get damage claims, and do all they can to survive financially.
Your answer is to slap the chit out of them, strip their damage claims, and further mock them.
You also seem to think that the only time of year these elk elk grass is during hunting season. What about the rest of the year? Those landowners providing access often times have hundreds to thousands of elk on their places when there is very little, if anything, they can do to move them off.
I believe the solution is to for sportsmen/landowners/WYGF to sit down and come up with a way to build trust on the places that harbor these herds and allow ethical, responsible, and good elk hunters to gain access to those elk. I think it can be done without flinging the gates open to hunters that haven't the know-how to get elk killed.
I also believe corner crossing is another way to increase elk harvest and also keep them moving onto places where they are more readily accessible.
This boils down to access, keeping elk on places that allow hunting, and having smart hunters who know what they're doing when it comes to killing elk.
You know none of these things sitting behind your computer...but feel free to continue to show everyone how much you "know" about elk hunting, and elk issues in Wyoming. Funny.
