U.S. supreme Court case - Big decision ahead

[Jape]

Circuit Court judge just issued decision on the remand from SCOTUS. Conclusion is that tribal members must abide by the Wyoming G&F regs. The legal wrangling will continue but this is a significant development.

Judge Rules Tribal Members Must Follow Hunting Regulations

A Sheridan County Circuit Court judge ruled Native American tribal members must abide by Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) regulations when hunting outside of reservation areas. The ruling is linked to the high profile case of Clayvin Herrera. He began a 2014 hunt on Crow Tribal land in...

www.rmef.org

 

[Irrelevant]

Cundiff’s order cites a Crow Fish and Wildlife Commission code adopted in 1992 that recognizes a need for resource conservation regulations for Crow Tribal members who hunt and fish off-reservation.

The court further found that Repsis did clarify a binding agreement between the Crow Tribe and the state regarding the need for wildlife conservation, and that WGFD regulations were “reasonable and necessary for conservation,” including for off-reservation treaty hunting.

 

[Glockster]

Some much needed good news.

 

[idahohuntr]

Based on the SCOTUS ruling I don't see this latest decision by a local Wyoming court lasting very long. While this ruling stems from SCOTUS remanding the case back to lower courts to address occupied lands and conservation arguments, I don't think there is a chance either issue leads to a sound legal conclusion that Crow Tribal hunters are bound to WGF regulations. The state already basically lost the occupation argument, unless Hererra shot this elk in a developed recreation site or something where firing a weapon creates a safety issue that issue won't go anywhere, and conservation necessity is a relatively high bar that has been litigated repeatedly in the pacific northwest...lets just say, "follow the state regs" is rarely how things go. The only wild card is this agreement signed by Crow Nation and WGFD...I've not heard of this and maybe it does have some legal impact on the case, details will be important and even if it affected this case, no reason the Crow couldn't tear it up and continue on with off reservation hunting. I imagine the United States, as it has done for the last several decades, will be weighing in on behalf of a Treaty Tribe and Wyoming should prepare for another high profile beat down.