Wyoming joins the elk wars

[Ben Lamb]

Ordinary hunting will never reduce elk numbers to their target levels, Rep. John Winter (R-Thermopolis) opined to fellow members of the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee.

As an alternative, he suggested commissioning a helicopter crew to gun down overpopulated herds that are eating grass, busting fences and generally giving Wyoming ranchers headaches.

“If we’re going to get this job done, we’re going to have to change our whole approach,” Winter said at the committee’s June 6 meeting in Torrington. “I really believe that if you get the right pilot and the right organization, we could take care of this problem in relatively short time.”

Elk wars: Inflated herds spur committee duel, radical proposals - WyoFile

Two elk-related bills are poised to emerge from the Agriculture Committee, where lawmakers took on an unassigned topic because of dissatisfaction with another committee’s response.

wyofile.com

 

[Oak]

Elk wars: Inflated herds spur committee duel, radical proposals - WyoFile

Two elk-related bills are poised to emerge from the Agriculture Committee, where lawmakers took on an unassigned topic because of dissatisfaction with another committee’s response.

wyofile.com

I'm going to be honest, I always thought MT would regress to aerial gunning first.

 

[BuckRut]

Apparently he is completely out of touch with the demand for elk tags in the west. WY could make a mint allowing a certain number of cow hunters each week out to take care of this.

 

[Nameless Range]

I could be wrong, but I have always felt that the BS that has come to Montana is just a decade or so ahead of coming to Wyoming.

Tread carefully Wyoming Hunters. Well-meaning programs meant to help the Wyoming rancher - aggressive seasons with promises of being temporary or assessed for efficacy in the future, programs meant to increase public access to private lands in exchange for *something* - they become a stain that doesn't wash out .

 

[sclancy27]

I'm only here to see @BuzzH comments.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

To be fair the aerial gunning was one person, who largely knows little about the subject, throwing out an idea. This is a long way from the State running an actual aerial gunning program on elk. A long way. Legislators say lots of stupid shit in these committees that never amount to anything.

However, the issue of over-population elk is not going away. Changes are coming. Will it be helo shoots? Doubt it!

 

[Djfan]

Give a free cow/calf tag to each resident applicant?

 

[Deleted member 18333]

Give a free cow/calf tag to each resident applicant?

The problem isn't a lack of tags.

 

[sclancy27]

To be fair the aerial gunning was one person, who largely knows little about the subject, throwing out an idea. This is a long way from the State running an actual aerial gunning program on elk. A long way. Legislators say lots of stupid shit in these committees that never amount to anything.

However, the issue of over-population elk is not going away. Changes are coming. Will it be helo shoots? Doubt it!

 

[Djfan]

The problem isn't a lack of tags.

Give us our public land back?

 

[Ben Lamb]

I'm going to be honest, I always thought MT would regress to aerial gunning first.

At one point (Post Spanish-American War), MT had advertisements nationally for machine gunners to come and whack entire herds.

However, the issue of over-population elk is not going away. Changes are coming. Will it be helo shoots? Doubt it!

Never underestimate the lack of wisdom in any group of politicians.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

The problem isn't a lack of tags.

If only there were a population of motivated hunters who wanted opportunity....

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Apparently he is completely out of touch with the demand for elk tags in the west. WY could make a mint allowing a certain number of cow hunters each week out to take care of this.

I think the issue is ranchers want the elk off, but don't want to let hunters on. You can't kill elk up on public and expect it to solve the problems on private, it will just drive more elk onto the private....

 

[Ben Lamb]

I think the issue is ranchers want the elk off, but don't want to let hunters on. You can kill elk up on public and expect it to solve the problems on private, it will just drive more elk onto the private....

Then there's those 22 disease pools known as feedgrounds keeping herds unatturally inflated.

End the feedgrounds, end the over population problems in the western part of the state.

 

[Irrelevant]

two "take-aways"
1. Politicians and lobbyists are conflating a neighbor issue for a wildlife management issue.
2. The Ag industry is running the show, getting undo number of laws supported and acted on.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

If only there were a population of motivated hunters who wanted opportunity....

Pay up, Jack and you will have all the opportunity in the world.

 

[DFS]

Wyoming should let Montana experiment with aerial gunning elk first. I’m here for it. We can’t keep doing the same old thing and expect different results.

 

[TheTone]

Give us our public land back?

Reverse homestead act? Seize back all old railroad sections?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Pay up, Jack and you will have all the opportunity in the world.

I literally tried but my $700+ and 5 points ain't no good in the cowboy state.

 

[Ben Lamb]

two "take-aways"
1. Politicians and lobbyists are conflating a neighbor issue for a wildlife management issue.
2. The Ag industry is running the show, getting undo number of laws supported and acted on.

O Me! O Life!​

BY WALT WHITMAN
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.