Wildlife managers are forging into uncharted territory as they keep feeding elk in the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem while knowing that concentrating thousands of animals on feed will likely exacerbate the spread of the fatal chronic wasting disease.
Now it’s the Wyoming Game and Fish Department that manages the conflict in this portion of the Equality State. Still, there’s an ever-changing ecological system at play here.
This year, there were no chaperones, and people were mostly left to police themselves. Sometimes that went smoothly, but other times it’s proved to be an ugly affair – and the stakes are high when large carnivores, naive tourists and high-speed traffic are all part of the equation.
Dozens of salt-loving mountain goats are coming down from the slopes of western Wyoming to lick up the salt-and-sand mixture that snowplows spread over a highway, leading to collisions with vehicles traversing the icy canyon roadway.
The study found that deer foraging declined by more than 10% from human activity at energy sites.
He also has his hunting privileges taken away for 20 years – for shooting four buck mule deer, taking their antlers and leaving the carcasses to waste – and is ordered to pay the Wyoming Game and Fish Department $16,000 in restitution.
The road intersects an area where mule deer cross in the fall and spring traveling to and from their winter range. It’s expected that the underpasses will reduce collisions by up to 90 percent.
Disease – including distemper, mange and the parvo virus – and packs moving out of the park blamed for the decline; numbers across Wyoming also down.
Twenty-four years of gillnetting operations are starting to turn the tide with a reduction of lake trout numbers.
Claim that feeding alfalfa pellets to elk to help them survive harsh winter conditions causes them to concentrate in groups at the National Elk Refuge.
Some conservationists and biologists say feed grounds can spread the disease and have called for phasing out elk feeding in northwestern Wyoming.
These areas concentrate large numbers of elk in small areas for several months, increasing the potential for the spread of diseases among elk, including CWD.
Man who was elk hunting told authorities he shot the bear after it approached his hunting camp three different times. However, investigators found only one set of bear tracks outside the camp and determined that it wasn’t a case of self-defense.
JACKSON, Wyo. — Wyoming officials have trapped and killed two grizzly bears they believe killed a hunting outfitter and injured his client. Wyoming Game and Fish Department regional supervisor Brad Hovinga said Sunday the grizzlies that were killed matched the description of those that killed 37-year-old outfitter Mark Uptain. Uptain’s body was found Saturday in the Teton Wilderness east of…
Up to 23 bears could be killed in the hunts planned in Wyoming and Idaho. Judge already delayed them once, in an order that came two days before grizzly season was set to open Sept. 1.
“We will now await further information about whether the bears will remain under state management or if they go back to federal management.”
Judge declines to issue quick ruling, says he will issue a decision as quickly as possible, but did not say whether he would rule before Saturday, when Wyoming and Idaho have bear hunts scheduled to begin.
The herd, which peaked at about 50,000 animals in the early 1990s, was around 30,000 before that winter and struggling to grow in part because of the lack of available food.
Even after having just finished hibernating, the bear was well over 600 pounds. A grizzly will typically lose more than 25 percent of its weight during hibernation, meaning it would have gained at least another 150 pounds by fall.
Monitoring elk traveling along the migration route is part of a new Wyoming effort to determine if wapiti are returning to the Gros Ventre River country in summer and fall.
In Wyoming, it marked the second time in recent weeks that a female grizzly with cubs was killed in the state.
Little brown bats found dead in western North Dakota died of white-nose syndrome.CHEYENNE — Wyoming wildlife researchers working at Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Goshen County have detected the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats, the first such finding in the state. Testing of skin-swab samples collected from the wing of a little brown bat confirmed the presence of…
The decision follows months of public meetings and discussions.
LARAMIE, Wyo. — Scientists in Wyoming have launched a six-year study of the effect of wind-energy development on pronghorn antelopes. Officials from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit fitted 80 pronghorn does with GPS collars in the Shirley Basin between Laramie and Casper. North of nearby Medicine Bow, the 500-megawatt TB…
Boaters who have their watercraft inspected for AIS in 2018 will be eligible to win outdoor-related prizes in the Wyoming AIS Boater Appreciation Raffle. The grand prize features two kayaks, and secondary prizes include a guided trout fishing trip.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming is estimated to have at least 347 wolves roaming within its borders after the state regained management of the animals and allowed limited hunting of wolves, according to an annual report by state wildlife managers. The number of wolves counted by state game managers at the end of 2017 is down from about 380 estimated the…
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