Three Montana men all pleaded guilty and were ordered to pay $1,666 each in restitution, sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation and stripped of their hunting and fishing privileges for three years.
Run-ins with bears are happening in agricultural areas where the fearsome animals hadn’t been seen for decades, raising tensions in communities over the grizzly’s status as a federally protected species in the U.S. outside Alaska. They now occupy almost 27,000 square miles, a range that has grown 34 percent in the past decade.
Once bison leave the park in the Gardiner Basin they can be legally killed during two winter seasons by state hunters, as well as by tribal hunters with treaty rights. Some tribal hunts extend into April. The problem has been that the areas where hunters have the easiest access to bison is relatively small and not far from residences.
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.
Widespread extermination of wolves, cougars early last century meant elk herds able to grow in size, eating away willow plants and other vegetation along park’s streams, causing erosion damage. But in recent years, resurgent populations of wolves and cougars have restored the park’s natural balance by knocking back elk numbers and changing the herds’ behaviors.
Ruling nixes planned hunts in Wyoming and Idaho this fall.
The effort against the lake trout is the centerpiece of a long-term fight to help Yellowstone’s native cutthroat trout. Lake trout feed on cutthroats, causing the native fish population to decline.
(recreation.gov)BOZEMAN, Mont. — The impending change in Yellowstone National Park superintendents shouldn’t disrupt the progress of a quarantine program created to produce brucellosis-free bison, officials said. The transfer of a group of bull bison to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation later this year should still be on track, Yellowstone bison program manager Tim Reid said. “I think there’s a world…
Cam Sholly replaces Dan Wenk, who said he was being forced out by the Trump administration following a dispute over bison.
A female elk like this one, also with a calf, recently attacked a woman in Yellowstone National Park, the second such attack in a span of a few days. Officials are unsure if it was the same elk, but say elk often aggressively defend their young.CHEYENNE, Wyo. — For the second time in three days, an elk has attacked a…
Dan Wenk’s seven years leading one of the premier national parks have been marked by an explosion in visitor numbers; tension with neighboring states over wild bison slaughters, wolf hunting and grizzly bears; and a sexual harassment scandal involving Yellowstone’s maintenance division that echoed allegations at other national parks. (Yellowstone National Park)BILLINGS, Mont. — Yellowstone National Park’s superintendent said that…
Yellowstone Lake chief fisheries biologist investigating a case of trespass not transport after seeing how fish are invading high-elevation lakes in Glacier National Park.
The decision follows months of public meetings and discussions.
Of the approximately 33,000 signatures on the petition, about 400 originated within Wyoming.
Review was launched when a federal appeals court said in a case involving gray wolves in the Great Lakes that the Interior Department needed to give more consideration to how a species’ loss of historical habitat affects its recovery – like wolves, grizzly bears in some parts of the U.S. have bounced back from widespread extermination, yet remain absent from most of their historical range. But, per grizzlies, Interior officials said that they disagreed with the ruling in the wolf case.
(Photo by Bob Drieslein)HELENA, Mont. — Conservation groups alleged earlier this week that Wyoming used part of Montana’s grizzly bear hunting quota to increase its own allocation for a proposed hunt this year, even though Montana wildlife regulators voted not to give away any part of its quota. Wyoming’s proposal for its first grizzly hunt in decades sets a quota…
The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously voted against the proposal after multiple guides, outfitters and other anglers spoke out against it.
(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)BOISE, Idaho — Idaho officials have scheduled two public meetings as part of a process to potentially open a grizzly bear hunting season this fall that would allow the killing of one male. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is gathering comments to draft regulations that the Fish and Game Commission will consider in May….
A multiagency agreement aims to keep the population at about 3,000 to curb the spread of brucellosis, a disease that causes bison to abort. But last fall, the park had about 4,800 bison.
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho officials have started the process of opening a grizzly bear hunting season this fall that would allow the killing of one male grizzly. The Fish and Game Commission in a 7-0 vote directed the Department of Fish and Game to gather public comments on the possible hunt. The department will use those comments to draft a possible…
After a rebound in Wyoming’s bison population, the state Game and Fish Department is planning a hunt this fall. The agency announced at a meeting over the weekend that a bison hunt will take place between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1 on the North Fork. Hunters will be allowed to harvest three animals each. State wildlife biologist Tony Mong said…
Meanwhile, Idaho and Wyoming pursuing plans for hunts.
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Wildlife officials say more than 550 Yellowstone National Park bison have been removed so far this winter in the annual program to limit the herd size. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported that 328 animals have been shipped to slaughter and hunters have killed 234. Meat from slaughtered bison is distributed to Native American tribes. The aim…
Would be the first grizzly bear hunting in the lower 48 states in more than 40 years.
His love of being out there is part of the reason Chad Dickinson is slated for his 24th consecutive summer of trapping grizzlies in Montana.
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