Hunting in Yellowstone NP?

Pinecricker

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I'm not an expert on the bison situation in Yellowstone, but from what I have seen, it looks like a pretty big sh*t show.

Reading the below, I can't help but think that the most logical solution would be to allow limited and tightly controlled bison hunting inside the park?

If bison numbers need to be reduced, wouldn't it be better, and perhaps more ethical, to avoid all the melodrama of the bison being shot at the park boundary? It also seems like a much better option than a big government culling operation. Obviously it would be controversial, but maybe there is a way to make it work.

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2016/jan/05/feds-propose-killing-900-yellowstone-bison/
 
Of course it would be better, but it would be a PR nightmare of biblical proportions.

I lived in the park while working on a large project last year from April 1 until November 14. Some parts of the park are so overgrazed, it is literally bare dirt. One co-worker's son is a range manager, and he says it would take decades for the landscape to get healthy again, once the buffalo numbers and migration are under control.
 
Tolerance and accepting that bison are wildlife outside the park would be a big step as well. They are shot on site by department of ag if one wanders into Idaho.
 
It's the most logical and ethical solution. There is no law against it...I participated in an elk reduction hunt in Theodore Roosevelt Nat'l Park a few years back where we went out with an assigned "guide" who had a radio receiver to lead us to the nearest herd by tracking collared elk. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think over two years they reduced the heard from well over 1,000 down to 200. It'll never fly in yellowstone...the roosevelt hunt barely makes the local news...yellowstone would be front page of every major paper in the US and all the fuzzy huggers would be in an outrage.
 
I don't think you could pay me to go through that hell even if they did try to do it. I agree it would be best, but man what a nightmare it would be. I'm surprised they haven't tried putting the bison cows on birth control, that would be more like what I would expect, lmao. I'd be willing to bet it has been discussed.
 
I know of a researcher, who claimed after publishing was denied future research permits in the park, whom has long suggested the same thing. It falls more in line, IMO, the intent of the parks purpose. However, if this were to happen I think it'd probably only be the tribes hunting in the inside the park boundary...
 
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