Goodbye to Bighorns Around Gardiner?

[rmyoung1]

I meant that I don't think it does the ranchers any good to sit idly by and let it happen. Christian Mackay (DOL) is standing up for Hoppe. Guess I grew up in a different Montana than I thought.

Gotcha. Yeah, the whole thing's a shame,

 

[belly-deep]

I guess its about time for grazing permits to end in the Madison if they're going to start killing the elk off.

 

[Dinkshooter]

wow what an assclown

 

[katqanna]

I guess its about time for grazing permits to end in the Madison if they're going to start killing the elk off.

Belly-deep, this is in Park County. Not that it makes much difference. Park, Gallatin, Madison and parts of Beaverhead and I cant remember the 5th until the caffeine hits, are all in the DSA (Designated Surveillance Area), where they are targeting elk for lethal removal.

Park County has only one landowner that participated in Block Management this year, way up near Livingston. But if you pull up that outfitter leased private land map, it is littered with red dots all up and down that area. Yet a number of these ranchers, at every single opportunity, complain about the elk and want them all gone. These same people make up the Elk Brucellosis Working Group in Park Co., and will be submitting requests to the FWP commissioners for test and slaughter and increased quotas for lethal removal than they currently have approval for (250 for the DSA). We are already under objective in this are and it has been in a steady decline for a decade. They are not managing science here, but rancher politics. And FWP is being forced to manage for livestock because Montana capitulated to the strong arm tactic of APHIS, who would not give Montana their Brucellosis Class Free status unless we signed onto their Brucellosis Management Plans that advocated brucellosis eradication in wildlife. Wyoming and Idaho have had to do the same.

 

[Rimrock]

There's actually these alleged "working" groups in both Madison and Park counties. Or let's see... where do I put the F's?!

 

[katqanna]

There's actually these alleged "working" groups in both Madison and Park counties. Or let's see... where do I put the F's?!

I see, I thought Belly-deeps reference was to the Gardiner reference with elk, not your Madison reference, but yes, Park and Madison have the alleged "working groups", as well as the Ruby group. I received more documents today. I got the 2012 Montana Brucellosis Management Plan, though I had requested all years from 2010 forward and the Memorandum's of Understanding that each agency has to sign. They did not include the MOU, nor the current year, but FWP is involved with this and the FWP elk programs are primarily funded by APHIS. As soon as I get all these documents, I will make them available. The hunters need to know whats going on, the APHIS plans and how they using the hunters to achieve some of this, like with the hunter test kits.

One, these elk tests help to determine the area that APHIS will have jurisdiction over our elk. See they dont currently have jurisdiction to wipe out the wildlife in the YNP, which they have been trying to do. But if they surround it and force each of the states, though the Brucellosis Class Free Status, to give up the wildlife and agree to test and slaughter of any wildlife that exits the Park, then they can get some of them at least. These hunter tests also add to a national database genetically. Part of the reason for the tests is if there is a match with infected cattle, they plan on claiming it as wildlife damage and having the wildlife agencies pay for restitution like they do for other wildlife damage like wolves or grizzlies.

When Wyoming sent hunter test kits to the Tribal lands, they stated they only got one usable sample from the reservation. "We dont have jurisdiction on the reservation, but we do when livestock come off it (we can treat them like imports into WY)." They then discuss if other states put restrictions on reservation cattle to put pressure on Tribal lands for enforcing hunter test kit samples.

So this is a question I asked FWP last year when I was documenting the Hoppe sheep situation. With his domestic sheep being natural carriers of pneumonia, lethal to our Bighorns, and Malignant Catarrhal Fever, lethal to bison, why doesnt FWP or YNP get compensated for disease transmission and damage to our wildlife from the rancher whose diseased livestock infected our wildlife? Why is it always wildlife paying for livestock? It was diseased livestock that brought these diseases to our wildlife in the first place. These Bighorns are in serious jeopardy and FWP cant do anything against the private rancher to protect our wildlife. Yet a lone bull bison (which cant even transmit brucellosis, if he had it) wanders onto the Dome Mountain Ranch, and DoL goes trespassing onto private property, hazes the bison onto the Dome Mountain WMA and shoots it, leaving the meat to rot (wanton waste) - supposedly to protect cattle from brucellosis. There werent any cattle in the area to top it off.

This is hypocritical, any way you look at it. Our wildlife need to be protected from lethal diseases from livestock and from APHIS trying to wipe out our wildlife for a 0.00024% brucellosis risk of transmission that can be mitigated.

 

[Redwood]

If i am to be held accoutable and cited if I do not properly clean my boat before moving to another body of water, how is hoppe not being held accountable. Wither its milfoil or bruc., is negligence. I understand property rights, but there are countless examples of things I can't legally do on my property. I can't play my music crank at 2am and I can't dump a bunch of piranhas in my stock dam. Why, it's detrimental to other peoples rights and it could negatively impact the fisheries. How is what hoppes do not the same. He's a wolf in sheeps clothing.

 

[Big Foot]

Bozeman Daily Comical follow up article from today:


http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/wildlife/article_4de53a5e-5d47-11e3-b6e1-0019bb2963f4.html

 

[Rimrock]

Our Chronicle actually showed up on time this morning (a rarity of late), and I thought it was going to be nice to sit by the fire and read it.
Unfortunately there were two articles that thoroughly ticked me off.
Parker Heinlein's editorial saying having a bison hunt in Montana is "insanity" accomplished that to the point that I called him. Again, we've skinned thousands of buffalo here, and the Native American (women!!) did that for how long...? So I don't think it's an impossibility.
And now fwp is saying it's not Hoppe's sheep that are causing problems with the Gardiner area bighorns??? That article might be full of errors, but an obvious one is that they failed to mention the fwp director is actually Christian Mackay.

 

[Big Foot]

The Daily Comical is always good for a laugh. The Hoppe's point about moving the sheep down from Jardine to avoid grizzly bears is kind of funny.

Rimrock - did you get to speak with Parker?

 

[Rimrock]

Oh, yes, I spoke with him. If you'd like to do the same, his phone # is (406) 654-5277.
Having a bona-fide bison hunt on the winter ranges around Yellowstone would turn turn the situation into an enormous asset, but Parker has to fit in up around Malta, so he thinks it's "insanity".

 

[Big Foot]

I will give him a ring. Thanks!

 

[Elkmagnet]

I say S.S.S.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Oh crap wrong thread. How do I delete that.
Oh well.