Wyoming joins the elk wars

[JM77]

I remember the days that it was deer and antelope covering private Wyoming fields. The G&F was saying the same thing about deer and antelope then, that they are saying now about elk. Those of us that lived here in those days, know all too well how that turned out for many herds across the state.

 

[mtnkid85]

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

Who's got the #DontMontanaMyWyoming stickers coming? I guess we can't have all the fun up here.

 

[millerkiller77]

montana style problems need montana style solutions!

Maybe an elk drive to move them off private, these guys are volunteering to be pushers

 

[SAJ-99]

What is the loss? I mean the actual loss to the landowner? Show me the number of cattle declining, or average weights declining, or birth rates dropping, something that is actual numbers rather than just bitching and moaning, which in MT has been shown to be pure BS with no one actually wanting a decline in the elk population, just a reallocation of tags to convert to $s. I take a LO at their word to a large extent, but I must say it is trust-but-verify. Maybe it is easier to just pay them for feed to be shipped in or insurance on weights below the 5yr average or something.

 

[Nick87]

guys

I see what you did there.

 

[Hunt West]

I remember the days that it was deer and antelope covering private Wyoming fields. The G&F was saying the same thing about deer and antelope then, that they are saying now about elk. Those of us that lived here in those days, know all too well how that turned out for many herds across the state.

It truly is amazing to think back a couple decades and the numbers of antelope/deer across eastern wy compared to taking that same drive nowadays. I 100% believe that this is the golden age for elk in wy and it may never be as good as it is right now. One only needs to look at deer and antelope as you alluded to in your post.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I want to know how to get signed up as one of those paid elk hunters.

 

[HONEYBADGER]

Had a tag a few years back in a central Wyoming unit. Happened to run into a landowner at the gas pumps in town. Friendly guy, offered to let us hunt on his ranch when his payed guys were done. Mighty nice offer, I can understand him not wanting to mess up his paid hunts but what he said next sums up Wyoming landowner philosophy. He said he didn't want too many guys on his ranch at once because they might chase the elk back onto public.

Large Wyoming landowners want it both ways. They want their checks from the government because of the elk and they want to sell the elk as well.

 

[Buffs35]

As a UW grad, I'm embarrassed Wyoming ranchers can't fence their wheat. Instead their representative's make excuses like Montana ranchers, so they need to eliminate the elk. Sad day.

 

[Cornell Cowboy]

I want to know how to get signed up as one of those paid elk hunters.

I even took the time to fill out the application for depredation hunts, and I wasn't called either!

 

[Pucky Freak]

The neighbor problem is real as ever.

OTC cow/calf tags in all units 200% or more over objective valid Jul 1 to Jun 30.

Now if you don’t want to to allow access it’s your own damn problem.

 

[howl]

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....

This is the issue with hogs. Farmers want our tax dollars, not our help. Our help controlled populations for decades. Government has not.. Again, the root cause is over-taxation funding overgrown government.

 

[wytex]

As a UW grad, I'm embarrassed Wyoming ranchers can't fence their wheat. Instead their representative's make excuses like Montana ranchers, so they need to eliminate the elk. Sad day.

It's not just wheat they are eating.
They can wipe out a hay meadow pretty quick with a large herd. They also take down fences when moving through.
8 ft fences are expensive and would affect more than elk.

I'm curious as to how many hunters LOs have to allow before they get damage claims paid?

 

[Gus Chiggins]

It's not just wheat they are eating.
They can wipe out a hay meadow pretty quick with a large herd. They also take down fences when moving through.
8 ft fences are expensive and would affect more than elk.

I'm curious as to how many hunters LOs have to allow before they get damage claims paid?

Fun work repairing fence after elk herd hits it. I’ve seen elk grazing even in fields surrounded by higher tensile wire fence. Not sure how they were getting in other than a break, or wires being too far apart so cows could put their head through first. Or maybe the landowner fenced them in (jk)

 

[Flatbrimmer]

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

Dude wtf, those animals been here before us and one can only pray they’ll still be here after us. what an idiot.

 

[Addicting]

How about a bill to increase the value of the landowners kill tag voucher. (Not sure of what those tag stubs are called). I think right now it’s 16 or so bucks, please correct me if wrong.

Put it on a sliding scale for a year and see what results come out of it.

25 per tag for the first 5 any elk
50 per tag for next 5 any elk
100 per tag for 11-20 cows only
200 per tag for any quantity of cows killed over 21

Donate the cow hunts thru a NP also get a tax write off 5x the value of tag stub.

 

[WYelker]

Yeah I don’t see there being much traction for the solutions presented at all. We don’t want transferable landowner tags and we don’t need them. The population is determined/controlled by cow elk harvest and the game and fish have the ability to increase cow harvest easily. Any rancher who wants to make money from cow elk
Harvest can with ease. Hell in Colorado they have proven that they can kill elk by the truck loads on private grounds. Just need to have ample opportunity, a long season structure and the land owners need to have access. Nearly every ranch(or at least the outfitter) in NW colorado makes bank on late season cow hunts.

On the flip side. They want to Fly and shoot elk from a copter where they can’t hunt? How would that even be possible?

 

[TheTone]

It’s simply about landowners having control and flexing that control to establish what they want. I doubt any of them are serious about aerial gunning and leaving elk to lay but making the threat and pushing that as the worst case option is a way to get to what they really want

 

[Archer86]

Just trynna be hepful & get them elks down to a manageable number!

This will also be good for reducing the number of nr hunters. When they go to regions and Elk numbers drop guess who gets the axe first be careful what you wish for

 

[SAJ-99]

Fun work repairing fence after elk herd hits it. I’ve seen elk grazing even in fields surrounded by higher tensile wire fence. Not sure how they were getting in other than a break, or wires being too far apart so cows could put their head through first. Or maybe the landowner fenced them in (jk)

There are mitigation solutions for that.

Mending Fences - Wildlife Friendly Fencing

The herd spooked. Bulls, cows and yearlings ran full tilt across the field toward a range fence—one built for cattle and strung with five strands [...]

rmef.org