A Project of Sage Steppe Wild
Compensation for game farms denied. Associated Press. Great Falls Tribune Staff.
I wish someone organize Idaho voters to tackle elk farm issue. Some fat ass comes in and plugs an elk up against a fence goes home with his tales of the Idaho wild country.
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
Comments
Ralph, while I understand the frustration, the real culprits are the legislators that allow this kind of business and those who exploit the game animals for profit. Some of the “fat ass” folks you demean here just don’t know any better. They read the fancy misleading brochures and sign up for the “private land” hunts not even thinking about what a “100%” garunteed hunt really means to the rest of us. The real bottom line: no game farms then no game farm hunters (of any size posterior)…
Thanks for the caution, Mike. Yes, some hunters don’t know.
The Montana method is best; close the canned hunts down by law. Idaho is, and always has been backward compared to Montana.
Now for a short essay:
Montana benefited from a strong labor union movement that instilled a progressive tradition in the western part of the state. Idaho’s unions had some effect, but were more successfully harassed from the days of early statehood until the “right-to-work-law” of the 1980s which pretty much killed them off and made Idaho a Republican lake, dominated by backward political elites, white-flight ‘ers, and conservative religionists.
A lot of Confederates settled in Idaho too after the Civil War.
What I’m saying is that Idaho doesn’t look hopeful in the short run and longer.
Ralph –
What are the obstacles facing a ballot initiative in ID, and how would it have to be different than MT’s initiative in order to survive legal challenges with respect to state laws?
Hi, We bought our Montana ranch with an elk farm here, operated by the hired hand. The elk stayed for about 6 months, then they were destroyed. The MT FW&P said it was illegal to have one. Of course that is not true. We were never given the option to continue the license. We are only interested in the elk to eat. What are our rights? How do we re-establish the farm? Do you know an attorney who’s had success on these issues? Regards, Steve