A Project of Sage Steppe Wild
The Beattie Gulch area on the Gallatin N.F. has been closed to hunting by the Forest Service. Larry Thorngren reported to us the other day that this gathering of grizzly bears was taking place. Hunters have been mauled before in Beattie Gulch, e.g., two in 2007.
Area north of Gardiner closed due to bear activity. AP. Casper Star Tribune.
by
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
Maybe people should have to pack out the gut pile….kind of a “leave no trace” hunting ethic.
If this isn’t habituation, I don’t know what is.
pack out a gut pile??? Part of the reason people hunt is to eat, by leaving the entrails in the animal it would cause much of the meat to spoil. Bad idea and very wasteful.
bbt….who said anything about leaving the guts in the animal?
We could print this for Fish and Game.
1. Kill animal.
2. Gut animal and dump guts into bag.
3. Decapitate animal: dump head into bag.
4. Quarter animal.
5. Pick up the bags, the quarters, and hike it out.
Simple.
“pack out a gut pile”
what about all of the scavengers who count on this source of food at this time of year? bad idea.
Well Gerry, this is NOT a historical source of food for scavengers since it obviously did not exist before the white man and his long rifles. Your analogy makes as much sense as arguing NOT to stop feeding the bears and closing the dumps in Yellowstone ’cause the animals are habituated to them.
jdubya
That is not simple except in africa. I shot a gemsbok and the PH and I went back for the truck, the natives stayed with the animal. When we arrived back at the gemsbok to load it up, I looked, no gut pile. The stomach had been empty and the internal organs put in the stomach. The local people eat everything.
The reality is that the guts weight over one hundred pounds and there is no real way of packing or dragging them. It is not going to happen. The state makes the rules and they are not going require that the guts be taken out.
jdubya
“Well Gerry, this is NOT a historical source of food for scavengers since it obviously did not exist before the white man and his long rifles. Your analogy makes as much sense as arguing NOT to stop feeding the bears and closing the dumps in Yellowstone ’cause the animals are habituated to them.”
Native American bison jumps were not an historical source of food before the peopling of North American. When they jumped bison there was no turning the heard off. MOre bison were killed than could be used. Think of the number of scavengers after a jump.
Some Native lAmerica legends say that a hunter should leave a little behind to for scavengers large and small.
Elk,
I didn’t mean to imply this would be simple. It would not be and I am sure there would be hunter resistance to it just like there would resistance to mandatory bear spray on the belt. But that is NOT a reason why it should not be considered.
Considering the bison base jumping, I agree. I think anyone with an elk tag should only harvest an animal they have made to jump off a cliff to their death. Now that would be some damn fine hunting!
Paradise Valley man mauled by grizzly bear while hunting
Story
Discussion
By the Associated Press | Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 3:20 pm | No Comments Posted
LIVINGSTON – A Paradise Valley man was mauled by a grizzly bear while hunting in Park County over the weekend.
Gallatin National Forest spokeswoman Marna Daley says two men were elk hunting in the Dry Fork area in the Livingston Ranger District early Sunday . . . ”
JerryB. I had to delete most of this because AP doesn’t like their articles posted. I hear they can be unpleasant. A hyperlink is the way to go. Ralph
This small area next to Yellowstone was purchased from the CUT ranch to provide access for hunting tame elk and deer next to the park. The grizzlies come down through the area to feed on apples on the ranch this time of year. Perhaps a later hunting season after the apples have been eaten or frozen beyond attraction might be a partial solution. Adding the area to Yellowstone and not hunting these tame deer and elk might be a better one.
There are numerous grizzlies all around the Gardiner area eating in orchards. The locals seem to co-exist with the bears, although some bears have to be captured in culvert traps and moved if they pose a threat to the local residents. Trapping these people-smart bears is not always easy. A deputy sheriff showed me a picture of a Grizzly snoozing on top of one of the traps.
“Adding the area to Yellowstone and not hunting these tame deer and elk might be a better one.”
It would take an act of congress to add that area to Yellowstone. In the 1930’s congress passed a law that any additonal lands added to the park must be approved by congress.
Maybe congress could expand all of Yellowstone to included the Greater Yellowstone area. The Beartooths, Wind River Mountains, Gallatin/Madison Mountains, etc.