If you're heading to Grand Teton National Park this fall, don't be surprised to hear occasional gunshots, as the park's annual elk reduction hunt runs from Thursday into early December.
While most national parks ban hunting, the Grand Teton elk hunt was mandated by Congress as a means of regulating the size of the Jackson elk population. The hunt dates to 1950, when provisions were made for the expansion of Grand Teton National Park.
The size of the reduction is developed in conjunction with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and approved by Wyoming's governor and the Interior Department secretary. Biologists and administrators from both agencies have reviewed available biological data and concluded that the 2012 program is necessary to keep the Jackson elk herd at or near the objective of 1,600 elk.
The need for the park’s elk reduction program stems partly from annual winter feeding programs on the National Elk Refuge just to the southeast of the park and in the upper Gros Ventre drainage. These feed grounds are maintained by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and are also mandated by legislation.
“Feeding sustains high numbers of elk with unnaturally low mortality rates. A majority of elk that are fed during the winter on the fefuge also summer in, or use migration routes through, Grand Teton National Park," said Grand Teton spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs in a press release. "Consequently, the reduction program targets elk from three primary herd segments: Grand Teton, southern Yellowstone National Park, and the Teton Wilderness area of Bridger-Teton National Forest.”
The elk reduction program utilizes Wyoming-licensed hunters who apply for and receive a limited quota permit to hunt in designated areas. Over the years the number of permits issued has been drastically reduced. From 1990 to 2005, an average of 2,500 permits were given out, a portion of which were “either-sex” tags that allowed the shooting of bulls. In 2011, 750 permits were issued and 278 elk were taken. This year the park is only issuing 725 permits and completely eliminating the shooting of bulls.
The use of archery, handguns, or other non-center fire ammunition rifles is banned, as is the use of artificial elk calls. Hunters, regardless of age, also are required to carry a hunter education card. They also must carry readily accessible bear spray as a non-lethal deterrent during potential bear encounters. An information packet warning hunters of the risk of bear encounters and offering tips on how to minimize the probability of human-bear conflicts accompanies each permit.
Hunters are also encouraged to use non-lead ammunition to support practices that will benefit the long-term conservation of all wildlife. In the past three years, park managers have seen a decrease in the use of lead ammunition.
Each hunter is only permitted to take one elk. Occasionally, when an elk is confiscated because of a violation of the hunting regulations, park rangers give the meat to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, which in turn gives it to needy families.
Park officials recommend that visitors recreate in areas west of the Snake River that are closed to hunting, and advise visitors to wear hunter orange or other bright colors whenever they enter open hunting zones away from park developed areas. A map is available online that shows where hunting is permitted.
Back in June the Sierra Club urged the park to reassess the culling operation, but a response by Grand Teton Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott closed the door on that option, saying that issues raised by the group had already been addressed.
An article and audio report by Casper’s K2 radio station delves a little deeper into the elk hunt’s impact on grizzly bears, which includes their becoming habituated to eating the remains of elk left by hunters in the backcountry (another potential issue that the superintendent indicated had been adequately considered).
Comments
Timothy,
16 USC Sec.673c. may say that the hunters must be "qualified and experienced". It however does not define either term. Your assertion appears to be that having obtained a hunter safety certificate and a valid hunting license don't meet this requirement. What would you suggest as objective criteria for making a determination of qualified and experienced?
You also seem to have issues with the by-products of successful hunt on NPS lands, gut piles and their tendency to attract bears and other critters. Successful hunts on all public lands surrounding Jackson have the same results and present the same hazards. Do you also have issues with these or is it just those on NPS lands?
NPS management has taken, what I think are appropriate, steps to mitigate the potential for visitor safety issues related to the hunt by recommending that visitors avoid the hunt areas. They even provide maps of the hunting areas and advise the non-hunting public what the issues may be. As Lee said earlier to another comment "good grief"
So Tim, you first said you got the cert with no qualification. Now you say you took online in and in class instruction passing all test with 100%. That sounds like qualification to me.
Tell me, if you have never shot a gun, why did you go through this process?
Tim-- If you passed all the required tests with 100% scores I'd say you are qualified to participate as a qualified participant??? Maybe you are just anti-hunting??? Oh--please feel free to correct any of my spelling mistakes-- thank you.
Dear Old Ranger, Anonymous and Dick G.:
Re: "16 USC Sec.673c. may say that the hunters must be "qualified and experienced". It however does not define either term." ...you must have been a spokesperson for the National Park Service....
Re: "...why did you go through this process?" ...to prove what I have witnessed for decades...the hunters deputized as rangers are not vetted (which is a requirement of the legislation) and they prove to be careless, dangerous and should not be allowed to run amok in Grand Teton National Park destroying natural resource and endangering visitors & wildlife.
Re: "I'd say you are qualified to participate as a qualified participant???" ...you have proven my point...thanks for your qualification...as meaningful as the certificate, license and deputization I currently hold...
I would say that we should re-visit this in December when all of the negative ramifications
This comment has been lightly edited to remove a gratuitous remark. -- Ed.
The permit was not obtained fraudulently. Every rule for application was followed - it was the park service that did not bother to check i.d. or require that applicants proved they knew their way around a gun.
The fact that someone can pass a hunting test on paper, even at 100%, has no bearing whatsoever of their abilities in the field, where safety becomes a little more of an issue than it is in the classroom.
So for the "years you have witnessed", how many park goers were injured by an inexperienced hunter during the elk hunt in the Tetons?
Timothy,
You responded but you did not answer any of the questions I asked.
1. What objective criteria would you suggest for determing hunters as qualified and experienced?
2. Do you also have issues with the hunts that occur on other public lands that surround Jackson. Those hunts have even less criteria for the hunters, yet have the same "safety" issues you speak of. Is your concern only with those hunts on NPS lands?
It is very easy to be critical, the hard part is to offer realistic suggestions for improvement. I guess I'm challenging you to be part of the solution you seem to be seeking. In my experience, individuals that are unable to offer realistic solutions along with their criticism, after a time, tend to be ignored and their complaints are treated merely as irritating background noise, like the sound of mosquitos buzzing around your ears. I'm also wondering if I'm even giving you too much credit by assuming that you are seeking improvement. Bluntly, I'm wondering what your real agenda is.