The political posturing continues as every group and facet of population that uses the great outdoors in the Greater Yellowstone Area will soon take a stand on the delisting of grizzly bears. Last year we saw the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee recommend delisting the Yellowstone population and move towards state management of the animal. The Eastern Shoshone, one of two tribal councils that manage the Wind River Indian Reservation business affairs, unanimously opposed hunting the bear inside the Reservation even with delisting. The Northern Arapahoe tribe has not taken a stand on the issue and whether or not they will is an unknown. But based on their recent decision to dissolve economic ties with the other tribe on the reservation it wouldn’t be unlikely for them to take a starkly opposite stand.
If this small subgroup population is any prediction of the battle to come, get ready! The lines are going to be drawn and make no mistake about it, this won’t be a battle about proven scientific methods that support the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. It will be about how long the green groups can keep money rolling into their organizations from the people in metropolitan areas who believe in the cause but don’t have to live with the outcome. The donors may be well intentioned, but they have no idea that the fight they are funding isn’t actually about sound game management – it’s about their money and emotions.
Their money is now employing lawyers to keep the battle over wolves going. Adding the grizzly to the court’s docket may just be their next meal ticket when the wolf battle starts to wane yet again. Like anything else, people will get bored hearing about the wolf and how it is in such a sad state of affairs since protections have been removed. When the mainstream media is reporting that wolves have moved from Yellowstone and have established packs in Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, it is hard to say they are endangered. To make matters worse for their cause, wolf sightings are happening in Colorado and Utah. Pull out the atlas and take a hard look at how much territory that is. That isn’t something that is on the brink of death, it is imperial expansion at it’s finest.
So old humpy will be the next cry for money with the green groups to keep their bank accounts full. All the while, hunters who have been footing the bill since the turn of the century for wildlife management have their voices squashed by judges in D.C. who see cuddly bears as an icon of the American West. They are correct that they are an icon, but even icons need to be managed with healthy quotas in place.
So the battlefield is set and it will be up to us as hunters to make our voices heard loud and clear that we want to manage the grizzly bear. We don’t want to eradicate them or put them on the brink of extinction. We want to have the freedom to hunt them, teach them to respect humans in the same way they command respect from us. Ultimately, we will claim another success story for the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.
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55 comments
They do need controlled .there numbers are so high in are area that there are places you just don’t go anymore to hunt its not worth the risk. That and the wolfs have thinned the elk out so bad that it is very tuff hunting
Nice spelling. And I’m sure the elk are stoked with what humans have done with the planet.
plenty of griz getting killed on Montana i-roads every year…tells me they are spreading their range and could well benefit from some hunting management. Every game animal that is well managed generally thrives. It is only when the enviro-mental types get involved visa vi wolf “reintroduction” and other invasive policies that have nothing to do with game management, that the natural system gets out of whack.
The elk herd was in fine shape…until the wolf packs starting multiplying like garden rabbits…now the elk herd is teetering on a disaster of major proportions…while the greenies wring their hands about what to interfere with next.
COWBOYBOB IS RIGHT, I READ EVERY YEAR ABOUT MORE AND MORE GRIZZLY BEING SIGHTED WHILE HUNTING, I DO THINK SOME OF THE PROBLEM IS ALL THE SO-CALLED ENVIRO NUTS BUILDING HOMES IN THE GRIZ HABITAT ALONG WITH OTHER ANIMALS FORCING THEM TO MOVE FURTHER AWAY AND WHEN THEY COME IN CONTACT WITH HUMANS THERE IS PROBLEMS. INTRODUCING THE WOLVES WAS AN IDIOITIC PLAN AND OUR GOVERNMENT ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN, NOW SEE WHATS HAPPENING.
Delist now! We know that they have had over forty years of study and should know what us laymen know, it’s time to delist!
Delist at once is right
Right on the money!
After watching the wolves and grizzly bears in the southwest corner of wyoming along the idaho border raise hell I think that it’s a good idea to do something more about the problem as long as it’s managable and respected
I think that any delisting or contiued protection should be left to the stae wildlife biologists. These are the guys and gals that should have a handle on population, habitat etc. Leave the tree huggers and federal people out of it.
I think there should be a way to flag comments for abuse and removal. Several comments above mine are very negative and contribute nothing to the conversation.
I agree with flagging – and any person who accumulates 3 legitimate flags under an email address should be banned form this site.
I agree with you re: flagging, Eric.
Absolutely
So your argument has no real scientific basis. As usual if it not the answer you wish to hear, you resort to shouting, name-calling, & foul language. Way to continue to give ammunition to our argument that those can’t back up reasons for their case, want to leave it to those liberal judges back east, who have no clue as to how well game has been managed & paid for by hunters. Who do you think pays for most all the services provided to hikers, birdwatchers, nature lovers, etc. who don’t & probably wouldn’t pay if it wasn’t mostly paid by our taxes on firearms & ammuntion used in our pursuit of game. Have you even heard of the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937 which takes the money from “HUNTERS” to provide for all who use the outdoors.
Everything needs to be kept in check either by hunting or starvation. If you have ever watched anything starve to death then you will see the more humane way is through hunting.
It is time for delisting and let the state wildlife management agencies manage this species. The states are more responsive to managing this species than the federal government. We spend two weeks each year in the Yellowstone Eco-Region photographing this “apex” predator and over the last five years photographing as many as 14 different bears during this two week period. Everyone knows that the population is expanding and Wyoming’s wildlife division is trying to set the stage for hunting opportunity over the next five years as a part of their management strategy. Wyoming has done an excellent job in big game management and will do an excellent job with large carnivore management. Let hunters be part of the management strategy!
I applaud the agencies and boots on the ground that actually do the bear studies and are supported by hunter revenues, these are the real conservationists. I love to see grizzly bears when I am outdoors as I do all wild life. I also enjoy in participating in fair chase conservation or better known as hunting. If grizzly bears were endangered I would do what ever is necessary to protect them. If there is a huntable population I entertain the thought of having a grizzly bear mount in my man cave while watching a video of grizzly having a tree hugger for a snack.
I feel they should be de listed and managed by each state agency to properly control the population and as a respect deterent to make the bears more wary of humans that would help to keep bear attacks down.
How is it that the Endangered Species Act only applies to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The Grizzly & Wolf were native all the way to Mexico. It is political corruption that has placed the burden of recovery on these three States. Our politicians are weak and unwilling to take the heat to do what should be done. It time to trap and transfer extra grizzly & wolves from my state of Montana and Wyoming & Idaho to Colorado, Utah, New Mexico & Arizona.
How about a few dozen of each species to parks in DC and other places back east. A few of them roaming in back yards there would put a different sant on things.
Let’s start in New York’s central Park.
I agree but trap and transplant extra grizzlies and wolves back east of the Mississippi River so the granola muncher jerks can really enjoy their company.
What about Texas? We’d ( hunters) like a few extras transplanted here. Nowadays we travel out of state, pay the lion’s share of expenses to experience Wolves and Grizzlies.
The only iron that I have in the fire is that I love the wilderness and all the bounty it can provide; want to ensure that it thrives forever. Only into sustenance hunting.
Would leave de-listing decision up to local wildlife management professionals.
Fringe elements (tree huggers, federales and land barons) need not apply.
Typical Liberal response.
de-list them, and have no gov.control.let the state fish &game handle them
Right on let them shoot some it woint be long and they will be back..
In North west Montana, we are ready for de-listing. Their needs to be a strict quota management plan. In the last ten years it has been getting very dangerous on solo back country bivy hunts, the bear number sightings are at a all time high in my area. A few years ago in Glacier Park a strip of barbed wire was strung close to a dead elk, biologist took hair samples from the wire thinking they might have four or five grizzly’s in the area. There was thirty five different grizzly’s DNA on one dead elk.
Hey livbly, I love stupid liberals like your self that worship the creation rather than the creator. People like you are driving are Elk populations in the hole. You know nothing about wildlife or wildlife managemat, take a walk through gardiner Montana and you’ll see more grizzly and wolf tracks than elk. Do us all a favor and go give one of those nice little creatures a big hug, because there are to many people like you that are ruining America. Ps I bet you voted for obama
Good job – Nuff said
What strange universe did you come from? There are a lot more ethical non beer drinking, non ATV riding, non redneck, non shoot em’ up hunters out here. We pay more than 90% of the bills that support wildlife programs so get educated and then suck it up. If you hate hearing the truth then go to a site that will fill your brain with political correctness and all the fluff you want to hear,
The fed really doesn’t do anything that a state cannot do.The management argument so disrespects the wonderful job state wildlife agencies do.Long gone are the days that a state cannot manage wildlife for itself.Add to that the enlightened attitude of today’s sportsman as opposed to that of the turn of the last century’s market hunter.
The grizzly should be managed carefully with the example of what management has done for our black bears.With six billion people on the planet every species must be protected and that means managed.Something state agencies do very well.
With wolves, mountain lions and bears increasing uncontested in many states, our love for the future of hunting will surely end sooner than anybody could imagine. We now have wolves in Arizona that are spreading at an alarming rate and will eventually kill off the great elk and deer hunting that we now have. This administration and their implants into the heads of all of the important departments including the Forest Service, BLM, IRS, Healthcare, ETC, will poison any thought of a bright future for this country. We now are limited to camping with vehicles only 30′ from a road, driving to retrieve game is prohibited, lots of roads I have driven on for 50 years are closed, so whats next? Hunting will be something our kids will have to read about in the history books in our liberal schools.
Delisting is absolute – we are at the crossroads of grizzly and human population expansion in the west. Since the beginning of settling Western North America, we have been at odds with the grizzly. Natives in the West may or may not have bee at odds with him, depending on an individuals beliefs, but they had a healthy respect for them called fear. We have an absolute saturation rate of human to bear population ratios that will guarantee more confrontations each year. Some humans and some bears will be lucky and walk away – unfortunately for some of us out west we will know and love friends and relatives who don’t come back.
It’s hard for a city dwelling, liberal “outdoor vacationer” to see this as they drive their motor home to the usual streamlined sites in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. In these tourist type locations the grizzly has been hazed away from the warm gift shops and ranger stations and cafés and yes Old Faithful with rubber bullets and sand bags and pepper sprays until its deemed “safe” by the park service. So go enjoy. Go have your picnic and ignore the fact that in the shadows the eyes and especially the nose of a creature many times your size, weight, cunning and strength observes your children with one thing on its mind, how to eat enough protein to survive another winter. You and your children will fill the bill – sure you believe they avoid humans as food – go ahead and keep that belief when you come out west – that thinking will keep me and mine from becoming those winter calories. A bear is not so choosy, the slow and the weak do just fine.
My family and I have hunted, camped, backpacked and guided the west for generations. Until you face a grumpy, hungry ol’ griz face to face you really should keep that mouth shut and you wallet closed because ol’ griz just May tech some swift fatal respect next time your in this territory.
Just follow the old west management principal; S, S, & Shut up
I also feel that the North American model of conservation should be employed. Each state should scientifically determine how many should be taken. But that said I see the same bias toward the rich with “Tags” being auctioned for numbers unheard of. That obviously eliminates 99% of us from a chance. All that said, science should win out and the correct thing be done.
we need a grizzly bear season. I came face to face with a grizzly, while hunting elk in Montana ! I know of at least 2 others who lost their elk to the big bears.
I would like to see a season and limit established on the grizzly bear. However, I would like permits awarded on a strictly controlled lottery system and not priced so high the average hunter can’t afford to hunt them. They shouldn’t just be a trophy for the wealthy or well connected.
I think that Gizzly bears should be hunted the same as any other animal. If for nothing else than to control there population. to say nothing of the revenue that it would generate for the state.
livbly maybe you should start by using your name, and also checking the info instead of tarring all hunters with the same brush. Hunters do more to support animals than any other group
The whitetail deer, wild turkey, pronghorn antelope, elk….all thriving due to US!!! Preserve and protect by establishing a managed and harvest healthy population that generates private, state and federal dollars..IT ALSO preserves wild places so we can hunt again..and again..and again!!! Do the same with Grizzly and the hunters dollars and interest in protection will do the same for the bears as those animals that are now thriving due to SELECTIVE, SPORT…..HUNTING!!!
Livbly, do you think grizzlys should have more rights than us…w
I hunted Montana in 2006, shot a mule deer within 15 minutes we had a grizzly, my Outfitter threw the bear my damage right shoulder, mule deer, not me, to the bear and the bear eventually followed us off the 8200 ft mountain to base camp. Yes, the bears need hunted, limited maybe, but hunted as they have no fear!
hunt them and then shoot them then make a rug out of them
Should you have a Grizzley show up within minutes of shooting a mule deer, your opinions would
clearly change, especially after walking, not riding your horse 3 1/2 hrs off the mountain in the dark, shining your flashligt behind you, not to mention the bear making an appearance at your base camp!
I am at a loss to understand these environmentalists accept the science about global warming, fracking, etc, but then reject the science of Wildlife Management.
It is aparant that facts are irrelevant to the liberal community, but I will say as an avid hunter just because you ran into a bear one time in the woods doesn’t mean shoot them all of them in the face, unfortunately I do not have much faith in the game and parks management skills but if they are delisted great! If not well apparently someone knows more then I do about there population health!
Dennis Blair
I can empathize with you but there again just because one kid goes into a school and shoots
Multiple students; do we punish every gun owner!? I am not a bleeding heart for the grizzly bear and someday I can’t wait to put one down but BALANCE, I hope they find it!
There have been enough bears to offer a hunt for many years now. Many bears are killed by fish and wildlife due to run ins with people and property. Licenses could go to sportsmen to hunt the problem bears with Div. of Wildlife to give revenue toward managing the grizzly population while giving legally licensed hunters a chance at a once in a lifetime hunting experience.
Guy – You offer sound reasoning from the mind of an engineer, and you just make too much sense. Keep it up! Your reference to “money and emotion” I would argue is sometimes just “emotion” on the part of liberal followers that protest to protest, and without facts. This debate about grizzlies is representative of other non-hunting political issues we have where the problem solvers (like you and me) are ignored in favor of the irrationals that don’t believe in God, claim to believe in Evolution ONLY, but paradoxically want to SAVE everything and everyone because their bleeding hearts are full of emotion without cause, and the effect as you mention, is not one that they have to live with. Our kind is becoming smaller and smaller as the general population swells with have nots and uneducated people that are little more than sheep with Democratic votes. Sigh…BTW, I live and hunt in Nevada and the wolves are HURTING the awesome elk population that we Nevadans have boasted about for years. Wolves belong in Canada for the most part and not in the lower 48. Finally, I took down a B&C Alaskan Brown Bear on Kodiak Island last May that squared at 10′ and had a 28 5/16″ skull. All the best – Jonny Tadago
I live in Southern Michigan and I feel that the Feds & the courts need to keeps there hands off managing our wildlife, We have professional who are much more educated in the art wildlife management then some OVER PAID lawyer or Judge. I’ve been to Yellowstone and it’s simply awesome, I was not for the reintroduction of the wolf to Yellowstone but there here and here they stay, BUT they need to be managed simply by hunting them!! Here in Michigan recently there was a vote not to hunt the wolves in the upper peninsula and there has been problems with them killing pets & live stock again it’s people from other areas of the state that are not facing these problem animals that are voting on this, I know this for sure if I’m bird hunting in the UP & my bird dog is attacked by a wolf I know what to do and will do it. So let’s leave managing our wildlife to professional. The wolf has migrated to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan as well and the suburbs are filled with Coyote’s so all you bleeding Hearts when your little dogs & cats come up missing call the Humane Society and see what they have to say about managing wildlife!
DELIST!!!!!! I’m a Pro-Game Management California Sportsman. Leave game management to the professionals in the state fish and game agencies based on a states or areas needs from scientifically collected data by these agencies. It’s our job as sportsmen, farmers, ranchers and concerned citizens to supply evidence and input of data to these agencies, with our expectations of what’s needed to resolve these issues. These agencies are working for us as tax payers and especially sportsmen as our license fees fund the majority of these agencies annual budgets. NOT THE OPPOSITION, bleeding hearts with squeaky wheels.
BE HEARD!!!!!! Remember the squeaky wheel is always heard and greased, that’s our fault and problem that we’re not heard, BE MORE VOCAL. Remember all government agencies are funded by our tax $$$$ and are expected to aline with the majority and we need a louder voice. Research issues then collect evidence, statistics, data and present it to your state, wildlife agencies, representatives, judges etc. with your expectations of them to resolve the issues, they need to here your voice!!!! Sportsmen are the majority over the few that are the opposition, they’re heard only because they squeak louder.
BE PROACTIVE!!!!!! Bite the problem square in the butt before it gets out of hand, to often we’re reactive and thats to late.
WE DON’T NEED!!!!!! Emotionally charged bleeding heart groups wasting our tax $$$$ filing frivolous law suits, predominantly heard by uninformed bias liberal judges. These court decisions are disastrous to our wildlife and ecosystem the majority of the time, because they’re based on emotions instead scientific fact. Remember ranches, farms and subdivisions are all part of our modern ecosystem, as they’re needed for food and living. We need our professionally trained and educated wildlife agencies to operate unobstructed by these emotionally charged court orders by an uninformed judges decision.
California is a prime example with the mountain lion that’s endangered per the emotionally charged kitty lovers. In reality we have more lions in the state now then ever, with news reports almost weekly of lion sighting in cities and subdivisions state wide. It’s to the point it’s a public safety concern in many areas now with warning signs posted, hiking trails closed, etc. and this is in suburbia, not the country or wildernesses. The lack of hunting lions for decades has bred generations of the cats loosing fear of humans and has had disastrous consequences on our wildlife. AND NOW THEY WANT TO INTRODUCE GRIZZLIES HERE, HOW STUPID!!!!!!
I could go on for ever concerning these issues and back them with facts, very important when being heard.
DON’T ALLOW THE EMOTIONALLY CHARGED OPPOSITION TO DICTATE WHATS BEST FOR YOU, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR WILDLIFE OR YOUR STATE. BE HEARD BE HEARD!!!!
I have long suggested that the grizzly ought to be delisted. It would be good for the griz too.
We have had too many problems with the griz and too many people hurt and griz destroyed because of these incidents. The griz needs to be afraid of humans. To do this there needs to be a limited number of harvest permits in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This would reduce troubled bears and allow limited legal harvest, and eliminate the government killing of most of the bears that get into trouble. And hikers/hunters would have much less incidents with ol’ griz. Alan Jubenville
Let’s face it, there are enough bears out there. The Griz are doing well. The introduction of wolves hasn’t helped their cause. That situation causes less prey for the Griz to feed on. However, grizzlies are necessary in the web of nature. But we don’t have to transplant a bunch of them to increase their numbers. Nature does that automatically. The eradication of wolves in the lower 48 was a poor way to deal with them, but it was done and bringing them back has done nothing but cause more problems. At least, here in Idaho, we are allowed to hunt them [wolves, I mean] and that’s a plus. If grizzlies get to be a REAL problem then we should hunt them also…not reintroduce them.
Very well put john.