Interesting WY Elk Herd Article

[Joe2Kool]

I bet a few extra NR tags could help solve this problem!
I guess it's better to have this problem than the problem of diminishing herds.

Elk wars: Inflated herds spur committee duel, radical proposals

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.

oilcity.news

 

[jm77]

I bet a few extra NR tags could help solve this problem!
I guess it's better to have this problem than the problem of diminishing herds.

There will be a "few" more NR tags and it will just make the problem worse.

 

[Joe2Kool]

Nah. A hundred NRs can decimate the elk herd like they did with the deer herd!

Just razzin' you JM.

 

[goforbroke]

I assume on private land. Land owner tags, especially unlimited cow tags has helped here in Utah.

I can't belief they aren't complaining about wild horses (feral
)

 

[JECTedit]

I bet a few extra NR tags could help solve this problem!
I guess it's better to have this problem than the problem of diminishing herds.

Elk wars: Inflated herds spur committee duel, radical proposals

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.

oilcity.news

More tags won’t help in the Iron Mountain area….can’t sell the ones being offered.

Problem is outside money buying land that doesn’t need to be profit, squeezing out family ranchers who do need to make a profit.

Outside money refuses access (or leases to an outfitter); family ranches feed the elk that have figured out when to stay on sanctuary ranches.

How about an “earn a bull” program like some whitetail states have done:

Outfitted hunters, rich landowners, ect have to kill 2-3 cows to get the privelidge of hunting a bull?

Might break up the big herds, and also decrease the population abit

 

[Joe2Kool]

More tags won’t help in the Iron Mountain area….can’t sell the ones being offered.

Not sure I understand. G&F has extra tags that don't get used? Or landowners can't sell their LO tags?

I understand the out of state money analogy.

Haven't applied or elk hunted in Wyoming, so I'm not familiar with the tag availability. Sounds like I should get familiar with it!

 

[wytex]

There are a few local ranchers that did not allow elk hunting in the past, they are not out of state LOs but long time ranchers in Wyoming.
In the past many LOs wanted to "manage" this herd for trophy quality bull elk and hunting access was very hard to come by.
Now tons of elk , too many , and not much access.

Guess what there are some ranchers complaining about elk management by WG&F.

Hundreds of tags for this area and no access to use them Joe.
We got lucky this weekend and took 2 elk out of the herd.
Had about 250 stream by though we couldn't get a shot at.
They herd up into large herds in this area and travel it until they find a sanctuary, used to be 2 large ranches that were sanctuary for elk later in season, now they at least allow some hunting but have thousands for winter. The elk remember where they use to be safe and still head there.

 

[LIK2HNT]

Sounds like some of these LOs need to at least allow late season cow hunts. If not already in place F&G needs late season hunts to allow this to work for LOs. I would think a lot of people would like to shoot a cow elk if the trespass fee was reasonable.

 

[wytex]

If only LIK2HNT.
We've been hunting this area for about 25-30 years and access is hard even for us, we even work for a rancher.

 

[BuzzH]

Sounds like some of these LOs need to at least allow late season cow hunts. If not already in place F&G needs late season hunts to allow this to work for LOs. I would think a lot of people would like to shoot a cow elk if the trespass fee was reasonable.

Good luck with that, the season already goes to the end of January and opens August 15. The GF paid 2 guys to kill 129 last winter. GF killed a bunch more on another place.

The landowners in that area want transferrable land owner bull tags. They don't really care about anything else. If they did, they would allow access.

 

[JECTedit]

Good luck with that, the season already goes to the end of January and opens August 15. The GF paid 2 guys to kill 129 last winter. GF killed a bunch more on another place.

The landowners in that area want transferrable land owner bull tags. They don't really care about anything else. If they did, they would allow access.

The challenge is it’s not “all” of the landowners who want transferable tags and as many elk as possible.

The folks who allow access still end up feeding the big herds; not August-January when hunters keep them out; but the rest of winter and then through the growing season.

Kindof like my neighbors chickens coming over and destroying my wife’s garden. Except her garden isn’t my livelihood.

Tough problem for some ranchers, the G&F, and hunters.

 

[Joe2Kool]

Thanks for the info guys. Large herds with limited access can be an issue. And G&F will have a hard time managing it if LOs don't allow access.

But when I see what LO tags are going for in other states, well let's just say I'm not gonna shell out that kind of money!

 

[Bookhead]

The challenge is it’s not “all” of the landowners who want transferable tags and as many elk as possible.

The folks who allow access still end up feeding the big herds; not August-January when hunters keep them out; but the rest of winter and then through the growing season.

Kindof like my neighbors chickens coming over and destroying my wife’s garden. Except her garden isn’t my livelihood.

Tough problem for some ranchers, the G&F, and hunters.

The game and fish has the power to create auxiliary seasons whenever they see fit. Transferable landowner tags won't help the problem your talking about

 

[BrianID]

This isn't a complicated problem or a new problem. Landowners not allowing hunters to come kill cow elk on their property are the problem. It only takes one large ranch in the area that limits cow elk hunting to cause the problem. Ranchers shouldn't blame the G&F, they should blame their neighbors. With the long seasons, any landowner that welcomes hunters on their property can keep many of the elk off their land.

You can't take away private property rights and mandate cow elk harvest without the landowners permission. Ranchers that think they have too many elk on their property need to get together and put some social pressure on their neighbors that are causing the problem. Elk numbers will be controlled if all the landowners in the area allow cow elk hunting on their property.

 

[Joe2Kool]

any landowner that welcomes hunters on their property can keep many of the elk off their land.

Elk avoid hunting pressure, hence they're going where there's no hunting pressure. Pretty novel concept!
(OK, OK, that's just me being a smart @ZZ!)

 

[fullthrottle]

Landowners ***** about the elk herd, but don’t allow access to hunt cows late season. Or charge an absurd amount to access them. Makes a lot of sense. Allow hunters to hunt cows on your land, problem solved. Wouldn’t take very many cows hitting the dirt every couple days to keep the elk of your place. This is true all over the west. Can’t have it both ways. On top of that, they want transferable bull tags knowing how much money they can rake in.

 

[wytex]

Luckily we are doing our part this year, 2 elk down and hoping for 2 more this weekend.

This same area used to be a LQ area and LOs got that changed to general for the ease of getting tags. They don't seem to be happy with anything.