pronghorn management meetings

[wheels]

https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/pronghorn-antelope-management

[Stein]

I would like to understand how climate change has been a significant reason for their decline.


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[polishstunner]

So they dug into this issue about 7 years ago and found areas where antelope could thrive. The farmers asked for too too much compensation and it led to too much red tape....therefore, groups went to tribes where there was very little. This will be the same thing but this time, the state is in better financial space. Most of that is well known.

[grundy53]

I would like to understand how climate change has been a significant reason for their decline.


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Agreed

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[dwils233]

I would like to understand how climate change has been a significant reason for their decline.


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If I were to make a guess about that, it would be that more extreme weather, particularly harder winters, have a huge impact on their mortality rates. I remember hearing that antelope winter kills can cause huge population fluxes even in healthy herd populations. Longer, harder winters (or just less consistent winters) could be problematic especially for a smaller herd.

I'm not weighing in on a climate change debate, just saying that wonky winter weather seems to be more frequent at least in the past few decades and winter can whack them hard as a species.

[Stein]

They survive weeks of subzero temps in WY and MT, -20 or more.  For some reason, when they cross the border into WA they must become more fragile?

Habitat is a huge thing and antelope don't like roads or people, but the thought that they can't survive a WA winter is something I can't wrap my head around.

[dwils233]

They survive weeks of subzero temps in WY and MT, -20 or more.  For some reason, when they cross the border into WA they must become more fragile?

Habitat is a huge thing and antelope don't like roads or people, but the thought that they can't survive a WA winter is something I can't wrap my head around.

My point was that, yes they survive winter as a herd, but there the  wide population fluctuations can be absorbed by how large the population is. if you have 30k and 5k die, the herd can rebound ok. if you have 30 and 5 die, well then you are in trouble for starting up a new population without crossover and supplement from another herd. two bad winters in a row, vehicle collisions, etc and that herd is no longer self sustaining

Similar to the collapse of the carrier pigeon. It does great and can handle large mortality when there are millions of them, but once those numbers get small it can just collapse in on itself.  Same thing happened with bison, thousands used to drown at a single time each spring but they could absorb it as long as populations were high enough. Of course, I'm not a biologist so I could be wrong

[elkchaser54]

Yeah the climate change part is just garbage . They were hunted and killed out of existence over a 100 years ago . No populations that remained were close enough to us to spread back in to Washington.  Glad they are bringing them back, they should succeed in this state . We don't really get the deep snow and harsh winters that they survive across Montana Wyoming and the Dakotas .

[Stein]

Agreed, the notion that 1/6 of the herd dies due to WA winters is fantasy.  WA simply doesn't have hard winters.  Antelope didn't disappear due to temperature and they are not difficult to reintroduce due to temperature.  It's simply something the state adds on to every statement where they can solely due to politics.

[Bushcraft]

Uhmm...groups???

Let's give some credit where it is due and GIVE A HUGE THANKS to SCI's Washington chapters and their network of hard-working volunteers who have spent a TON of time, money and energy spearheading the hands-on re-introduction of pronghorns back into Washington (with the help of the Yakama and Colville tribes to bypass WDFW's nonsensical bureaucratic red tape).

If it weren't for SCI, there would still be no pronghorns in Washington.  For that matter, if it weren't for SCI, I'd go so far as to say there wouldn't be any hunting in Washington. NRA for your gun rights. SCI for your hunting rights. It's just that simple people.

We hunters and landowners that want this re-introduction effort to succeed - so we can once again have a thriving and huntable population, need to pack these hearing rooms AND take the online survey.

Link to survey: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/pronghorn-antelope-management/survey?fbclid=IwAR3vtgT0b6o2hUdtRfoiUXk5SFoWf7M4YdG86d88KDpxy32bQ07_ZQzX6AY

Here's a short video I made of the most recent translocation project:

[BDildine]

survey taken  , also thanks for all your work/help reintroducing these great critters back into WA, its something i'd like to get possibly involved in (time allowing)

[Tbar]

Uhmm...groups???

Let's give some credit where it is due and GIVE A HUGE THANKS to SCI's Washington chapters and their network of hard-working volunteers who have spent a TON of time, money and energy spearheading the hands-on re-introduction of pronghorns back into Washington (with the help of the Yakama and Colville tribes to bypass WDFW's nonsensical bureaucratic red tape).

If it weren't for SCI, there would still be no pronghorns in Washington.  For that matter, if it weren't for SCI, I'd go so far as to say there wouldn't be any hunting in Washington. NRA for your gun rights. SCI for your hunting rights. It's just that simple people.

We hunters and landowners that want this re-introduction effort to succeed - so we can once again have a thriving and huntable population, need to pack these hearing rooms AND take the online survey.

Link to survey: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/pronghorn-antelope-management/survey?fbclid=IwAR3vtgT0b6o2hUdtRfoiUXk5SFoWf7M4YdG86d88KDpxy32bQ07_ZQzX6AY

Here's a short video I made of the most recent translocation project:

You use the tribes to circumvent the red tape but your organization wants to end tribal hunting? (Per recent press release)

[Ridgerunner]

I took the survey, told them they need to spend as much time and resources getting them back in the ecosystem as they do the wolves.  Shouldn't be handled any differently imo. 

Both species were here before and are now being reintroduced. 

[Stein]

I took the survey, told them they need to spend as much time and resources getting them back in the ecosystem as they do the wolves.  Shouldn't be handled any differently imo. 

Both species were here before and are now being reintroduced.

Good idea, but it won't happen because nobody will sue them like they do for wolves and bears.

[Bushcraft]

You use the tribes to circumvent the red tape but your organization wants to end tribal hunting? (Per recent press release)

I'm not sure how you came to that (mistaken) conclusion. We don't want to end tribal hunting. Please reference the press release again.

https://www.safariclub.org/blog/supreme-court-ruling-threatens-wildlife-and-hunting

SCI argued in our brief that states could be forced to reduce the available harvest for non-tribal hunters since the unregulated take by tribal hunters not only reduces the potential availability of game for all, but also undermines the state wildlife managers’ ability to accurately determine the number of animals removed from the population.


As the leading organization working to protect hunters and hunting, we simply want to assure a sustainable, science-based approach to the management of our wild places and wild things that inhabit them...that is both fair and equitable.

Allowing someone like this idiot - that should know better since he was a game warden, to blow away a bunch of bull elk under the auspices of "treaty rights!" is neither fair, nor equitable and certainly not a sustainable, science-based approach to managing our finite game populations.