WDFW announces mountain goat removal in Olympic National Park

[baker5150]

Here's what is going to happen...  One idiot who goes on this eradication is going to share pictures of his group's kills, including the nannies and kids.  When the public sees these pictures, which they will, it's going to be one of the biggest  BLACK EYES  our hunting community has ever seen.  The kind of fuel the anti-hunting groups thrive on. 
And I wouldn't consider this a hunt gentlemen.  The idea of pulling the trigger on a bunch of young goats is wrong IMO, regardless of the Fed's reasons.

  leave it to the hired guns, WDFW is just looking for a bunch of scapegoats to help begin the end of hunting in WA.   

It's been well established that the WDFW isn't involved in this hunt, it's the National Parks Service.

[jackelope]

Another thing that I think is worth noting is that even for the best hunters this might not be a high success rate hunt. Not like a normal OIL. They’re doing more live captures this summer and are taking everything out of there they can. I think this hunt is just to clean up the final holdouts. I don’t think it’s going to be a bloodbath because it could be legitimately difficult to locate a goat. In some of the units there may not even be any goats left.

First of all this shouldn't be anything like any OIL hunt at all...by design. Theeeee problem in this regard are the guys who are signing up and treating it as an OIL tag. I mean it will be a once in a lifetime experience for sure....but it is designed to be a cull hunt. Not too many people in their lives will be able to say they've done something like this.
Secondly...They're going to send groups to where they know goats are. They will know because the NPS will be flying and surveying and they'll know where the goats are that are left. Hey....Goat team 6...you're assigned to this area. Kill em all!  It's almost supposed to be a blood bath.

[JimmyHoffa]

Park recommends taking a minimum of 40 rounds per shooter.

[Bob33]

It seems ironic that for years whenever there has been a need to cull animals and hired groups are used to remove them, the hue and cry of “why don’t they use hunters?” rings loudly.

Now there is an offer to use hunters and many can’t seem to run away fast enough.

[westsidehntr]

It seems ironic that for years whenever there has been a need to cull animals and hired groups are used to remove them, the hue and cry of “why don’t they use hunters?” rings loudly.

Now there is an offer to use hunters and many can’t seem to run away fast enough.

 

[Bango skank]

It seems ironic that for years whenever there has been a need to cull animals and hired groups are used to remove them, the hue and cry of “why don’t they use hunters?” rings loudly.

Now there is an offer to use hunters and many can’t seem to run away fast enough.

But this offer seems to request indiscriminate killing to wipe them out completely (i know, they want them extirpated) and will likely result in a good amount of meat left to waste.  Guys shooting a female and several juveniles, leaving a bunch of meat for scavengers, wiping out the population, its a bit different deal than allowing hunters tags to thin out say an elk population to a more reasonable level, with one animal per hunter, where the animal will be recovered, to protect against crop damage for example.  Whole different scenario and type of publicity involved. 

[Pegasus]

It seems ironic that for years whenever there has been a need to cull animals and hired groups are used to remove them, the hue and cry of “why don’t they use hunters?” rings loudly.

Now there is an offer to use hunters and many can’t seem to run away fast enough.

The old adage: "Be careful what you wish for"  seems appropriate here.

[jackelope]

It seems ironic that for years whenever there has been a need to cull animals and hired groups are used to remove them, the hue and cry of “why don’t they use hunters?” rings loudly.

Now there is an offer to use hunters and many can’t seem to run away fast enough.

I'm not at all saying run away. I'd do it if I wasn't fat and out of shape. I am saying don't treat it like an OIL hunt or a bucket list hunt, unless you've dreamed of being an APHIS sharpshooter since you were a child.  Do the job you volunteered to do and don't pass up nannies in favor of 10" booner billies just because you can keep the horns.
Also I'm saying don't post your hero shots all over Instagram too.  This may sound corny, but this virus situation with people freaking out because they can't drive across the state or to a different state to go fishing instead of waiting a few weeks has proven to me that people are more concerned about self-satisfaction than they are about the job at hand.

[Buckhunter24]

It seems ironic that for years whenever there has been a need to cull animals and hired groups are used to remove them, the hue and cry of “why don’t they use hunters?” rings loudly.

Now there is an offer to use hunters and many can’t seem to run away fast enough.

But this offer seems to request indiscriminate killing to wipe them out completely (i know, they want them extirpated) and will likely result in a good amount of meat left to waste.  Guys shooting a female and several juveniles, leaving a bunch of meat for scavengers, wiping out the population, its a bit different deal than allowing hunters tags to thin out say an elk population to a more reasonable level, with one animal per hunter, where the animal will be recovered, to protect against crop damage for example.  Whole different scenario and type of publicity involved.

If theres publicity, and given the location/local interest there will be, it will be negative. I dont see a positive benefit to this outside of a few saved dollars. They have clearly spent a lot flying them out already, at this point I think the whole thing should be a hired operation. If reducing numbers was a goal instead of total elimination it would be a whole different story.

[Gentrys]

For those of you who end up participating:  If you truely want to represent hunters in the best light, then bring out the meat from EVERYTHING you kill.  To me, hunting is about heritage and respecting wildlife while providing food for my family.  If all you do is go in and slaughter goats and leave them to waste, your doing what poachers do, but with a permit.  doesn't seem right to me.  Just because a branch of our government is ok with it doesn't mean it's right.  Things are constantly changing in our eccosystems.  Some animals are no longer in existense in some parts of the country while other animals move into areas they haven't been before.  It's called survival.  As conservationalists, we should be about helping game survive in certain areas, not wiping them out.  These animals are a resource, don't let them go to waste.

[Buckhunter24]

Its not a hunt though, the goal is to elimate the species from the Olympics. I dont think it will be possible to pack all meat out no matter how experienced. Its extremely rugged ground. It isnt hiking, its climbing

[bigtex]

It seems ironic that for years whenever there has been a need to cull animals and hired groups are used to remove them, the hue and cry of “why don’t they use hunters?” rings loudly.

Now there is an offer to use hunters and many can’t seem to run away fast enough.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[fishngamereaper]

It seems ironic that for years whenever there has been a need to cull animals and hired groups are used to remove them, the hue and cry of “why don’t they use hunters?” rings loudly.

Now there is an offer to use hunters and many can’t seem to run away fast enough.

I partially agree but I also think the cry to use hunters was meant in the form of increased tag allotments and opportunities to "hunt" something that would otherwise be unachievable in todays draw system.

It would seem that if they offered numerous tags and several 5 day seasons in those areas and let people hunt, the perception might be different and guys would be able to check the goat hunt box off their list. Over a couple years of re location and special permits they would could accomplish the same goal. For some reason though they decided this is the year that all goats have to be gone. And what happens when this is all said and done and there are still a couple hundred goats in the area. Helo kills or a retry next year. 

[stlusn30-06]

This is pretty straight forward. This is a non native species causing damage to the ecosystem they've found themselves in. In the North American model of wildlife management there are many, many examples of times species were introduced long before anyone knew what was going on, only to be completely eradicated from an area decades later. That is what is unfolding here. This is not meant to be the hunt of a lifetime. It the NPS using volunteers to complete a task. As members of the conservation community hunters have been called on (across the country) to participate in these types of operations many times over the years. If you have hiked in any of these areas recently, you may have experienced the goats coming into your campsite, or staring you down while you eat lunch. You may end up glassing a Billy across snow capped peaks. You'll likely be directed where to go and will participate in a cull. Despite the "this isn't conservation, this isn't hunting" rhetoric, this is exactly what conservation looks like, and it was not meant to be a hunt. It is going to be a hard, ugly job doing things a lot of people don't like doing to improve habitat for future generations. This was what science based management looks like vs. but my feelings say we should just leave them management. It's not always the way we wish it could be.

[fishngamereaper]

This is pretty straight forward. This is a non native species causing damage to the ecosystem they've found themselves in. In the North American model of wildlife management there are many, many examples of times species were introduced long before anyone knew what was going on, only to be completely eradicated from an area decades later. That is what is unfolding here. This is not meant to be the hunt of a lifetime. It the NPS using volunteers to complete a task. As members of the conservation community hunters have been called on (across the country) to participate in these types of operations many times over the years. If you have hiked in any of these areas recently, you may have experienced the goats coming into your campsite, or staring you down while you eat lunch. You may end up glassing a Billy across snow capped peaks. You'll likely be directed where to go and will participate in a cull. Despite the "this isn't conservation, this isn't hunting" rhetoric, this is exactly what conservation looks like, and it was not meant to be a hunt. It is going to be a hard, ugly job doing things a lot of people don't like doing to improve habitat for future generations. This was what science based management looks like vs. but my feelings say we should just leave them management. It's not always the way we wish it could be.

So is this to save an ecosystem or because the goats interrupt peoples lunch.

I've spent my fair share of time up there and the Olympics are perfect goat habitat. Ya they kill some plants, so does every other big game animal. But if its the people interactions that are the problem maybe they should ban people.  Or limit them like the enchantments, where the goats and people also have to co exist. 

There are a few other animals in this state that are non native as well.