WDFW announces mountain goat removal in Olympic National Park

[Encore 280]

So is everyone going to "social distance" and take their own rig up there?  If so, that's a lot of vehicles parked up there. Hopefully this virus thing will be over by then. My thought is and I suppose you'll be thinking the same thing. The antis will be out in force most likely. I wouldn't want to leave my rig parked up there unattended. Could end up with a ventilated cab, meaning missing windows, tires flat on one side and a new unwanted paint job. Just my  Glad I'm an old fart and out of shape.

[Boss .300 winmag]

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.

 

[Boss .300 winmag]

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 can only speak for myself but in todays political environment and even over the last 25 or so years you would never hear that "hue or cry" from me, back in the day, hell yes, like I said before I would have been first in line for something like this but like everybody always says "this isn't the good ole days". A different time, heck 40,50 years ago hunters who took care of this "business" would have probably be touted as hometown heroes, had articles written in local papers of how the renegade, evasive goats were eradicated out of our national park to keep the trails safe for our citizens. In todays environment of politics, special interest groups, the internet and high-powered animal rights groups with deep pockets and support this is nothing I as a hunter and sportsman would want to be involved in because I see no positives in it for hunters or the health of our hunting heritage, I do see the very likely potential of a lot of negative coming out of this for our hunting community and in this state of Washington especially, thats the last thing we as hunters need, let the government handle this one by themselves, let them have the blood on their hands, not we as hunters, like I said before, this has nothing but bad written all over it for hunters and also like Ive said many times, I truly hope Im wrong. Yes, I'm old enough and fortunate enough to have lived and hunted in those "good ole days" in this state and trust me on this, we are no where close nowadays, especially on how we as hunters are viewed. What Im saying is the truth.....my  .........carry on.

 

[Boss .300 winmag]

How many off you have worked for the NPS since the year 2000?

[Wetwoodshunter]

How many off you have worked for the NPS since the year 2000?

I worked for ONP in Port Angeles for 2 years. In 2009-11

[Boss .300 winmag]

How many off you have worked for the NPS since the year 2000?

I worked for ONP in Port Angeles for 2 years. In 2009-11

What type of work did you do?

[Wetwoodshunter]

How many off you have worked for the NPS since the year 2000?

I worked for ONP in Port Angeles for 2 years. In 2009-11

What type of work did you do?

I worked on some projects in the Elwha pre dam removal. Most of the work was in river fabrication, snorkle surveys, and helicopter work doing bull trout relocation from the lakes to upper reaches of the Elwha tributaries.

[444Marlin]

I’m not sure how much of a fair comparison it is, but for several years in the early 2000s I hunted the high buck hunt in one of the Olympic wilderness areas.  We encountered hikers in limited numbers on most trips and never had a bad experience with any of them. There seemed to be a respect that we got there on our own two feet, the same way they did. We didn’t bother them, and they didn’t bother us.

Heck...that might have been me!  I was climber and backpacker before I was into hunting...it was running into guys in the backcountry on the Pen during September that made me think, "I'd like to give that a shot!"

I was looking at those areas that they want to hunt.  Those peaks kicked my rear when I was in my 20's and I know I wouldn't be in shape to do it now and I haven't climbed in over 10 years.

[jdcrosse]

I want to get in on this in the worst way!  If someone would add me to their group I'd be forever grateful.  I'm a good shot, am in good shape, have high-end gear, and never quit!  If anyone is interested please email me.

John Crosse
jdcrosse@comcast.net

[luvmystang67]

Application was submitted on Saturday.  I hope they think our crew is qualified.

[Rob]

tagging to follow along

[Bushcraft]

There were at least 225+ team applications.

I wonder how much resume puffery was on the applications...and how the NPS can verify any of it.

I can hardly wait to put in the PDR. 

[HoytHunter24]

There were at least 225+ team applications.

I wonder how much resume puffery was on the applications...and how the NPS can verify any of it.

I can hardly wait to put in the PDR. 

Where did you get the 225 number? just curious

[birddogdad]

There were at least 225+ team applications.

I wonder how much resume puffery was on the applications...and how the NPS can verify any of it.

I can hardly wait to put in the PDR. 

Where did you get the 225 number? just curious

i read a post yesterday where someone had received an email from Dr Happe and she said over 1000 teams had applied... i cant confirm but that was what i read!

[Bushcraft]

There were at least 225+ team applications.

I wonder how much resume puffery was on the applications...and how the NPS can verify any of it.

I can hardly wait to put in the PDR. 

Where did you get the 225 number? just curious

When I spoke with the guy at NPS answering the phone, he told me there where over 200 apps. I knew a handful of other teams that would be submitting their apps. Extrapolated/guessed at the 225, but I'm probably not that far off.