Wyoming Has Too Many Elk, And Nobody’s Sure What To Do About It

[wolfbait]

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/08/11/wyoming-has-too-many-elk-and-nobodys-sure-what-to-do-about-it/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&_kx=03QhdhzlvjEwc5SAgf0fx06umFkyTHl9Uc97HTi5MXeNGGMZDqRLeqPZMZUnznjw.UXPtrV

[Taco280AI]

I'll go help resolve that problem.

[dvolmer]

First thing is to not give the private landowner a dime in damage control or otherwise unless they have a plan to let the public Hunter access to hunt.  Go to a program like Utah has that gives the private property owner an incentive to allow some kind of public access.  Once the season starts the elk all run to private.  Wyoming has absolutely nothing to incentivize public access other than a very poorly compensated HMA system that is very poorly compensated.  The actual fact is that it isn’t an elk overpopulation problem but a problem with private landowners not allowing access and then complaining that they are being over-run. There are plenty of hunters willing to pay for the tags to get the population to objective. The private landowners are complaining but also holding out to somehow get the game dept to fold to their wishes so they can get more money by selling access of some sort.

[High Climber]

I plan on helping this “problem” in about a month   

[link]

I hope to do my part as well in October.

[Tenkara]

I hope to do my part as well in October.

Me too , I'll be there the first week of October.

[2MANY]

First thing is to not give the private landowner a dime in damage control or otherwise unless they have a plan to let the public Hunter access to hunt.  Go to a program like Utah has that gives the private property owner an incentive to allow some kind of public access.  Once the season starts the elk all run to private.  Wyoming has absolutely nothing to incentivize public access other than a very poorly compensated HMA system that is very poorly compensated.  The actual fact is that it isn’t an elk overpopulation problem but a problem with private landowners not allowing access and then complaining that they are being over-run. There are plenty of hunters willing to pay for the tags to get the population to objective. The private landowners are complaining but also holding out to somehow get the game dept to fold to their wishes so they can get more money by selling access of some sort.

Buy a ranch.
Problem solved.

[ducks4days]

First thing is to not give the private landowner a dime in damage control or otherwise unless they have a plan to let the public Hunter access to hunt.  Go to a program like Utah has that gives the private property owner an incentive to allow some kind of public access.  Once the season starts the elk all run to private.  Wyoming has absolutely nothing to incentivize public access other than a very poorly compensated HMA system that is very poorly compensated.  The actual fact is that it isn’t an elk overpopulation problem but a problem with private landowners not allowing access and then complaining that they are being over-run. There are plenty of hunters willing to pay for the tags to get the population to objective. The private landowners are complaining but also holding out to somehow get the game dept to fold to their wishes so they can get more money by selling access of some sort.

Yeah, this sounds very similar to the "Hogpocalypse" problem in Texas. Landowners charge $500 to hunt pigs and complain about rampant damage in the same breath.

Anecdotal, but my dad was in Wyoming a couple years ago for the August pronghorn hunt. He stayed on BLM the whole time, but a rancher drove out of his way to come find him and ask if he was coming out for Elk in the fall, because they were raiding his wheat field daily.

[ctwiggs1]

Tough problem to solve.  I used to be in the “they should just let us hunt their land” club, then I bought property.  The idea of someone hunting on my property scares the crap outta me with our modern litigious society.   

[Stein]

Tough problem to solve.  I used to be in the “they should just let us hunt their land” club, then I bought property.  The idea of someone hunting on my property scares the crap outta me with our modern litigious society.

For the couple of states I hunt, they handle that at the state level.  If you participate in the state program, the state runs the program and assumes all liability.  Hunters agree to the terms as a condition of hunting, if they don't they are trespassing.  In WA, it's one of the few selling points, you can dictate the terms and it's up to the state to make sure they are followed.

In MT, you can call and in my experience there will be a warden on the property in minutes in most cases.  I've done it twice and in both instances I got a call from the warden thanking me for placing the call and giving me an update on what actions were taken, neither call was on my property.  Both were trespassing and one was shooting more animals than tags in addition. 

In WA, well, we're in WA.  I've called 3-4 times if I remember right and if I got a call back it was a couple days later asking for information I already gave the answering service over the weekend.  The last time I was informed a time stamped photo with license plates and uniquely identifying parking spot signs behind their rig wasn't enough to follow up on.

[JakeLand]

First thing is to not give the private landowner a dime in damage control or otherwise unless they have a plan to let the public Hunter access to hunt.  Go to a program like Utah has that gives the private property owner an incentive to allow some kind of public access.  Once the season starts the elk all run to private.  Wyoming has absolutely nothing to incentivize public access other than a very poorly compensated HMA system that is very poorly compensated.  The actual fact is that it isn’t an elk overpopulation problem but a problem with private landowners not allowing access and then complaining that they are being over-run. There are plenty of hunters willing to pay for the tags to get the population to objective. The private landowners are complaining but also holding out to somehow get the game dept to fold to their wishes so they can get more money by selling access of some sort.

100% 👍

[Stein]

They could also develop a program to haze the animals off certain ranches if the landowner doesn't want hunting.

I know a ranch in MT that sells big dollar hunts and then after the season over he hazes them off with a helicopter to avoid losing hay over the winter.  Apparently it's not too difficult to keep the bulk of the herd at least away from his hay if not off the ranch altogether.

Might be a pipe dream, but it seems like a few pilot programs could help.

I also thought they could up the dollar amount they pay for access and recover it by charging hunters to use the system.  I would gladly pay $10 or some nominal fee if 100% of that money went to securing additional properties.

I think WA pays something like $1,000 a year give or take which isn't much of an incentive.  If it was $5k or $10k for really prime properties you might get a few more takers.

[ducks4days]

They could also develop a program to haze the animals off certain ranches if the landowner doesn't want hunting.

I know a ranch in MT that sells big dollar hunts and then after the season over he hazes them off with a helicopter to avoid losing hay over the winter.  Apparently it's not too difficult to keep the bulk of the herd at least away from his hay if not off the ranch altogether.

Might be a pipe dream, but it seems like a few pilot programs could help.

I also thought they could up the dollar amount they pay for access and recover it by charging hunters to use the system.  I would gladly pay $10 or some nominal fee if 100% of that money went to securing additional properties.

I think WA pays something like $1,000 a year give or take which isn't much of an incentive.  If it was $5k or $10k for really prime properties you might get a few more takers.

It must be nice to have on-call helicopter money. It's like I can literally feel the sympathy draining from my body.

[Stein]

They could also develop a program to haze the animals off certain ranches if the landowner doesn't want hunting.

I know a ranch in MT that sells big dollar hunts and then after the season over he hazes them off with a helicopter to avoid losing hay over the winter.  Apparently it's not too difficult to keep the bulk of the herd at least away from his hay if not off the ranch altogether.

Might be a pipe dream, but it seems like a few pilot programs could help.

I also thought they could up the dollar amount they pay for access and recover it by charging hunters to use the system.  I would gladly pay $10 or some nominal fee if 100% of that money went to securing additional properties.

I think WA pays something like $1,000 a year give or take which isn't much of an incentive.  If it was $5k or $10k for really prime properties you might get a few more takers.

It must be nice to have on-call helicopter money. It's like I can literally feel the sympathy draining from my body.

Yeah, they're doing ok.  I hunt adjacent to one chunk of the ranch, it's about 14 sections.  I don't know how many other chunks, at least 3-4 that I know of.

They run 6 hunters a week for elk at $6,500 last I heard and the season is 12 weeks not counting shoulder and muzzy.  I'm pretty sure they just use ranch hands as they know exactly where the elk are and can drive pretty close.

He flies his own chopper, so he doesn't have to pay a pilot.   

They work a ton all year like any rancher in all seriousness and have been building the business for several generations so they have earned every inch of it.

It's the small guy I feel for, you can lose tens of thousands in crops in a couple of days.