Antelope Reintroduction to Washington

[jdb]

The tribe is going to make some $$ by selling hunts to whitey just like they are doing in Quinalt.

No they won't, if they were smart they would already be doing it for deer and elk.
.

they cant they have all but wiped out the deer and elk population out there thats why theyre doing so much off reservation hunting now.

[Cougeyes]

Quick question....why were they released in winter and not the spring/summer?  Was it because they're on their winter grounds and more concentrated in groups?  To me it would make more sense to have done it during spring greenup when more forbs and grasses were available.  Just curious? 

[arees]

Wiki is not recognized as a scholarly journal - .

 http://headwaterseconomics.org/bison/BisonAtlasSummary.pdf


 All that said, it could be possible transients made it to Washington as strays, but that does not constitute a "native population", speaking strictly on bison.

While Wikipedia is not recognized as a scholarly journal, they often do cite their sources.  The bison map shown comes from Wild mammals of North America: biology, management, and conservation By George A. Feldhamer, Bruce Carlyle Thompson, Joseph A. Chapman.  It can be found on page 1012 through a Google Books search.  You can judge the scholarship of Mr Feldhamer et. al. as apropriate.

Meanwhile a reading of the Headwater Econmomics bison atlas summary produces this:

The region for bison restoration is defined in this Atlas as the U.S. states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. (See map on following page.)

This region was defined for us by WCS with the understanding that it does not cover the entire historic range of the bison. For example, bison have historically ranged east of the analysis area, such as Iowa, Missouri and even east of the Mississippi River. By excluding the Yukon Territory this Atlas does not cover the full historical range of all bison, particular the wood bison. Also, we did not include Oregon in this Atlas, even though bison were known to exist in eastern Oregon historically, and some herds may exist there today. See map on following page.

By thier own statement, the atlas does not cover the entire historic range of the bison.  Some examples are given with the implication that other regions were also left out.  I did not find any explicit statement in that atlas on the historic existance of bison in Washington.  Perhaps I did not read far enough.

I am not an expert on historic bison distribution.

As for the midnight antelope release, congratulations on finding a way around WDFW. 

[ramslam]

Cougeyes,

I would assume its the same for this transplant but these projects are typically done this time of year.  Winter ranges generally contain large herds, cool temperatures help minimize stress/overheating and its really important to catch females in early to mid-gestation to minimize potential for aborted offspring.

[WAmuleyHunter]

Really awesome, great work and congrats to all involved!!!!

[wsucowboy]

Hopefully they take place. Always have wanted to see speed goats in Washington.

[Wacenturion]

Cougeyes,

I would assume its the same for this transplant but these projects are typically done this time of year.  Winter ranges generally contain large herds, cool temperatures help minimize stress/overheating and its really important to catch females in early to mid-gestation to minimize potential for aborted offspring.

Would be nearly impossible to get the numbers and sex ratio effectively outside this time frame.  As mentioned above....large numbers, easy to trap, cooler temperatures.....generally when most wildlife trap and transfer efforts take place.

[wa.hunter]

Sorry guys I posted the wrong address to get involved with supporting some of the groups that raise the funds to get projects like this done, has been a busy day working4wildlife.com is how it should have read. Come to the event find out what we all do.

[Bob33]

Fantastic. Thank you Safari Club, all the volunteers that helped, and the Yakama Nation.

[jackelope]

Sorry guys I posted the wrong address to get involved with supporting some of the groups that raise the funds to get projects like this done, has been a busy day working4wildlife.com is how it should have read. Come to the event find out what we all do.

I fixed it up for you.
The link in the previous post is correct now.

[wa.hunter]

Jackalope thanks you have been a great help.

[spottedhorse]

Wa hunter & Jackalope,
I was one of the volunteers from Nevada that helped with the capture. It is great to hear that they made it o.k. and are checking out the new digs! I wanted to ask if you mind if I share a couple of your photos with family & friends. I have a few myself but did not have a chance to take many pictures. I also have two videos of antelope being captured by the net from the trucks that I can share, but I'm not sure how to post them. I have them posted on facebook currently. Thank you for letting my husband & myself help; I hope they thrive and provide everyone with new hunting opportunities.
Amy

[jstone]

That would be awesome. We will still have something to hunt when the wolfs kill everything else. They should be able out run the wolfs.

[jackelope]

Wa hunter & Jackalope,
I was one of the volunteers from Nevada that helped with the capture. It is great to hear that they made it o.k. and are checking out the new digs! I wanted to ask if you mind if I share a couple of your photos with family & friends. I have a few myself but did not have a chance to take many pictures. I also have two videos of antelope being captured by the net from the trucks that I can share, but I'm not sure how to post them. I have them posted on facebook currently. Thank you for letting my husband & myself help; I hope they thrive and provide everyone with new hunting opportunities.
Amy

Amy-
send me links to the videos if they are posted to youtube and I will post them. I emailed you pics to the email in your profile here. Welcome to the site.

[agchawk]

Wa hunter & Jackalope,
I was one of the volunteers from Nevada that helped with the capture. It is great to hear that they made it o.k. and are checking out the new digs! I wanted to ask if you mind if I share a couple of your photos with family & friends. I have a few myself but did not have a chance to take many pictures. I also have two videos of antelope being captured by the net from the trucks that I can share, but I'm not sure how to post them. I have them posted on facebook currently. Thank you for letting my husband & myself help; I hope they thrive and provide everyone with new hunting opportunities.
Amy

 Welcome to the site spottedhorse!! I'd love to see the videos on here. Hopefully Jack can help get them posted on here.

 Thanks for your efforts in getting the goats up here. There are many of us up here that really appreciate everything that went into it.