Antelope Reintroduction to Washington

[Hangfire]

Is anyone really sure this is a valid report? There should be news reports, pictures or something to confirm. It sounds like wishfull thinking or a fabrication.

[Jack Diamond]

on another thread, general discussion, Big news for hunters in W.A.

[wa.hunter]

Was this for real you bet. We assisted in going down to Nevada meeting with Nevada Dept. of Wildlife capturing the antelope and hauling them back and unloading them. There was an orientation meeting involving 100+ volunteers from Nevada that assisted in this capture. You can probably get more info from their website as they recruit their volunteers from there. The release was done on the Yakima Reservation. Total project was funded by SCI through their Shikar grants program. We have been working on this project for over 8 years to get them reintroduced on public ground in this state at great expense, with WDFW to no avail. Just to many hoops to jump through and land owner issues. At this point it appears it is easier to work with the Tribes  to make this a reality come true. There are no high fences on tribal ground so who knows what will happen. Just like the wolf issue I guess WDFW is just going to have to manage another endanger species in this state.

[WDFW-SUX]

Couple questions:

What unit in Nevada did they come out of?

Is WDFW really that difficult to deal with?  Can we realease antelope on other reservations and hope they travel off rez in other parts of the state?

IS the tribe going to allow any non tribal hunting of the antelope as they came from non tribal land with non tribal volunteers?

[PolarBear]

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

[bobcat]

Just like the wolf issue I guess WDFW is just going to have to manage another endanger species in this state.

Antelope an endangered species?      I'm not sure they are a native species in this state, so if anything they will be considered an invasive species.   

[270Shooter]

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.

Besides I highly doubt that these pronghorn will last, too many things going against them, especially with the horses in the area that they were released in, Im sure the yakamas will clean em out if they dont die off anyway.

[wa.hunter]

The antelope came from unit 73 outside of Elko, Nevada. They had a surplus, as their winter ground could not handle them. As for the WDFW issues I really do not want to go there. Here are some facts though. We [SCI] groups spent approx. $50,000 on the Feasability Study to start the process. Identified 8 relocation sites with the Yakima area being the best of them all. The next step was SEPA study for another $50,000 which is open to public comment. Being that they were being introduced as a HUNTABLE species was going to create some real issues and not sure how long this process was going to take. Not to mention that before we could do a release we were going to have to come up with $100,000's of dollars for damages to land owners, and also the funds to do the relocations. Where is all this money going come from??? Next question do we plan to continue with the Tribes I hope so or maybe I should say yes. Will there be non tribal hunting allow? Time will tell as we continue to work with them, there is already tribal hunting allowed on several of the reservations of some form already.  WDFW is already giving our surplus sheep to the tribes so lets hope this all works out to our benifit too. At least it is a start.

[magnanimous_j]

Was this for real you bet. We assisted in going down to Nevada meeting with Nevada Dept. of Wildlife capturing the antelope and hauling them back and unloading them.

How did you catch them? And is 100 enough to start a viable breeding population?

[BlackRidge]

Couple questions:

Is the tribe going to allow any non tribal hunting of the antelope as they came from non tribal land with non tribal volunteers?

My guess is yes, as it'l become a natural resource. Not owned by any specific party 

[Special T]

This is one of the reasons i hate Indian bashing threads... It would see the Yakima's, The whipping tribe on this site, does something that OUR WDFW cannot get their Chit together and do.   It is a PITA some time with the tribes because of their "lack" of structure, but here is the perfect scenario where Tribes and Sportsman can work together... Notice i said Sportsman and NOT WDFW...  

[BlackRidge]

I guess my question becomes, and is more addressed to wa.hunter;

How did this all come about?

I understand the SCI was involved, but for those of us who may want to get involved in similar transplants, where do you get started?  Just like with other issues discussed on these forums, as a whole, we're a formidable group, and working together, perhaps this is something we could help with.... since as Special T put it so well, our own DFW can't seem to handle it

[Wacenturion]

Was this for real you bet. We assisted in going down to Nevada meeting with Nevada Dept. of Wildlife capturing the antelope and hauling them back and unloading them.

How did you catch them? And is 100 enough to start a viable breeding population?

As I mentioned in another thread..............


A general rule with antelope...............you need at least 100 square miles which is 64,000 acres of suitable range and release at least one animal per square mile which would be 100 antelope within 1-3 years within that area.  Something the ol' Department of Game didn't do.  Too few, too spread out...result...kissing cousins were left after road kills and poaching took the rest.

They got the number right...now if the habitat is large enough and suitable......it may just work.

[Woodchuck]

I was the first to mention the native's on this thread and it was in no way intended to bash anyone. My question was, will they hunt them or leave them be as this I assume is an attempt to get them established and hunting them right off the get go seems like a poor idea to me.

Another question I have is, are there any plans for more releases in other regions?

[Special T]

my comment was not directed at you.... I would imagine the only way they could do it is work with another tribe because the WDFW is so wrapped in RED tape.