How Pristine Where Our Ecosystems Before Western Exploration?

Oh, if only we could return to the days before man got into our wilderness areas and destroyed everything. Imagine how wonderful it must have been. Nature doing a fine job all on its own and then all of a sudden man expands his reach and destroys it all.

This is what I hear all the time. Even our education factories teach our kids this inaccurate history. Few have ever heard of what it was really like. I know I have had many discussions with people about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I admit I was one of those who dreamed about how wonderful it must have been. What could be more exciting to a man who loved the outdoors than to be a member of the Lewis and Clark troop? This would provide a participant the opportunity to see the forests, the plains, the rivers, the valleys, the birds, deer, moose, elk, bison, mountain goats, wild sheep, tons of beaver, muskrat, mink, lynx, bobcat, mountain lions, coyotes, wolves, oh, my. What am I forgetting. I might have been in for a rude awakening had I been there.

Lewis and Clark mounted their expedition from around 1804-1806 and their journey was quite well documented. We know that they took along “professional” hunters and trappers to provide food for the members. Logs show Lewis and Clark spent much of their time trading with Indians for dogs to eat because there was no game.

During the years of 1825-1860, Jedediah Smith, Peter Skeen Ogden, Milton Sublette, Joe Meek, John Fremont, Charles Preuss, Captain J. H. Simpson, and Howard Egan, explored all over the West, both on foot and horseback. They kept diaries and logs of their adventures and these accounts describe a much different picture of what it was really like before man moved into this region and settled.

Jedediah Smith is believed to be one of the first explorers of this region. In 1827, Smith and what was described as two of his best men, set out up the American River, through Central Nevada and ending up at Lake Lake, Utah. Smith’s log describes this trip accordingly.

After traveling 22 days from the east side of Mount Joseph, (Sierra Nevada’s) I struck the Southwest corner of the Great Salt Lake, traveling over a country completely barren and destitute of game. We frequently traveled without water, sometime for two days, over sandy deserts where there was no sign of vegetation and when we found water in some of the rocky hills we most generally found Indians who appeared the most miserable of the human race. When we arrived at the Salt Lake, we had but one horse and one mule remaining, which were so feeble and poor that they could scarcely carry the little camp equipage which I had along. The balance of my horses I was compelled to eat.

This expedition originally began with 14 men and 28 horses.

In 1828 Peter Skeen Ogden led an expedition into North Central Nevada. In an area that is now near Winnemucca, Nevada on the Humboldt River (Marys River), what was seen is described this way.

From clumps of sage on the hillsides, scrawny, brown-bodied men peered out upon their passage. Down in the Valley, now and again, the Indians scurried into the brush ahead of them. They were clothed, if at all, in twisted rabbit skins; They had no horses. They lived on seeds, and what wild fowl they could bring down. Ogden had never encountered a race of animals less entitled to the name of man.

The following year Ogden returned to the same area to do some trapping on the river. He describes the river as being very “unwholesome” and says the antelope, which during this time would be near the rivers are scarce. He declares, “woe to them who depend to them for support”.

In 1832 Milton Sublette led a group of trappers into the Marys River (Humboldt). There was no game and the trappers had to eat the beavers they had been trapping. His reports stated that there was not much for what wild animals there were to eat and that they were forced to eat wild parsnips, which poisoned them. The group had to leave this area and head north where they hoped to find something to eat.

Because of this it became necessary to at once abandon the river, and strike across the country towards the North, where after being four days with almost no food, and several weeks in the state of famine they reached the Snake River above the fishing Falls, they were forced, as they passed through the country, to subsist upon ants, crickets, parched moccasins, and the pudding made from the blood, taking a pint at a time from their almost famished animals.

Joe Meek recalls holding his bare hands in an anthill until they were covered with angry ants and then licking the ants off and eating them like a hungry animal.

Joe Walker later traveled through this same Marys River area and continued on into California near the Truckee River down the West Slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Having left Salt Lake and traveling 14 days into California, the expedition had not seen any game to eat and instead lived off horses they were compelled to kill to ward off starvation.

One man killed a deer, which he carried to camp on his back. The animal was dressed, cooked and eaten, … in less time than a hungry wolf would devour a lamb. This was the first game larger than a rabbit that they had killed since leaving the Salt Lake two months ago. For fourteen days they had lived on nothing but horseflesh …twenty four horses had died in crossing the mountain, and seventeen of these had been eaten.

1825 and 1826 found Ogden covering much of what we all know as Oregon today and not only did his group not find any game but the horses were starving because they couldn’t find even any decent grasses for the horse to feed on. It wasn’t just the explorers finding these wastelands. Ogden relates a story told of an Indian woman in Oregon.

The winter before had been so severe, she said, that her people had to resort to the bodies of relations and children. She had killed no one herself, but had fed on two of her children who died.

Things are pretty harsh when anyone has to resort to cannibalism but to first have to kill somebody to eat them, is unfathomable.

John Fremont and Charles Preuss covered areas of Southern Wyoming west toward the Bear River and then South toward Salt Lake. Things were tough. Game was missing and grazing grasses for the horses were non existent as well. Explorers tried trading with the Indian for food but soon discovered the Indians were starving to death themselves. It was only upon finding the Shoshone camped out along the Snake River, were they able to find a tribe living well from ample supplies of smoked Salmon.

Fremont’s party traveled the Columbia River north into Vancouver finding much the same. They even had to buy firewood from some of the resident Indians. Heading south toward Nevada, local tribes warned Fremont there was nothing for his horses to feed on. They were right.

… They had found nothing but dry, shallow basins, their way “broken by gullies and impeded by sage, and sandy on the hills, where there is not a blade of grass.”

Later Fremont would find Pyramid Lake and gorge on trout.

In all of the travels that are documented by many of these explorers, in what is now the state of Nevada, only one time is there mention of someone sighting an elk, but it is believed the person saw a mule deer and mistook it for an elk.

The Indians in this region mostly lived terrible lives, with little clothing, food or sufficient shelter. They ate mostly rats and insects and what few other birds or small game they might be fortunate to find and kill. We have visions of Indians having access to ample game animals and utilizing the hides for clothing and shelter. Such was not the case in most of the Great Basin.

Howard Egan, Sr. was the first Mormon explorer into the region of the Great Salt Lake. As a matter of fact he traveled there with Brigham Young. Egan covered much of the area between the Salt Lake and west into California as he was in the business of driving cattle there.

Egan recounts for us how the Indians crafted these remarkable corrals they would use to trap antelope. The entire episode of putting on a drive required all the men, women and children of the tribe. One had to question whether the effort put into the building and driving was worth the 24 antelope they trapped in twelve years. But when you’re hungry, some antelope is better than none.

The Indians did a similar thing conducting a cricket drive. No, I’m not kidding. Trenches were dug of about 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep and covered over with a thin layer of stiff grass. All the tribes people would begin pounding the ground with tufts of straw in a concerted effort, to drive the black crickets toward the trenches. Once the trenches contained all the crickets they could drive, they set the grass they had placed over the trenches on fire, killing the crickets. They then used the crickets for food, mostly grinding it up and mixing it with other things to make a concocted kind of flour.

These and more accounts certainly paint a far different picture of how things actually were than what we are often taught about how balanced and bountiful our forests and wilderness were before man arrived. Man certainly made his share of mistakes in being good stewards of the land but in time we figured out what we had to do to sustain game populations and to control the predators that destroyed those.

With the presence of man and bringing with him agriculture and the knowledge to plant and grow crops and tend the land, this began to create a better habitat that would support a heartier and healthier crop of game animals. We controlled the predators so people could harvest the game to feed their families and over time devised a pretty decent wildlife management plan that many around the world now envy.

Sorry, but Mother Nature didn’t really give us a “balanced” ecosystem, at least one that is the most productive. These accounts above I believe more accurately depict Mother Nature’s idea of a balanced ecosystem. There’s nothing wrong with that but I don’t think it is in the best interest of humans to have it that way, nor is it what I think people really want or are thinking about when they speak of “natural” wildlife management.

Tom Remington

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Land Transfer Keeps Nevada Landscape Intact

MISSOULA, Mont. – A spectacular landscape in northeast Nevada will remain intact for elk, other wildlife and public access following a land transfer from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to the Bureau of Land Management.

The conveyance prevents residential development on 235 acres of inholdings within Goshute Canyon Wilderness 20 miles north of Ely, Nev.

“Five different inholdings were part of Indian Valley Ranch owned by Michael and Dorothy Hastie, who wanted to see these lands protected in perpetuity rather than developed for cabin sites. When the Hasties approached us for help with this project, we were glad to get involved,” said Bob Hammond, lands program manager for RMEF.

The area, which lies within the Cherry Creek Range, is classic summer range for elk with perennial streams and grassy slopes dotted with sage, bristlecone pine and aspen. Elevation ranges from 6,400 feet to a dramatic 10,200 feet. Deer, mountain lions, chukars, grouse and other species also can be found.

Now managed by the Bureau of Land Management, public recreation includes hunting, horseback riding, hiking, backpacking and primitive camping.

White Pine County commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the acquisition. Several local outdoor and conservation groups voiced support. RMEF obtained funding from a private donor, purchased the land in 2007 and held the property while the Bureau of Land Management gathered takeout funding. The transfer was finalized in late 2009.

In the 1990s, RMEF assisted with a collaborative effort to re-establish elk in the area.

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America’s Top 20 Trophy Elk Counties

MISSOULA, Mont. America’s top 20 trophy elk counties have produced a combined 602 record-book bulls, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has invested millions to keep habitat in those counties in top condition.

Elk Foundation projects in trophy counties have included prescribed burns, treating noxious weeds and thinning overgrown forests to enhance forage for elk and other wildlife, restoring riparian zones, constructing wildlife drinkers, brokering land deals that improve public access, many kinds of research, public and youth education, and more – all funded primarily through our network of volunteers and system of fundraising events,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO.

Of course, RMEF funds identical projects all across elk country, not just top trophy counties. Nationwide, at a cost of over $448 million, RMEF has completed 6,371 projects that have protected or enhanced more than 5.6 million acres. The effort has helped U.S. elk populations grow by over 40 percent since 1984.

Trophy statistics below were compiled from Boone and Crockett Club (B&C) records. The club recognizes four categories of elk records. Those categories, along with their respective minimum scores for inclusion in B&C all-time records, are: American typical elk?375, American non-typical elk?385, Roosevelt?s elk?290, and tule elk?285.

Here are America’s top 20 trophy elk counties with RMEF conservation activities*:

1. Coconino County, Ariz.?61 bulls in B&C records including 44 typical and 17 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1987, RMEF has spent $1,741,848 on 158 projects that conserved or enhanced 126,393 acres of habitat in and around Coconino County.

2. Apache County, Ariz.?59 bulls in B&C records including 37 typical and 22 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1987, RMEF has spent $766,703 on 65 projects that conserved or enhanced 87,505 acres of habitat in and around Apache County.

3. Clatsop County, Ore.?40 bulls in B&C records, all Roosevelt?s elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. Since 1991, RMEF has spent $47,177 on 11 projects that conserved or enhanced 693 acres of habitat in and around Clatsop County.

4. Navajo County, Ariz.?39 bulls in B&C records including 23 typical and 16 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1987, RMEF has spent $532,902 on 55 projects that conserved or enhanced 59,153 acres of habitat in and around Navajo County.

5. White Pine County, Nev.?36 bulls in B&C records including 26 typical and 10 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1988, RMEF has spent $1,570,832 on 62 projects that conserved or enhanced 109,260 acres of habitat in and around White Pine County.

6. Columbia County, Ore.?31 bulls in B&C records, all Roosevelt?s elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. RMEF has not yet launched a project in Columbia County.

7. Humboldt County, Calif.?30 bulls in B&C records, all Roosevelt?s elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. Since 1995, RMEF has spent $148,945 on 13 projects focused on habitat inventories and elk population surveys in and around Humboldt County.

8. Catron County, N.M.?29 bulls in B&C records including 22 typical and 7 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1988, RMEF has spent $331,188 on 51 projects that conserved or enhanced 200,808 acres of habitat in and around Catron County.

9. Clallam County, Wash.?28 bulls in B&C records, all Roosevelt?s elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. Since 1993, RMEF has spent $101,728 on 13 projects that conserved or enhanced 577 acres of habitat in and around Clallam County.

10. Garfield County, Utah?27 bulls in B&C records including 20 typical and 7 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1988, RMEF has spent $284,158 on 36 projects that conserved or enhanced 73,023 acres of habitat in and around Garfield County.

11. Jefferson County, Wash.?26 bulls in B&C records, all Roosevelt?s elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. Since 1989, RMEF has spent $141,961 on 16 projects that conserved or enhanced 6,323 acres of habitat in and around Jefferson County.

12. Park County, Wyo.?26 bulls in B&C records, all typical American elk. Since 1988, RMEF has spent $939,328 on 39 projects that conserved or enhanced 68,450 acres of habitat in and around Park County.

13. Gila County, Ariz.?25 bulls in B&C records including 16 typical and 9 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1987, RMEF has spent $182,398 on 29 projects that conserved or enhanced 37,502 acres of habitat in and around Gila County.

14. Coos County, Ore.?23 bulls in B&C records, all Roosevelt?s elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. Since 1989, RMEF has spent $75,794 on 8 projects that conserved or enhanced 6,423 acres of habitat in and around Coos County.

15. Tillamook County, Ore.?23 bulls in B&C records, all Roosevelt?s elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. Since 1992, RMEF has spent $70,911 on 25 projects that conserved or enhanced 2,874 acres of habitat in and around Tillamook County.

16. Del Norte County, Calif.?21 bulls in B&C records, all Roosevelt?s elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. Since 1995, RMEF has spent $161,023 on 11 projects focused on elk habitat inventories and research in and around Del Norte County.

17. Park County, Mont.?21 bulls in B&C records including 18 typical and 3 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1985, RMEF has spent $136,550 on 51 projects that conserved or enhanced 103,679 acres of habitat in and around Park County.

18. Elko County, Nev.?19 bulls in B&C records including 16 typical and 3 non-typical entries for American elk. Since 1991, RMEF has spent $594,314 on 41 projects that conserved or enhanced 37,654 acres of habitat in and around Elko County.

19. Millard County, Utah?19 bulls in B&C records, all typical American elk. Since 1988, RMEF has spent $75,359 on 11 projects that conserved or enhanced 34,130 acres in and around Millard County.

20. Solano County, Calif.?19 bulls in B&C records, all tule elk. Typical versus non-typical records not kept. Since 1998, RMEF has spent $27,088 on 6 projects that conserved or enhanced 450 acres of habitat in and around Solano County.

*Note: Many habitat conservation projects, such as prescribed burns in national forests, straddle county lines. In these cases, the project, affected acres and costs are attributed to both counties. Thus, RMEF data above cannot be used to calculate cumulative totals.

For more about Boone and Crockett Club, visit www.boone-crockett.org.

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Elk Foundation Grants to Benefit 2 Nevada Counties

MISSOULA, Mont.?Two counties in Nevada are slated for wildlife habitat conservation projects using $77,500 in new grants from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

The 2009 RMEF grants will affect Lincoln and White Pine counties.

?Our volunteers across Nevada helped drive the 2008 fundraisers that made these grants possible. This is where Elk Foundation banquets, auctions and other events transform into on-the-ground conservation work, and it?s part of the payday for supporters who are passionate about giving something back to the outdoors,? said David Allen, Elk Foundation president and CEO.

Elk Foundation grants will help fund the following Nevada projects, listed by county:

Lincoln County?Thin encroaching pinion and juniper from 1,000 acres of grasslands to improve forage for elk in Burnt Canyon area of BLM lands; research habitat use and migration corridors by installing GPS and satellite radio collars on 5 elk in Clover/Delamar Mountains area.

White Pine County?Mow and seed 200 acres to rejuvenate sagebrush, bitterbrush and grass to improve habitat for elk, mule deer, sage grouse and other wildlife in the White River/Ellison Creek area of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest; thin encroaching pinion and juniper from 1,000 acres to rejuvenate forage grasses and forbs in the White Pine Mountains area of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest; sponsor Great Basin 2009 Educators Workshop to provide teachers with experiences and tools to teach outdoor and ecosystem concepts.

A committee of Elk Foundation volunteers and staff select projects for grants. Additional projects are being reviewed and supplemental grants could be announced later this year.

To date, partners for 2009 projects in Nevada include Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition, Great Basin National Park, U.S. Forest Service, other agencies, corporations, landowners and organizations.

Since 1984, the Elk Foundation and its partners have completed more than 170 conservation projects in Nevada with a value of more than $14.3 million.

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Nevada’s Deer Population Being Wiped Out By Mountain Lions

In yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle, outdoor writer, Tom Stienstra, writes that Nevada’s deer population has dropped from 240,000 to 108,000 in 10 years due mostly to mountain lion predation. He says Ken Mayer, director of Nevada Department of Wildlife, has order up a major program to shoot mountain lions.

Tom Remington

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Protecting Wildlife Migration Corridors

Just what in God’s name does that mean? Check out this map and hope you aren’t located in the middle of one of these “migration corridors”!

In 2007, the Western Governors’ Association, approved their resolution, “Protecting Wildlife Migration Corridors and Crucial Wildlife Habitat in the West”. Here’s the pdf version found on the WGA website.

Large intact and functioning ecosystems, healthy fish and wildlife populations, and abundant public access to natural landscapes are a significant contributing factor to the West’s economic and in-migration boom as well as quality of life. Critical wildlife migration corridors and crucial wildlife habitats are necessary to maintain flourishing wildlife populations.

Sounds wonderful to me! But maybe not so wonderful if you happen to be in one of these designated “wildlife corridors”. It also sounds like for hunters and fishermen, this should guarantee access to land and opportunities to hunt and fish forever. Ummmm……maybe not! Better look more closely.

After approving the resolution, the group set out to write “The Western Governors’ Association Wildlife Corridors Initiative”. This more precisely spells out for us about these wildlife corridors and how they are going to “maintain flourishing wildlife populations” among other promises. Here’s the pdf version of the 142-page “Wildlife Corridors Initiative”. The “Initiative” was approved this past June.

Who better suited to decide how wildlife corridors and what can and cannot be done with land designated as “protected” wildlife corridors than groups representing the five following fields? Gas and Oil, Energy, Transportation Infrastructure, land use and climate change. I guess they got all their bases covered, especially when it comes to us scum-of-the-earth hunters and fishermen.

If you want to get a head start reading about this movement, masquerading as a “save the wildlife” group, go ahead and download the reports and read them for yourself. If you don’t want to do that, I have another idea for you.

Some of you have probably heard me speak of my friend George Dovel in Idaho. George is the editor of his highly successful print magazine, “The Outdoorsman”. George promises in the next issue he is going to delve into this fiasco and I’ll guarantee it will be good. George asks his readers, “if they can handle the truth?”

So, here’s what you need to do. Click on this link and you’ll find a printable subscription application for your own one-year subscription to The Outdoorsman. The cost is $20.00 for one year. It’ll be the best $20.00 you’ll spend this year.

The form is very short. All you need to do is print it out, fill it out and send it, along with $20.00 to The Outdoorsman. I get my copy on a regular basis and I have never learned so much as what I have gotten from this publication.

Don’t think it’s just for Idaho and western readers either. George covers a multitude of subjects and even the ones that focus on local issues, could be written about anyone’s state.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity!

Tom Remington

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Colorado DOW Looking At Possible Bear Hunting Permit Increase

As many of you know, much of the west has had a tough year with bears – at least bears conflicting with human interests. The biggest reason for these conflicts has been the result of the effects of a dry hot period in the areas of Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and part of Montana. Some areas have seen extreme drought conditions and much above average temperatures. How does this relate to human/bear encounters?

This weather pattern has reduced natural food supplies for bears. Bears generally prefer berries and other vegetation to eat but do munch on such things as dead carcases or kill their own if needed. When the fall rolls around, bear activity spikes as the animal must consume thousands of calories a day in order to fatten up for the long winter that lies in wait. With little or no natural food, bears resort to other means for food and that all too often this fall has meant breaking into homes, rummaging through garbage or maybe even finding a nice tender family pet to chow down on.

Not to sound crude here but a bear is a large animal that has huge hunger needs prior to its hibernation and very little can and does stand in its way when its focus is on food.

The Aspen Times News today is reporting that the Colorado Division of Wildlife has been discussing the prospects of what to do about the black bear population. What they are discussing and what they will do remains to be seen but already the Humane Society of the United States is getting their two cents worth in.

One aspect of the bear management DOW is discussing is the possibility of thinning the bear numbers in the Aspen area. After a record breaking year of answering bear problems resulting in the killing of 13 problem bears, relocating 24 and moving a handful of bear cubs into a rehab center, authorities are trying to decide if they need to up the bear permits issued for this area or find other ways to thin the numbers.

The Colorado state chapter of the Humane Society doesn’t believe hunting or thinning the bear population is necessary.

“It’s upsetting news,” said Holly Tarry, state director for the Humane Society. “Black bear populations manage themselves based on the resources that are available to them. Keeping them out of human areas is a human responsibility. We’re very disappointed that thinning would be an option.”

In case you missed it in Colorado, last June the state bear coalition met just outside Aspen and discussed ways in which to better manage themselves. Unfortunately, not many bears attended and didn’t get the word that eating out of dumpsters and breaking into expensive condominiums in wealthy Aspen could get them killed.

Give me a break. The bears manage themselves and this is more humane and in the best interest of everyone and everything? She is right on one thing. Keeping bear out of human areas is a human problem. The problem is she doesn’t like the way DOW takes care of the problem. She should notify the Aspen chapter of the bear coalition and ask them to do something about this problem next year.

On a more serious note, the DOW has more to look at than just whether there are too many bears. The fact is, there may not be too many bears. It could be that because of this year’s weather problems it appears there are too many bears because they went looking for food in town.

There’s a possibility a number of these bears could starve to death this winter because they didn’t get enough fat reserves built up to survive. I guess that is part of the self-management Tarry claims is more humane than hunting.

The issue is also being discussed about better bear proofing education. One of the problems that faces a town like Aspen is that the year round population is relatively low in comparison to the transient one. Many of the bear problems came from visitors and part time residents who don’t know and understand about being bear aware. This presents a different set of problematic circumstances for officials.

Before too many of us get too worked up over the prospects that us hunters are going out to Colorado and slaughter all the bears, we should give the Colorado Division of Wildlife a chance to manage the bears and figure out what to due after the winter.

Tom Remington

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Bear Problems Mount In Idaho And Much Of The West

The drought and warm weather persist in much of the west and bear/human encounters continue to rise as both black and grizzly bears are looking to store up fat for the long anticipated winter ahead.

Local News8 in Idaho Falls has several stories concerning bears and the problems facing local residents, hunters and forest users. A small bear was spotted at a nearby airport.

Monday morning, another bear wandered through a populated area. This time a bear cub visits the Driggs Airport and then wanders to a local school yard.

Doug Peterson of Idaho Fish and Game says there are few berries around and bears are hungry.

“We’ve had an average of three to four to five calls a day on different bears. There is not a lot of berries up in the hills and a pretty hot and dry summer brought a lot of bears down,”

In a separate article, Local News8 takes a look at how this drought will affect the overall population of the bears, both black and grizzly.

More bears in more places, and less food in more places…that is turning out to be a deadly combination for quite a few bears.

So is there enough food to fatten bears up for hibernation? Will these problems escalate with each passing year?

As bears continue to forage for food in tents, in garbage bags, on school grounds, and even at the airport, you start to wonder.

Will they ever find enough food for hibernation?

And in a third story, we learn that a food storage order has been put in place for portions of southeastern Idaho.

The Bridger-Teton is under a mandatory Food Storage Order for all of the Forest north of the Snake River on the Jackson Ranger District and north of Boulder Lake on the Pinedale Ranger District. The order applies to the Teton and Gros Ventre Wilderness areas and much of the Bridger Wilderness area. Food Storage is strongly recommended for the remainder of the Forest.

The Food Storage Order is in place to promote human safety, and provide for the protection of both the black and grizzly bear.

The Order requires that unattended food or attractants be stored in hard-sided vehicles, bear-resistant containers, or hung above ground out of the reach of bears.

For those who may have missed the Today Show on NBC (click this link to watch the video), they did a piece about the problems that Reno, Nevada residents are having with bears. The entire segment focused on only the fact that bears are not finding the normal supplies of natural food. They are hungry and are looking anywhere and everywhere for food.

People should be aware that there is no answer to this problem. The food is not there and will not be until at least next season depending once again on weather conditions. Being aware of that is important and residents need to pay attention and do all they can to reduce the chances of bears finding their way into your kitchen. It will not only perhaps save a human life but maybe a bear or two, now and in the future as bears once they learn to rummage for food with humans, it’s hard to break them of it.

Tom Remington

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Idaho F&G Either Has An Agenda Or They Need Some Educating

Does the Idaho Fish and Game Department live in a vacuum or does the entire force or perhaps a certain number of employees have an agenda that is geared negatively toward the domestic elk industry in that state?

For the entire summer, all I have done is read account after account of growing bear/human encounters in the west. In some areas it is quite severe and all one has to do is open their eyes and they will see that areas in eastern Idaho not that far from the Yellowstone National Park area are experiencing perhaps the worst grizzly activity involving humans in history.

I have written story after story, selecting only those that appeared to be the most prolific, here, here, here, here, and here. Nevada has also had more than its share of bear problems as has Colorado and portions of California. It should also be noted that no reports from anywhere else that are having bear problems blame livestock ranching. As a matter of fact, everyone including the common man knows by now that with the climate conditions, i.e. heat, drought, etc., natural food for the bears is limited and in some cases severely lacking causing the animals to find food wherever it is.

In an article I wrote last week, I laid out exactly why eastern Idaho was experiencing such a problem with bears and it has very little to do with domestic elk ranching as some want to lay the blame on. The blame needs to be spread around where blame is due and that includes residents who don’t take care of their garbage, etc.

A weekend article in the Idaho Falls Post Register (subscription) by Matthew Evans even tells of the bear problems and how this year’s problems compare with past years.

The problem, however, isn’t limited to eastern Idaho or even the greater Yellowstone region. Throughout the West, from Colorado to Montana to Nevada, grizzlies and black bears are straying into towns and places they usually avoid to forage for food.

Those who work with bears say they’ve never seen anything like it.

“In my 16 years here, I’ve never seen it this bad,” said Daryl Meints, a regional wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. “All the stars are perfectly aligned.”

A spokesperson for the Grand Teton National Park supports the same theory.

“Some people say that at this time of year, bears are either eating or searching for food 20 hours a day,” said Jackie Skaggs, spokeswoman for Grand Teton National Park, where rangers have killed four black bears this season after deeming them a threat to visitors. That’s more than she’s seen killed in her 20-plus years of working in the park — despite the fact that Grand Teton officials kicked off a “Be Bear Aware” campaign this year.

“We’re kind of scratching our heads,” Skaggs said. “There are many years where we don’t euthanize any bears. A couple of years ago, we had to euthanize two bears and we thought that was pretty extreme.”

And what does this article say is the reason for increased bear activity?

The problem stems from the ongoing drought, a mild winter and a dry spring. The conditions have decimated the berry crop, a mainstay in a bear’s diet.

“So when it comes to native forage, what bears are accustomed to eating, it’s just not there,” Meints said. “Even some of the kokanee runs are down.”

So why is the Idaho Fish and Game Department and a few local residents setting their sites on putting the blame on the Velvet Elk Ranch on Meadow Creek Road in Island Park? That’s the million dollar question and one many of us are searching for an answer. Either the Fish and Game have their heads stuck in the sand and can’t see the real reasons or they have an agenda. It may be that their agenda is to once again attempt to give the Idaho domestic elk industry a bad name.

Past accounts clearly show that Fish and Game doesn’t want elk ranching. Records also show that Fish and Game works very closely with other organizations that are working toward a ban on elk ranching – Idaho Sportsmen’s Caucus Advisory Council, Idaho Wildlife Federation, et. al.

Let’s be honest. There’s a bear problem in Island Park. Bears are hungry because there’s no food. Probably more bears are coming out of the Yellowstone area to find that food. Bears prefer berries and vegetation over gut piles to eat but they certainly will not pass up a pile of guts if that’s the only available meal. Readers should be educated to the fact that bears don’t have an affinity to elk entrails. They will also eat dead or live cattle, sheep, dogs, cats or whatever they can get when they are hungry but it’s not their meal of choice.

Mike Ferguson, owner of the Velvet Elk Ranch, has recognized that following the laws regulating the livestock industry to dispose of dead animals parts within 72 hours isn’t getting the job done. He has taken it upon himself to properly and legally dispose of his animal parts the same day. You can read his response here.

So, why isn’t this good enough? Ferguson is one rancher. From previous reports he had 167 head of elk brought to his ranch. There are thousands of head of cattle and other livestock all in this same area. Why aren’t we hearing about those ranches as being a magnate for bears? Is it because Velvet Elk Ranch is an elk hunting ranch?

Regional Fish and Game Supervisor Steve Schmidt said in an article in the Island Park News that his agency was concerned about all things that might attract bears to the area. Oh really? If that is true, then why did he finish that claim with this absurd statement?

IDFG Regional Supervisor Steve Schmidt said his agency is concerned about all attractants people are making available to bears, and concerns continue about Island Park residents who are not locking up their garbage. He said even if the Velvet Ranch is found to be disposing of animal waste properly, the operation still has the potential to attract bears to the area because there is so often the smell of blood on the ground.

With thousands times more cattle in the area than 167 elk, why isn’t Mr. Schmidt telling area residents to beware of cattle ranches? Their ranching activities may be an attractant to grizzly bears as well. Is Schmidt’s focus simply on elk ranches?

The Island Park News points out something that seems to be falling on the deaf ears of Fish and Game and a handful of local residents.

Grizzly and black bears have frequented this area of Island Park for decades and grizzlies have taken down sheep and cattle near where the Velvet Ranch is located. Around 30 years ago, the Forest Service canceled grazing leases in this area when it made the area Situation 1 grizzly bear habitat.

I wonder if any of those sheep and cattle that have been the target of hungry bears left any blood on the ground? Anyone who seems to want to single out the Velvet Elk Ranch or any other ranch for that matter, as the reason for increased bear activity has to have something on their mind other than the concerns for public safety. If their concern was protecting the citizens, why would the Fish and Game be wanting to spend thousands of Idaho tax payers dollars to investigate whether the bears in the Island Park area are eating Mike Ferguson’s elk guts?

The Fish and Game Department and Department of Agriculture are saying they want to investigate whether any of these bears are actually eating Velvet Elk Ranch’s gut piles. Mind none of these bears are dead, so in order to do this they would have to capture or bring the bears down by drugs, cut them open to extract remains from the bears stomach and try to match some DNA. This would cost tax payers thousands of dollars and for what?

I would be willing to wager poorly cared for garbage is more to blame for increased bear activity. Should F&G and AG spend money to try to find out which residents are getting their garbage eaten by bears? Can’t anyone see the ridiculousness of this entire event? It is nothing more than a blatant attack on one elk rancher which will have sweeping consequences for the entire elk industry. This is thuggery and extremely disturbing, say nothing about un-American.

Is there a bigger agenda or is this just a handful of people overreacting to a scary situation as described by Daryl Meints, a regional wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game as, “In my 16 years here, I’ve never seen it this bad.”

Perhaps we can get a better picture of what’s really behind these false accusations and attempts to scar the Idaho elk industry. Kirk Robinson of the Western Wildlife Conservancy in Utah says that the Idaho Fish and Game and the Department of Agriculture don’t need to investigate whether bears in the area have been eating Ferguson animal remains.

“What he’s doing may not strictly be illegal, but on the other hand what he’s doing is a hazard to the public and to these bears,” he said. “And it’s all the worse for a guy who’s making a lot of money off captive wild animals.”

So what is the Western Wildlife Conservancy and who really cares what Kirk Robinson has to say about what’s going on in Island Park, Idaho? From their website, this is their “vision”.

We envision a time when human beings accept the puma, the wolf, and their wild kin as citizens in the community of life – a time when, instead of hunting and trapping them for sport and profit we live peacefully with them, when instead of exploiting and despoiling land without restraint we accommodate their habitat and survival needs in our way of living. This will be a time when we have come to view nature quite differently from the traditional way that sees it only as a resource to be exploited or an enemy to be subdued – a time when we have adopted gentler life-ways that recognize and respect not only the fragility and sensitivity of natural systems, but also our own physical and spiritual dependence upon them.

The WWC also lists the species they aim to protect.

Ursidae (grizzly bear and black bear)
Felidae (mountain lion, Canada lynx and bobcat)
Canidae (gray wolf, coyote, and the gray, red, swift and kit fox)
Mustelidae (wolverine, fisher, marten and other members of the weasel family)

Make no mistake about the goals of this agency. They could care less about any rancher or even Derek Fesmire who was attacked by a female grizzly while bow hunting. Their interests lie strictly with the protection of animals and that supersedes any rights of Americans.

Last year after the “Great Escape” of Dr. Rex Rammell’s elk from his Chief Joseph Ranch outside Rexburg, Idaho, many people believed that certain legislators, wildlife advocacy groups and a handful of sportsmen, exploited this event in order to force their personal agendas on the citizens of Idaho by attempting to pass legislation that would have ended all elk ranching, not just ranch hunting. Some even thought the “Escape” was a set-up job. Those efforts were very much unsuccessful but those groups threatened to bring a citizen’s initiative to ballot in 2008.

With a soon to be convening of the fall Idaho Legislature and a deadline of next spring to get enough signatures on a petition in order to get an initiative on the ballot, we are all once again left wondering if this recent flurry of grizzly activity that happens to be near an elk ranch, is just another opportunity for these same people to exploit the situation for their own good. I’m sure some will even question whether any of this latest is also a set-up job.

Here’s some more disturbing rhetoric that has found its way into the local press. Local resident of Island Park, Martin Miller, says he won’t hunt again near the Velvet Elk Ranch after what he saw.

“It looked like a scene out of a ‘Halloween’ movie,” he said. “Heads, noses, legs sticking out in every direction, and gut piles everywhere. It stunk to high heaven.”

A spokesperson for Mike Ferguson told me in a recent interview that Ferguson was very upset that anyone would make such false accusations and said that those charges are not true.

If there is a hidden agenda here that is deliberately targeting the Velvet Elk Ranch in order to discredit and give the Idaho elk industry a black eye, it is certainly a sad commentary on the state of things within the minds of those who would do such a thing.

The Fish and Game and Dept. of Agriculture need to stop wasting taxpayer’s money and get back to their real jobs. It is time for the head of the Idaho Fish and Game to reel in and get control over his employees and put this non event into the perspective of what it really is – a hungry bear problem.

If the anti-elk hunting crowd has to stoop to this level because they have no evidence, facts or support for the perpetuation of their forced ideals, they are truly a sad lot. If the people of Idaho don’t want elk ranching as an industry in their state, that is surely their decision. For some to exploit a hungry bear problem for the purpose of creating a public safety scare to influence public opinion is really about as low as one can go.

Tom Remington

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Nevada Big Game Hunting Tags Increase By 11 Percent

Sporting healthy numbers in many of Nevada’s big game species, officials announced increases in tag quotas for this upcoming season.

A resident quota of 10,290 rifle tags for buck deer – the most popular big game hunt – represents an 11 percent increase from the previous year.

Resident rifle hunters will be issued 440 permits for antlerless deer, up 577 percent from last year.

Resident bull elk rifle tags are up 4 percent to 778, while resident cow elk rifle tags increased 73 percent to 1,454.

Resident bighorn sheep tags increased by 11 percent to 195, and resident antelope rifle buck tags are up 6 percent to 1,743.

You can find more information by visiting the Las Vegas Sun.

Tom Remington

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Wildfires Have Destroyed Antelope And Deer Habitat – Emergency Hunt Ordered

Thousands of acres of prime antelope and mule deer habitat have been completely destroyed by recent fires in Nevada in an area just northwest of Elko. This area is home to around 1,000 antelope and the destruction has wildlife officials fearful that the animals will not be able to survive the winter under these conditions.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife has ordered an emergency antelope hunt beginning on September 18. An estimated 200 animals will be harvested and another 100-350 will be captured and release in other areas.

The Washington Post has more on this story and other fires in Montana.

Tom Remington

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Some Decoys Are Just Too Good

A man and his son went turkey hunting in Mason Valley Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. They got some decoys set up, along with a blind. The two went in to wait for a tom or two. Evidently the two got a bit sleepy and began to doze off – shame on them.

All hell breaks loose, when from behind them a mountain lion came charging by the blind to attack the decoys. The father touches off a round from his 12-gauge shot gun. He thinks the blast frightened or disoriented the lion. The lion turned and charged the two in the blind.

By the time the father got a second shot off, the cougar was at point blank range – he estimates about 8 feet. The pattern of the shot gun blast that killed the cougar was the size of a silver dollar – that was close.

In case you were wondering, the father who killed the cougar was licensed to do so, although not well prepared. He said it was the first time he had ever encountered a cougar in 30 years in that refuge.

Tom Remington

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Nevada Elk, Antelope and Sheep Have Record Harvest Numbers

Officials are surprised and encouraged by the results from the 2005 hunting season. Elk, pronghorn antelope and bighorn sheep harvest numbers were the highest ever and what officials were most surprised about was that hunters averaged only 4.7 days in the field, nearly 2 full days less than previous years.

1,246 elk were taken compared to 82 harvested in 1985. Officials say the elk population is thriving and estimates have the population at around 8,000 animals. The bulls taken during the hunt averaged 6 points to each side of the antlers. This indicates ample numbers of healthy, mature males.

The winter of 1992-93 was devastating to the antelope but numbers have recovered to levels higher than before the severe winter. 1,608 were killed this past season which is 200 more than the previous year.

Bighorn sheep have been on the rebound since the 1960s because of careful management practices which have included transplanting and providing better habitat. Last season 135 sheep were harvested by hunters. The previous record was 114 set in 1988.

Tom Remington

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