Grand Teton seeks goat cull help after canceled air shoot

[WyoDoug]

Personally, I would rather they allow hunters to hunt them than simply culling them.

Grand Teton seeks goat cull help after canceled air shoot

Grand Teton National Park is seeking volunteers to shoot nonnative mountain goats this fall after calling off a helicopter goat shoot amid criticism from Wyoming’s governor last winter.

www.wyomingnewsnow.tv

 

[Mtnhunter1]

Quote from the link,"Participants won’t be allowed to keep the goats for meat or as trophies."

Does any HT'r know what happens to the goats once killed?

The shooting of these goats and also the OP,WA goats really sits wrong with me. At least in WA they have been relocating a bunch before the eradication begins.

 

[WyoDoug]

Quote from the link,"Participants won’t be allowed to keep the goats for meat or as trophies."

Does any HT'r know what happens to the goats once killed?

The shooting of these goats and also the OP,WA goats really sits wrong with me. At least in WA they have been relocating a bunch before the eradication begins.

I still object to this culling as they call it. People that shoot them SHOULD be allowed to keep the meat AND trophies. The problem as I see it is it seems to be managed by anti-hunters.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

Participants are to "reasonably attempt to harvest the edible portions from the animals they take". Head/hide cannot be kept. Each volunteer is allowed to keep the equivalent of one goat in meat. The horses mouth is here:

Non-Native Mountain Goat Management Qualified Volunteer Program - Grand Teton National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Pass. And maybe I'm not giving the average US "qualified volunteer" enough credit but I see some additional search and rescue calls coming.

 

[SaskHunter]

Fine, I'll do it.

 

[MTLabrador]

I see some additional search and rescue calls coming.

Yep...

 

[Mtnhunter1]

I understand the thought process but, IMO, wrong on so many levels. What a waste!

 

[BuzzH]

I wonder how many will wash out from the rifle proficiency test?

Judging what I see at public range "sight in" days...I would reckon a few.

 

[MTLabrador]

I wonder how many will wash out from the rifle proficiency test?

Judging what I see at public range "sight in" days...I would reckon a few.

I watched a guy “dialing in” his .300 Weatherby the other day and it was downright embarrassing. He’s not alone either.

 

[ClearCreek]

After running the "sighting-in days" for our local gun club for about 10 years which had about 80% nonresidents participate in the four days of the event, the one thing that I can say is the "average" hunter is a poor shot.

I can't tell you how many times I heard, "I just want to shoot a couple times to make sure it is still on. When I left home I was shooting 1/2 inch groups.", then the shooter would sit down at the bench and shoot a couple rounds at 100 yards that were 6-10 inches apart and no where near where they were aiming. There were a couple that could not even hit the 16 X 16 inch sighting-in target. Always some excuse, the rifle got bumped while traveling, the change in elevation, etc. etc.

My first thought was, that guy has never shot a 1/2 inch group in his life.

Some of the best shooters were the wives (or girl friends). It seemed they had nothing to prove to anyone and would sit down at the bench and shoot quite well, most of the time embarrassing their male counterpart!

ClearCreek

 

[dgc1963]

I have been shocked many times when talking with other long time hunters about what they are shooting ,bullets,weights, and ballistics and realize they have no Idea
One guy told me once he sights in to his flinch WOW

 

[Mosquito]

Wy wouldn't they just have a drawing and charge the normal price for those tags ? If they want them gone then just hunt that unit to almost extinction. Im sure there would be no shortage of applicants and the increase revenue for the state.

 

[ignorethefringes]

I have been shocked many times when talking with other long time hunters about what they are shooting ,bullets,weights, and ballistics and realize they have no Idea
One guy told me once he sights in to his flinch WOW

I sight in to the slant of my bow lol. I know my form sucks, but it sucks consistently.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

Wy wouldn't they just have a drawing and charge the normal price for those tags ? If they want them gone then just hunt that unit to almost extinction. Im sure there would be no shortage of applicants and the increase revenue for the state.

That’s what they’re doing on the USFS side, doesn’t work on the NPS side however.

 

[TheElkMan]

The area where these goats are is non-native habitat for them. The reason they want and need this goat herd gone is because there is a native big horn sheep herd there that is genetically clean and probably the only healthy pneumonia free herd in the state. The goats carry diseases that they are immune to but the sheep are not. Therefore, the goats gotta go.
It would be nice if they sold tags and hunted them like normal, however time is not a luxury here. If the goats and sheep cross paths the sheep will be wiped out in only a couple years.

 

[WyoDoug]

My feeling is they want to exterminate that herd entirely. But it takes people in very good physical conditioning to do the hunt and my guess is there are not all that many that can "qualify". They should not have ANY limits on the number of animals people can recover meat from. None.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

My question is who determines if a species is non native? To me it’s just nature doing it’s thing, all animals will move around and evolve no matter if we like it or not! Species will die off others will get stronger.....
Matt

 

[geetar]

My question is who determines if a species is non native? To me it’s just nature doing it’s thing, all animals will move around and evolve no matter if we like it or not! Species will die off others will get stronger.....
Matt

I don’t know for certain but I’m pretty sure it’s an issue with them being transplanted by humans into an area and then later humans want to get rid of them. The whole situation is crazy to me. If one guy poached a goat or left the meat in any normal hunting situation it would be a crime but it’s totally cool to just helicopter gun them and leave them laying or allow them to be culled but demand the meat must be left laying. The whole thing ticks me off.

 

[WyoDoug]

They likely descended from populations outside the park and if these are natural populations I think the park officials are in fact interfering with nature. They also appear to have kept their bosses in the dark on it according to news I am reading and the Wyoming Governor was infuriated when he found out about it.

I favor opening National Parks to hunting to better manage wildlife numbers. Never figured out why the hunting ban.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I favor opening National Parks to hunting to better manage wildlife numbers. Never figured out why the hunting ban

Too many people in most cases I'd say.