Elkhunter
New member
Targeting Teton elk
Park elk elude hunters, remain a challenge to hitting population goals.
By Rebecca Huntington
Donnie Evans doesn't mince words when describing this year's elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park.
According to the 55-year-old locomotive engineer from Casper, who has been trolling the national park for elk for a decade, this year's hunt was: "The worst I've ever seen it."
Evans didn't fill his elk tag for a second year in a row despite spending two weeks trying. One reason for the lack of success likely rests with the timing of the elk migration, which occurred earlier than usual.
Evans wasn't alone in his frustration. At the close of the hunting season Sunday, both Teton park and the National Elk Refuge reported limited hunter success this year. According to preliminary counts, which could increase slightly, hunters killed 588 fewer elk this year in the two hunts than a five-year average ending in 2001.
Elk kills were down to 385 from the five-year average of 973 recorded between 1991 and 2001.
Hunter success is not the only reason for the drop. Park hunting permits also have been curtailed from a peak of 3,000 in 1991 to fewer than 2,000 today as Jackson elk numbers are managed closer to the state's goal for the herd.
Wildlife managers rely on hunting to control numbers of the Jackson elk herd, which winters on the refuge and three state feed grounds in the Gros Ventre River drainage. Artificial feeding means more elk survive the winter, thus putting more emphasis on hunting to control herd size.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has a population objective of 11,029 for the Jackson herd, which numbered around 13,000 animals at the end of last year's hunting season (this year's count will happen again in mid-winter).
Getting a successful hunt on Teton park elk could become even more important under a proposal to reduce feeding on the refuge (see sidebar). The federal plan would meet the Game and Fish population goal while reducing, through hunting, the number of elk that summer in Grand Teton National Park.
But Evans' experience shows the challenge of relying on hunters to achieve that goal. The Casper resident has to plan his hunting vacation a year in advance so he has to guess when forage and snow conditions might push elk out of the high country.
On the same day, Nov. 15, that Evans arrived in Teton park to begin his hunt, refuge biologist Eric Cole counted 4,241 elk on the southern, hunt-free end of the refuge. Among those elk were 20 radio-collared animals known to summer in Teton park. Only one radio-collared elk from the park had not migrated to the refuge. Hunters did succeed in killing four radio-collared park elk between Oct. 22 and Nov. 13.
With the migration mostly over by the time Evans arrived, he said: "There just wasn't many elk moving at all just the stragglers."
Indeed, a dozen elk that ran across the hayfields northwest of Kelly caused a big stir among hunters looking for stragglers on Thanksgiving. As park Ranger Kevin Albright, 28, patrolled the hunt the day after Thanksgiving, he checked tags on a few successful kills from the previous day's flurry during an otherwise slow week.
Albright enjoys patrolling the hunt because it gives him a chance to stop and talk with people about the park summer is too busy for such chats.
In addition to checking in with hunters, who want to know where the elk are, Albright often has to explain the hunt to visitors, who don't understand why killing is allowed in a national park. He tells them that it's an elk reduction program designed to control herd numbers. Since the entire herd shares limited winter range, biologists have warned that allowing the park elk to go unchecked could curtail elk numbers in the other segments, possibly eliminating elk from summer ranges on national forest.
Teton park elk have an advantage over forest elk because Congress closed the western portion of the park to hunting when the park was expanded a half century ago. Hunters have to wait for elk to migrate into areas open to hunting. Park elk can evade hunters by traveling through areas closed to hunting and private developments. Often, when park elk do cross through open hunt areas, they do so at night, when shooting is prohibited.
"It's almost like they know the closed areas," Evans said.
Although it would take an act of Congress to open up the western half of Teton park to hunters, park and refuge officials propose increasing the number of park elk killed by opening the southern end of the refuge. Radio-collar data shows that park elk are some of the first animals to show up there each fall.
A draft study of the federal plan to curtail feeding on the elk refuge recommends allowing either an early season hunt on the southern end of the refuge or allowing recreational activity to push elk north to open hunting areas. Evans, who tried hunting on the refuge in addition to the park for the first time this year, welcomes the idea.
Park biologist Steve Cain suggested another tool available to managers would be to increase the percentage of cow tags since targeting female elk does more to control numbers than shooting bulls. Currently, 68 percent of park tags are restricted to antlerless elk, he said. Wildlife managers have succeeded in gradually reducing park elk numbers over the past decade by emphasizing cow tags, he said.
During this year's hunt, as Albright patrolled the day after Thanksgiving, he noticed a man lying in the parking lot at the base of Blacktail Butte. Checking to see if the individual needed assistance, Albright discovered a napping hunter, who had tired himself out hiking across the butte in search of elk.
While Evans had a similarly frustrating experience, he's not discouraged. He's already scheduled two weeks' vacation for next year's park hunt. Evans comes for more than just an elk. He likes the variety of wildlife he gets to see, including bighorn sheep, moose, deer and wolves. He also enjoys the friendly game wardens and park rangers, he said.
Most of all, he appreciates the backdrop. He often walks down to the Snake River to watch the sun light up the snow-capped Teton Range.
"It just sends a chill down your back," Evans said. "They're just amazing as many times as I've seen them."
Park elk elude hunters, remain a challenge to hitting population goals.
By Rebecca Huntington
Donnie Evans doesn't mince words when describing this year's elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park.
According to the 55-year-old locomotive engineer from Casper, who has been trolling the national park for elk for a decade, this year's hunt was: "The worst I've ever seen it."
Evans didn't fill his elk tag for a second year in a row despite spending two weeks trying. One reason for the lack of success likely rests with the timing of the elk migration, which occurred earlier than usual.
Evans wasn't alone in his frustration. At the close of the hunting season Sunday, both Teton park and the National Elk Refuge reported limited hunter success this year. According to preliminary counts, which could increase slightly, hunters killed 588 fewer elk this year in the two hunts than a five-year average ending in 2001.
Elk kills were down to 385 from the five-year average of 973 recorded between 1991 and 2001.
Hunter success is not the only reason for the drop. Park hunting permits also have been curtailed from a peak of 3,000 in 1991 to fewer than 2,000 today as Jackson elk numbers are managed closer to the state's goal for the herd.
Wildlife managers rely on hunting to control numbers of the Jackson elk herd, which winters on the refuge and three state feed grounds in the Gros Ventre River drainage. Artificial feeding means more elk survive the winter, thus putting more emphasis on hunting to control herd size.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has a population objective of 11,029 for the Jackson herd, which numbered around 13,000 animals at the end of last year's hunting season (this year's count will happen again in mid-winter).
Getting a successful hunt on Teton park elk could become even more important under a proposal to reduce feeding on the refuge (see sidebar). The federal plan would meet the Game and Fish population goal while reducing, through hunting, the number of elk that summer in Grand Teton National Park.
But Evans' experience shows the challenge of relying on hunters to achieve that goal. The Casper resident has to plan his hunting vacation a year in advance so he has to guess when forage and snow conditions might push elk out of the high country.
On the same day, Nov. 15, that Evans arrived in Teton park to begin his hunt, refuge biologist Eric Cole counted 4,241 elk on the southern, hunt-free end of the refuge. Among those elk were 20 radio-collared animals known to summer in Teton park. Only one radio-collared elk from the park had not migrated to the refuge. Hunters did succeed in killing four radio-collared park elk between Oct. 22 and Nov. 13.
With the migration mostly over by the time Evans arrived, he said: "There just wasn't many elk moving at all just the stragglers."
Indeed, a dozen elk that ran across the hayfields northwest of Kelly caused a big stir among hunters looking for stragglers on Thanksgiving. As park Ranger Kevin Albright, 28, patrolled the hunt the day after Thanksgiving, he checked tags on a few successful kills from the previous day's flurry during an otherwise slow week.
Albright enjoys patrolling the hunt because it gives him a chance to stop and talk with people about the park summer is too busy for such chats.
In addition to checking in with hunters, who want to know where the elk are, Albright often has to explain the hunt to visitors, who don't understand why killing is allowed in a national park. He tells them that it's an elk reduction program designed to control herd numbers. Since the entire herd shares limited winter range, biologists have warned that allowing the park elk to go unchecked could curtail elk numbers in the other segments, possibly eliminating elk from summer ranges on national forest.
Teton park elk have an advantage over forest elk because Congress closed the western portion of the park to hunting when the park was expanded a half century ago. Hunters have to wait for elk to migrate into areas open to hunting. Park elk can evade hunters by traveling through areas closed to hunting and private developments. Often, when park elk do cross through open hunt areas, they do so at night, when shooting is prohibited.
"It's almost like they know the closed areas," Evans said.
Although it would take an act of Congress to open up the western half of Teton park to hunters, park and refuge officials propose increasing the number of park elk killed by opening the southern end of the refuge. Radio-collar data shows that park elk are some of the first animals to show up there each fall.
A draft study of the federal plan to curtail feeding on the elk refuge recommends allowing either an early season hunt on the southern end of the refuge or allowing recreational activity to push elk north to open hunting areas. Evans, who tried hunting on the refuge in addition to the park for the first time this year, welcomes the idea.
Park biologist Steve Cain suggested another tool available to managers would be to increase the percentage of cow tags since targeting female elk does more to control numbers than shooting bulls. Currently, 68 percent of park tags are restricted to antlerless elk, he said. Wildlife managers have succeeded in gradually reducing park elk numbers over the past decade by emphasizing cow tags, he said.
During this year's hunt, as Albright patrolled the day after Thanksgiving, he noticed a man lying in the parking lot at the base of Blacktail Butte. Checking to see if the individual needed assistance, Albright discovered a napping hunter, who had tired himself out hiking across the butte in search of elk.
While Evans had a similarly frustrating experience, he's not discouraged. He's already scheduled two weeks' vacation for next year's park hunt. Evans comes for more than just an elk. He likes the variety of wildlife he gets to see, including bighorn sheep, moose, deer and wolves. He also enjoys the friendly game wardens and park rangers, he said.
Most of all, he appreciates the backdrop. He often walks down to the Snake River to watch the sun light up the snow-capped Teton Range.
"It just sends a chill down your back," Evans said. "They're just amazing as many times as I've seen them."
