Pucky Freak
Well-known member
I do not object to WY landowners having a management option available of hiring a sharpshooter to kill a large quantity of elk cows/calves. Some landowners simply do not want to interface with hunters from the general public, and I think the general public needs to be OK with that.
The Iron Mountain elk reduction last hunting season referenced by the author had direct oversight from WG&F, and there was no nefarious outfitting scheme. A well-planned population reduction with sufficient accountability from the wildlife agency is not the bogeyman it is sometimes made out to be.
However, common sense proposals such as sharpshooter removal programs are a tough sell because the public hunter often cannot trust either the landowner or the state government to fairly administer the program, and for good reason. There are plenty of fair-handed large ranchers in WY, but they get overshadowed by their bad-actor peers. Likewise, there are WY state legislators who actually represent their constituents, but they are out-shadowed by the majority of their peers who favor the landed ruling class.
There are absolutely valid concerns from hunters when entities such as WYOGA, WSGA and friends actively seek to pervert state-sanctioned damage control measures in thinly-veiled money grabs. This is seen again and again via various efforts to privatize wildlife: converting LQ units to general units (w/ unlimited bull tags), deputizing landowners and their designated representatives to forcefully detain alleged trespassers, the current dubious crop damage payment proposal, outfitter tag set-asides, special draw tag fee hikes, the Wyoming Wildlife (Privatization) Taskforce, etc., etc.
Elk have become big money in WY, and people are greedy. Many big landowners are in bed with WY politicians and their big money friends, and they’ll get their way eventually. Resident public land hunters do not have much of a voice until they choose to vote out the corrupt politicians who favor feudal lords over the peasantry…and when is that ever going to happen.
The Iron Mountain elk reduction last hunting season referenced by the author had direct oversight from WG&F, and there was no nefarious outfitting scheme. A well-planned population reduction with sufficient accountability from the wildlife agency is not the bogeyman it is sometimes made out to be.
However, common sense proposals such as sharpshooter removal programs are a tough sell because the public hunter often cannot trust either the landowner or the state government to fairly administer the program, and for good reason. There are plenty of fair-handed large ranchers in WY, but they get overshadowed by their bad-actor peers. Likewise, there are WY state legislators who actually represent their constituents, but they are out-shadowed by the majority of their peers who favor the landed ruling class.
There are absolutely valid concerns from hunters when entities such as WYOGA, WSGA and friends actively seek to pervert state-sanctioned damage control measures in thinly-veiled money grabs. This is seen again and again via various efforts to privatize wildlife: converting LQ units to general units (w/ unlimited bull tags), deputizing landowners and their designated representatives to forcefully detain alleged trespassers, the current dubious crop damage payment proposal, outfitter tag set-asides, special draw tag fee hikes, the Wyoming Wildlife (Privatization) Taskforce, etc., etc.
Elk have become big money in WY, and people are greedy. Many big landowners are in bed with WY politicians and their big money friends, and they’ll get their way eventually. Resident public land hunters do not have much of a voice until they choose to vote out the corrupt politicians who favor feudal lords over the peasantry…and when is that ever going to happen.
