hunting

Recent Posts

2 grizzly bears killed in separate incidents near Yellowstone

A few grizzly bears have been spotted emerging from hibernation in Yellowstone National Park.

Two grizzly bears were killed by elk hunters acting in self defense last week in separate incidents near Yellowstone National Park. According to information released by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, both hunters were unharmed in the incidents. In each case, the hunters were able to return to their vehicles unharmed and report the incident. Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , ,

Grizzly involved in Idaho hunter attack likely defending cubs

A few grizzly bears have been spotted emerging from hibernation in Yellowstone National Park.

Idaho wildlife officials say their investigation into a recent grizzly bear attack on a hunter near Yellowstone National Park has determined the incident was likely the result of a surprise encounter in which a mother bear was defending her three cubs. A 55-year-old man from Idaho Falls was treated and released Monday after a grizzly bear bit his left hand. The man had been bowhunting for elk in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in the vicinity of Yale Creek, about 15 miles west of Yellowstone. Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , , , ,

Pneumonia kills dozens of bighorn sheep north of Yellowstone Park

Bighorn sheep and other wildlife are likely to be subjects in a newly announced photography contest focused on Yellowstone National Park.

Wildlife officials in Montana remain concerned about an ongoing pneumonia outbreak among bighorn sheep near the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park, and have canceled the lone permit that would have been issued for a fall sheep hunt in the area. The move came after wildlife biologists conducted an aerial survey Sunday of the area near Gardiner, Mont., just outside Yellowstone's North Gate. After counting 89 healthy sheep last year, Sunday's count yielded 55 sheep, as well as another dead animal and a number of sick ones. Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , ,

Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt

Two Teton County photographers filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. Monday seeking to stop the annual elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park. Tim Mayo and Kent Nelson, operating as Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, target the “elk reduction program,” in which hunters killed 202 elk last year. The hunt also resulted in the shooting of a grizzly bear, a federally protected species, in 2012. The suit goes beyond hunting alone, challenging supplemental winter elk feeding on the nearby National Elk Refuge. The hunt violates a slew of federal laws, the suit claims, including the Grand Teton Act, the National Park Organic Act, the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , ,

Elk hunt set to begin in Grand Teton

Yellowstone National Park officials are reminding visitors to keep their distance from elk and other wildlife as fall approaches.

Elk hunting is set to begin Saturday in Grand Teton National Park, and one area of the park where hunting was previously allowed will remain closed to hunters following violent conflicts there with grizzly bears in recent years. In 2011 a hunter was mauled by a grizzly bear, and in 2012 a grizzly was fatally shot when it charged three elk hunters. No charges were filed in that case after investigators determined the hunters acted appropriately in self-defense. In both cases, the bears were found to be protecting elk carcasses which they had been feeding on. The area where both incidents happened—a section of the Snake River bottom between the Deadman’s Bar river access road and Ditch Creek—will be closed during future hunts. Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , , ,

Groups work to reduce grizzly bear conflicts around Jackson

Federal, state and nonprofit organizations are working together this month to reduce conflicts between grizzly bears and people in Jackson, Wyo. and the surrounding area. Through educational presentations and distribution of bear deterrent spray to hunters, the groups hope to avoid encounters that might result in injury or death to either people or bears. Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , , , , ,

A ‘Dark and Stormy Night’ in Yellowstone Park from 1874

Early Yellowstone National Park visitor the Earl of Dunraven shares a scary tale of a dark and stormy night in 1874, in which "the Demon of the Tempest was abroad in his anger, yelling down the valley, dashing out the water-floods with his hands, laying waste the forest, and filling with dread the hearts of man and beast and every living thing." Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , , ,

Wyoming wildlife official says wolves unlikely to thrive outside state’s northwestern corner

A male wolf from the Canyon Pack stands in shallow water in Yellowstone National Park.

After nearly two decades since their reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park, population trends show that gray wolves are unlikely to thrive in sections of Wyoming outside the northwestern corner of the state. Many wolf supporters remain dissatisfied with Wyoming's so-called "dual status" management approach, which classifies wolves as trophy game in the area around Yellowstone and as predators elsewhere. But a state wildlife official said Thursday that policy changes won't have much effect on wolf numbers across most of the state. Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , ,

Grand Teton enacts elk hunt restrictions aimed at reducing bear-human conflicts

Grand Teton National Park managers are changing how annual elk hunts operate in an effort to reduce the risk of bear-human conflicts. (Yellowstone Gate/Ruffin Prevost)

Following violent encounters between hunters and grizzly bears in each of the last two years, Grand Teton National Park managers are changing how elk hunts within the park will operate this fall. Changes outlined in a statement released Wednesday are aimed at reducing the likelihood of future bear-human conflicts and minimizing the chances that hunters will fire at elk they aren't sure they can kill. Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , , , ,