{"id":10292,"date":"2014-10-22T14:38:55","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T20:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292"},"modified":"2014-10-22T14:41:05","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T20:41:05","slug":"photographers-sue-to-stop-grand-teton-elk-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292","title":{"rendered":"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"elk-front\"<\/a><\/dt>\n
Two photographers have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop fall elk hunts allowed in Grand Teton National Park.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Two Teton County photographers filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. Monday seeking to stop the annual elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park.<\/p>\n

Tim Mayo and Kent Nelson, operating as Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, target the \u201celk reduction program,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Nelson and Mayo ask a judge to declare the 2014 hunt illegal, along with the park\u2019s \u201cpolicy, practice and pattern,\u201d of adopting it annually. The suit challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service\u2019s 2013 determination that park hunters could kill four additional grizzlies by 2022 before Grand Teton would run afoul of the Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n

The suit seeks reversal of that Fish and Wildlife\u00a0\u201cincidental take\u201d<\/a>\u00a0number. It also asks for an environmental review, with public comment, of the park\u2019s elk reduction program.<\/p>\n

The legal action names National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director Daniel Ashe and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell as defendants.<\/p>\n

A Fish and Wildlife spokesman said his agency does not comment on pending litigation. Grand Teton officials did not comment by press time Monday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe various laws define a rigorous process which the agencies that authorize and administer the hunt are required to follow,\u201d Nelson said Monday in a statement. \u201cWe are alleging that the agencies\u2019 legal obligations were sometimes ignored and at other times were essentially rubber-stamped without performing legally required due diligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the suit was filed, a park spokeswoman and biologist outlined how and why the elk reduction program is authorized each year. Among other reasons, the hunt is necessary to ensure the Jackson Elk Herd remains within population objectives and evenly distributed across four summer ranges, spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs and Grand Teton Senior Wildlife Biologist Steve Cain said last week. The Wyoming Game and Fish objective for the herd stands at 11,000 while biologists estimate 11,600 in the herd in the last annual winter census.<\/p>\n

Hunt keeps elk distributed, park says<\/b><\/p>\n

Without a hunt, more and more of the elk in the herd would move to Grand Teton, overwhelming habitat there as they abandoned other areas, Skaggs and Cain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not desirable ecologically or for any other reason,\u201d Cain said. Stopping the hunt would \u201cgreatly affect recreational hunting and the ability to manage the herd outside the park.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayo and Nelson\u2019s suit comes as the public continues to scrutinize the hunt, which is highly unusual in a National Park. The law expanding Grand Teton in 1950 allows the Elk Reduction Program \u201cfor the purpose of proper management and protection of the elk.\u201d<\/p>\n

In cooperation with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Grand Teton has staged the hunt in all but two of the last 64 years, Skaggs said. The 2014 hunt began Saturday.<\/p>\n

The 2012 Thanksgiving Day killing of a grizzly by hunters in Grand Teton emerges as a pivotal incident in the suit. Hunters sprayed the advancing 534-pound bear with bear pepper spray and shot it dead, practically simultaneously, park reports say.<\/p>\n

That put Grand Teton at the limit of anticipated grizzly deaths due to the hunt. One more and the hunt would have violated the Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n

The park closed 8 miles of wooded Snake River bottomlands to hunting as a result. It is the only agency to require hunters to carry bear spray.<\/p>\n

Meantime, Fish and Wildlife increased the number of grizzly bears it predicts hunters will kill from 2007 through 2022. The original prediction was one; in 2013 Fish and Wildlife boosted that to five.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FWS provided no explanation as to how it derived these \u201ctake\u201d figures, which dramatically increased the permitted take of threatened grizzly bears,\u201d the suit says. \u201cThe FWS did not impose any new binding measures on the NPS to ensure that these new take figures would not be exceeded, and the FWS also did not impose any new reasonable and prudent measures or terms and conditions with which NPS must comply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fish and Wildlife did say it expected the hunt to result in a \u201crelatively high risk of hunter-grizzly bear contacts.\u201d The suit claims, too, that Fish and Wildlife didn\u2019t examine the disruption to bears\u2019 habits caused by hunters leaving gut piles behind in the park.<\/p>\n

Grizzlies have expanded their range, making the Fish and Wildlife increase from its 2007 \u201cincidental take\u201d number necessary, Cain said. \u201cThere has been measurable, considerable change in grizzly bear activity and presence in the south end of the park since 2007,\u201d Cain said.<\/p>\n

Grizzly bears expand range<\/b><\/p>\n

Evidence of the expansion includes the appearance of grizzly mom no. 399 who showed up on the elk refuge during the bison hunt in 2012, the first recent appearance of a grizzly on that preserve.<\/p>\n

That opened the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year during the hunt multiple bears were seen multiple times on the refuge,\u201d Cain said. \u201cThey were picking up gut piles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago Game and Fish trapped a grizzly in The Aspens subdivision, about 6 miles south of Grand Teton, the Jackson Hole News&Guide\u00a0reported<\/a>. A man walking his dog \u201cended up in a closer situation than he would have liked,\u201d the paper said, quoting a Game and Fish biologist.<\/p>\n

Yet Fish and Wildlife failed to go through \u201cformal steps,\u201d in increasing the \u201cincidental take\u201d number, the lawsuit says. The federal agency in charge of endangered species also failed to provide \u201cany biological or other basis for the increased amount of take of grizzly bears authorized,\u201d the suit states.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Federal documents show Fish and Wildlife did consider the overall ecosystem grizzly population and trends.<\/p>\n

Grand Teton did not ask for a particular increase, Cain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t really have any input on what that take is,\u201d Cain said. \u201cThe park did not propose a number. That number was given to us,\u201d by Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hope is we don\u2019t have any more bears killed in the park, ever,\u201d Cain said. \u201cOur management goal is zero bears killed by hunters. It always has been and always will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Mayo and Nelson\u2019s challenge also incorporates the practice of supplemental feeding at the refuge. In the 2007 Bison and Elk Management Plan, refuge officials sought to reduce the number of elk on supplemental feed to 5,000.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cthe number of elk being fed with supplemental feeding in the Elk Refuge has increased from 7,279 elk in 2007, when the Management Plan was adopted, to 8,300 elk in 2014,\u201d the suit says. \u201cThe FWS is not in fact in the process of phasing out the supplemental feeding of elk \u2026 despite the fact that the FWS is now already in year 7 of the 15-year Plan during which the phase-out is supposed to be accomplished.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe supplemental feeding program also artificially increases the number of elk that would otherwise be in the area, which in turn has become the justification NPS employs to allow the killing of elk each year via the (Elk Reduction Program)\u201d the suit says. The filing quotes federal documents that say \u201celiminating winter feeding on the refuge would negate the need for hunting elk,\u201d in the park.<\/p>\n

Parts of the Jackson Elk Herd \u00a0also are fed in winter on state feedgrounds in the Gros Ventre River drainage.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, \u201c\u2026 NPS has never made a finding that \u2026 hunting is \u2018necessary for the proper management and protection of the elk,\u2019\u201d the suit says. \u201cNor \u2026 has NPS ever analyzed the basis for, or validity of, the 11,000 elk population goal upon which the hunt is based.\u201d<\/p>\n

Park hunt has gotten smaller<\/b><\/p>\n

Grand Teton has made significant strides toward reducing the hunt, Cain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had successful recovery of the grizzly bear and wolf,\u201d Cain said. \u201cNatural regulation is playing a much larger part in the park than it did in the last 50-60 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s part of the reason there are only 650 park hunting permits available this year instead of the 3,000 that have been offered in the past, he said. The hunt is now in a \u201cmaintenance state,\u201d Cain said.<\/p>\n

The park has stopped hunting north of Spread Creek, Elk Hunt Area 79, except on a very limited basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody ever dreamed Area 79 would close,\u201d Cain said. \u201cThat\u2019s a significant change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been near and at objective,\u201d he said of the number of elk in Grand Teton. Crunching park and state hunt numbers, the park hunt accounted for 14 percent of the Jackson Elk Herd harvest last season.<\/p>\n

The Jackson Elk Herd summers in Grand Teton, southern Yellowstone, plus the Teton Wilderness and Gros Ventre\/Mt Leidy Highlands areas of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The herd winters on the refuge, run by Fish and Wildlife, at the state feedgrounds and on natural winter range around Jackson Hole.<\/p>\n

Hunters killed 1,437 elk from the herd last hunting season, including in Grand Teton, on the Bridger-Teton and on private land. Two thousand eight hundred and seventy-four hunters took to the field, spending 19,000 \u201crecreation days\u201d hunting, Game and Fish reports say.<\/p>\n

Elk killed in the park hunt include some from southern Yellowstone and the Teton Wilderness that traverse protected parts of Grand Teton to reach the refuge in the fall. Hunting in Grand Teton is allowed only in parts of the park east of the Snake River.<\/p>\n

Elk reduction will be necessary, \u201cas long as we maintain 11,000 or more elk with similar diet and migrations,\u201d Cain said. Reducing or stopping the hunt \u201cwould only occur if the population itself was significantly reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n

The population bottleneck is winter range, Cain said.<\/p>\n

Winter range on a truck<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cRight now both the refuge and State of Wyoming bring in winter range on trucks through their feeding programs,\u201d Cain said. \u201cSince the winter range is the limiting factor, the elk managers are trying to equitably distribute the elk that take advantage of these feeding programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

If park hunting stopped and Grand Teton\u2019s summer population of elk doubled or tripled, those elk would make up a larger portion of the herd. Correspondingly, there would be fewer elk on the other three summer ranges.<\/p>\n

If park hunting stopped, elk would learn of the sanctuary, as have Jackson Hole bison. Hunters can\u2019t shoot bison in the park \u2014 only on the refuge and National Forest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state is finding it very difficult to attain an adequate bison harvest,\u201d Cain said. \u201cThey learn they are safe within the confines of the park.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, \u201call those elk would have to do is go to Grand Teton and not get hunted,\u201d Cain said.<\/p>\n

Distribution of elk around Jackson Hole would shift. \u201cMost people view that as undesirable,\u201d Cain said.<\/p>\n

Today, about 1,600 elk summer in Grand Teton, Cain said. There used to be between 2,000 and 2,500.<\/p>\n

Historically, the Grand Teton elk reduction mainly targeted migrating elk. Before Congress expanded the park in 1950, cattle grazing kept the Grand Teton resident population low, Cain said. Now, those elk are also targets.<\/p>\n

If hunting in Grand Teton stopped, \u201cYou may have a much greater portion of Teton Wilderness elk that learn to migrate at night from summer range to the park and then to safe areas of the National Elk Refuge,\u201d Cain said. The result could be skewed migration routes, lost recreational hunting and increased impacts on Grand Teton. The herd would be \u201charder to manage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result could be disproportional use of fall transitional range, he said.<\/p>\n

Hunt numbers reviewed each year<\/b><\/p>\n

Grand Teton and Game and Fish determine the annual hunt numbers together, Cain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe review all the most recent information, summer classification, winter counts, harvest of previous year,\u201d he said. \u201cUsually what occurs is Game and Fish makes their recommendation, we make a counter-recommendation [and] throughout the meeting we basically come to an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit says elk hunting in the park disrupts Mayo\u2019s enjoyment of the preserve.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe noise of gunshots and the commotion caused by the hunt participants scares the elk and much of the other wildlife Mr. Mayo wishes to photograph, making it much more difficult to photograph these animals in their natural state,\u201d the filing says. \u201cIn addition, when they enter areas open to hunters, the elk, which are wary of hunters, cease much of their instinctual behavior and rush their movements, which under normal circumstances would include much slower travel, majestic bugling, and other rutting behaviors, which enthusiasts like Mr. Mayo enjoy witnessing and photographing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hunt also is hazardous to visitors, the suit claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one occasion, while taking photographs, Mr. Mayo\u2019s life was endangered when a hunt participant carelessly shot towards US Highway 26 where Mr. Mayo was standing, and several stray bullets hit the ground within several feet of Mr. Mayo,\u201d the filing says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hunts increase the risk of human-bear conflicts, which in turn result in grizzly bears being shot, thus decreasing the number of bears that can be observed and photographed by Mr. Mayo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit makes similar claims regarding Nelson, who spends 150 days a year photographing wildlife professionally in Grand Teton.<\/p>\n

The park is required to preserve scenery, and natural and historic objects and wildlife, but failed to make what\u2019s known as a \u201cnon-impairment\u201d finding with regard to the hunt, the suit contends. Authorities authorized the hunt without an environmental review allowing public comment, thus violating the National Environmental Policy Act, the suit says.<\/p>\n

Reprinted with permission from WyoFile<\/a>, a nonprofit news service focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two Teton County photographers filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. Monday seeking to stop the annual elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park.
\nTim Mayo and Kent Nelson, operating as Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, target the \u201celk reduction program,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":10293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[313,9],"tags":[907,1285,385],"yoast_head":"\nPhotographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt - Yellowstone Gate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt - Yellowstone Gate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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 \u201celk reduction program,\u201d 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.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yellowstone Gate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-22T20:38:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-22T20:41:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Angus Thuermer Jr.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Angus Thuermer Jr.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Angus Thuermer Jr.\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/063f3384a1c8e80574f96f22a28e3da3\"},\"headline\":\"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-22T20:38:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-22T20:41:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292\"},\"wordCount\":2290,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"elk hunt\",\"elk reduction\",\"hunting\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Grand Teton\",\"Wildlife\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292\",\"name\":\"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt - Yellowstone Gate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-22T20:38:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-22T20:41:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":680},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/\",\"name\":\"Yellowstone Gate\",\"description\":\"Yellowstone and Grand Teton community news & inside views\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Yellowstone Gate\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/yellowstone-gate-logo-horiz.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/yellowstone-gate-logo-horiz.png\",\"width\":764,\"height\":152,\"caption\":\"Yellowstone Gate\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/063f3384a1c8e80574f96f22a28e3da3\",\"name\":\"Angus Thuermer Jr.\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf072a35f7a327fa43c7775b52b2f196?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf072a35f7a327fa43c7775b52b2f196?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Angus Thuermer Jr.\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?author=121\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt - Yellowstone Gate","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt - Yellowstone Gate","og_description":"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 \u201celk reduction program,\u201d 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.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292","og_site_name":"Yellowstone Gate","article_published_time":"2014-10-22T20:38:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-22T20:41:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":680,"url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Angus Thuermer Jr.","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Angus Thuermer Jr.","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292"},"author":{"name":"Angus Thuermer Jr.","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/063f3384a1c8e80574f96f22a28e3da3"},"headline":"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt","datePublished":"2014-10-22T20:38:55+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-22T20:41:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292"},"wordCount":2290,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg","keywords":["elk hunt","elk reduction","hunting"],"articleSection":["Grand Teton","Wildlife"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292","name":"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt - Yellowstone Gate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-22T20:38:55+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-22T20:41:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg","width":900,"height":680},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=10292#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Photographers sue to stop Grand Teton elk hunt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/","name":"Yellowstone Gate","description":"Yellowstone and Grand Teton community news & inside views","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization","name":"Yellowstone Gate","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/yellowstone-gate-logo-horiz.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/yellowstone-gate-logo-horiz.png","width":764,"height":152,"caption":"Yellowstone Gate"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/063f3384a1c8e80574f96f22a28e3da3","name":"Angus Thuermer Jr.","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf072a35f7a327fa43c7775b52b2f196?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf072a35f7a327fa43c7775b52b2f196?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Angus Thuermer Jr."},"url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?author=121"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/elk-front.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10298,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10292\/revisions\/10298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}