Laramie
WKR
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2020
- Messages
- 2,627
To the casual observer, it would appear that the elk in Wyoming, based on the recommended quotas, did better than average this winter, despite this being the worst winter in recorded history for many areas.
As a general rule, elk do handle severe winters better than antelope and deer. However, they are still impacted. Their populations don't grow exponentially on years like this. With that in mind I would ask everyone to ask yourselves why the Wyoming Game and Fish is recommending increasing elk permits by over 3300 for this season. 53 different tags/areas were increased by over 3900 permits while there were only 10 overall tags/areas decreased by a total of 575. It just doesn't add up...
To me this is simply the WG&F trying to recoup losses. They are going to sell fewer antelope and deer permits than they planned so they are going to over issue higher priced elk permits to make up for the money lost. This isn't game management and this isn't good for the hunters in many of these areas. Sure some extra people will draw but there will be higher hunting pressure in many areas resulting is a lower quality hunt. There will be additional harvest in some areas that will hurt overall numbers and potentially lower trophy potential for years to come. There will be negative impacts and they know it but are recommending it anyways.
To those of you able to attend meetings, please speak up and at least ask some questions.
Elk recommendations - Chapter 7, Elk Hunting
As a general rule, elk do handle severe winters better than antelope and deer. However, they are still impacted. Their populations don't grow exponentially on years like this. With that in mind I would ask everyone to ask yourselves why the Wyoming Game and Fish is recommending increasing elk permits by over 3300 for this season. 53 different tags/areas were increased by over 3900 permits while there were only 10 overall tags/areas decreased by a total of 575. It just doesn't add up...
To me this is simply the WG&F trying to recoup losses. They are going to sell fewer antelope and deer permits than they planned so they are going to over issue higher priced elk permits to make up for the money lost. This isn't game management and this isn't good for the hunters in many of these areas. Sure some extra people will draw but there will be higher hunting pressure in many areas resulting is a lower quality hunt. There will be additional harvest in some areas that will hurt overall numbers and potentially lower trophy potential for years to come. There will be negative impacts and they know it but are recommending it anyways.
To those of you able to attend meetings, please speak up and at least ask some questions.
Elk recommendations - Chapter 7, Elk Hunting