hunters – Syndication Server

Yellowstone-based wolves faring much better this hunting season

Montana hunters have killed three wolves from packs based in Yellowstone National Park so far this season, which pales in comparison to the toll exacted by this time in 2021-22.

Montana hunters have killed at least three wolves from packs based in Yellowstone National Park so far this season, which pales in comparison to the toll exacted by this time in 2021-22.

Yellowstone Public Affairs Specialist Linda Veress provided the following details to FTW Outdoors on Thursday:

One was an un-collared male wolf from the Rescue Creek Pack, killed on Dec. 5, 2022. The second was a radio-collared 2-1/2-year-old male, cataloged as 1325M, from the 8-mile pack, killed on Dec. 31, 2022.

The third was a 3-1/2-year-old collared female, 1229F, from the Junction Butte Pack, killed via trapping on Jan. 13, 2023.

All were harvested in southwest Montana after they’d wandered north of the the park.

Junction Butte Pack. Photo courtesy of Yellowstone National Park

In all, five wolves have been killed in a district that was notorious for wolf kills last season. The other two, both males, are not believed to have been based in Yellowstone.

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The district quota this season is six.

PERSPECTIVE

Through Jan. 26, 2022, 17 Yellowstone wolves had been shot or trapped after leaving the park. A few were harvested in Idaho and Wyoming, but most were killed in the same southwest Montana region.

By season’s end, Yellowstone would lose 25 wolves – about one-fifth of the population – to hunting and trapping, thanks largely to the elimination of quotas near the park’s northern boundary.

Wolf crossing road inside the park. Photo courtesy of Yellowstone National Park

Montana hunters accounted for 21 kills in a season that was intensely controversial long before it ended. (Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte declined a request by Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly to suspend the hunt as concerns mounted in Dec. 2021.)

Yellowstone was left with only 89 wolves entering the spring pupping season. They faced an uncertain future as apex predators deemed important both ecologically and from a tourism standpoint.

But last August, to avoid a repeat of last season, the Montana Fish and Game Commission voted to cap the number of wolves killed in what’s known as Wildlife Management Unit 313, at six wolves for 2022-23.

CURRENT STATUS

The 2022-23 season in WMU 313, which began last Sept. 15, will end March 15 or as soon as the quota reaches six. Veress said that as of Dec. 31, 2022, 108 wolves belonging to 10 packs were residing primarily inside the park.

–Images show gray wolves inside Yellowstone National Park

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Michigan deer hunters victimized by catalytic converter thieves

Michigan hunters are on alert in Ionia County after a continued uptick in catalytic converter thefts.

Hunters are on alert in at least one Michigan county after an apparent uptick in catalytic converter thefts.

The Ionia County Sheriff’s Office reported this week that at least two catalytic converters were removed from vehicles while their occupants were deer hunting.

The agency stated via Facebook: “Recently, Otisco Township Deputy Joseph Tefft took two reports of catalytic converters being cut and stolen from vehicles that were parked near rural hunting areas while the owners were out hunting for deer.

“We ask the public to watch for suspicious activity, and to report it immediately to Ionia Central Dispatch by calling 616-527-0400 or dialing 9-1-1.”

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One comment reads: “Wow!!! That takes some guts…..climbing under somebody’s vehicle and cutting off their converter…….knowing that person is in the woods with a loaded gun.”

The soaring number of catalytic converter thefts for their precious metals – including palladium, platinum, and rhodium – is a nationwide phenomenon and can involve sophisticated crime rings.

A single catalytic converter can fetch as much as $1,000 on the black market.

–White-tailed deer image is generic

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Montana hunters fire at charging grizzly bear, but apparently miss

Montana on Tuesday detailed several recent incidents involving grizzly bears, including one in which two hunters fired multiple handgun rounds at a charging bear.

Montana on Tuesday detailed several recent incidents involving grizzly bears, including one in which two hunters fired multiple handgun rounds at a charging bear in self-defense.

The “defensive encounter” occurred Oct. 14. The hunters were walking on a trail in the Madison Range when they heard brush breaking and saw a large bear emerge. Both hunters fired repeatedly and the bear fled without apparent signs of injury.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department stated in a news release that the female bear probably was caught by surprise because of the wind direction, and that her charge was in defense of her two cubs.

Remarkably, the bullets seem to have missed the large target.

On Oct. 15, FWP staff flew over the area and did not find an injured bear. A ground search turned up bear tracks and shell casings, but no “blood, hair, or any other evidence the bear was injured.”

The incident remains under investigation.

FWP also reported that a female grizzly bear and two cubs were captured from the town of Gardiner, near Yellowstone National Park, and relocated after repeatedly feeding in apple trees in public areas.

The bears did not respond to hazing attempts and instead became more brazen. On Oct. 17, the bears were feeding in apple trees near a school bus stop and prevented children from boarding the bus.

They were deemed a public safety hazard, trapped, and relocated to a site pre-approved by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission.

On Oct. 21, a female grizzly bear was euthanized after several conflicts with humans in Big Sky. Her two older cubs were relocated to a pre-approved release site.

On Oct. 23, an older male grizzly bear was found dead on U.S. Highway 191 after being struck by a vehicle near West Yellowstone.

FWP reiterated that grizzly bear populations “continue to become denser and more widespread in Montana, increasing the likelihood that residents and recreationists will encounter them in more places each year.”

The agency asked residents to take more precautions to protect themselves and the animals. Unsecured attractants such as fruit trees, bird feeders, and garbage are often factors in bear-human conflicts.

–Generic grizzly bear image is courtesy of the National Park Service

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Hunting pressure continues to impact Yellowstone wolves

For those who may be wondering, the number of Yellowstone National Park wolves killed by hunters this season has increased to at least 23.

That’s the highest number of park wolves harvested by hunters in one season since the predators were reintroduced in 1995-96.

All 23 wolves were legally harvested after they had wandered outside park boundaries, mostly in Montana.

The high number is attributed to the easing by Montana of hunting regulations for 2021-22. New regulations increased quotas and eliminated buffer zones.

A Montana hunter/trapper can harvest as many as 20 wolves, with restrictions. A legal wolf is any male or female, including pups.

Members of the Junction Butte Pack. Top image shows a Wapiti Lake wolf. Credit: Yellowstone National Park

The overall Yellowstone wolf population is now an estimated 91 animals.

In a tally maintained by the park, 18 of the 23 wolves were killed by hunters in Montana. Three were harvested in Wyoming; two in Idaho.

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Packs most impacted: Phantom Lake (as many as 7 wolves killed); Junction Butte (6); Wapiti Lake (2), 8 Mile (2), and Bechler (2).

Four wolves were collared: 1234M of the Wapiti Lake Pack; 1109F, an older female recently dispersed from the Junction Butte Pack; 1238M of the Mollie’s Pack, and 1266M of the Wapiti Lake Pack.

Four pups were among the Yellowstone wolves harvested outside the park: two from the Bechler Pack and two from the Junction Butte Pack.

In early January, park officials issued a statement to the AP saying the high number of wolf kills represented “a significant setback for the species’ longterm viability and for wolf research.”

A state review is initiated after 450 wolves are killed, or when quotas are reached in either of seven regions. Otherwise, Montana has not backed off; the general hunting season runs through March 15.

–Note: This post is intended as an update for park aficionados and does not delve into the politics of wolf management or the reasoning behind changes of hunting regulations.

Two women wreak havoc on legal bear hunters; hunting dog injured

Three hunters return to their vehicle to discover two women in the act of vandalizing their truck, and things got heated from there.

Three Vermont hunters returning to their vehicle after an unsuccessful bear hunt found two women letting air out of the tires of the vehicle, and after an ensuing argument, one woman released her dog, which attacked and injured one of the hunting hounds.

The incident occurred in the 26,000-acre Groton State Forest near Noyes Pond on Oct. 9. After an investigation by the Vermont State Game Warden, the two women identified as Donna Babic and Betty Eastman were cited on Nov. 11 and on Nov. 22 they were found guilty in Caledonia Superior Court of interfering with hunters.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department announced on Tuesday that the two women were each fined $262 and lost their license privileges for fishing, hunting and trapping for a year.

Theodore Shumway and two companions were hunting black bear with hounds when a bear led the hounds onto private property before climbing a tree.

The hunters went onto the private land to retrieve the hounds and then left the bear in the tree. According to the outdoors site MeatEater, hunters are allowed to retrieve their hunting dogs from unenclosed private property even without permission to actively hunt the land.

“On returning to his truck with leashed hounds, Mr. Shumway encountered Donna Babic and Betty Eastman releasing air from the tires of his truck,” the VFWD stated. “Following an argument between the parties, one of the two women allowed a German shepherd out of their vehicle. The loose German shepherd attacked and injured one of the leashed hounds, which required veterinary care.

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“Vermont State Troopers responded to an emergency call from Mr. Shumway to defuse the situation.”

The investigation revealed that the hunters were acting lawfully; they were licensed and permitted to hunt bear. The game warden cited Babic and Eastman with violations of Title 10 VSA 4708, Interfering with Hunting, Fishing or Trapping.

“Vermonters don’t always agree on wildlife management, especially when it comes to big game,” said Colonel Jason Batchelder, Fish and Wildlife’s Chief Game Warden. “Even so, I would ask that Vermonters respect one another’s constitutional right to hunt. Intentionally interfering with legal hunters in any fashion will result in court action, especially in a potentially dangerous fashion as we saw in this case.”

Batchelder told MeatEater that the German shepherd’s attack on the leashed hound caused severe injuries to its head, legs and pelvis. The veterinary bill was “well in excess of $2,000.”

From MeatEater:

Babic told responding officers that she had intended to “make a statement” with her actions.

“I saw them come up through, and I knew they were illegally on the land, so we came up here,” Babic said in a recorded statement captured by an officer’s body camera. “We let a little air out of the tires. We wanted them to stay here because they were illegal. My underlying first thought would be that I’m sick and tired of bear dog hunting in the neighborhood, and that I knew they were illegal. I was trying to make a statement.”

Babic told the responding troopers and investigators with VFWD that she did not intend to release the German shepherd but accidentally let it out of Eastman’s back seat in the wake of the heated argument.

It was reported that neither of the women owned the private property in question.

Photos courtesy of Vermont Fish and Wildlife and Wikipedia Commons.

Watch: Woman tries to feed duck decoys, admonishes hunters

Video footage posted this month on a hunting-themed Facebook page shows a woman attempting to feed decoys in front of hunters hoping to shoot real ducks.

Video footage shared this month on a hunting-themed Facebook page shows a woman attempting to feed decoys in front of hunters hoping to shoot actual ducks.

In the footage – click here to view the video – the hunters can be heard asking the woman to stop tossing feed, informing her that live ducks are off in the distance and that baiting inside a hunting area is illegal.

“Those aren’t real ducks,” one of the hunters says.

“They’re all fake,” says another.

https://www.facebook.com/100003917073235/videos/1259052394605499/

The woman, momentarily unconvinced, looks around before turning to the hunters and admonishing, “You would spend all this money just to murder a duck? They never did anything to you.”

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One hunter responds, “We eat them.” Another adds, “They’re delicious.”

The woman becomes angrier. “Buy it in Wegmans!” she says, before stomping away.

Wegmans is a grocery store chain. The footage was posted to the Long Island Deer Hunting group page and shared by ODU Magazine.

One of the many comments reads, “Buy it in Wegmans? Regardless one way or another someone is killing it.”

–Generic mallard image courtesy of USFWS

Rescued deer has new look, hunters ask if buck can be shot

A mule deer rescued in mid-October after its head became ensnared in string has a new lease on life and a sporty new appearance.

A mule deer that was rescued in mid-October after its head and antlers became ensnared in string has a new lease on life and a sporty new appearance.

“Remember the mule deer that got tangled in some string a couple weeks ago? Well, look at him now with his all-new bling (GPS collar),” the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources wrote Friday on Facebook. “Check out this wildlife before and after!”

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The deer was tranquilized and fitted with a collar after residents of Parowan reported seeing a buck “with an unidentifiable mass of string caught in its antlers,” the UDWR stated on Oct. 13. “The buck was not able to see through what we suspect was a tangled hammock.”

Reaction to Friday’s post, showing a side-by-side, then-and-now image, might not be what some expected.

While some comments were congratulatory, others were from people wondering whether it’s OK to shoot the buck during hunting season.

“So if we do shoot a collared deer & report it, we won’t be harassed?” one person asked. “I mean you collar a big deer like that, that may be one in a lifetime for me. Ima shoot it!”

The UDWR responded with an answer that might surprise some of its followers, stating that the collared buck is fair game during hunting season.

“We encourage hunters not to shoot collared deer,” the agency wrote. “But if you do just make sure to report it so we can pick up the collar and reuse it.”

–Image courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

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Montana elk hunters kill grizzly bear in self-defense

Hunters in Montana claim to have killed a grizzly bear recently in self-defense as they processed an elk carcass in the backcountry.

Hunters in Montana shot and killed a grizzly bear recently in what they described as a self-defense encounter as they processed an elk carcass in the backcountry.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks stated in a news release Wednesday that “a small group of hunters” shot the bear as the animal charged toward them on Oct. 3 east of Gardiner.

The hunters were not injured and the incident is under investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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The encounter occurred during Montana’s early rifle-hunting season in Hunting District 316. The bear was a 3- to 5-year-old female without cubs.

It was not clear how quickly the hunters had acted in processing the elk carcass to avoid attracting grizzly bears. Bears are extremely active at this time of year as they try to add calories before hibernating.

“Activities that are deliberately quiet or fast moving, such as hunting, mountain biking or trail running, put people at greater risk for surprising a bear,” Fish, Wildlife & Parks stated. “Bears will be active throughout the general hunting season.”

–Grizzly bear image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Hunters get into hot water over legal elk hunt that was a fiasco

Hunters in Wyoming did nothing against the law, but their ethics were called into question over an elk hunt that turned into a ‘nightmare.’

Out-of-state hunters in Wyoming did nothing against the law, but their ethics were called into question over an elk hunt in Jackson Hole that turned into a fiasco. Knowing what they know now, they’d never have done what they did in the first place.

Bob Geringer, 79, of Minnesota was hunting on Sept. 26 with two friends in an area unfamiliar to them along the Snake River when they spotted elk on a mid-river island, as reported by the Jackson Hole News and Guide.

The hunters, properly licensed as non-residents, legally shot three cow elk and a calf around 9 a.m. on the island, which is about 1½ miles north of Emily’s Pond.

“It turned out to be a…nightmare,” Geringer told Jackson Hole News and Guide. “We didn’t realize the river was quite the way it was, and it happened fast.”

What they didn’t realize was that the river was running faster than they thought and that it was located in an area used by dog walkers, joggers, and families and friends as a place to stroll near the river.

The hunters hadn’t thought about how they’d retrieve the carcasses and realized they’d be risking their lives if they tried to ford the river.

Meanwhile, people started showing up on the scene with one getting into a heated confrontation and others calling the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to report what they thought was suspicion illegal activity.

Jackson Hole resident Brad Nielson came upon the scene around 3 p.m. and was incensed. He told the hunters shooting the elk on the island was not fair to the animals.

“It’s an ethical question,” Nielson, a hunter, told News and Guide. “That’s not fair chase, cornering them on an island and mowing them down.

“I told them they’d set back years of effort to create goodwill between the non-hunting community and hunters.”

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Game warden Jon Stephens met up with Geringer and the other two hunters Sunday evening to plan how to retrieve the elk.

“I chewed on them a little bit for the eyesore that they created,” Stephens told the News and Guide.

He then got help, procuring a canoe and wheelbarrow to use for extracting the meat. The first attempt resulted in a canoe capsizing and being washed away unmanned downstream.

The Jackson Hole News and Guide explained further:

Stephens could see that the makeshift meat recovery plan was futile, and he instructed the hunters to gut out the animals and then to get back across the river before nightfall. On Monday afternoon the Minnesotans returned, this time with the assistance of a local resident they commissioned to float out their elk meat with a raft. That operation went smoothly, the warden reported, and by 6 p.m. — some 33 hours after their gunfire — the Minnesotans’ meat was being rafted downstream toward the Wilson boat ramp.

Jane Frisch, who walks the levee nearly every day, voiced concern about mixing hunting with other uses in that area of the Snake River.

“There were young families playing in the river that day,” she told News and Guide. “On a Sunday afternoon there’s a lot of people out there, and a lot of people of all ages.” She added that the visual was “really upsetting” to a lot of people who passed by.

It would be surprising if Game and Fish didn’t readdress regulations for that area.

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“If it’s a walking trail, why is it open for public hunting?” an apologetic Geringer told News and Guide.

Not everybody that happend upon the scene was displeased, however.

“You can’t imagine how many people congratulated us and were happy for us,” Geringer told News and Guide. “It’s just that the timing was wrong. If we had to do it again, there’s no way in the world any of us would have done that. It just happened.”

Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Brian Nesvik wouldn’t comment on the incident without hearing the details but agree with his warden that just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

“Hunter ethics are very important,” Nesvik told News and Guide. “We do have laws that are based on ethics and fair chase, but you can’t regulate all of it. You’ve got to hope that hunters will do the right thing and be respectful of both the wildlife they’re hunting as well as the rest of the public.”

Photos courtesy of Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Wikipedia Commons.

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Details emerge after hunter’s standoff with snarling cougar

A hunter has revealed details about his stare-down with a snarling cougar last month in the Montana wilderness – an encounter his partner caught on video.

A hunter has revealed details about his standoff with a snarling cougar last month in the Montana wilderness – an encounter his partner caught on video.

Janis Putelis, during a Meat Eaters Podcast episode, revealed that the cougar was a kitten, perhaps a year old, weighing 40 pounds, and that Putelis was concerned enough for his safety that he raised his shotgun to scare off the critter.

“That movement was enough to spook it, and then its sibling spooked, and momma spooked off, too,” Putelis recalled. (See the video below.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNsNiX9AHtR/

Putelis and Zach Sandau had ventured into dense brush during opening weekend of Montana’s turkey hunting season.

“Down in the gully off to my right, I hear… in my mind it registers [simply] as air coming out of an animal’s mouth,” Putelis says in the podcast. “[But there] might have been a touch more grrr or growl to it….

“Right after that I can hear footsteps. Soft pads, but a little bit of crunching of pine needles and detritus.”

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Putelis, who was sitting beneath a tree during a break from calling turkeys, asked Sandau to document the encounter with his phone. He figured a bear was approaching “because that’s what I’m expecting in this landscape.”

But then he saw tan hide and guessed it was a deer. But the long tails were a dead giveaway: The turkey calls had apparently attracted a “three pack” of mountain lions.

Momma kept her distance but the kittens “caught our movements” and approached, softly growling. The cougar shown in the video was bolder, approaching to within 15 yards.

It crouched and snarled, and that’s when Putelis clutched his shotgun.

“At that point I’m like, ‘Alright, that’s enough of that,’ ” he says. “I then took my shotgun from my lap and I pointed it at it, and that movement was enough to spook it.”

Almost immediately the distant turkeys that had been so vociferous went silent, realizing a threat was in their midst.

Said Putelis: “There was no more clucking, no yelping, no gobbling, and we hiked around that mountain for another 30 minutes and they were gone.”