Posted on 12/12/2007 10:41:22 AM PST by george76
Officials say there are too many elk in Rocky Mountain National Park and now the U.S. National Park Service finally has a plan to thin the herd. The plan includes using volunteers to help hunt the animals.
The decision was announced Tuesday after four years of studying problems caused by the out of control elk herd.
Among the problems is the damage the herd is causing to aspen and willows in the park. The elk chew off all the aspen shoots so there aren't any new trees and willows just never get a chance to grow.
Park Service said volunteer hunters, who will become authorized agents of the park, will be allowed to help thin the herd with rifles...
Starting this winter, researchers will also give a contraceptive to about 60 elk to study the option of elk birth control.
The 20-year cost estimate for the program has dropped from $16 million down to $6 million.
For the elk that are killed, the plan is to save the meat.
"To the degree possible, it is our intent and desire to distribute the meat to eligible recipients."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs4denver.com ...
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oh! i’ll volunteer! pick me! pick me!
Where do I sign up ?
Where do I sign up?
Mmmmmmm - elk meat is delicious!
You would think hunters could take of this problem and the state would even make money on the endeavor. Not surprising the government finds a way to make it cost tax payers.
The numbers of hunters is going down so perhaps there just aren’t enough hunters to do it. I’d love to go elk hunting.
They should be able to turn a profit on the program. Charge $500 for a 4 day permit to take an Elk. You don't get an elk during your window, the Park service could sell another. Repeat until desired number of elk are taken.
Sad that we have to pay the beaurocratizies to ‘cul’ the herd when the NPS could make some money selling hunting permits.
“Sad that we have to pay the beaurocratizies to ‘cul’ the herd when the NPS could make some money selling hunting permits.”
Even sadder because we wouldn’t have a national park system without hunters and the money they spend.
It’s not just National Parks that have an overabundance of elk, there’s too many on private land as well. I know someone with a ranch up on the Montana border that had a study done by a local conservation group to confirm and document what they already knew, then promptly invited friends to hunt their land. The only catch was that you had to take a cow and a bull. That’s a lot of good meat. Best steak I ever had came from there.
I would be more in favor of catching them and moving them to other states. We could use a few thousand in southwest virginia. But the POS game commission we have does not do anything but spend money for liberals.
Starting this winter, researchers will also give a contraceptive to about 60 elk to study the option of elk birth control.
The 20-year cost estimate for the program has dropped from $16 million down to $6 million.
For the elk that are killed, the plan is to save the meat.
"To the degree possible, it is our intent and desire to distribute the meat to eligible recipients."
That's it! We're officially insane.
This is like reading Pravda... rather than simply issuing hunting licenses for profit, we're going to have "volunteers" shoot the animals and "distribute" the meat to "eligible" recipients. To top it off, instead of having a reliable income and worthwhile annual event, we're going to administer contraceptives to the animals! Should be able to keep the costs down to the upper 7-figures...
I couldn't write satire of liberal-speak this good!
It is amazing :
” I couldn’t write satire of liberal-speak this good! “
$6 million divided by how many animals??
Let the enviros who lobby against hunting pay the tab. If we put licenses to hunt the excess elk up for bids on eBay, the State’s total take might be astounding.
How stupid. They could be issuing permits and making money off the hunters who would pay to hunt these elk. Yet they are always screaming about not having enough money to operate.
Typical govt. stupidity.
Yeah, but hunters are non-union and they don't drop as much money on the agency as taxpayers do, nor do they "contribute" to the retirement pool that traders and politicians get to play with.
You got somethin' agin' socialism?
Instead, the agencies get MORE out of taxpayers at gunpoint than they do from tags. All they have to do is lie, claiming to protect the environmint, and they get full bennies, full retirement, and a bigger political cadre with which to hold you up for more!
Typical govt. stupidity.
Evil, yes, stupid, maybe not.
Exactly! Your observation should be a no brainer for anyone with half a brain. Of course it took a four year study for them to arrive at this solution (if it really turns out to be the solution).
Sounds like they’re not in favor of killing too many elk and I believe that would be a lasting solution, it’s called game management.
Too many elk???? How can there be too many elk? As the late Mother Teresa might have said: That would be like saying there are too many flowers or too many babies!
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