Hee-Haw

[prole]

Dec, 29, 2009

Bow hunters shoot elk in Skagit Co. pasture; state agency closes season

SKAGIT VALLEY HERALD

 

CONCRETE - -- The state game officer kept his binoculars trained on a tightly clustered group of about 70 elk in a pasture surrounded by several men armed with high-powered bows.

 

The herd would run from one end of the pasture to the other, led by the ranking elk cow. A few of the animals had arrows embedded in their hides and were bleeding but were still upright and running.

 

Traffic slowed to a crawl on Highway 20 Saturday as curious motorists passed by the scene on Bill Johnson's beef ranch five miles west of Concrete.

 

"This is not hunting," said Worth Allen, an officer with the La Conner unit of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, who was at the scene, slowly shaking his head as the men with bows circled the panicked animals.

 

As distasteful as he found the scene, Allen acknowledged that the elk kill in Johnson's pasture is completely legal.

 

The state wildlife agency declared an elk hunting season in an area roughly bounded by Highways 9 and 20, east to the intersection of 20 and Cape Horn Road. The agency closed the season Monday afternoon on an emergency basis because of the Saturday spectacle.

 

The group of elk on Johnson's ranch are part of what is known as the Nooksack herd, which ranges from the upper Nooksack Valley to the Skagit River. Earlier this decade, Fish and Wildlife transplanted elk from the Mount St. Helens area to boost the Nooksack herd's numbers. The move, which officials hoped eventually would lead to a regular hunting season, was opposed by many farmers and ranchers in the region.

 

Only archery hunters were allowed on the field Saturday. The animals' visit to Bill Johnson's shorthorn beef ranch and other area farms has become an annual event, if an annoyance to a man who tries to grow pasture grass for his cattle, not marauding elk.

 

They would be fine if they stayed north of Highway 20, officials said. However, the elk have become not only a nuisance but a traffic hazard as well, according to Allen.

 

"There were six collisions on Highway 20 between here and Hoehn Road in the last two weeks," Allen said. He was talking about elk-versus-vehicle collisions. At 700 to 800 pounds, an elk is four times the weight of a deer, fully capable of inflicting serious damage to vehicles and motorists.

 

State Patrol Trooper Brandon Lee confirmed there had been several elk-to-vehicle crashes recently but didn't have the total number immediately available.

 

Wildlife officials say that as the temperatures drop in the higher elevations of Skagit County, the elk come down to the valley floor to feed and avoid a major predator, the cougar.

 

Parts of the Nooksack herd have become more or less permanent dwellers of the lower parts of the valley. Part of the attraction is fewer cougars and more pastures in which to feed.

 

"The elk are here because it's easier habitat," Allen said.

 

He said that new generations of elk that are born in the valley tend to stay around, adding to a population of elk that find good grazing at places like Johnson’s ranch.

 

As the last elk carcass was trucked away from his property, Johnson said that shooting elk at close range with a bow was not his idea of hunting. But the Skagit Valley floor herds of elk are not to his liking either.

 

He receives what he calls modest compensation from state Fish and Wildlife every year for the pasture grass eaten by elk. He said the state doesn't compensate for damage to his fences, some of which was witnessed Saturday.

 

Allen said at least six elk, cows and bulls, were killed Saturday in Johnson's pasture. He didn't necessarily regret the kills, he said. But some were messy and caused undue pain to the animals.

 

Scenes like Saturday's at the Johnson ranch convince Allen that there is no place on the valley floor for a resident herd of elk.

 

He said the agency's effort to boost the Nooksack herd by transferring elk from the Mount St. Helens area was a mistake. He sees no future for elk that become permanent residents of the valley floor.

 

"They need to be eliminated," he said.

[billcoe]

Speaking only for some poor relatives here. (It's the only deer/elk story I have.) They were barely making it as farmers of the various high plateau country area in Colorado. They'd pray for divine support all the time, but the bottom line was that a slight bit of bad weather or a large deer herd could literally cause starvation to them and their children.

 

As unimaginable as that might seem, it was the truth as they saw it. At the time, in these remote areas, they hadn't heard of food stamps but probably wouldn't have taken it anyway. No joke.

 

Anyway, the few cows they had for milk and meat barely scrubbing by on marginal pasture in a long cold winter didn't need any extra competition. On occasion, when the deer herds were huge due to good summer conditions and crowding their pastures, they'd take one. Illegally.

 

Kids were fed.

 

Yet this was a criminal act.

 

But having the government take away money from YOU, to give it to someone like them claiming need - that is OK.

[Pete_H]

but in Wyoming, where I lived and worked as a professional guide for 10 years,

 

My buddy told me a joke a few years ago, it goes like this:

 

If you go to a house party with a lot of people, how do you know who there is a guide?

 

Don't worry, they'll tell you.

 

------------

 

This is a special permit only hunt used to control population of herds. The landowner's in on it, obviously. He wants them hunted because they graze his land and damage his fences. Its not too complicated. I agree, though, that the way they've gone about it is pretty fucked up.

 

 

 

[Jim]

In WA you don't have to have any special permission to allow licensed hunters on your land to hunt. Granted they need to abide by the regulations for distance from roads and structures, but this was bow season and the regs for bows are much less strigent than firearms, obviously.

 

I saw the video clip - the herd just jumped a series of fences to get on this guy's property and then were spooked as the hunters surrounded them and they shot away. Pretty disgusting.

 

Nothing wrong with hunting - but this didn't even rise to the level of target shooting.

 

In answer to the billcoe - any farmer/rancher can apply to get a depredation license that allows them to shoot game out of season if they are munching away too much, or offer damage payments. One deer - doubtful that's a problem - consistent herd, likely a problem. In my work I've seen valid instanaces and folks trying to take advantage of the system. Video:

 

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/12/video_the_unethical_elk_hunt.php

 

[tvashtarkatena]

I'm pissed off.

 

But a few elk steaks sent my way and I'd be right as rain.

[Bug]

Sounds like Montana afew decades ago.

Road hunters had the herd surrounded.

BAM!

Run away.

BAM!

Run another way.

BAM!

Until all but two were dead.

Cool sport.

[RokIzGud]

I hunt. Thats not hunting, there is no sport in that. Not to sound PETA-like but that sounds like a slaughter.

[Off_White]

Well, sometimes its just about food, and subsistence isn't a sporting event. Then I watched the vid, and I'm pretty sure those guys have never missed a meal in their life...

[AlpineK]

I'm no hunter, but I've hung out with a few. The whole point is pursuit of an animal(s) in a natural setting not trapping a heard in an area with no escape then blasting with whatever weapon you like.

 

Those, "hunters," should have their bows and guns taken from them. They can buy bb guns and blast empty beer cans on a fence post if they need the same thrill they were after.

[Bug]

I'm no hunter, but I've hung out with a few. The whole point is pursuit of an animal(s) in a natural setting not trapping a heard in an area with no escape then blasting with whatever weapon you like.

 

Those, "hunters," should have their bows and guns taken from them. They can buy bb guns and blast empty beer cans on a fence post if they need the same thrill they were after.

I hunted for food when I was in college.

It was a lot of fun.

I waited until there was a fresh snow and then went out and tracked them.

 

But with so many people, you put a gun in their hands and tell them to go hunt and something primal kicks in and takes over. Like the kid who shot the woman up on Pilchuck.

Buck fever they call it.