Tagged: game and fish

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has approved the state’s wolf management plan.  It allows wolves to be shot on site in most of the state, with hunting seasons scheduled for an area in northwest Wyoming.

Governor Matt Mead says they are awaiting another peer review by scientists, but they have made some adjustments to hunting regulations that he hopes will make the plan more palatable to critics. Mead remains hopeful that Wyoming’s congressional delegation will keep the management plan from being delayed by the courts.  But he believes the plan will stand up to any scrutiny.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission will meet this week in Casper to consider setting a hunting season for wolves for the coming fall.

The commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday in Casper. It has been holding public meetings around the state on the proposed gray wolf management hunting rules.

Seasons and license quotas for all big game species, including wild bison, will be established. In addition, the commission will set seasons for upland and early migratory birds and small game as well as turkey seasons for the fall 2012 and spring 2013 hunts.

The Game and Fish Department has drawn up a new management plan for mule deer in the Platte Valley. The herd there has been declining for some time, and the management plan is aimed at reversing that trend.

The plan includes measures to limit mule deer hunting, improve the animals’ habitat and curb predation by bears and lions.

Regional Wildlife Supervisor Rick King says currently, an unlimited number of mule deer licenses can be sold.

“If you just go down to your local license-selling agent or come into a Game and Fish office, you can buy a general license,” he said. “They’re not limited in number, and you can use that license in any hunt area in the state that has a general season.”

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is pushing to allow baiting of big game animals to allow hunters to lure deer herds away from towns.

The Legislature's Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee is sponsoring a bill that would allow the state Game Commission authority to bait deer into places where they could be killed safely.

Sen. Bruce Burns of Sheridan is co-chairman of the legislative committee. He says towns in the region would take advantage of the new law to allow hunters to thin out the herds of whitetail deer.

Scott Edberg of the game and fish department says whitetail deer are increasingly becoming a problem in Sheridan and Johnson counties.

The Wyoming Department of Game and Fish wants hunters to properly dispose of animal carcasses in landfills and not in the wild.

A Wyoming man was bitten by a weak, old grizzly bear while hunting near Cody last week.

Denny Hammer of the local Game and Fish office says the bear was unable to hunt and had dragged discarded carcasses to a dense area of willows where it made a day bed. The hunter surprised it when he passed, and the bear bit his leg. The man remained hospitalized for two days. Hammer says Game and Fish trapped and euthanized the bear.

Federal wildlife managers are soliciting public comment on a plan that could see an end to federal protections for Wyoming wolves as soon as next year.

Gov. Matt Mead and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reached agreement this summer on a plan to turn management of Wyoming's wolves over to the state. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set a meeting for Tuesday in Riverton to collect public comments on the proposal. Under the agreement, Wyoming would classify wolves as unprotected predators that could be shot on sight in most areas. Wolves would be protected as trophy game animals in a flexible zone outside Yellowstone.