Hunting

With the Wyoming legislative session now about halfway through, we take a look at how some of this year’s hunting-related bills fared. Spoiler alert: most of them didn’t gain much traction.

What’s the best way to tally up the costs and benefits of having wolves in Wyoming? That’s the question behind a new article in the travel magazine Matador.

An initial count of total elk harvests on the National Elk Refuge, an annual hunt with special restrictions, are low due to winter’s slow start.

Hunting – the word itself can immediately divide people. But what about wildlife killing contests? It’s surging in some states within our region while others have outlawed it.

Nationwide, the sector accounted for some 2.3% of GDP, or the value of final sales of goods and services. That figure is even higher for every Mountain West state, and about twice that in Montana and Wyoming.

Across the state, temps have mostly held close to record highs this fall, which isn’t great if you’re hunting big game. Wyoming hunters might be hiking farther or altering their strategy this year, as well as having to consider keeping meat fresh after harvest.

A hunter killed a grizzly bear after being attacked in the northern end of the Wind River Mountains on Sept. 26. Two other bears were killed in self defense this summer and fall in Idaho and Montana.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is requiring sage grouse hunters to carry a new, free permit. The hope is it’ll help the agency collect more specific data on the bird, which is dwindling across the West.

Wyoming has slammed the delay, saying the state is ready now to assume management for the bears. But, according to conservation groups, the population hasn’t fully rebounded.

A three-judge panel for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will wade through conflicting legal precedent dating back to 1885 to make their ruling. That ruling is expected soon, though judges did not indicate when.