Volunteers needed remove bison in Grand
Hogs
National Park Service calls for volunteers to kill bison at Grand Canyon. I will be volunteering! Click the link https://www.foxnews.com/us/national-park-service-volunteers-kill-bison-grand-canyon
I did not read your link but have read other articles on this. I liked how they used the term non-paid National Parks volunteers instead of hunters. I also liked how they tried to explain that lethal removal was not hunting.
I will be volunteering also but packing a bison out of the Grand Canyon sounds tough.
Hope to have to have to worry about packing!
I can see a helo slinging out the carcasses to a staging area.
Culling is the term since not hunting is not allowed on many Nat Parks. Same at the Rocky Mt Nat Park here in Colorado. The Park Service developed Citizen Culling Teams to target various cow elk to reduce their numbers because of CWD. Meat was part of a Lottery system for public dispersal. The term "hunter or hunting" was never used.
No hide. No horns. Maybe meat. Will shoot some ammunition, maybe. Definitely packing out meat for a few days. Sounds like work. Will be good for the Canyon's habitat.
Also see earlier thread titled “bison hunt.”
I wouldn't be surprised if the anti's show up and demand that all that instead of thinning the herd, they should just plant more bushes.
I actually saw and heard an anti many years ago at a demonstration at a National Wildlife Refuge (The Great Swamp in New Jersey) against them opening it up for a limited deer hunt say that very thing.
I guess you really can't fix stupid.
Take a couple mules down and you can pack it out
Have to pack it all out on foot...no livestock, trucks, ATV’s, carts or sleds can be used. Majority of meat, bones, hide, hair aspects of gut pile go to the Indians.
Have to pay $70 for background check. First round, they select 25 “volunteers” from the thousands of applicants. Those 25 pay their own way to show up in AZ to take a shooting test then fly/drive back home and wait. Then eventually they choose 12 qualifying “volunteers” to do the culling during 4 day segments in Oct. (who again pay for their own travel and accommodations to and from and while there in AZ).
In the end there is “potential” that the volunteer shooter doing the culling and volunteer helpers get 1 bison to “share” amongst themselves.
Leave it to the gov’t to make what should be an easy process hard while also “maybe” getting to “share” 1 bison? Sounded like a high price to pay to abuse yourself with breaking down and packing out what could be a bison/day over a 4 day period.
Brutal, so I passed on applying.
I applied but sounds like lot o jerking around Bison is my last animal on my NA 10 so what the heck. Sounds like they should have just used govt shooters/hunters and quietly done it
Trust the government to come up with a stupid plan like this instead of selling lottery type tags and have the money go towards conservation.
Adventurewriter
Exactly. Govt or private contract shooters
Quiet, professional and successful. What more could one ask for. Never was A hunt from the get go
I couldn't apply since I work for a DOI agency. Already have my limit. Only other way I will take another bison off the Kaibab us if I can win a drawing for a Special Tag or they change the rules. The meat is so worth it! Best on the planet IMO.
Sounds about right do all the work and pay for everything and give 90 % of it to the indians.
Sounds similar to what happened on Theodore Roosevelt National Park shoots several years ago. (For elk) I talked to some of the "volunteer guides". Some elk were collared. The "guides" and shooters would meet every morning and view where the herds were at (via telemetry). When guide/shooters got on the elk, the guide told them which elk to shoot (Not the one with the collar!) If the shooter did not dump the elk/wounded it, the guide would shoot in a matter of seconds. No debate. That is the way it was. They were there to kill elk as humanely as possible and reduce herd, standard hunting ethos be damned. No off road traffic to retrieve meat. It was packed out to nearest road. Meat was partitioned between shooters and local food bank I believe.
When this first came out I was pretty excited to jump on this however, after looking at the parameters in place and talking to StickFlicker, I think the folks selected for this "shoot" are gonna be sorely disappointed in the end. crestedbutte summed it up pretty well but didn't mention that each shooter needs to bring 3-5 helpers whose job is humping meat, hides and horns out. IMO, this is ALOT of commitment from all involved with only a chance you will be rewarded with some meat. In the end, I did not apply.
Think of this they require min of 3 support people per shooter preferable to bring 5. You and team have to commit for entire week. your going to have to pay for all your buddies travel and food lodging most likely. If you ever saw the park area where the buffalo live i would think you and your team would call it a wrap after packing one buffalo out of those nasty canyons on foot. just don't see them killing 400 buffalo off with this method. Why not hire a few packers with horses to help with the process of getting them out the buffalo have already ruined the land so i doubt a few horses would further hurt anything . If the Buffalo go the the indian tribes why not have them bring support groups and have them pitch in getting them out and processed.
I think its a big step forward with the NPS actually allowing regular citizens to participate in the shooting process. They should be encouraged to do so!
Yes, it's a lot of work, but it's part of being a good land steward and contributing to conservation. I volunteered and will gladly pay to help preserve the Park and shoot a Bison and pack it out- will get me in Sheep Shape! In reading the info the Tribes will be providing volunteers as well.
Also a big step for NPS to allow lethal control within Park boundaries! Imagine if you had to volunteer to rope and castrate the bulls!!! or to administer Birth control shots to the cows :)
Look for the positive!
Shoot them 4 inches behind the ear. They go down like a brick.
Wildwilderness....good to hear that you will gladly shoot “a” bison. However, NPS has no use choosing you for this project. They don’t want you to shoot “a” bison. They want you to shoot “multiple” bison, gut’em, and pack just about all aspects of that animal out on foot. I figure if the shooter and their team are efficient that would be at a minimum of a bison/day during your 4 days of “volunteerism.” I have a real good feeling after day 4 you ain’t gonna be too “glad” anymore except to get in the first warm jacuzzi that you can find!
