TETON COUNTY, Wyo., Oct. 20 (UPI) —
Small pockets of Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park were opened to elk hunters on Saturday, with the annual hunting opportunity expected to last through December in some places. Only 650 elk hunting licenses were issued through the state’s elk reduction program.
"The need for this reduction program stems partly from an intensive management framework that includes annual winter feeding programs on the National Elk Refuge and in the upper Gros Ventre drainage," park officials said in a released statement. "Feeding sustains high numbers of elk with unnaturally low mortality rates. A majority of elk that are fed during the winter on the refuge also summer in Grand Teton National Park or use migration routes across park lands."
Because nice, clear weather is expected for the next few days in Wyoming, wildlife officials expect the hunting to be slow out of the gate.
"When it’s like this and the elk aren’t moving, it’s usually a slow start," park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs told the Jackson Hole Daily. "They’re not likely to be in some of the areas where the hunt is open."
Hunters are restricted to certain portions of the park and are only allowed to shoot and kill cows and calves, not bulls, mature males. Hand guns and cross bows are prohibited. And though hunters are required to carry bear spray, wildlife officials expect the elk reduction hunt will increase the likelihood of a grizzly bear death as hunters come into contact with the dangerous and powerful mammals.
The elk hunt is part of a 15-year management plan that began in 2007. Two grizzly bears have been killed by elk hunters in confrontations during the life of the program.
Hunting is strictly prohibited in the vast majority of America’s national parks.
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