So I'm a podcast consumer. I listen to a lot of stuff, but I enjoy a lot of hunting and outdoor rec productions. I've started to sense a growing "environmentalist" tinge in some of the discussions between the bigger names out there today. It's almost as if there is some kind of insurgency within the hunting community. I do believe some of it is well intentioned and other parts more malicious. We should all be more diligent in the face of the aggressive advancement of ill-intentioned environmental policy and advocacy.
I tend to agree that there is poor wildlife management across the Rockies, but some states have more influential variables than others. Here in WY for instance the Bighorn herds have suffered (Whiskey Mt herd especially) and now we're looking at really putting a damper on Mt Goats in some areas. I think WY G&F takes a mixed approach with quality goals in some areas and quantity goals in others. Moose and Mule Deer? WTHK.... I'm worried that one day we'll have an announced suspension of Mule Deer hunting or a real limit put on tags. All of this with poor census and estimation of predators.
If one would sit down and read the most recent WGFD wolf report you would see that WY only seeks to get the minimum numbers. Nowhere in the report will you find an estimation of the actual population- at least that was the case last year. Idaho has their approach. So does MT. I think there is some coordination to a degree, but the demographics, geography and ecology in each state makes collective, coordinated management difficult at a certain point.
What we need to be concerned about as outdoorsmen is giving that inch that they reel off into a mile. From what I understand, Colorado is being proactive with gaining control of wolves before they really dig in. Thats something the other states haven't done and it has cost them.
Here shortly I think the big bears will become a more focused problem as they've started to move beyond the peaks and slopes to the open plains. There's enough agriculture in the Bighorn Basin to support them as they spread to the Bighorn Range. I have little doubt of this with court arguments over what the actual management area is, what their proper range is, and what exactly is the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
I was once ok with having the large predators in the ecosystem. Not a proponent or opponent. I was the outdoorsman equivalent of Switzerland. Let me have my elk and deer tags every fall and I'll be peachy keen. That is no longer the case.
I've come to the point where I can say yeah, perhaps the wolves and bears need to be in the Park to stabilize that environment in an attempt to keep it as natural and as close to unmolested as possible. I can kind of get onboard with that. Outside of the park? No. They may have had their place at one time, but not anymore. That world is gone and it isn't coming back. We are the super predator now, and there is no need for competition and conflict because those animals will lose a greater amount of the time.
And who are we as a species to say exactly how this world should look in the future. Granted, we have had our effect, but what is the proper balance point? Nobody really knows, and it's difficult to attain it with so many conflicting opinions and government bodies in conflict. It's a difficult problem to navigate and solve.
TL/DR Outside of the park, the wolves and bears are in my world and they will be reminded of that fact.