Fish and Game official draws support from hunters, anglers – latimes.com

By Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times

By firing a single rifle shot at a wandering mountain lion during an Idaho hunting trip, California’s top fish and game commissioner has inflamed the political divide in a state where hunters and advocates for the hunted alike feel under attack.

The National Rifle Assn. put out a nationwide alert for members to support Daniel Richards, president of the state Fish and Game Commission, after photos he posted with his dead quarry in Idaho launched calls for his resignation from a commission that oversees wildlife policy in California. John and Ken, the popular radio talk-show hosts on KFI-AM (640), have expressed support, and “tea party” Republican Tim Donnelly of San Bernardino called him the “target of a modern-day witch hunt.”

The Humane Society of the United States, Audubon Society of California and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco and a darling of California’s left, have demanded Richards’ ouster.

The controversy is the latest flash point between the red and blue Californias, which were on full display Wednesday.  Click Link Bel0w For Full Story!

via Fish and Game official draws support from hunters, anglers – latimes.com.

Richards under fire for hunting – San Bernardino County Sun

Jim Matthews, Outdoors

Posted: 03/01/2012 09:57:49 PM PST

Dan Richards, the president of the California Fish and Game Commission, is being assaulted by animal rights activists and liberal state legislators. They are asking for Richards to resign his unpaid position on the Commission because he legally hunted mountain lions in Idaho earlier this year.

They are saying that since mountain lion hunting is illegal in California, Richards should resign or be removed from his post on the Commission for something he did in Idaho, following all that state’s laws.

Their prejudicial rhetoric reeks of hypocrisy – none worse than those holding elected office in California.

Gavin Newsom, the Lt. Governor, wrote to Richards: “While not in California at the time, your actions call into question whether you can live up to the calling of your office. I do appreciate that you did nothing illegal in Idaho, but it is clear that your actions do not reflect the values of the people of California,” said Newsom asking for him to resign.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Richards under fire for hunting – San Bernardino County Sun.

Judge Will Consider RMEF Support of Wolf Hunting

MISSOULA, Mont.—U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Friday granted a motion allowing the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to enter an amicus curiae brief supporting state-regulated wolf hunting in Idaho and Montana.

The move means RMEF positions will be considered against an emergency injunction filed by 13 environmental groups asking the judge to stop a planned hunt and return gray wolves to the endangered species list.

A hearing is scheduled for Monday and Molloy’s ruling could follow soon afterward.

The Elk Foundation’s amicus curiae brief is posted here:

* RMEF’s Amicus Brief – Wolf delisting – filed 8.28.09.pdf

* Wolf Delisting Declaration and Exhibits to RMEF’s Amicus Brief Filed 8.28.09.pdf

“We’re grateful that Judge Molloy has agreed to hear our side of this issue,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “Once you cut away the hysterics and hyperbole, this is a straightforward wildlife management issue. State wildlife agencies have proven their professionalism and capability to balance predators with other resident species. They’ve been successfully managing wildlife for decades and we have total confidence in them.”

The Elk Foundation’s brief reinforces four main points:

* Historic success of modern, hunter-based conservation in North America.

* Viewpoints of hunters who continue to pay for the big-game resources that made wolf recovery possible.

* RMEF-funded research, along with other scientific and anecdotal evidence, showing that wolf populations are fully recovered and that, where wolves are present with elk, wolves are having detrimental impacts on elk.

* State wildlife agencies are best suited to manage wolves alongside other species.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:

Snowy peaks, dark timber basins and grassy meadows. RMEF is leading an elk country initiative that has conserved or enhanced habitat on over 5.6 million acres—a land area equivalent to a swath three miles wide and stretching along the entire Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. RMEF also works to open, secure and improve public access for hunting, fishing and other recreation. Get involved at www.rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.

via 2009 News Releases.

Idaho wolf tag sales brisk as judge considers hunt | Seattle Times Newspaper

By JOHN MILLERAssociated Press WriterBOISE, Idaho —Matt Yost has hunted elk, deer and antelope for years on a college buddy’s sheep ranch in Idaho’s Southern Mountains, not far from the resort region of Sun Valley.After a wolf pack killed 19 domestic rams there recently, Yost was at Idaho Department of Fish and Game offices in Boise on Monday adding the predator to his list of possible targets.It was the first day Idaho wolf tags went on sale for a hunt slated to start next Tuesday. By mid-afternoon, the state was reporting about 4,000 tags sold, as hunters motivated by curiosity, novelty – and in some cases frustration with predators’ impact on wildlife and livestock – shelled out $11.50 for a wolf tag.This year, Yost’s friend with the sheep ranch had made a special request.”He called me and said, ‘If you’re going to show up, you’d better have a wolf tag,” Yost said.The federal government lifted Endangered Species Act protections from most wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains in May and now Idaho and Montana are gearing up for first open gray wolf hunts in the lower 48 states since delisting. Idaho last week approved a 220-wolf hunt, about a quarter of the state’s estimated 1,000 wolves, with limited hunting due to begin on Sept. 1. Montana approved the shooting of up to 75 wolves starting in mid-September.It’s still uncertain if hunts will even proceed.Thirteen environmental groups that have sued to overturn the federal delisting will get a hearing next Monday – one day before Idaho’s hunt would begin – where U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula will hear their arguments on why a wolf hunt should be halted.  Click Link Below for Full Story!

via Local News | Idaho wolf tag sales brisk as judge considers hunt | Seattle Times Newspaper.

Idaho Mountain Express: Fish & Game prepares for fall wolf hunt – August 5, 2009

By JASON KAUFFMAN

Express Staff Writer

Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Randy Budge speaks about the challenges of managing wolves in the state to a gathering of Western attorneys general in Sun Valley on Monday. Photo by Willy Cook

At least one high-ranking wildlife official in Idaho believes a wolf hunt will happen in the state later this fall regardless of whether the species remains under the state’s control.

Speaking in Sun Valley on Monday, Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Randy Budge said many of the state’s hunters are so upset by Idaho’s growing wolf population they might take matters into their own hands if conservationists successfully derail the federal government’s latest delisting of wolves in the northern Rockies. Budge made his prediction while speaking about the challenges of managing natural resource issues at the annual Conference of Western Attorneys General, at Sun Valley Resort from Aug. 2-5.

Whatever happens, Budge predicted, a wolf hunt will take place in Idaho’s backcountry this fall.

“It will either be a state-authorized one or it will be an illegal one,” he said.

Whether strong remarks like that play into conservationists’ hands remains to be seen. In early June, conservation groups filed suit against the federal government in an effort to reverse a decision that removed Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains.

According to the 13 groups that filed the lawsuit, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar failed to fully consider both scientific and legal inadequacies underlying the delisting rule—released in the waning days of the Bush administration—before adopting it on April 2. The groups claim the rule will allow more than two-thirds of the region’s wolves to be killed before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would even consider stepping back in and restoring protections.

The federal government’s April delisting did not include the state of Wyoming, whose wolf management plan the Fish and Wildlife Service has deemed inadequate. Wyoming officials have also filed suit against the federal government challenging their absence from the delisting.

Both lawsuits are still pending.

via Idaho Mountain Express: Fish & Game prepares for fall wolf hunt – August 5, 2009.

Idaho ready for wolf hunting season

By SARAH D. WIRE

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho wildlife officials say they are prepared to manage gray wolves and open the state’s first hunting season on the predators as early as next fall.

But they are also skeptical they’ll get the chance any time soon considering the threat of potential lawsuits and next week’s shift in presidential power.

The federal Interior Department announced Wednesday that the wolves would be removed from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana. The decision gives those states the responsibility for managing wolves under plans already approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, starting in mid-February.  Click link below for full story!

via Idaho ready for wolf hunting season.