Cheyenne -In response to a federal judge’s ruling, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has suspended the grizzly bear hunting season pending further direction.

“This is unfortunate. Game and Fish has a robust grizzly bear management program with strong regulations, protections and population monitoring for grizzly bears. We believe in state-led management of wildlife and involving the public in decisions like the creation and implementation of a conservative hunting opportunity for those who want that experience,” said Scott Talbott, director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. “We will now await further information about whether the bears will remain under state management or if they go back to federal management.”

At this time, Game and Fish will continue to lead grizzly bear management, research, monitoring, conflict mitigation and education, but this judge’s ruling shuts down the planned 2018 grizzly bear hunting season scheduled to begin September 1.

Questions related to the review of the judge’s decision will be handled by the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office.

“The threat of death to individual bears posed by the scheduled hunts is sufficient” to justify a delay in the state’s hunting seasons, Christensen wrote.

Well no shit Judge.  What did you think hunting was all about?  Or perhaps this delusional jurist was suggesting some angry farmer stalks a bear waiting for revenge and targets a specific bear?  Gimme a break.

The move marked a victory for wildlife advocates who have largely visited the area only once in the last 20 years.  Even then, they packed their own lunches and stayed in free campsites largely protected from grizzly bear predation.  Native American tribes sued for largely incoherent political posturing rationales having nothing at all to do with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision in 2017 to lift federal protections for 700 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park.

In the interest of fairness we reached out to get comments from the various parties.

3 groups websites were parked with no content on their domains.

Our state questions were answered in under 2 hours with a polite and thoughtful response.

1 group I contacted devolved into a rambling political manifesto that I certainly won’t publish.

Just this week a 10 year old boy was attacked by a bear in Yellowstone Park.  Even though the youth had to be transported to a trauma center, park officials flatly refused to put the bear down.  A 10 year old boy will live with a scarred body for the rest of his life but as long as park officials don’t get bruised egos, I guess that’s ok.

The managers at Yellowstone National Park have made it clear.  Regardless of any canned statement delivered with any tone of saccharin sweetness, we know their priorities.  Human lives will take a back seat to wildlife in Yellowstone no matter who gets hurt of killed.  Yellowstone officials cemented that position when they blamed the family for an attack that COULD have been prevented with anything approaching wildlife management best practices.

As a citizen and one of the nation’s 318 million Public Lands owners, I don’t give a damn how butthurt Yellowstone Officials feel reading this.  They can take their spanking and seek the soothing salve of their choice or tender their resignations.  At this point, the American public doesn’t give a damn which as long as recreation areas and farms are relatively safe from grizzly bear predation.

Check out these videos of  grizzly bears peacefully coexisting with people and livestock outside of Yellowstone.

We all know I could post a few thousand more of these stories.  Beyond the ridiculous posturing for egocentric and vain purposes, real lives are being effected.  A healthy population of predators is one thing.  The reality of the situation is that bears are ranging far outside of known ranges dating back even through indigenous oral histories.

As populations continue to grow, bears disperse to seek range away from competition for food.  The population of grizzly bears has grown to the point bears are ranging into agricultural zones.  Game populations are falling to meet the increased population of bears.  This population decrease in available game has a direct relationship to livestock predation.

Game and Fish has already been notifying all of the people who have been issued a 2018 grizzly bear hunting license that the hunt is suspended at this time.  Currently, the ruling delays the season opening for 14 days.  In the event of a complete mental breakdown within the parties involved, Wyoming will offer the opportunity for a refund of License Fees.