Props & Disses 1/18/12

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

By Jake Nichols

Baiting Bambi, it’s just lazy     DISS
The state of Wyoming has already proved to the feds that we are unfit to manage our wolf population; now we’re trying to show further ignorance when it comes to deer. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has asked the Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee to sponsor a bill in the upcoming budget session that would, among other things, change state law and allow for the baiting of deer.

It’s a sad fact that the mule deer gets little respect from outfitters, wildlife artists, and lawmakers. If it weren’t for coyotes—universally despised, statewide—the mulie and whitetail would be the Rodney Dangerfield’s of ungulates. Elk and moose bring in the big bucks—tourists flock here to bag a bull and cross an item off their bucket list. But deer, they have become an infestation. They’re a nuisance.

Outfitters across the state were crying bloody murder the day wolves were reintroduced into Wyoming. “They’re decimating the elk herds,” BJ Hill and his ilk screamed. The numbers don’t support their doomsday predictions or fears. Elk populations are fine, wolf numbers have leveled out. Aspen trees grow again and the bluebirds are returning. Moose numbers may be down, and the wolves sure are mackin’ on them, but so are bears and Buicks.

Baiting deer is lazy. Baiting deer is inexcusable. Putting a salt block out at the gun range is about as sporting as fishing with dynamite. Sen. Bruce Burns, R-Sheridan, co-chairs the committee sponsoring the bill. He told the Casper Star-Tribune the bill would help urban areas like his hometown where problem deer are eating people’s shrubs instead of bounding inside national forest boundaries. Stupid deer.

Early settlers came to Wyoming for the abundance of wildlife. We built up metropolitan parts of the state so magnificently with growth and commerce that we were surprised when the displaced animals still wanted to wander into town for a drink out of the creek or pass through on their seasonal migratory way. Now we want to trick them back into the woods so we can get a clean shot at them. This is absurd, Game and Fish.

Any man or woman worth a damn can walk five minutes from any forest boundary, shoot a deer and have it hanging from a tree inside an hour. We already have all the advantages: motion detection video surveillance, decoys, calls, scent-free clothing, range-finders, wind direction meters, camo, tree-stands, blood-trailing flashlights. We’re getting soft. And where does it end? They shoot deer over the Internet in Texas.

The vacation’s over for frat freeloaders     PROP
For years the Town Council has wanted to do something about landlords who rent out their downtown homes for short-term ski bums or two-week honeymooners. The practice is sometimes illegal, according to municipal codes, and often done in improperly-zoned portions of East Jackson, specifically. The Town of Jackson calls them Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBOs) and they say these nebulous arrangements degrade neighborhood character, ding the legitimate short-term lodging market, and don’t cough up their share of lodging or sales tax revenue.

Councilman Mark Obringer said these places are easy to spot. East Jackson’s “frat house row,” as Obringer called it, features “the guy who has four campers, nine cars, and 30 people living in 800 square feet.” Warnings go largely unheeded. VRBOs operating illegally face a $750 fine for violation of town laws. Mayor Mark Barron proposed ratting them out to the Department of Revenue might be a more powerful coercion tool.

BTNF rethinks HQ, Jackson makes $ense     PROP
If you wanted the headquarters of the Bridger-Teton National Forest to remain in Jackson, the recession may have hit just in time. A new project analysis conducted by the BTNF shows the cost of renovating the current location is about equal to moving the whole show to Alpine.

USFS bigwigs once used a harum-scarum approach to dealing with the aging and cramped facilities on North Cache by threatening to move the trailer park HQ to Alpine. The money for building better digs was to be generated by Jackson’s out-of-sight real estate market. Back in 2007, some insiders valued the 15-acre holding owned by the USFS at an absurd $50 million. Now, according to BTNF’s own recent project analysis, a sale of nin acres of its land on North Cache might fetch $7.2 million.

More realistic land values, coupled with more affordable and available housing in Jackson Hole, have prompted forest officials to rethink the viability of moving BTNF headquarters to Alpine. The latest idea is to keep the six street frontage acres and sell off the back nine. Regional Forester Harv Forsgren holds the final decision. It is expected sometime this year.

courtesy FIELD & STREAM
Lazy baiters seek approval.

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Props & Disses 1/18/12 | Planet JH News Article: General News

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