My title is warning enough that these photos are graphic. If such images disturb you, consider proceeding no further. Please, no complaints about what you’re about to see if you scroll further down but I’m of the opinion that this story must be told.
Antelope Island State Park holds an annual bison “hunt”. This year it was held four days ago on Monday, Dec. 5 when one out-of-state and six resident “hunters” were allowed to harvest 7 bison.
What you’re about to see is part of the aftermath of that hunt. These images were taken yesterday morning on the island.
1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
This is a bison gut pile left over from the hunt. It’s only a few yards from a campground, a road and a very popular hiking trail and it’s in plain view from all three. The gut pile is of course a bonanza for scavengers on the island and these Black-billed Magpies were taking full advantage of the situation. When these images were taken there were also a couple of coyotes in the general vicinity and I suspect they too will get their share.
1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Magpies are known to be raucous and aggressive scavengers and in this situation they were certainly living up to their reputation as they…
1/2000, f/9, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
competed for and squabbled over the best feeding spots on the pile.
The Antelope Island bison hunt is extremely controversial and it’s my contention that it’s highly inappropriate in a State Park. Park officials claim the hunt is a tool to manage bison numbers (bulls particularly) and to generate revenue for the park’s operations. But consider the following:
- I contend that the bison hunt isn’t necessary to manage the bull numbers. The island holds an annual bison roundup where excess animals are sold off to individuals and organizations. Numbers of bulls on the island could be controlled by selective culling when they’re younger and easier to manage (adult bulls are cantankerous and difficult to control). There are also other ways bull numbers could be controlled.
- Park officials admit that the revenue generated by the hunt “isn’t a huge amount” – the implication being that those funds aren’t absolutely necessary for park operations. Besides, the ends don’t justify the means…
- Hunting in state parks is an anathema that is highly distasteful and inappropriate to much of the general public. The entire 28,000 acre, 42 square mile park is closed to the public during the hunt so 7 “hunters” can walk up to a big old bull and blow it away. Officials claim they close the park for safety reasons but I suspect there’s more to it than that – after all, other public lands aren’t closed to everyone but hunters during the deer and elk seasons when there are a lot more bullets flying around. I suspect they close the park mostly to prevent park visitors from seeing “hunters” running around with high-powered rifles and killing their beloved bison in a State Park. Ignorance is bliss so enlightenment is part of the purpose of this post.
- You’ll notice that in this context I’ve usually put the word “hunter” in quotes. This isn’t hunting – it’s a turkey shoot. There’s no sport, no “fair chase” involved. This is akin to slaughtering cattle in a pasture. These bison are so acclimated to vehicles and people that you can walk right up to many of them (though doing so isn’t recommended as you might pay for it with your life).
- If you want to graphically see what a typical bison “hunt” on the island is really like you might want to watch this video clip and then you can draw your own conclusions. But be forewarned – if you watch it you will see an animal killed. And you’ll also see just how “sporting” this hunt really is.
This post is NOT a tirade against hunting in general. My purpose is only to question the appropriateness of the bison hunt in a State Park. I’ve expressed my opinion and others are welcome to do the same, on either side of the coin. My only requirement is that any comments on the subject be respectful and polite. Inappropriate comments will not be approved (or they will be deleted).
Since I’ve already had my say I’ll (mostly) sit back and not comment further unless it seems appropriate to do so.
Ron
Yuck, that’s not hunting in any way. It’s buying your way into organized killing. I have no respect at all. Do they at least have to use non-lead ammo? I also have no respect for people who scatter lead around, who are too cheep to concern themselves with the unintended secondary deaths they cause. Time for humans to evolve, folks.
I’m all over the place on this question (and sorry for the late response, but let’s just say Computers are EVIL!).
I hunt with my hawks, but that’s a whole different situation from what goes on here. The critters have home field advantage and the birds chase/catch them fair and square, putting their lives on the line to do it. That’s a whole lot more respectful than we humans who forage in a supermarket. The practices used to stock our kitchens are pretty darn hideous. And when you think about it, the only real reason we’ve thrived as a species is we learned how to create a captive (and reliable) food source.
Like you, I have REAL problems with shooting creatures in a national park where it’s like shooting cattle in a 8′ x 10′ pen (just using that dimension randomly). Further, I have real issues with humans managing wildlife (which is a laughable concept), as if that were really possible.
Hunting is a time-honored activity that routinely brings up the concepts of ethics. The problem with that is one person’s ethics are another person’s restraint. HOWEVER, leaving gut piles in the field is not one of those things ethical hunters do. Now, define an ethical hunter. ARGH! And certainly the scavengers are delighted the gut piles are there for their dining pleasure–and scavengers include raptors like golden eagles and redtails, etc.
In short, I don’t know what the RIGHT answer is. I’ll just keep on hunting with my birds. I’ll also add that the best meal I’ve EVER eaten was my hawk-caught pheasant, breasted out and shared with Mariah (I get the breast and she gets the rest so we’re both getting the best parts). My second best meal was a Mariah-caught duck. But again, she put her life on the line both times.
I support hunting for food but this type of hunting makes me ill. It’s not a sport. It’s a slaughter. I hope for the day when our kind wake up to the damage we do.
I don’t hunt but I am not anti hunting…hunting does serve a purpose but like you I agree “Absolutely not ” in a state park!!!! Ridiculous!!! Like shooting mustangs or wolves from a helicopter!!! Or the massacre of Sandhills cranes makes me sick ….. it’s not hunting .. also farm raised animals for hunting is fine with me…. keeps some of the real game birds numbers up !!!I have only seen 2 pheasants all year … I used to see at least 100 a year not sure what happened to them so I feel pheasant farms here do serve a purpose…
I’ve been secretly loving your work for months now, Ron. I always look forward to your posts every morning and I really appreciate your respect for our planet and the creatures we share it with. I wanted to comment and share an experience I had at a four-day conference hosted by the Max McGraw foundation – a hunting advocacy group. I’m a wildlife student, but not a hunter. I was invited because hunters want future wildlife and public lands managers to understand the hunting perspective.
At the end of the conference, we went on a guided pheasant “hunt.” The pheasants were farmed somewhere else, and released just a few days earlier. The fields had parallel roads through them, so you and your buddy didn’t have to get seeds in your socks while you flushed endless pheasants out of the sagebrush. We had two well-trained pointers and a dog handler for every two hunters in our party. It was so easy, my little sister could have bagged half a dozen birds. It was about as manufactured an experience as you can get.
I thought I would feel conflicted about shooting these helpless birds, especially since I love birding and I always had a distaste for these types of “hunts.” However, I came to realize that I eat some kind of meat almost every single day, and I usually don’t give a second’s thought to what animal had to die so I could eat it. At least I was going to experience the whole process firsthand. I realized it was quite a double-standard for me to eat hamburger every week, while looking down my nose at these hunters who give less-than-fair chase. At least they see the living, breathing animal before they kill and eat.
Now, I take a broader perspective on “fair chase.” At one end, you have traditional bowhunting in the backcountry, or whatever. On the other end, you pay someone to raise the animal in captivity, slaughter it, butcher it, and wrap it in plastic for you. I think hunts like the Antelope Island bison hunt are actually somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. If we have a problem with these types of hunts, we should also have a problem with supermarket meats.
In the end, I came to accept and appreciate “hunting ranches” and the like. Not everyone who wants to hunt wants to (or is able to) do the whole fair-chase thing. I’m okay with these hunters “slaughtering a cattle in a pasture,” because I think it’s still a whole lot more respectful than buying the meat at wal-mart – which most of us do every week, without thought. I personally don’t think these hunts sound that fun, but if people like it, who am I to judge. As long as it’s done legally and without waste, it’s okay with me. I actually wish every supermarket meat-eater could have a hunting experience like mine. It definitely changed my persepctive.
I do think these hunters could have relocated their gut pile away from the campground and trails, though. 🙂
Anson, An interesting perspective, thoughtfully presented. Thank you for providing it.
It does address one of the points I made in my presentation and your point is well taken (personally, I disagree with some of it but that discussion must wait for another time and place). But whatever one’s stance might be on “canned hunts” it doesn’t change the fact that hunting of any kind in State Parks is inappropriate, highly distasteful and offensive to a large portion of the public, including me.
Agreed, someone dropped the ball big-time when that “hunter” was allowed to leave the gut pile in such a conspicuous place – and it was still there four days later! Since there were only 7 “hunters” on the island they have to know who it was. Personally it would tickle me pink if he/she was required to retrieve it, place it in his own back yard and just deal with it until it decomposed. And he was then sent a bill for the extra fertilizer it provided for his garden… 🙂
Bison have wolves, mountain lions and bears for predators. They are quite tasty animals. I like looking at them and eating them. I have no dog in the fight either way. The Black-billed Magpies love the hunter who left that pile and Ron didn’t mind taking the pictures. I would have a dog in the fight over hunting in a State Park though, but I guess my dog would loose in that fight in Utah, so I don’t walk or fight my dog in Utah.
I will say the outside of the intestines looks like a plastic trash bag…weird.
“I will say the outside of the intestines looks like a plastic trash bag…weird.”
I think that shiny lining is mesentery, Joe.
Hunting for sport just makes me so mad; hunting for food and using all the animal is completely justified. After all, it’s a whole lot better than chowing down on a McDonalds twice a day 😉
Plus, as you already pointed out, this isn’t really hunting: it’s just taking advantage of the trust of an animal completely acclimated to humans.
And it’s disgusting to leave the guts lying around so close to a campsite: besides the stench, coyotes will be attracted to it and end up even more acclimated to humans. One day there’ll be an attack, followed by another cull. That’s what happens here; I’ve got some shots of coyotes no more than 3 feet from humans.
Re:video clip: thanks for making it available even though I chose not to watch…having enough probs,. With depression and high BP as it is….
Sigh. And hiss and spit.
Hunting, except for food which is rarely necessary now, is anathema to me. And it is a ‘sport’ I don’t understand and don’t want to understand.
If those most familiar with particular environs close to their homes and hearts–clearly, in your case, Antelope Island and its biota–fail to speak up on their behalf as you have done so well here with your images and words, we will continue to lose natural places. Professional environmental managers may have the short-term ideas (in our “data driven age” “supported” by complicated algorithms) but they frequently lack the deep knowledge and understanding of–let alone any real passion for–a locale. Acquiring such deep knowledge can go unaccounted for in the planning that leads to events like this bison “hunt” but such efforts would make all these professionals’ efforts at once more effective and more credible not to mention sustainable. I would urge all of your followers to find a locale near their homes they care about. Size does not mater. Spectacular vistas do not matter. “Charismatic mega fauna” do not matter. Just find a natural place in which one can find personal inspiration, satisfaction, solace and comfort. Visit that locale at least weekly throughout the year. Document (in whatever media and at whatever level of skill and scale you can muster) what goes on there month after month, year after year. Then find a way to share what you have learned with as wide a local audience as possible. If and when the professionals (or, heaven forbid, developers) show up with a “plan” to “manage” that locale they will then be facing a much larger and better informed group of advocates than anticipated. Many a potential colonial power has learned–the hard way–that it’s tough to beat people fighting on their home ground. Keep up the great work.
Well said, Jim. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort.
I’m another one who doesn’t understand “hunting” bison as a way to cull the herd. I also don’t understand “hunting” in a state park. Admittedly the one we volunteer at is in Texas, but ours is clearly labeled with no hunting signs and game preserve signs on the road into the park. I think that trophy hunting is a really pathetic pastime, which shouldn’t be inflicted on the general public the way this bison “hunt” is. The idea of leaving the gut pile close to the campground is also something that proves how thoughtless the whole thing is. Are they trying to alienate the campers? It seems to me that the gut pile would start to smell bad real quick, which would be hard on campers. This world has just gotten too crazy… I don’t have a problem with people hunting for food, even though it is something I would not do.
$9,275.00 is the total dollar amount raised for the 6 resident and 1 non-resident Antelope Island Bison permits according to the DNR permit cost page on the DNR website. I can’t find any information on how much the permit auction raises or who or what entity benefits from the auctioned permits. I’ll make an assumption the funds go primarily to the DNR’s general fund and not directly to to Antelope Island State Park coffers. Probably not enough revenue to cover Park staff salary for a week.
This hunt is to hunting what Homer Simpson is to parenting.
“This hunt is to hunting what Homer Simpson is to parenting”
Neil, reading that part of your comment was the only thing I’ve been able to smile about all morning!
There was a time when Antelope Island wasn’t closed for the Bison hunt. Then one year a fearless hunter shot a bull near one of the campgrounds, but only wounded the animal, which then roamed around the campground for all to see it’s bloody wound. It was finally killed and taken away. This created quite an outcry from the public. So management decided any animal shot had to be loaded in a truck as soon as possible and covered with a tarp, out of site from visitors. Now they have taken to closing the island during the Bison hunt, I mean slaughter, for public safety reasons and to prevent any would have been visitors from viewing the dead animal. Yes, the hunter paid the state money for permission to kill a Bison. We, the public pay money just to be on the island every time we go through the entrance gate.
So if the state can close or maybe “reserve” would be more appropriate, the island for hunters, then a day should be set aside or “reserved” just for hikers, bird watchers, or mountain bikers, etc. If you don’t fall into a designated category the island would be closed to you.
This is just my opinion.
I am sickened at these “foolish-hunters” are allowed to shoot/murder these trusting souls. AND then to leave behind piles of guts is inexcusable and unsightly. That would put a person into therapy walking up to that terrible sight let alone the smell!😝 has good sense been replaced by stupid?
I agree 100%, Ron! There are much better ways to cull the relatively tame herd in a State Park. Hopefully, the gut pile will be consumed quickly. Sadly, the culture of factory animal farming is no more ethical than this so-called “hunt.”
To end on a positive, you really caught the iridescence of those black feathers in the last shot. Very interesting juxtaposition of the lively play of light with the bison remains.
Nice thing to leave so close to a camping area…very thoughtful…
Many years ago while living outsde Fairbanks Alaska, we saw a similar situation with some moose “hunters” getting more and more assertive about “controlling” wolves and grizzlies so there would be more moose available for “hunting”
I sent in a toungue-in-cheek letter to the the editor suggesting they put a tall fence around some of the prime moose range that kept predators out and moose iin. This would help build the moose numbers up and make it easy for those “hunters” to get their game. As a life-long hunter myself, I assumed they would see the absurdity of the idea, as this wouldn’t really be hunting. The Editor titled my piece “moose ranch”. The reader response was illuminating. While many saw the absurdity of the idea, a fair number thought it was a great idea!
“a fair number thought it was a great idea”
That says it all, doesn’t it, Kent? There are hunters and then there are “hunters”…
I think quotes around hunter is not enough. Why not change the word to bagger. Hunters and baggers. That is all they are doing is bagging a Moose or Buffalo, Not really hunting!
I also worry about the scavengers and lead bullet fragments. The gift that keeps on killing.
We from Montana know the good life. MT still has open spaces where hunting can be done. However, much of the rest of the US only knows going into a few acres and finding the animal and shooting it on the spot. There are too many people for this planet. Thanks Ron. Truth is always needed.
While I understand true “hunting” for NEEDED food, I will never understand the concept of killing for fun, for the thrill of killing something, for taking a life (as “sport”)….I have no respect for those that do. And wish they’d aim at each other. I had a Mossberg 22 and liked shooting at targets…that I consider a “sport”… But never at a live target. Taking a life for “fun” is very sick to me….
Thanks for sharing these photos Ron. I think it is important for the public to see what really happens with these “hunts”. Their argument that it helps control the population is BS when they do roundups of the bison. I think it has a lot to do with the gun lobby. There is lots of money to be made. The amount they get from licenses is small. I notice that in New Mexico the cost of a trapping license is ~ $20/year. Peanuts. I think my fishing license is almost twice this amount.
I too am not opposed to hunting, when it is done ethically. Sadly, what bothers me is people hunting from their $60K shiny truck and claiming they need to hunt to eat (i.e. cannot afford to buy meat), baiting elk and deer with salt licks, using drones and aircraft to find the herds, guides making big $,$$$$ for out of state clients. Using dogs to tree mountain lions and bears, keeping the animal treed until their rich client flies into Albuquerque, grabs dinner in Santa Fe, on their way to go shoot the treed animal. Ok, enough of my ranting.
The bottom line is to share these images far and wide. Let people see what it is really about.
Ed, it’s my understanding that the “out of state” license is auctioned to the highest bidder and that brings in a pretty hefty number of dollars but I believe the other 6 licenses are not auctioned.
Excellent post and images!
Being a past hunter as well as a past competitive rifle coach, I am not against hunting, but this seems, in my mind, to be beyond the pale.
Living in the east and not being that familiar with the west, prevents me from saying anything further. However, I do empathize with you Ron, and my emotions are in the same camp!
Excellent and informative photos. It makes me sad that we have reduced the Bison numbers from 60 million to a tiny handfull and yet we still allow them to be shot for sport. It seems more important to manage the population for health and genetic diversity and “sport” should not be a factor.
I’m glad you made this post–if it offends some readers , in my opinion, IT SHOULD…….private so -called “trophy ranches” are offensive enough to true hunters who understand the meaning
of the word “hunting”, but to see an agency of government sponsoring such a travesty on public land holdings is disgusting .
Same thing/controversy around Yellowstone when the Bison come out in the winter. Poor “hunter” ethics leaving the gut pile where they did! 🙁 The solutions to the over population numbers are a challenge. Sounds like they have lots of options other than a hunt on the island. Culling the bulls is nonsensical for population control as fewer offspring are what’s required and that’s the females. 🙁 The magpies/coyotes/eagles etc. do benefit from the gut piles. I’ve wondered this fall hall our local population of coyotes etc. will do given big game season was slow in this area.