Wildlife Management

Alaskan native fishing guide Brandon Ware remarked, “Our sea lions out here have a pretty infamous history.” When asked about the harbor in Petersburg, Alaska, he recalled a particularly notorious sea lion. “When I was a kid, there was one problem sea lion that ended up getting taken care of,” he...

A Wisconsin farmer who “made a game” of killing over 150 deer from 2020 through 2021 has been fined $27,416, sentenced to four months in jail, three years of probation, and stripped of hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges for 42 years. Dominick R. Stanek, 61, of Viola, told investigators he...

A healthy dose of arrogance combined with social media is the predominant downfall of many poachers these days. But now and then, good old-fashioned bragging makes a comeback. In 2023, while flying back to California from the East Coast, a couple attempted to smuggle a federally protected green...

A proposed ballot initiative to sunset Colorado’s wolf reintroduction by Dec. 31, 2026, cleared the Colorado Secretary of State’s Title Board on Feb. 19, paving the way once again for voters to decide the future of gray wolves across the state — a practice that the hunting community has widely...

In a moment of pure terror, Gene Moe turned to see a 600-pound brown bear charging. With his gun leaning against a tree and knife in hand, Moe was ready to accept his fate. It was him or the bear, and he was going to drive that knife as deep down that monster's throat as he could. And as it turns...

Poaching busts take a lot of time and effort from game wardens, and a recent conviction in central Montana was no exception. An affidavit filed in a Montana district court outlines the efforts Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks wardens took to track down two men who poached multiple bull elk and stabbed...

Wildlife managers from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are working together to restore elk to the prairie-forest transition zones of northeastern Minnesota. The Northeast Omashkooz (elk) Restoration and Management Plan will be...

A man in Henderson County, Texas had the bright idea to turn an old port-a-potty into a hunting blind. Unfortunately, this is where the smart thinking ended, because he decided to set up the shitter stand on private land that he did not have permission to hunt. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife...

River otters may lose their protected status in Wyoming, being reclassified as a nongame species. Wyoming House Bill 45, if passed, would grant the Wyoming Game & Fish Department (WGFD) and citizens, with permission of the WGFD, the ability to use live traps in hopes of relocating problem otters or...

In mid-December, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) indicated that they would consider a black bear hunt in the state this coming fall due to recent increases in human-bear interactions. Currently, biologists estimate that there are approximately 4,000 bears living in...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that grizzly bears will remain protected as a “threatened” species by the Endangered Species Act throughout their range in the Lower 48. This decision comes in response to a series of petitions from Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho arguing...

On December 12, the Arizona Grand Jury indicted 14 people on 30 counts related to poaching wildlife in the state. The crimes include one count each of conspiracy, illegally conducting an enterprise, and cruelty to animals, and 26 counts of theft (aka poaching). According to the indictment, the...