President Donald Trump’s administration is quietly pushing to dramatically scale back hunting restrictions across national parks, refuges, and wilderness areas, raising questions about visitor safety and wildlife impact. This initiative follows a January order from U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, directing agencies to remove what he termed “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing, and to justify any regulations they wish to maintain. Burgum stated, “Expanding opportunities for the public to hunt and fish on Department-managed lands not only strengthens conservation outcomes, but also supports rural economies, public health, and access to America’s outdoor spaces.” He added, “The Department’s policy is clear: public and federally managed lands should be open to hunting and fishing unless a specific, documented, and legally supported exception applies.”
The benefit of a rifle is that you can do what ya gotta do from more than 50ft away. Now we just have to come up with some sort of signal to differentiate between who’s in Yellowstone to hunt deer and who’s there to hunt the hunters.
Well, true on the 50ft, but you couldn’t rightfully shoot someone at 200ft+ and claim defense, because you’d have had enough time to leave or get away from the situation. Many self defense scenarios are judged on the defender being in fear for their lives or at risk of great or grave bodily harm to themselves or a loved one.
I think most sane people wouldn’t hunt at national parks because of a respect for others, unless maybe an invasive species went open season to save other species or plants.
Hunters aren’t itching to hunt anywhere and everywhere they can. Unless maybe you’re some wealthy big game hunter for sport and not respect of the animal. Maybe that’s why they’re relaxing regulations, for Trump & Co’s wealthy friends to expand their trophy collections… 🙄
I wasn’t suggesting shooting them in self defense, but in defense of the wildlife in the park. I’d say that in addition to the trophy hunters there’s no shortage of yahoos that would jump at the chance to hunt in a place like Yellowstone because of the ease. The wildlife there is not tame but it is habituated to human presence, they do not behave like animals in areas where hunting has been allowed for years. It’s be like shooting fish in a barrel for the first couple of seasons until they remembered they needed to scatter. And then the magic that is Yellowstone is gone. The landscapes remain beautiful but there’s no wildlife to be seen existing in it, they fled when they heard your approach.