BILLINGS, Montana — A federal judge has ordered U.S. wildlife officials to reconsider a 2015 decision that blocked special protections for the iconic bison herds that roam Yellowstone National Park and are routinely subjected to hunting and slaughter.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said in a ruling late Wednesday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could not “simply pick and choose” between conflicting science, after the agency rejected a study suggesting the park’s bison population might be too small to sustain its two herds.

Yellowstone’s 5,000 bison make up the largest remaining wild population of a species that once numbered in the tens of millions.

The animals, also called buffalo, are captured and slaughtered by state and federal agencies and killed by hunters during their winter migrations outside the park into Montana.

Wildlife managers expect to cull between 600 and 900 of the animals this winter, under a program intended to keep the park’s bison population at about 3,000 animals to guard against transmissions of brucellosis. The disease found in elk and bison is feared by Yellowstone-area ranchers because it can make cattle abort their young.

In a bid to stop the bison killing, wildlife advocates from the Buffalo Field Campaign and other groups sought protections for the herds in 2014.

They sued when their petition was denied, arguing the denial was politically motivated and made out of deference to the livestock industry.

The government’s reconsideration of protections will take several months at a minimum and is not expected to affect this winter’s capture and slaughter program.

Plaintiffs in the case said the judge’s ruling sends a message to the government that it can’t manipulate science to serve the interests of ranchers. But Buffalo Field Campaign director Ken Cole said it would likely take years to get protections in place that would stop the hunting and slaughter of park bison.

“There’s a lot of things the parks and the state can do to avoid listing” bison as protected under the Endangered Species Act, Cole added. “Let them use the habitat outside the park and not limit their numbers to the 3,000.”

Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Jennifer Strickland said agency officials were reviewing Cooper’s rulings.

In their lawsuit, the wildlife advocates pointed to a study from Texas A&M University that said the park’s two herds were genetically distinct from one another and should be managed separately.

A minimum of 3,000 bison are needed to ensure a single herd’s survival, suggesting a target of 3,000 animals for two herds was too low.

Government scientists rejected the claim, saying the distinction between the herds was artificially created.

Cooper determined the rejection was made too hastily. While the government may ultimately prevail in its argument, he said, it must at least “explain why the evidence supporting the petition is unreliable, irrelevant or otherwise unreasonable.”

High temperatures in East Idaho set multiple records on Tuesday.

The 61 degrees measured in Pocatello was not only the highest temperature ever recorded on Jan. 30, it was also the highest temperature ever recorded in the Gate City in the month of January. The National Weather Service said official record-keeping began in Pocatello in 1939.

The previous record for Jan. 30 in Pocatello was 51 degrees in 1992, while the previous record for the warmest temperature ever recorded in January was 60 degrees on Jan. 31, 2003.

Idaho Falls and Burley also broke records on Tuesday. Idaho Falls’ 50 degrees broke the previous record of 45 degrees set in 1971, and Burley’s 61 degrees broke the previous record of 56 degrees, also set in 1971.

However, unlike Pocatello, the new Jan. 30 record temperatures in Idaho Falls and Burley were not the highest ever recorded for the month of January in those cities.

But meteorologists said that what is particularly unusual is how the region has seen two extremes in back-to-back years.

Last year during this time, most of Southeast Idaho was buried under snow thanks to unrelenting storms and blizzards.

In fact, January 2017 was the snowiest January on record, with a total of 32.2 inches in Pocatello. It was also the seventh coldest January ever documented.

But in January 2018, only 0.3 inches of powder had fallen in the Gate City, making it the least snowiest and the second-warmest January on record. Only the January in 1953 was balmier.

According to Greg Kaiser, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pocatello, a high-pressure system moved into the region shortly after Christmas and has remained since then. This was not what meteorologists were expecting, as December had higher-than-average snowfall numbers.

“Once Christmas Day passed, the weather turned quickly,” Kaiser said.

This system, Kaiser said, is essentially pushing any potential blizzards and snowstorms away from Southeast Idaho to the north and to the east.

“A high-pressure system has set up on the West Coast and there’s been a low-pressure system back east, which is why they are getting all the storms,” Kaiser said. “It’s been completely reversed compared to last year, when we had the low-pressure system and the storms, and the East Coast had the high-pressure system and the warm weather.”

But will Southeast Idaho see any significant snowfall or frigid temperatures in February and March?

For the next 10 days, the answer is probably no, with above-average temperatures and some rain in the forecast for the region.

Kaiser said the month of February this year is forecast to have above-average temperatures, while the Climate Prediction Center is anticipating a warmer-than-usual spring and summer.

The elk herd that resides in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park and the southern end of Montana’s Paradise Valley is growing, according to a new count conducted by state and park biologists.

During aerial surveys earlier this month, biologists from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Yellowstone National Park counted 7,579 elk in what’s known as the northern range, an area stretching from the Lamar Valley north to Six Mile Creek. The total is 42 percent higher than 2017’s count of 5,349.

Karen Loveless, a biologist with FWP, said the significant jump likely means they missed counting some elk last year, but they still believe the population is healthy and growing. It’s the fourth consecutive year that the number has increased.

“I feel confident in saying that numbers are increasing,” Loveless said.

The number is still below the long-term average of roughly 10,000 for the area, but it’s much closer than it’s been in more than a decade. The last time the count surpassed 7,500 was 2005, when 9,545 elk were counted.

Increasing numbers have coincided with the trend of more elk migrating north from the park and into Montana. More than three-quarters of the herd was spotted north of Yellowstone this year, a percentage that’s been fairly consistent in each count since 2013. Prior to 2006, less than half the herd regularly migrated north.

That migration has pushed hunting districts in that area past their elk population objectives, and Loveless said that part of the state is “at capacity” when it comes to hosting elk.

“We’re maxed out,” she said. “If the herd is going to continue to grow, it would have to be elk staying in the park over the winter.”

Loveless said FWP will propose that the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission increase antlerless elk hunting opportunities there to ease some of the conflicts with landowners and take a bite out of the numbers. The proposal wasn’t part of the state’s original hunting season package but was crafted after a public comment period.

Hunting there has been controversial in recent years. In 2016, the commission approved a significant reduction in bull elk hunting opportunity in hunting district 313, which is known for trophy bulls. The change was based on a decline in the number of mature bull elk there.

Loveless said they didn’t try to quantify the number of mature bulls in the population during this month’s survey. They’ll do that during a survey later this winter.

From time to time, I get e-mails from people asking about the best all-around rifle for hunting big game in North America.

Admittedly, not many readers of my columns ask about an all-around rifle, but some do. I suspect the reason most don’t is because they have been shooting and hunting for some time and have already decided what rifles they want to hunt with.

Toward the end of December 2017, I received an interesting e-mail asking about the best rifle to have while traveling through the backcountry of either Alaska or Africa. He told me in his e-mail to me that he wasn’t familiar with rifles except for a BB gun and a .22 rimfire. Someone had already recommended a .375 H&H, but he was concerned about recoil and wondered if he ought to look at something else.

First of all, the .375 H&H Magnum is the minimum caliber that’s considered a charge stopper in Africa, and it is the smallest caliber allowed for dangerous game in most parts of Africa.

The .270 Winchester, the .30-06, the 7mm Magnum, .300 Winchester and Weatherby Magnums, along with the .340 Weatherby, are all used on plains game in Africa. But Africa’s “Big Five” most dangerous big game animals are also residents where the plains game can be found. Therefore, hunters in Africa also generally carry at least a .375 H&H, if not something more powerful.

Africa is unique. Wildlife in Africa are among the toughest animals on Earth because of the constant danger from predators. Almost everything in Africa eats or is eaten by something else. Plains game in Africa rely on awareness and speed to defend themselves from predators. Predators in Africa have to be really accomplished hunters to surprise and attack their prey before the prey can exit the area.

Because of the harsh realities of life in the African bush, most of the game that survives can take a pummeling and still live to run or fight another day. I just finished reading an account by the late professional hunting guide, Peter Capstick, where he tells of having to shoot a charging 500-pound lion 10 times with a .375 H&H Magnum while his hunting partner unloaded several .500 Nitro Express rounds into the same lion before it finally laid down. The animal took another 12 minutes to die even though it was so shot up it couldn’t walk anymore.

That is a phenomenal tenacity for life. You just never know if African game will succumb to one shot or keep coming for more, maybe a lot more before it’s charge card is canceled.

So, whether you like really stiff recoil or not, you better get used to it and carry a .375 H&H Magnum or bigger if you plan to wander around the African bush.

Actually, hunting in Africa seems like such an ordeal in so many ways that only the wealthy can afford the safaris.

In North America, including Alaska, the .270 Winchester and .30-06 have plenty of power for hunting any big game animals, including the largest bears. Where the .270 Winchester and .30-06 seem to disappoint some hunters is on long shots over 500 or 600 yards, particularly if the animal being hunted is a large elk or moose.

When it comes to bears, most shots are much closer than with ungulates, and a .270 Winchester or .30-06 has more than enough power to handle the job at 100 yards or less.

The .300 H&H Magnum has been around since 1925, but when Roy Weatherby introduced the more powerful .300 Weatherby Magnum in the 1940s, it became a favorite of big game hunters in North America because of it’s flatter trajectory and increased stopping power at long range.

It was also favored by hunters in Alaska until Weatherby came out with its .340 Weatherby Magnum in 1962. Personally, I am just as happy with a .300 Winchester Magnum or .300 Weatherby Magnum as I am with a .338 Winchester Magnum or .340 Weatherby when it comes to hunting elk, moose or pronghorn that won’t let you get less than several hundred yards from them.

So what I told the reader who emailed me about hunting in Africa or North America was that I recommended that he get a .30-06 and shoot it until he was comfortable with 20 foot-pounds of recoil and could hit his target the majority of the time, and then decide if he wanted to purchase one of the magnum calibers with their increased knockdown power and stiffer recoil.

At least he would have a caliber that would take any animal in North America and at least plains game in Africa, and he could rent a .375 H&H Magnum from the hunting concession and be backed up by a professional hunter with a really potent charge stopper if he didn’t want to own one himself.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He was among the first DPS-certified Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A 20-year-old Salt Lake City man has been killed in a skiing accident at a resort in Park City.

The Summit County Sheriff’s office says the skier struck a tree Monday afternoon on the Canyons Village base side of Park City Mountain about 35 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

Emergency medical crews were called to the scene at about 1:45 p.m. and attempted to revive him but he was pronounced dead.

The sheriff’s office said Tuesday the name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of his family.

Sheriff’s deputies are continuing to investigate the cause of the accident.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An environmental group says 23 water diversion projects in central Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley are harming federally protected salmon, steelhead and bull trout and has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service.

The Idaho Conservation League in the 20-page complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court says the federal agency is violating environmental laws by failing to do mandatory consulting on the projects with other federal agencies.

The group says the Forest Service instead continues approving the diversions in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

The group seeks a court order forcing the Forest Service to complete consultations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries.

Sawtooth National Forest spokeswoman Julie Thomas says the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

If residents in Southeast Idaho are lucky, they’ll be able to see something in the sky on Wednesday that Americans haven’t witnessed since right after the Civil War.

Experts say it’s a phenomenon of a super moon, a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse happening all at once. Though these events, collectively, have not been seen anywhere on Earth in more than 35 years, the last time Americans saw it was 1866.

“All three of those things coming together, that’s quite an event,” said Dell Vance, president of the Cache Valley Astronomical Society.

A super moon is when the moon appears larger than normal, owing to the fact it is closer to the Earth than at any point in its orbit. A blue moon is when two full moons occur in the same month (the last full moon was seen Jan. 1).

A lunar eclipse is when the moon passes behind the Earth’s umbra, or shadow, which sometimes can completely cover the moon. When that happens, the moon can give off a reddish hue, giving it the nickname “blood moon.”

Vance said the moon will be easy to look at, not requiring any special equipment.

But more than that, “It will also be a convenient time, which is totally unusual,” he said. “This one is going to happen right before dawn.”

James Coburn, the USU observatory supervisor, said the moon will be full by around 5:52 a.m., and the maximum eclipse ― when the moon is in the middle of the earth’s shadow ― is expected to occur at approximately 6:30 a.m. The moon will start to emerge from the darkest part of the shadow at about 7:07 a.m., but it will set about 7:40 a.m., he said.

“Shortly after the moon starts to emerge, it will set for us,” Coburn said. “You’ve got to get up early in the morning if you want to see it.”

If nothing else, Coburn said, the super blue blood moon will get people interested in astronomy.

“It’s a good thing,” he said.

ISLAND PARK — Rescuers retrieved a stranded Rexburg snowmobiler and fellow snowmobilers who rushed to his aid around 11:30 p.m. Monday night.

Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries reported that rescuers found Jayce Davison around 6 p.m., thanks to a satellite beacon he carried with him.

“He was able transmit his location to his mother, and she passed that on to us,” he said.

Officials called in a helicopter to retrieve Davison, but moments before the helicopter rescue, snowmobilers in the area scooped Davison up and headed off in the wrong direction. Shortly afterward they got stuck in the snow.

“The plans that had been put in place by the on-scene command were disrupted. What should have been done by 6 p.m. took until well past midnight because of that disruption,” Humphries said.

Rescuers soon found themselves having to aid not only Davison, but those who tried to rescue him. Search and Rescue trekked across rocky terrain with snowshoes to find the men after initially snowmobiling their direction. Because of the terrain, they could only drive in so far.

“The terrain became very difficult because of the darkness. You just can’t ride off (on snowmobiles). There were boulders everywhere. Our search and rescue hiked in there on snowshoes and got to them. They were able to provide snowshoes for those who couldn’t ride and guided the ones out with their machines,” Humphries said.

While Humphries appreciated the snowmobilers’ efforts to help Davison, he said that volunteers need to follow directions of on-scene commanders to keep everyone safe.

“Don’t place other people in jeopardy. Sometimes people get frustrated because things are going too slow. There’s a reason we do the things we do,” he said.

Both Fremont and Clark County sheriff’s offices as well as their respective search and rescue teams started searching for Davison early Monday morning. Davison had been stranded since Sunday night.

Davison had gone snowmobiling with eight other snowmobilers on Sunday. He and Jeremy Richman, also of Rexburg, and Tyler Muir, of Rigby, decided to take a different trail back to Island Park but instead wound up in Montana near the Continental Divide.

After one of their snowmobiles broke down, Richman and Muir went searching for help. Because of the rocky terrain, only one person could ride on the machines at a time. The men built a fire for Davison and went looking for help.

Humphries said that the fire was still going when Search and Rescue got to Davison.

“He was warm. It wasn’t real cold up there yesterday,” Humphries said.

Humphries said that a combined Fremont and Clark County rescue team of 30 people helped find Davison.

“Besides having people up on the trail looking, we had people manning the incident command, people running logistics and food and water — things like that. We had people who monitor the radio, help facilitate communication with people in the field and sheriff’s office. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes people don’t realize,” he said.

Humphries said that no charges will be filed against anyone and says he’s just glad that no one was injured.

“Everybody got out safely last night,” he said.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Seventy-six wolves were killed by hunters and others in Wyoming last year when the state resumed its management of the animals.

Ken Mills, lead wolf biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said 43 wolves were legally hunted and one illegally hunted in the state during a licensed hunting season from October through December.

That met the state’s hunting quota of 44 set by game managers.

“It got off to a pretty fast start in October and we closed a number of hunt areas early,” Mills said. “Then November was really quiet for the hunt areas that were open, and in December it picked back up, and I think probably snow had a part to do with it … which helps people with tracking and seeing wolves.”

About 2,500 hunting licenses were issued, meaning 1.7 percent of the license holders were successful in taking a wolf.

Mills said wolves are difficult to hunt because they are elusive and avoid people.

“So it’s hard to actually cross paths with one unless you really know a specific pack or put in a lot of time,” he said.

It was the state’s first licensed wolf hunting season since 2013. No licensed wolf hunting was allowed in Wyoming in the following years because wolves were placed under federal protection and management by a court ruling. A federal appeals court in 2017 lifted endangered species protection for wolves in Wyoming, allowing the state to take over management of the animals.

Mills said another 32 wolves were killed in 2017 in areas of the state where they are considered predators and can be killed without a license.

There are about 380 wolves in Wyoming. Wolves remain protected in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and the state is committed to maintaining at least 100 wolves, including 10 breeding pairs, outside the parks and the reservation.

Areas adjacent to the parks are subject to a tightly controlled hunting season. However, in much of the rest of the state, wolves are considered predators that can be shot on sight without a license any time of the year.

Environmental groups have long taken issue with wolves being considered predators in Wyoming.

“In terms of ongoing policy problems, I guess I would still say that the most glaring one is that they treat wolves as vermin that can be shot on sight in 85 percent of the state,” Tim Preso, a lawyer with Earthjustice in Montana, said Friday. “If they want to do it in a rational way where they respond to conflicts or provide some kind of appropriate, responsible hunting regulation for wolves in certain areas, that makes sense, but to just throw the doors open and say go kill them whenever you want, however you want, that’s not something we’d ever support.”

Montana and Idaho also have wolf hunting seasons that have not been interrupted by legal challenges.

DENVER — Sales of outdoor equipment are slipping as millennials drive changes in U.S. consumer habits by favoring clothes and sporting goods that are less specialized and more versatile, analysts say.

Industry retail sales totaled $18.9 billion from December 2016 through November 2017, down 6 percent from the previous 12 months, according to NPD Group, a market research company that tracks trends in two dozen industries.

The company announced the numbers this week as manufacturers and buyers gathered in Denver for the Outdoor Retailer and Snow Show, the industry’s biggest winter marketplace.

Millennials — sometimes defined as people born between 1982 and 2004 — are less likely than the previous generation to demand outdoor gear that stands up to extreme conditions, said Matt Powell, NPD’s senior adviser for the sports industry. He used boots as an example.

“The hardest, the most extreme condition some of these boots are going to have is walking from the Prius to the craft brewery,” he said.

Powell also cited mountain bikes, which riders can use on streets or trails without special clothing and usually cost less than specialized road bikes.

“I describe it as good-enough products. A product that will get me through most of what I want to do, and a product that is versatile,” he said.

Millennials are outdoorsy and support environmental preservation and sustainability, Powell said, but they have a different take on health and fitness than their predecessors. They have a more lighthearted approach that involves their friends, he said.

Some individual retailers and manufacturers have adapted, but the overall industry has not, Powell said.

“I think the outdoor industry has not responded enough to this shift in the mindset of consumers,” he said.

Greg Thomsen, U.S. managing director for Adidas Outdoors, said his company is focusing on consumers in their 20s and younger.

“This industry has been aging for a long time, and it’s nice to bring in some new people,” he said.

Thomsen said millennials like Adidas’ Flyloft jacket, which isn’t suitable for severely cold weather but still works for outdoor recreation. It’s less expensive, easier to care for and more versatile than more a hard-core outdoor jacket, he said, and it’s suitable for a day in the mountains or a night on the town.

The Outdoor Retailer and Snow Show gives retail buyers a look at goods they can sell starting next fall. About 1,000 manufacturers are showing new products to 11,000 retail buyers at the show, which opened Thursday and runs through Sunday.

The 500,000-square-foot expo is packed with nearly everything outdoors people might need, and a few things they might not: Ski parkas and bikinis, snow boots and sandals, axes and accounting software, snowboards and sleds, bicycles and camper vans, packaged food and Colorado whiskey.

Displays range from a humble table to elaborate, two-story exhibits with changing rooms or conference tables. Some exhibitors wore clingy ski pants; another wore a Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform complete with scarlet tunic.

This is the first Outdoor Retailer Show since it left its longtime home in Salt Lake City. Some big players in the outdoor industry argued that Utah’s political leaders were too hostile toward preserving public lands, so the show moved to Colorado, whose environmental politics are more in tune with the industry’s.

This week’s show is also the first since its producer, Emerald Expositions, acquired the SnowSports Industries America Snow Show, which had been held each January in Denver. Organizers say it’s the first time in nearly 30 years that the outdoor and snow industries have a combined show.

Snow industry sales, which include skis, snowboards, boots, bindings and other equipment, are faring better than the larger outdoor industry. For the first four months of the current winter season, sales totaled $2 billion, up 7.8 percent.

Associated Press writer James Anderson contributed to this report.