CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Hunting guide Mike Clark normally has more than 20 clients lined up each fall for trips deep into Wyoming’s western wilderness to shoot mule deer, prized by hunters for their size and impressive antlers.

But unusually cold weather and heavy snowfall that blanketed much of the Western U.S. last winter killed off many young deer. And that prompted wildlife officials throughout the Rocky Mountain states to take measures such as reducing the number of hunting permits to try to help devastated wildlife populations rebound.

Clark took only six mule deer hunters out in September and October who were lucky enough to get permits. He estimated that he lost 40 percent of his income as a result. If it wasn’t for the hunters he was guiding this year to shoot elk that generally survived the brutal winter, Clark said, “We’d pretty much be selling out.”

In one remote part of Wyoming’s backcountry where peaks soar to 11,000 feet, state wildlife managers documented the loss of all fawns they had been monitoring in a mule deer herd.

To help the herd recover, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission reduced the number of deer permits for out-of-state residents from 600 to 400 in the area where Clark operates, cut the hunting season to 22 days and limited hunters to killing older bucks.

Officials won’t know how effective their efforts will be until hunting season ends in January and hunters submit reports saying how many deer they killed.

Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington state also imposed hunting limits to help isolated wildlife herds recover from the winter. Deer were hit hardest in most of those states, while Washington had severe losses among several of its elk herds.

In southern and central Idaho, last winter’s fawn survival rate was just 30 percent, prompting a reduction in deer hunting permits to help herds boost their numbers, said Mike Keckler, spokesman for the Idaho Fish and Game Department.

“We’re trying to bring them back up,” he said.

And in Washington, the number of elk hunting permits was cut drastically in some parts of the state where elk died in droves, said Brock Hoenes, statewide elk specialist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The area of Wyoming where Clark takes hunters is known as one of the best places in the world to hunt mule deer, state Game and Fish spokesman Renny MacKay said. He added that the decision to limit permits was difficult for state officials to make.

Clark said his business will survive the downturn but that his future guiding hunters is uncertain if wildlife managers reduce the number of mule deer hunting permits for nonresidents again next year.

“Otherwise, none of us are going to have any deer hunters,” he said.

The Idaho Wildlife Federation and 17 affiliated sportsman and wildlife groups across the state are hosting a Sportsman Gubernatorial Candidate Forum on Saturday at the Special Event Center in the Student Union Building at Boise State University.

Doors open at 2:30 p.m. with the forum starting at 3 p.m. The venue accommodates several hundred attendees and free on-campus parking is provided.

Candidates will weigh in on natural resource topics important to over 400,000 hunting and fishing license holders in the state, ranging from public lands access, public fish and wildlife management and hunter/angler retention.

Brian Brooks, executive director of the Idaho Wildlife Federation, says the forum is an informative tool for sportsmen heading to the ballot box.

“This is an opportunity for the folks vying for Idaho’s top leadership position to communicate to Idaho sportsmen and women their opinions, strategies and solutions addressing the complex issues facing Idaho’s wildlife, public lands and massive outdoor recreation industry,” Brooks said in a news release.

Gubernatorial candidates received invitations to the Sportsman Forum on Sept. 15 with a range of available dates.

“We appreciate that the candidates for governor have agreed to come down and talk to sportsmen,” said Michael Gibson, Idaho Field Coordinator for Trout Unlimited, in a news release. “Idahoans share a passion for the outdoors and the hunting and fishing opportunities it provides. I think they want to be sure their future governor shares that passion, or at the very least, understand it.”

The forum will be moderated by Eric Barker, outdoor editor for the Lewiston Tribune.

The event is free for the public and a reception is planned for Payette Brewing Co. after the forum concludes.

Reintroduction of the Canadian gray wolf in Yellowstone National Park was considered a ecological victory for wildlife biologists in 1995, while other groups, including ranchers and big game outfitters, wondered why bringing an apex predator back after its elimination years earlier was a good thing.

The recent presence of tiger trout in the Teton River in Southeast Idaho is not so dramatic, though it has raised the collective eyebrow of both the angling community and Idaho Department of Fish and Game fisheries biologists.

“It’s interesting that in one of the last strongholds of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout (IDFG) would allow a non-native species to be stocked in this valley,” said Kim Keeley, Friends of the Teton River board member and a founding member of the Teton Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited. “Because it was sort of inevitable that (tiger trout) would get into the main stem of the Teton River.”

Unlike Yellowstone’s wolf population, tiger trout are sterile. A cross between a brown trout and a brook trout, the tiger trout has no ability to procreate, thus making it less of a threat to the native species, the Yellowstone cutthroat trout.

“We believe the impact to be minor and temporary, not long-lasting,” said IDFG fisheries biologist Brett High. “We believe they are in the river due to private pond leakage from Teton Springs, which has been permitted to stock tiger trout.”

While Teton Springs in Victor has tiger trout in ponds located through its golf course, High said reports of stocking tiger trout in ponds of other private properties in the Teton Valley are likely. Though the stocking requires a permit through IDFG, regulation and policing of such ponds, High said, is the bailiwick of the Idaho Department of Agriculture.

Sustained high water on the Teton River this past spring because of significant snow pack last winter may have provided a connection between stocked ponds and the river, allowing tiger trout to enter live water. However they got in the river, local outfitters confirmed the presence of the new species this year.

“We saw about six tiger trout on the Teton this year, and one of them was caught early in the season down in the narrows below Bitch Creek,” said Teton Valley Lodge owner and guide Brian Berry. “If they’re coming down from Teton Springs, that’s a long way to travel.”

Dave Heib of Three Rivers Ranch joined Fish and Game this past season on an electrofishing survey and witnessed three tiger trout in the net. For Heib, the presence of this invasive species is troubling.

“These fish are super carnivorous,” Heib said. “Even though they are sterile, nature has a way. The ones in the Teton now are going to be there for years. They’re probably munching on little cutty smolts right now.”

WorldCast Anglers, another local outfitter, reported clients catching at least three tiger trout in valley stretches of the Teton River.

A little trout history

Native cutthroats in the Teton River were joined by other invasive species of trout, according to High, as early as the turn of the century when the United States Federal Fish Commission introduced brook trout into area watersheds.

Idaho Fish and Game then added rainbow trout to the mix, stocking the Teton until the mid 1990s. Though no stocking of brown trout was ever initiated by IDFG, High said a recent electrofishing, a process of surveying the fish population in a river, revealed a high percent of brown trout in the Teton, along with a tiger trout, which was removed from the watershed.

There is no evidence to support interbreeding of brook or brown trout, which share the same spawning season. But with the native cutthroat, High said rainbows and cutthroat have been interbreeding for so long in the Teton River that he had no idea how many generations of the hybrid cutbows exist. And though he doubted there are any pure rainbows in the Teton, High said genetic testing has proven there are plenty of pure cutthroats still in the Teton.

“There has been a lot of introgression, but there is still pretty good purity with the cutthroat,” High said. “We have wondered about the impact of stocking on the genetics of wild cutthroat trout all across the region. Bottom line is it appears that our wild cutthroat genetics are still intact because the geneticists found distinct groupings of cutthroat trout by river drainage that had different genetics by drainage.”

On the South Fork, another aspect of the Upper Snake River watershed, High said rainbow trout were stocked from around 1940 to 1981, brown trout from 1968 to 1982, and cutthroats from 1950 to 1981. The cessation of stocking, according to High, was due to survey feedback from anglers.

“Every few years, Idaho Fish and Game has done these opinion surveys,” High said. “That’s a lot of what drives our management policies.”

Teton Tigers

Though sterile, tiger trout have become a popular species for stocking programs because of their fast growth rate and aggressive or piscivorous nature. Time will tell the overall impact of tiger trout on the Teton River, but for now those in charge of the fisheries’ management are not too concerned.

Dan Garren, Regional Fisheries Manager for Fish and Game’s Upper Snake River office, recently contacted Teton Springs to double check that their ponds are secure, though other stocked ponds may be to blame for this new species in the Teton.

“I’ve contacted Teton Springs, and they are checking to ensure their screens are functioning properly, and say that they have a fishery biologist who does monthly inspections on their place to ensure compliance,” Garren wrote in an email. “If they are not the source of these fish, then there is some illegal stocking occurring somewhere up there. Once I hear from Teton Springs again and they ensure their screens are not to blame, I will contact the hatchery directly and see if we can figure out what’s going on.”

In the meantime, Garren said anglers are welcome to try and harvest a few tiger trout.

“As for what to tell anglers, we’re not overly concerned with tigers in the Teton at this point,” Garren wrote. “Not that we want them in there (we don’t), but they are a sterile fish so cannot establish a wild population. They are rare enough that nobody really knows how they ‘fit’ into the landscape, and what impacts they may or may not have with our cutties and other species. But they are in sufficiently low densities that any impacts will be minor, and temporary. Also tell any anglers that per IDFG rules, the daily bag limit is six tiger trout per angler. If they feel inclined, enjoy a shore lunch of a rare hatchery fish…”

“In hunting, the finding and killing of the game is after all a part of the whole. The free self reliant adventurous life, with its rugged and stalwart democracy; the wild surroundings, the grand beauty of the scenery, the chance to study the ways and habits of the wood-land creatures — all these unite to give to the career of the wilderness hunter its particular charm. The chase is the best of all national pastimes; it cultivates that vigorous manliness for the lack of which in a nation as in an individual, the possession of no other qualities can possibly atone.”

-President Theodore Roosevelt

The hunter is as free as it is possible to be in this technocratic world in which we live. The hunter is able to project himself out and beyond himself, to be fully absorbed in a quieter, deeper and older world.

President Theodore Roosevelt was an avid hunter and hunted not only in this country, but in other countries as well. He was particularly fond of hunting in Africa, and the Rocky Mountains of the United states.

I often read his writing concerning hunting as well as those of other hunters who have written about their hunting adventures. Most of these men and women had a very deep reverence for all animals they hunted. I can’t think of one of these hunters who didn’t believe that the meat from game animals should be processed and used for their own use or who gave the meat to others such as friends or a “Hunting for the Hungry” type organization.

The idea of killing an animal and just taking the head, antlers, horns or racks as a trophy and then wasting the meat runs counter to the hunter’s ethic. I believe it violates the principles of wildlife conservation that I was taught from an early age, even before I was given a rifle and taught to hunt.

It is true that I have hunted jackrabbits to preserve the crops of farmers from being destroyed between Blackfoot and Arco, while others have participated in jackrabbit drives. I have used a rifle and shotgun to protect my family’s horses from predators, but I think I can justify those activities according to the hunter’s ethic.

When it comes to eating what we hunt, it seems hunters have known all along what others are just beginning to realize. Wild game meat is healthier than domestically raised cattle, pork and chicken.

Wild meat is free of chemicals and pesticides. Game animals roam as they please and eat healthier feed. 

Bruce Watkins at Purdue University found that wild elk, deer and antelope from the Rocky Mountain region have greater amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids and a lower and therefore healthier ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 in muscle meats compared to grain-fed beef. This fatty acid ratio is also consistent with the recent American Heart Association recommendation to increase the consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids in order to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

So, it would seem that hunters had it right all along. It just took awhile for science to catch up to what hunters were already were doing.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He was a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University for 25 years. There he taught orienteering, marksmanship, self-defense, fencing, scuba diving and boxing. He was among the first DPS-certified Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.

Former Pocatello resident and current BMX superstar Colton Satterfield has announced that he is leaving Monster Energy due to “personal religious reasons.”

Satterfield, who brought Ramp Riot to the Holt Arena in 2015 and 2016, is a two-time X Games gold medalist and one of the top names in the BMX world. 

Here is his official statement regarding his decision to leave Monster Energy:

“I want to thank everyone at Monster for all they have done and do for action sports. I have chosen to part ways for personal religious reasons. Some of the marketing and logos that are meant to be edgy simply are edgy in areas that I personally could no longer support. I wish all the great people there the absolute very best and I thank them for their kind understanding.

“This was not a decision I made lightly. Getting such an energy drink sponsor is a big achieving step in action sports; they provide more than just financially, they help their athletes in many ways. The decision was not a light one by any means. I regret something seemingly so small, to some, as logos and various marketing, has to divide us; but I know it is the correct decision for me.”

Satterfield later sent a follow-up to his original statement that was posted to VitalBMX.com’s website:

“I can imagine some non religious people thinking this is wild or crazy, and not that long ago I would have been one of those people. Previously I had been a far too logical person in life to go deeply into religion and still am that logical minded person. But I had a strait up real and wildly profound experience that shockingly confirmed serious religious truth to me. I had always been one to learn as much as I can. This experience was at the end of a knowledge or a deep world wisdom, most don’t find, that seemingly discounted it; then that ‘wisdom’ was confounded as the bible describes and had my eyes opened in a real profound way. Some perceived ‘wisdom’ of the world is certainly a stumbling block that ensnares if one is not careful.  There is an actual dark side of things that deceives. Most who find this ‘knowledge’ sit in their pride of having it and don’t actually step back and analyze it and can be pulled down into darkness; those who analyze it fully are already – or then become – Christians. My experience was profound.  Whole countries don’t allow missionaries or other religions because their leaders trust this false or highly partial wisdom so hard. It is also wild to later read prophets of old, like Paul and many many others, who were wise dudes that essentially described every step of this knowledge that leads ‘wise men’ away and then describes each step up to the confounding and true light for those who seek. These were real, and actual very wise dudes of old. 

“So for me, I do my best to walk uprightly before a very real and good God and, with some of their marketing and logos, it just wasn’t something I could keep supporting. God is very real, Christ in actual reality lives. That’s from a dude who has to logically understand things all the way around. Christianity is actually totally real. I was furthermore blown away to see the LDS religion understands literally everything in a very clear way. I know them to have the entire fullness of the gospel of Christ. It is His church. Something not long ago I would have sadly laughed at. But it is in actual true reality. God can show you this far better and more profound than even logically getting it. The highest form of wisdom is being humble before God. Everything else falls. It’s true. A truth that is sadly scoffed at by many before ever given a fair shake. A truth too precious not to share. Love is what’s up. It’s real.”

BILLINGS (AP) — The National Rifle Association and a sport hunting group want to ensure their members can hunt grizzly bears in the three-state region around Yellowstone National Park after the animals lost U.S. protections.

Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are considering limited trophy hunts for grizzlies outside the park in future years after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revoked the species’ threatened status in July.

Conservation groups have sued to restore protections, and now the NRA and Safari Club International have asked U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen to let them intervene in the case.

Several of the groups’ members said in affidavits submitted by their attorneys that hunting would help the region’s economy, allow states to better manage the animals and improve public safety.

“Having the ability to hunt grizzlies would be great for business. I would also personally hunt a grizzly if given an opportunity to do so,” said Edwin Johnson, a 70-year-old hunting outfitter who lives in Gardiner, Montana. “They need to be hunted so that they fear the scent of humans, rather than following it as they do now.”

An estimated 700 bears live in and around Yellowstone National Park. Attacks on humans have increased since the animals rebounded from widespread extermination in the last century.

At least six lawsuits to restore protections for grizzlies are pending, although most are expected to be consolidated into a single case.

An attorney for environmentalists in one of the Montana cases said no decision has been made on whether to fight the attempt by the NRA and Safari Club to intervene.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to stop trophy hunting of grizzly bears leaving Yellowstone National Park,” said Matthew Bishop with the Western Environmental Law Center.

A group of state attorneys general on Wednesday urged the National Park Service to scrap its proposal to more than double the entrance fees at 17 popular national parks.The top government lawyers from 10 states and the District of Columbia sent a lette…

Periodically I like to do a book review on outdoor books.

This one is especially fun to do because Stephen Weston is a friend of mine. I first met him years ago when I was conducting seminars at Sierra Trading Post. At that time he worked there, and I got to know him. We hit it off and became friends.

Before long, he started doing cooking seminars while I was doing my seminars. As you probably guessed, I spent a lot of time sampling his dishes. He kept me nourished during a lot of long days of seminars.

Since those days he has become more and more popular for his cooking skills. This summer I attended the Taste of Idaho event in Nampa. Steve was one of the chefs and it appeared to me that he was the one ramrodding the cooking events. They also included kids enrolled in the Nampa School District Culinary Arts Program in the event, which was nice. It appeared he was helping to guide and mentor them and was praising them heavily.

I now see him all over the valley doing demos and seminars, and of course, he has now published a book called “In the Wild Chief.” I finally got my hands on a copy last week and have already read more than half of it. It’s an easy read.

Pretty much every recipe is less than a page. At the bottom of the page is an outdoor tip, such as “Try spraying original Listerine around the campsite to repel mosquitoes.” I didn’t know that.

As you flip a page, in most cases the first page will be a picture. It may be a pic of a camping or cooking scene, but a lot of them are old school pics, which I like looking at.

The format in which it is laid out is unique. Instead of being broken down into chapters, it is grouped into five classes with Class I being the easiest meal to prepare on up to Class V, which are the more difficult meals.

Of course, on the trail you have to travel light, so when applicable he’ll have a heading called HOME, which tells you what has to be done before you leave home. For example, he may say to mix all of the spices in one baggie and the noodles in another. That way instead of carrying four bottles of spices you’re only packing the required 1/4 teaspoon of each spice, etc. Then he may have a heading CAMP, which he will tell you what has to be done in camp.

For the most part, the bulk of the meals appear to be pretty simple to prepare, and yet from past experience of being the official tester at seminars I’ve never had a bad one. I can’t wait to try some of them on some backpacking trips next summer or even on some day hunts this winter.

Or maybe I’ll get bored again about January or February and go on another extreme winter backpacking/ice fishing trip and try out some of them. Naw, I’ll probably just call Steve and take him with me this time. Last time I about froze to death, blew away and starved. Now where did I put Steve’s phone number.

“In the Wild Chef” can be purchased at www.amazon.com/Wild-Chef-Recipes-Base-Summit/dp/1927458277.

POCATELLO — On Friday, Nov. 10, the organizers of the annual Cranksgiving food drive were deeply concerned.

Every year, the event receives donations of frozen turkeys to give to the Idaho Foodbank so East Idaho families in-need have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Last year, Cranksgiving organizers were able to donate 1,067 frozen turkeys.

But Tami Parris, who founded the event in Pocatello in 2014, worried that the donations were going to come up well short of their goal of 1,000 turkeys this year.

Eight days before the conclusion of the food drive, Parris said organizers only had 33 turkeys.

“We were very concerned we weren’t going to make it,” she said.

But thanks to the gracious support of the community, donations surged during the food drive’s final week, with more than 1,000 birds being donated. In the end, a total of 1,096 turkeys were donated to feed families in need, the most that Cranksgiving has ever raised.

“We all want to thank the community for the support,” Parris said.

Owing to its roots as a biking event, Cranksgiving always concludes with a group of cyclists pedaling to the Idaho Foodbank at 555 S. First Ave. to help deliver the turkeys. At this year’s ride, which was held last Saturday and began at Barrie’s Ski and Sports, Parris arrived early.

She recalls watching one person after another dropping off frozen turkeys, even as organizers made preparations to begin the bike ride. After the approximately 40 to 50 cyclists made their way to the Idaho Foodbank, the donations continued to come in.

After the bike ride, turkeys were provided to local residents in need at the fairgrounds in Pocatello. For the volunteers distributing the birds, it provided a glimpse into the hunger epidemic in the region.

The Eastern Branch of the Idaho Foodbank in Pocatello serves 16 eastern Idaho counties and provides 28,000 people with food each month. However, the organization said food insecurity affects approximately 51,000 people in East Idaho, including 9,000 children, which is far more people than the organization has reached.

Food insecurity is a measure of how many people do not have enough food to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Barrie Hunt, who helped distribute the turkeys at the fairgrounds, said the line of vehicles extended out onto Olympus Drive. One family thanked Hunt for their turkey, but said that even though they now had food for Thanksgiving, they weren’t sure where the following meal would come from.

“They don’t go out begging,” he said about those receiving turkeys. “They work for a living, trying to support their families.”

Known as a “food drive on two wheels,” Cranksgiving was originally started in New York City in 1999 and has expanded to approximately 80 cities across the globe through grassroots efforts.

Parris launched a version of Cranksgiving in Pocatello in 2014 after she heard about the food drive on NBC’s Today show. When she heard that the Idaho Foodbank needed 600 turkeys for Thanksgiving that year, she teamed up with Barrie’s Ski and Sports and state Sen. Roy Lacey to meet the quota.

Since its inception, Pocatello’s version of Cranksgiving has donated almost 4,000 frozen turkeys to the Idaho Foodbank for each Thanksgiving.

(AP) — Idaho snow bunnies will have plenty of reason to give thanks with six regional ski resorts either already open for the season or planning to open around Thanksgiving weekend.

According to the Idaho Ski Areas Association, Sun Valley’s Bald and Dollar mountains are scheduled to open Thursday.

Meanwhile, Sandpoint’s Schweitzer Mountain will reopen Friday after opening Nov. 17 — the earliest in 20 years. Nearby, Kellogg’s Silver Mountain and Mullan’s Lookout Pass are also open for weekends.

Just outside of Idaho, Grand Targhee in Wyoming and Lost Trail in Montana have been open since the beginning of the month.

The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center has recently issued a La Niña advisory, which is expected to help increase the chances of mountains getting more snow this season.