Mild weather so far means more young deer and elk are surviving this winter, which will likely grow herds and produce more game for big game hunters next fall.

Idaho Fish and Game biologists have been monitoring 244 mule deer fawns and 246 elk calves that were captured earlier this winter and fitted with telemetry collars.

Through the end of February, monitoring showed 88 percent of the fawns and 97 percent of the calves were still alive. That compares with 55 percent of the fawns and 80 percent of the calves surviving through February last winter.

Less snow, especially at lower elevations, and warmer temperatures means fewer animals are likely to die from malnutrition, predation and other factors that increase mortality during a difficult winter.

Despite spring-like temperatures in early March, the young animals still have not cleared their final hurdle. Those weakened by winter may have a hard time transitioning to fresh, green forage and can still die.

For that reason, “March and April is when we normally see the highest mortality,” said Daryl Meints, Fish and Game’s deer and elk coordinator.

However, barring a late surge of cold weather, it’s likely that survival will be considerably higher than last year. Only 30 percent of fawns that were collared and 54 percent of calves survived last winter, which was among the lowest survival rates in the last 20 years.

Biologists will monitor animals well into spring and produce the final survival rate for fawns and calves, but will continue monitoring them until the collars quit working or fall off, which they are designed to do as the young animals outgrow them.

INKOM — Pebble Creek wants everyone to be able to ski.

Starting today, visitors can ski for free on the Aspen area from 3 to 5 p.m. Or visitors can ski the entire mountain for $10.

Rental equipment is discounted to $15 for skis and $15 for snowboards for this special. This offer is good through March 25.

Pebble Creek is enjoying great spring skiing with 57 inches up top and 24 inches at the lodge.

With daylight savings time, Pebble Creek has adjusted its operating hours. The resort is now open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The resort is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

To ski all of the great snow for free, purchase a 2018-19 season pass now and ski the rest of the season for free. Spring price passes are $325 for adults and teens and $225 for kids and seniors. Family passes are $1,225. All pass prices include tax.

It has become pretty obvious to me that the difference between avid hunters and anti-hunters is that an avid hunter doesn’t mind those who don’t hunt. But anti-hunters want to ban everyone from hunting because they don’t hunt.

In my case, if my critics choose to ignore man’s history of hunting in light of their recently self-bestowed nobility, it comes right off the top of their moral credit card, and I’ll leave them to deal with it.

If that sounds harsh, I don’t mean it to be. I am simply unapologetic about any legal activity I participate in, including hunting. The irrelevant ranting of the anti-hunting crowd who have no understanding of who the real wildlife conservation people are, or who funds wildlife habitat restoration, certainly is of no benefit to wildlife.

However, those who would like to know the role of hunters in wildlife conservation and habitat restoration need go no further than the local Idaho Department of Fish and Game on Barton Road.

Many people seem to have a problem with the fact that man is by nature a predator and we always have been. Those who choose to disbelieve that we have a collective genetic memory of the old skills that helped change us from savages to space travelers, suffer from a form of denial.

I believe President Theodore Roosevelt was referring to that genetic memory when he wrote, “The chase is the best of all national pastimes; it cultivates that vigorous manliness for lack of in a nation, or individual, the possession of no other qualities can possibly atone.”

Man, however, is the most ill-equipped predator in nature. We don’t see as well as most predators, nor do we hear as well. We don’t smell as well as most predators, nor do we have the fangs and claws that most predators possess. We can’t run as fast as other predators, nor do we know the territory we hunt in as well as the other predators or the animals we are hunting.

Our only real advantages are our brain and the ability to design weapons that give us a chance to connect with the game we are hunting. That same brain allows us to plan hunts based on what we do know about the area we are hunting and how the game moves through that area.

Sometimes we are just lucky, but most of the time success is the result of a well-planned hunt for an animal that knows the area better than we do. That animal can see, hear and smell us and leave the area before we can get close enough to shoot with either a bow or rifle.

So one of the reasons we hunt is the challenge of trying to outsmart a very wary animal on his own turf. If you think our rifles and bows give us a huge advantage, I challenge you to try and get close enough to make a clean kill, and then make the shot on a moving animal or at a distance you didn’t sight in for at the range. Most of us know our rifles and bows as well as our own limitations, so we only shoot if we feel we have a good chance of being successful.

Twenty million Americans do believe in exercising and sharpening their genetic hunting skills and prove it by purchasing hunting licenses and tags each year. Millions more don’t actually hunt, but participate in target shooting, clay pigeon shooting, archery, precision-match shooting, three-gun competition and cowboy shooting. More than 2 million alone pay dues to the National Rifle Association.

The facts are the facts. Should your interest be more than emotionally based, any government agency will be happy to supply you with precise data that clearly proves that through direct funding by hunters and related taxes on the equipment purchased for hunting, the game herds have been maintained in most zones.

If you don’t want to hunt, that is fine. But if you wear a leather belt, a leather jacket, carry a leather purse, drive a car with leather seats or eat meat, don’t delude yourself or try to convince others that you care more for animals than hunters do, with all they contribute to wildlife conservation and habitat restoration.

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.

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (AP) — Wyoming will seek an agreement with U.S. Interior Department and National Park Service officials about collecting a fee at Yellowstone National Park to fund wildlife conservation efforts in the states surrounding the park.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Monday signed a joint resolution passed the state Legislature earlier calling for discussions about the fees.

Proponents say the idea is to generate money for Wyoming, Montana and Idaho to deal with issues like wildlife collisions, disease and migration routes.

The Wyoming resolution, which also involves Grand Teton National Park, does not specify how the fee would be assessed or what the amount would be.

Because only the federal government oversees fees in national parks, the resolution seeks to start a conversation between the three states and the federal agencies.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming — Three bison slaughter protesters who were arrested here earlier this month will be banned from Yellowstone National Park for five years after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges Monday.

Hannah Ponder, Cody Cyson and Thomas Brown appeared in U.S. District Court at Mammoth Hot Springs after nearly a week in jail following their arrest near the park’s Stephens Creek Capture Facility, where bison are trapped and readied for slaughter. The area around the facility is closed to the public.

Ponder, 22, pleaded guilty to entering a closed area of the park. Cyson, 25, and Brown, 36, pleaded guilty to entering a closed area and interfering with an agency function.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman ordered Ponder to pay fines and fees totaling $1,040. Carman ordered Brown and Cyson to pay $1,050 each. All three will be placed on unsupervised probation for five years and will be barred from entering the park until the end of their probation. They were released around noon on Monday.

During the hearing, Carman said the three people had a lot of passion but that he felt it was misdirected. He said the incident was “a case to make a point” but that it didn’t further their goals.

“It doesn’t stop what’s happening at Stephens Creek,” Carman said. “It doesn’t save any of the bison.”

Ponder said Yellowstone’s bison are managed with a population cap that intends to keep their number well below the biological carrying capacity of the park, which she feels is unjust. Population reduction efforts include capture-for-slaughter.

“The Stephens Creek Facility is a tool of gross mismanagement,” Ponder said.

Park law enforcement arrested the three protesters at Stephens Creek last week when they were protesting the slaughter of bison. According to charging documents, a ranger found Brown and Cyson chained to the squeeze chute there early on March 6. They were apparently trying to block the shipment of bison to slaughter, which was scheduled for later that morning.

A few hours later, rangers arrested Ponder for being inside the closure area. U.S. District Attorney Lee Pico said Monday that Ponder appeared to be “acting as something of a lookout.”

They appeared in court the next day. Carman ordered that they stay in jail until Monday’s hearing.

Chris Lundberg, an attorney representing all three, said the jail stay was quite long for people without a criminal history of violence or property damage.

“I think the government has gotten the point across,” Lundberg said.

The three protesters are with a group called Wild Buffalo Defense, which describes itself as a collective focused on ending the slaughter of wild bison and protecting the treaty rights of Native Americans. Cyson, an Ojibwe man from Minnesota, was arrested twice last year for protesting the construction of oil pipelines in Wisconsin.

Wild Buffalo Defense is raising money online to pay the protesters’ court fines.

Bison are killed annually by hunters and through capture-for-slaughter because a multi-agency management plan calls for a bison population around 3,000. Yellowstone biologists estimated the population at about 4,800 last fall.

As of last week, more than 550 had been culled. At least 328 of those had been shipped to slaughter. Meat from slaughtered bison goes to Native American tribes.

There are many critics of the slaughter program. A group of them attended Monday’s hearing, filling about half the seats in the small courtroom.

“I think that it’s a shame that these people are being punished for their actions rather than celebrated,” said Stephany Seay, of the Buffalo Field Campaign.

Seay and the others waited outside after the hearing. Shortly after noon, Brown, Cyson and Ponder walked out, greeted by hugs and smiles.

BOISE, Idaho — Federal scientists are trying to decide if it’s time to let the big dogs out.

Nearly 120 dogs from three large breeds perfected over centuries in Europe and Asia to be gentle around sheep and children but vicious when confronting wolves recently underwent a study to see how they’d react to their old nemesis on a new continent.

The dogs were gathered as puppies in Portugal, Bulgaria and Turkey and sent to the American West, where they spent four years guarding sheep.

“When we were first looking at doing this, a lot of people wanted to know: What dog do I use in dealing with wolves and grizzly bears?” said Julie Young, a Utah-based research biologist with the U.S. Agriculture Department’s National Wildlife Research Center.

The department looked to areas where dog breeds developed to guard sheep against wolves and brown bears. Then scientists supplied Cao de Gado Transmontanos, a large though lean and agile dog developed in a mountainous region of Portugal; Karakachans, developed by nomadic sheepherders in a mountainous area of Bulgaria; and Kangals, another powerful breed with an instinct for guarding, this one originating in Turkey.

Dogs from all three breeds can weigh up to 140 pounds, about the size of a wolf. The dogs were sent to guard 65 herds in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon.

Scientists are still analyzing information from notes, remote cameras and GPS collars, Young said, with four or five scientific papers expected in the next year. But overall, she said, the dogs did well keeping away wolves and better than traditional guard dogs at deterring coyotes.

One dog died during the study. It was hit by a vehicle as sheep crossed a road.

For decades, most U.S. sheep producers have used large white dogs such as Great Pyrenees, Akbash or Maremma Sheepdogs. Light brown Anatolian Shepherds are also used.

But the reintroduction of wolves in the American West in the 1990s has led to questions about whether those breeds are up to the task. Since wolves returned to Idaho in 1995, the Agriculture Department’s Wildlife Services says, wolves have killed 50 guard dogs through the end of last year and injured nearly 40 others in the state. Federal officials in 2017 killed 56 wolves in Idaho due to attacks on livestock.

Young said the study found wolves left areas when sheep bands, dogs and herders arrived, but their absence emboldened smaller predators such as coyotes.

Not all dogs in the study succeeded. Jill Swannack, president of the Washington State Sheep Producers, is a veterinarian who also has a ranch with about 800 sheep on private land in eastern Washington state. She received three Karakachans.

“When we came home, they preferred to be home with us,” she said. “They really didn’t bond to the sheep.”

She also said the dogs were only about 70 or 80 pounds. One went to a young family with sheep near their house, and now that dog plays with the children and has successfully guarded those sheep against coyotes.

The dogs that work best at her ranch are Anatolian Shepherds, though wolves killed one in 2014.

Wolves are a “phenomenal predator,” Swannack said. “I would be happy if we didn’t have them, but I’m also a realist, and we do have them. So we need the tools to deal with them and the support.”

The imported guard dogs cost about $500 apiece, including transportation to the U.S., Young said, and nearly all were just a few months old when they arrived.

She said the Karakachans tended to be more vigilant, the Kangals inclined to investigate, and the Cao de Gado Transmontanos better at assessing threats. Ultimately, she said, sheep producers might benefit from a mix of dogs that includes some that stick near the sheep and others that patrol the perimeter.

Another part of the study involved the relationship between dogs and herders, many Peruvians, which will be one of the scientific papers.

“There’s a bond there,” Young said. “Just from watching them and looking at data, the ones who were better bonded, the dogs just seemed to perform better.”

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The first grizzly bear hunting in the lower 48 states in more than 40 years could happen in Wyoming this fall.

Yellowstone-region grizzlies haven’t been hunted since they were put on the federal endangered species list in 1975. Wyoming officials released a plan Friday that would allow up to 24 grizzlies to be killed this fall.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission will vote on the plan May 23.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports up to 12 bears could be killed in an area immediately surrounding Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Another 12 could be killed on farms, ranches and other areas not considered typical grizzly habitat.

Idaho and Montana are not planning their own hunts since the government removed Yellowstone-region grizzlies from federal protection in 2017.

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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Concerns over aquatic invasive species have led Yellowstone National Park officials to ban the use of felt sole boots or waders and to set a boating season during which watercraft inspections will be available.

Park officials say rubber sole boots will be allowed because they trap fewer organisms and can be cleaned with water and a scrub brush.

The boating season will run from May 26 through Nov. 4.

All watercraft entering the park must have a boat permit and a Yellowstone aquatic invasive species inspection before launching in the park.

Watercraft subject to inspection include boats, canoes, kayaks and float tubes. Inspections will be available seven days a week at various locations in the park.

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Concerns over aquatic invasive species have led Yellowstone National Park officials to ban the use of felt sole boots or waders and to set a boating season during which watercraft inspections will be available.

Park officials say rubber sole boots will be allowed because they trap fewer organisms and can be cleaned with water and a scrub brush.

The boating season will run from May 26 through Nov. 4.

All watercraft entering the park must have a boat permit and a Yellowstone aquatic invasive species inspection before launching in the park.

Watercraft subject to inspection include boats, canoes, kayaks and float tubes. Inspections will be available seven days a week at various locations in the park.

POCATELLO — Someday there will be a 27-mile paved trail network that wraps around the Gate City. That’s the dream of Rory Erchul and the Portneuf Greenway Foundation.

So far, about 15 miles of that network have been built in various sections across Pocatello.

But on Wednesday, the foundation announced that it would soon begin construction on the first piece of the network that lies along the Interstate 15 corridor. This spring, construction will begin on a paved trail along Interstate 15 between the Monte Vista Drive overpass and the Farm Bureau Insurance building on Tierra Drive.

Once the rest of the trails on the I-15 corridor are completed, residents will be able to walk or ride their bikes on paved Greenway trails stretching from the Edson Fichter Nature Area on the south side of town to the Portneuf Wellness Complex on the north side.

“We have the support of our city, and our community members and businesses are donating time and resources to making things happen,” said Erchul, who serves as the president of the foundation’s board of trustees.

So far the foundation, which was founded in 1992, has built numerous trails across the city. These trails include stretches along the Portneuf River, the South Valley Connector area and Idaho State University.

However, the sections of trail that currently exist are broken up throughout the area and many do not connect with each other. According to Erchul, it can take years, or in some cases decades, to secure easements on private lands where trails can be constructed.

Plus, there’s the financial challenges.

It usually costs approximately $100,000 to build a 1-mile stretch of Greenway trail. But that’s assuming there are no physical obstacles in the way. The new Monte Vista to Farm Bureau trail will cost approximately $500,000, according to the engineers’ estimates. That’s because of the difficult topography of the land near Interstate 15, as well as the need to build multiple retaining walls to control erosion.

The funds to build Pocatello’s Greenway trails come from a variety of sources, both private and public.

“In the last four years, we’ve been able to raise about $1.6 million from grants, in-kind gifts and private donations,” Erchul said. “We want people to know that the Portneuf Greenway Foundation is a non-for-profit organization, and all the board members are volunteers and we have no paid staff.”

The Monte Vista to Farm Bureau trail is an important stepping stone to finishing the all-important I-15 corridor section of trails. Once completed, this section of trails will provide non-motorized access to Idaho State University, East Terry Street, East Center Street, Portneuf Medical Center, Olympus Drive, Highland High School, the North Bannock Fairgrounds and the Portneuf Wellness Complex.

Also, guests at the numerous hotels near East Center Street, as well as the Red Lion Hotel on Pocatello Creek Road, will have easy access to the trail network.

Like the other Greenway trails in Pocatello, the Monte Vista Drive to Farm Bureau trail will be a paved 10-foot wide multi-use trail that will meet standards set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The trail will be a little less than a mile long.

The $500,000 that will be used to construct that trail has been raised by a combination of state grants from the Idaho Transportation Department and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation with matching funds from the Portneuf Greenway Foundation.

According to a news release from the foundation, numerous private entities have also donated money, including the Ifft Foundation, Keller Engineering, Idaho Community Bank, Idaho Central Credit Union, Farm Bureau Insurance, Paul Link and several others.

According to the Portneuf Greenway Foundation, construction bids are being accepted through the city until mid-March.

But why should the Pocatello/Chubbuck area have its own Greenway?

For Erchul and the foundation’s board of trustees, there are economic, health and transportation considerations.

“Any city in the country that’s progressive enough to build a Greenway system, whether it’s in Texas or Boise, sees a major economic boost,” Erchul said.

A Greenway trail network also provides a non-motorized alternative mode of transportation, where residents can hop on their bikes and quickly travel to their workplaces or favorite businesses, Erchul said.

And the Portneuf Greenway Foundation said having a city trail network encourages people to get out and exercise, whether it’s walking the dog, riding their bikes or going for a stroll.

“It’s a quality of life issue,” Erchul said.