Hiking and hunting: staying safe in GTNP
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
By Matthew Iriwn
Most residents of Teton County are probably aware of hunting in the northeast corridor of Grand Teton National Park and on the east side of John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, but out-of-town visitors and other residents thinking about hiking in the area might benefit from signage or other notification, according to officials.
As of yet, there are no signs warning hikers at trailhead kiosks, where bear warning signs are abundant.
???It never hurts to remind people, but I would hate to cause more concern than is warranted,” said Wyoming Fish and Game spokesperson Mark Gocke. “I would hate for people to not go into the park because they were afraid [of getting shot].” He said that he hoped hikers weren’t detracted for fear of bear attacks.
GTNP zones 75 and 79, roughly the areas north and east of the park road after Jackson Lake and Moran junctions, are available to around 1,000 hunters with special permits each year, according to GTNP spokesperson Jackie Skaggs, who added that hunters may not “actively hunt” within a quarter mile of the park road.
She also noted that hunters must carry a safety-training card, which park rangers diligently check. Both Skaggs and Gocke pointed out injuries from reckless drivers on the park roads are a much greater concern.
They also said that their agencies will consider placing signage next year – Skaggs identified the Sheffield Creek trailhead and the Two Oceans and Emma Matilda trailhead as viable locations – but both emphasized that no hikers have ever been injured by hunters in GTNP.
In 33 years of park service, Skaggs can think of only one time when a hunter was fatally injured in the park, and he was shot when a rifle accidentally fired in camp.
The U.S. government initiated the elk reduction program for GTNP in 1950, in part to protect elk mortality rates endangered by “an annual winter feeding program on the National Elk Refuge, which sustains high numbers of elk with unnaturally low mortality rates,” according to an Oct. 6 GTNP press release.
Special hunting permits allow hunting from Oct. 11 in Zone 79 and from Oct 18 in Zone 75 to Nov. 30. About 30 percent of hunters turn in tags each year, and Skaggs said that around 180 elk have been killed in the park this year. PJH
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